Trade: ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession

I've swapped cards with Adam from ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession a couple times now.  A while back I pulled a few Giant hits from a box of Gypsy Queen that Adam didn't have yet so I shipped them off to California.  On Saturday I received a nice bubble envelope full of Pirate goodness.  Take a look....

Jason Kendall was a unique talent when he came up with the Pirates.  He mixed speed, high obp and a little pop.  The bonus was he did all this while handling a heavy catching load.  A gruesome ankle injury zapped a lot of his power and speed.

Jack Wilson made one All-Star appearance in his career.  The Pirates are still having trouble stabilizing the position since Jack was traded to the Mariners.  This is a pretty sweet jersey from his one appearance!

 A nice Melancon black refractor /63 leads this nice crop of shiny Pirates!

Neil Walker was well on his way to his first All-Star appearance until a June DL stint cost him some valuable time.  I think he was second in WAR among NL second baseman at the time of the injury and dropped to fifth by the time he came back.

Really appreciate all the great cards Adam!  I'll keep my eye out for more Giants.

Surprise Package From The Lost Collector

AJ from the blog The Lost Collector sent me a nice little care package this past week.  Check it out.

 Bay was my favorite Pirate in the mid 2000's.  Always nice to receive a cool relic.

Zach Duke is reinventing himself as a reliever with the Brewers.  Nice to see him doing well, as it was looking like he might be out of baseball.

 God I hope the Pirates resign Martin.

 POPS!

Thanks for the great cards AJ.  Always nice to receive surprise Buccos in the mail.  Extra bonus is that I didn't have to climb the stairs in my basement to get these card!  I'll have some Yankees for you in the near future.

Inception

2014 Bowman Inception Gregory Polanco Auto/Jersey

Bowman Inception is a one pack box where you get four autographs and one auto relic.  I don't buy boxes like this so I usually just chase the Pirates.  2014 is a light year for rookie Pirates so it has been a lot easier on the budget.  The last few years have been crazy expensive chasing Pirate autos with the likes of Polanco, Cole, Marte and Taillon all having first year releases.  

This is a 2nd year card for Polanco so I was able to get it for under $20 bucks.  Inception is always a fun set to add autos as the non short print autos can be had for reasonable prices.  

Not as exciting as Allen and Ginter, but take some time to look for your favorite young players.  You might find a deal.  

Have a great weekend!

1/1 Letter Patch

Jason Grilli 2014 Topps Series 1 Letter Patch 1/1

Normally my wife and I travel a good bit in the summer, but as most of you know my surgery has put a halt to any plans of leaving town.  My days are spent in a recliner watching baseball with lots of Internet exploring mixed in between. Not a bad set up for sure, but cabin fever starts to hit pretty hard after the first week. Now it has been two weeks and I'm sure I'm driving my wife nuts.  I'm sure she is happy to leave for work every morning so she doesn't have to listen to me threaten to drive off somewhere to get out of the house.  In my mind I'm still my active 31 year old self, but in reality my leg begs to differ.  

With my new found free time I've spent a good bit of it on eBay.  For the most part I've been striking out trying to add Pirates except for adding the Grilli card above.  I've seen several letter patches for McCutchen, but this is the first one that I've noticed of Grilli.  Thankfully I won the auction and was able to add my first 1/1 of the former Pirate closer.  

Grilli was traded to the Angels not long after I added this card for Ernesto Frieri.  You don't often see two struggling closers get traded straight up for each other, but I suppose both GM's thought  a change of scenery would be beneficial for both to regain value.  The benefit for the Pirates is that Frieri is only 28 years old and has several years of team control left while Grilli is 37 years old and in the last year of his contract. The Pirates have had luck with turning around struggling bullpen arms in the past (Joel Hanrahan, Mark Melancon) so hopefully history can repeat itself again with Frieri.  

My hope is that I can venture down a few stairs to get to my cards this weekend.  If so, it is my intention to send out a bunch of cards in the mail.  While I was unable to add many cards to my collection lately on eBay I've had better luck adding trade bait for some of my blogger friends!  

Thanks for reading!

It's Elementary my Dear Watson

2011 Bowman Chrome /50

Tony Watson is the most consistent arm in the Pirates bullpen.  The lefty is a perfect weapon as he can get out both left handed and right handed batters with ease.  A converted starter, Watson made his debut in 2011 and has never looked back.  This year he has seen his WHIP drop below 1 and K rate rise.  With the improved numbers and campaigning from NL All Star assistant manager Clint Hurdle, Watson was named to the All Star team.  Hopefully Watson gets to showcase his talents in the game.

A Nice Surprise From Reader Eric

Bill Mazeroski UD Premier Jersey /75

Last month I completed my first trade with Eric.  I thought we had made a nice trade, but he felt it was a little one sided and decided to surprise me one more card.  What a nice looking Maz!  Eric, I really appreciate your generosity.  I was perfectly happy with our original trade, but I happily accept this great card.  Look forward to future trades.  Let me know what Twins you are looking for and I'll keep my eye out.  

Jumping Jack Flash 1/1

2005 Topps Finest Jack Wilson 1/1

Here is another card from the mid 2000's.  I've owned this Jack Wilson 1/1 for a long time.  He was never a high seller on eBay so if I recall correctly I grabbed it not long after the 2005 set released for a reasonable amount.  A glove first shortstop, Jack manned short for the Bucs from 2001-09.  The Pirates have had a hard time trying to fill Jack's shoes since he was traded to the Mariners.  I'm hoping Jordy Mercer continues to progress to stop the shortstop carousel.  

Two big series right before the All Star break for the Buccos against the Cardinals and the Reds.  The Pirates have made some headway in the standings and now are only 4 1/2 games out of first.  Lets hope the Cardinals continue to struggle so we can finally catch up to those pesky Brewers.