Ongoing War With JayBarkerfan's Junk

This past week I received another shot from crazy man Wes.  The man is relentless in his pursuit to bombard people with cards. He even used some vacation time to prepare packages a few weeks back. That is dedication!

Things should actually pick up for Wes and I because he was one of the winners of my contest. Should be fun to try and get him back.

Tier One autos are nice because they always leave lots of space for a large auto and it is on card. Garret Jones doesn't have many autos so this was a nice surprise.

One thing that is odd about this set is that he signed all of his cards except the short prints. I've been waiting for a redemption from this set close to a year.

It is hard to find multi-color jerseys of older Pirates.  Usually when you do it costs a premium. This may be my favorite card that Wes sent. Bill Madlock is one of my favorites.

Leaf Certified Materials had a good of Pirates on the checklist in 2003 so it was always a favorite of mine. The parallels will drive you bonkers, but it was fun to have guys to chase when most sets didn't feature a lot of Pirates.

Ross Ohlendorf was one of the throw in guys in the Xavier Nady trade with the Yankees. He actually had a good season and a half with the Pirates before injuries got the best of him. The guy is also really smart as he is an Ivy League guy that spent one of his off seasons interning in DC. He also helped himself win an arbitration case by presenting his sabermetric stats as his normal counting stats like win-loss record were sub par. He won his case.

One thing about Wes when he sends you cards is that he really knows your collection. This is a nice auto of former WVU running back Avon Cobourne. Avon had a small taste of the NFL, but found success in Canada.

 Vintage Steelers!

More Mad Dog!

Cobra! Anytime I see cards of Parker I just want to scream COBRA like in the old GI Joe cartoons. 

 The coolest vintage card that Wes sent has to be this old Fleer card of Smoky Burgess! Very Cool!!!

 Clemente's are always welcomed!

 Gigantar Donruss!

If Bonds would have used the steroids a little sooner he could have been an ACE.

Wes threw in a bunch more cards, but I would be scanning until 2030 if I showed them all. You set the bar high, but I'll try to hit you back with some fun stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

Trade: Dime Boxes

Last month I posted the contents of a box of 2014 Update that generated several trades. One such trade was with Nick of Dime Boxes fame. Nick and I don't really need much of an excuse to swap back and forth as we have been swapping blindly for quite a while, but this was made easy. Not long after I sent off the desired cards I received a nice pwe full of great Buccos.

Who doesn't love mascot cards. I always love when these come in trade packages. One of my favorite stories about the Parrot actually happened somewhat recently in 2011.  I went to a game with one of my friends who has a bit of a temper. About halfway through the game the Parrot was in my section holding a gigantic squirt gun. Long story short my buddy took a good shot of water right in the manhood area. I had to talk him down from destroying the Parrot. It didn't help that the whole time I was laughing my ass off. Funny thing is that same friend hasn't been to a game with me since.

Manny is always smiling. Impossible not to love the former Bucco catcher. 

Sometimes I feel like Bob Walk continued where the Candy Man left off. Long flowing hair and a good mustache!

I love SSPC cards. When I first started the blog I only had a few.  Now I'm sure I can fill a good chunk of a binder.  

2005 Diamond Kings was kind of a love or hate set. I personally loved it because it had a ton of Pirates. 

Teke had his own look, that is an obvious fact. From his unique delivery to the thick black glasses he was one of the most recognizable players in the late 70's early 80's. The guy has some great cards. Nick was nice enough to throw in two great examples.

Thanks for the swap Nick. I hope you enjoyed the Update cards !

Trade: Sportscards From The Dollar Store

Doug from Sportscards From The Dollar Store is a great trade partner. He always has well thought out trade packages encompassing many aspects of my collection. This PWE packed a big time WVU punch.

Kind of weird that Jim from GCRL hooked me up with a 2007 UD Premier Jason Bay auto /25 and now Doug hooks me up with 2007 UD Premier Marc Bulger also numbered to 25. What a great card! Bulger owned just about every passing record in WVU history until Geno Smith came along. Bulger can at least hold his hat on having a pretty successful NFL career. Geno is still a work in progress.

 O-PEE-Chee stickers are always cool.  Bonus points for being of the Pops variety.

Vintage hockey is awesome. Mark Hoyle gave me my first taste of old time hockey now Doug hooked me up. You had to be tough as shit to play back then. I'm guessing Bryan Watson could hold his own against Mr. Malkin in the toughness factor.

I'm almost on the verge of going on a Geno Smith buying binge. His cards have fallen at a rapid pace after his disastrous season. It will be interesting to see what will become of the former WVU great. The Jets were a terrible situation for him. He really needed to go to a good team where he could have learned from a good quarterback. He wasn't polished enough to be the man. Hopefully he can salvage his career. 

Thanks again Doug for the great cards. I'll have something heading back to Canada very soon. 

Drunk Numbering

2015 Topps is live so lets talk early 2000's autos and relics! Brian Giles by all accounts was a huge asshole during his tenure as a Pirate, but the guy could flat out play. The guy had two 6 WAR and two 5 WAR seasons during his peak years as a Pirates. He just played on some terrible teams.

Whether he was a prick or not I like adding his cards to my collection. A recent crop of cards I picked up had some odd numbering. Check these out.

 2002 Donruss Classics Auto /13

 2001 Donruss Signature Series Auto /123

 2002 Leaf Certified Jersey /95

2002 Donruss Classics Patch /400

As you can see their is no rhyme or reason why these cards are numbered to these odd amounts. I just envision some low pay Donruss guy randomly putting stickers on cards and saying that is enough and then counts how many total he placed on the card. "Thirteen......works for me"

With all that being said I love picking up relics and autos from the "early period." I often search for Brian Giles and Jason Kendall with the hope of finding gems like these. 

Hope everybody is enjoying opening up some Topps. I'm really thinking about using my lunch break to buy some Topps.  Nothing beats opening cards at work.

Thanks for reading!

GCRL Delivers a Rarity

Jim from GCRL and I are bombing each others mailbox at a vigorous pace. I got Jim with a Garvey auto last time, but he was not to be outdone.

No player is more prevalent in my Pirates collection than Jason Bay. So in turn it makes it hard to find something I don't have. I still frequently search eBay for stragglers but I probably only accumulate 3 or 4 new Bays a year. Jim was nice enough to chalk another one up for me.

I really thought I had this card, but after some digging I mistook it for another UD product. This beauty comes from 2007 UD Premier. Thanks for finding this one Jim. The high end Bay stuff doesn't pop up much on eBay anymore so it was nice to get one in trade.

Jim was nice enough to throw in a bunch of extras including a nice Yogi/Dale Berra card and a patriotic Jason Kendall rookie. 

The Warren Morris cards reminded me how much promise he had. He had a great rookie season with the Bucs, but never could duplicate the numbers. It's amazing you can go from so good to bad in a matter of months. 

As always thanks for the cards Jim. Looks like it is my turn. Hopefully I can find something unique for you. 

Thanks for reading!

Contest Winners

Lets get right to it. We didn't quite make it to 60 entries, but I'll round up. So the top 4 on the third randomization will win.

And the winners are.......

List Randomizer

There were 58 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Phil Bechtel
2. Play at the Plate
3. The Lost Collector
4. jaybarkerfan
5. Mark Hoyle
6. Nick
7. Talkin' Truman
8. Mets Cardboard
9. Jupiterhill
10. Stealing Home
11. Nachos Grande
12. Tim B
13. Red Cardboard
14. cynicalbuddha
15. Swing And A Pop-up
16. gcrl
17. Wilson
18. Tony
19. Jedi Jeff
20. catchingupwithcollecting
21. Dennis
22. Night Owl
23. John Hazen
24. Paul Hadsall
25. Caitlin
26. Greg Zakwin
27. Nolan Tucker
28. Billy Kingsley
29. Corky
30. ralph manboobawitz
31. Rosenort
32. B Man
33. Raz
34. Richard Nebe Jr
35. Dodger Penguin
36. Al Kawamoto
37. Kevin Papoy
38. Alex Markle
39. Shane Kroeker
40. Brad's Blog
41. Daniel Wilson
42. defgav
43. Reds Card Collector
44. Keith G
45. zman40
46. Robert
47. Captain Canuck
48. Dion's IP Autos only
49. Julie Owens
50. Tony Lehman
51. John Miller
52. Micah
53. The Dutch Card Guy
54. Adam Kaningher
55. P-town Tom
56. Superduperman99
57. Bo
58. Mike Gutierrez

Timestamp: 2015-02-03 02:14:45 UTC

You have randomized this list 3 times.

Congrats

Phil

Play at the Plate

The Lost Collector 

Jaybarkerfan

Phil I only need your address.  Mattscott82@gmail.com

Easiest Contest Ever

At last check I was at 48 entries for my 1 year celebration contest.  Right now I'll be picking 3 winners but if we can get 12 more by the end of the day I'll add another winner. The contest closes at 7pm est and the winners will be posted sometime between 9-10pm est.

Click here to join!