Walk and Papoy Collaboration #4 (UD Play Ball)

Kevin and I are moving right along with the box breaks. This time Kevin chose a box of 2004 UD Play Ball. Since I got the NL teams in the Turkey Red break it was my turn for the AL minus the Blue Jays.

Overall consensus was that this set left something to be desired, but the box did yield some decent cards. Here are some of my highlights.

All the rookies are numbered to 2004. As you can see not very big names, but that would have been the case no matter what. The checklist is pretty much void of anybody that played a significant role in the majors. Jay Gibbons may have been the best of the bunch if that tells you anything.

A nice mix of Hall of Famers. I guess my biggest complaint about the set is that the base cards just don't bring a lot to the table. I tend to like cards based on photo and use of space. The Play Ball border seems to take a lot away from the card.

While Kevin got the best numbered parallel, I ended up with a nice mix of the blue parallels. While not super exciting I did like the Bob Feller. You can see how the Feller is different in the parallel from the base card above.

Don't think for a second I'm sending this card back to you Kevin. Bank error in Bob Walk's favor. Free Derrek Lee cards just don't fall off trees.

The relic hits from the box were actually good names. Kevin pulled a Piazza jersey that was numbered to /250. I got another catcher...

If I can't hit Pirates you always want to pull something that can be easily traded to another blogger. Yankees fit in that category nicely. I always liked Jorge Posada. He was a model of consistency for the Yankees. While his numbers fall a little short of Hall of Fame worthy it was a pretty remarkable career.

The final hit from the box was a Pirate. It was a rookie auto of Mike Johnston. While Johnston's career never really amounted to anything, it is a nice to get a Pirate auto nonetheless.

Cards of some Canadian girl.

I'm sure Kevin would agree with me that we would probably not go after any more of this product unless it goes crazy cheap. Since neither of us really liked the base set and the rookie checklist leaves something to be desired, you are pretty much hoping for good hits. While neither of us cleaned up hit wise, we both at least got players that are easily moved to other bloggers. The best aspect of Play Ball in my opinion is the strong relic checklist. You are pretty much guaranteed to get a big name.

Well Kevin it is my turn.....I'm thinking Diamond Kings! I've been monitoring the price for a while. Seems to be right in our wheelhouse. I'm sure I'll pull you a Babe Ruth cut auto.

Thanks for reading.

Some Pics From the Game

Here are some pictures from the Pirates/Twins game yesterday. The Pirates dug a hole early, but had a ton of opportunities to get back in it. Unfortunately they fell short and lost the game 8 to 5. Either way a day at the ballpark is a good day win or lose. 

Pirates Bears and Burnett

I'm finally heading up to my first Pirate game of the year this evening. I start getting antsy this time of year when I've yet to make it to one. Unless I go to Opening Day I tend to skip April as the weather is unpredictable, but normally don't wait this long into May to hit my first. My goal every year is to hit 10, so I'll have to pick up the pace this summer. 

Tonight the Pirates play the Twins so I'm happy to see a team that doesn't make its way to Pittsburgh all that much. While interleague has lost most of its luster, it does break up the monotony of the unbalanced schedule. Plus the Twins have been playing well so it should make for a fun game. 

The second set of good news is that I was able to buy some tickets for opening day of the Pirates new short season affiliate the West Virginia Black Bears. Here are the uniforms that were just announced. I'm very excited for this since the stadium is so close to my house. The towns response to the new stadium has been fantastic so I think the Black Bears will be a hot ticket. Opening Day is June 19th.

The hat on the left is pretty cool. 

Now for a card.....

2015 Gypsy Queen AJ Burnett Black Mini /5

I've been wanting to add some Burnett cards to my collection. He doesn't have any Pirate autos so parallels were the next best option. Burnett's prices on eBay are very team dependent. Anything high end featuring him as a Yankee, Blue Jay or Marlin are super cheap. When you put a Pirate uniform on the card it sends the price up. I paid $10 for this card. Not a great deal, but not expensive enough to cause any buyers remorse. 

Burnett found out firsthand the value of shifting when he left Pittsburgh to sign a 1 year deal for 15mil and a mutual option for year 2. Burnett's ERA skyrocketed while his peripheral stats stayed close to his Pittsburgh numbers. After the season Burnett denied his player option of 12.5 million and signed with the Pirates for just over 8.5 million. It was an interesting story as he told his agent to negotiate only with the Pirates. When it was all said and done Burnett gave up 4 million to play his final season with the team that helped revitalize his career. He has been terrific so far this year as you can make the case that it was the best free agent money spent thus far in all of baseball. 

Right now his ERA is 1.38. While he won't be able to sustain that his FIP is just a shade over 3. Pirate pitchers generally beat their peripheral numbers because of the shifting so he has a legitimate shot to have one of his better seasons. Either way the Pirates are getting excellent value from Burnett. 

Thanks for reading!

Trade: The Card Papoy

The pipeline is strong from Morgantown to France. If I mail something to Kevin on a Saturday he will get it by Friday. So if anybody has any reservations about shipping to him let me be the first to tell you it is very simple and surprisingly fast. We are probably approaching double digit packages sent without an issue.

Kevin and I just wrapped up our second wave of box breaks with him kicking my butt on a box of Turkey Red. The box Kevin chose was 2004 UD Play Ball. I'll be showing those off in the next few days. First, I want to showoff the extra cards Kevin threw in.

The box breaks have worked as a nice bridge to keep our blind trading going at a 1 package a month pace. As usual Kevin had a well rounded group of cards for me.

Kevin has supplied me with several Bay auto's since we've started trading. He knows the former Bucco outfielder is one of my favorites. This card is nice and simple. The way an auto should be. 

By most accounts Jason Kendall was a huge asshole, but I don't care I wasn't trying to be friends with him. The guy could flat out play. He was a rare breed as he handled the bat and could steal bases as a catcher.

Good old Leaf Signature.  Simplicity at its finest. Very nice Al Martin auto.

By the letter cards hold pretty good value no matter the name on the card. I've only ever finished two complete sets which one day I will get around to showing on the blog.

Chris Duffy came out of the gates looking like he might actually be a nice player for the Pirates. It turned out to be a bit of a mirage. He blames former Pirate coach Jim Tracy for messing with his swing, but that may have been bitterness.

 Museum Collection! Polanco! Parallel! A lot to like about this card.

A scout once said of prized prospect Chad Hermansen that "he could walk on water." That may have been true, but he could not hit major league pitching. One of the more disappointing busts in Pirate history. It is amazing how long you can stay in professional ball when you have that "prospect" status. Hermansen actually got time with three other teams before they all realized this guy just didn't have it.

A beautiful 1960 Dick Schofield. This card is in great condition. Schofield played in the majors for 17 years as a utility infielder.

 Some 83's in which Robinson and Baumgarten are obviously trying to copy John Candelaria's look.

The Cutch is a rookie reprint from 2013. Man, I really miss UD baseball. One of these days I hope they come back. I hope they are saving all their money for a baseball license when the Topps contract is over.

Thanks for all the great cards Kevin. You always send very thoughtful, well rounded packages. I've already got a nice stack of Blue Jays for our next round and actually just got a super cool card on eBay for you tonight.

Thanks for reading!

COBRA

I made reference in my post yesterday that the Notable Nicknames set has 3 Pirates in it and that I only needed the Cole.  I've actually had the Parker for a significant amount of time but wanted to wait and show off until I either got the Polanco or Cole.

It looks like the Cole is going to be more of a challenge than initially thought. I haven't seen one go below $40 and average price seems to be around $50-55.  That is a little out of my comfort zone for Cole.

Here is the Parker.

2014 Notable Nickname Dave Parker /99

The Parker is the cheapest of the three Pirates in this set, but it was my most desired one. Parker has a handful of cards that feature his nickname, but in my opinion this is the nicest version. On card and in bright blue ink, the card does a good job of making the nickname the main attraction.

One of the nice things about collecting Pirates from the late 70's is that all the guys are affordable and still very active signers.

Now I need to get that Cole....

COBRA!!!

Redeemed Treasures

Back before the season started I was adding Gregory Polanco cards as much as humanly possible. After he struggled at the end of the 2014 season the market cooled and prices were affordable. Two cards I added around the same time were redemptions from the National Treasures set.

I'm well aware of the horror stories with redemptions, but at least in my experience I've only had issues with Topps. Panini on the other hand has been smooth sailing. In the past year I've probably logged 7 redemptions onto the Panini website and have gotten all of them back within a couple a months, including one that was expired. Topps pretty much laughs at you when you have an expired redemption.

So when I cherry picked a couple of high end Polanco redemptions I figured it was highly likely that they would be filled. He had been an active signer for just about every major release and some of his autos were pack ready at the time of National Treasures release. Seemed like a pretty safe play.

2014 Notable Nicknames Gregory Polanco /99

Rookie Colossal Gregory Polanco Jersey Auto /99

While a little more time passed (3 months) than I would have liked, I finally received both of these on the same day last week. The Notable Nicknames set is extremely popular on the secondary market. In some ways I'm glad these were redemptions as it made the price much more manageable. Three Pirates were featured in the set as Poloanco along with Gerrit Cole and Dave Parker made appearances. I've probably tried 10 times to buy the Cole but it goes for $40+ every time. I'm a sucker for nickname cards. The Pirates just had so many cool ones like Mad Dog, Cobra and Candy Man. 

The funny thing is Polanco never really knew why one of his minor league coaches started calling him "Coffee", but it stuck. 

The second auto was more of an impulse buy, but the price was right and I can never say no to adding a nice on card auto. As the serial numbers get lower the jersey pieces become nicer. A couple months back I saw one that pretty much had the entire Pirate logo. Some people are still posting the redemption cards rather than logging them, so I may still have an outside chance to chase some of the lower numbered versions. Either way I'm pretty content with these. 

Thanks for reading!

The Silent Bunch: A Reader Trade

Before I started Bob Walk the Plank I was a frequent reader of some of the more established blogs on the blogosphere. I rarely commented, but I was very active. I often thought about trading, but figured I would start my own blog first. My buddy Peter did what I couldn't do.

Peter stumbled onto my blog a few months back and we immediately had a successful swap. After a little time away we are back doing what we do best....swapping cardboard! Peter must have been hoarding Buccos for me as he sent a ton.  This is just a small sample.

A beautiful refractor /150 of top Pirates prospect Tyler Glasnow. Tyler has been rocketing through the Pirate system and has been earning tons of praise from the leagues top talent evaluators.

 Peter knows I love Poloanco!

Cole seems to be breaking out in a big way so far this year. The sky is the limit for him. I'm a big fan of the Finest set.

A nice mix of Chrome Buccos. It was sad to see Martin go, but it was nice to see him get his big payday. The Blue Jays went all Godfather on him and gave him an actual offer he couldn't refuse. I'm kind of glad we didn't give the 5 years.

It finally looks like Harrison is showing signs of life. He and Cutch got off to a dreadful start which is a big reason the Pirates have been hovering around .500 most of the year. 

The 88 Donruss Walk is the epitome of man. Men want to be Bob Walk the ladies want to be with him.

It has been nice to see Steve Pearce do well in Baltimore. When he was in the Pirates system he absolutely killed the ball. Unfortunately for the Pirates it never translated to the big league club. He was given several opportunities, but never gained any traction because of injury and ineffectiveness. 

Here is look at the sum of cards Peter sent! Nothing like receiving a big box of cards in the mail. 

Thanks again Peter for the cards and for reaching out to me. Looking forward to hitting you up soon with some Yankees. 

Thanks for reading.