The Legend

The Legend

Monday, February 22, 2016

Supertraders and Whales

Today I purchased a box of 2015 Topps Supreme for the Supertraders group. It will yield only a couple of cards but we have a decent chance of getting something worthwhile. Let's just hope we avoid the unclaimed teams. I ordered it from Steel City so I should have it by Wednesday.

I've been working on getting all my trade posts caught up.  I'm still sitting on 6 or 7 envelopes.  Off the top of my head I know I have stuff from Tony Burbs, Wes, Brian, Card Papoy, Nick and Jedi Jeff. Expect lots of trade posts this week.  

Tonight I will be attending the Big Monday game featuring WVU and Iowa State.  Should be a fun atmosphere as the 9pm games usually create a raucous atmosphere. 

Now for something I'm really excited about.  When I created my white whales list most of the cards featured were somewhat attainable and not priced out of this world. The one card on my list that I knew was going to be expensive and hard to find was the 2001 Topps Base Hit auto of former Pirate manager Gene Lamont.  

I'm not exactly sure how many of these are around, but I've only seen 2 on eBay in probably 5 years. 

2001 Topps Base Hit Gene Lamont Auto

Last week a seller put this on eBay as a BIN or best offer.  His buy it now price was a very reasonable $45. If I recall the last one I remember seeing on eBay sold for over $60. I was able to get the card for $38. Is that expensive for an obscure Pirates manager.....it sure is.  I was so excited to see the card I would have probably paid double. 

Another way this auto helped was that it allowed me to further my Pirate manager autograph collection. 






The Murtaugh is the prize of my collection. I'm not sure of any other certified autos since he passed away in the mid 70's. Neil Huntington is current GM of the Pirates. 

Thanks for reading!






19 comments:

  1. Neal Huntington is doing a damn good job up there, I never hear about him but I take that as a good thing.

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    1. He struggled his first few years as he didn't get much of a return when he traded the established players off of the bad Pirates teams. It really didn't turn around until we signed AJ Burnett and Russell Martin. Prospect wise we did very well with our Dominican academy. Signing guys like Marte and Polanco was huge.

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  2. What a cool whale!! #supertraders----You are the man!

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    1. I have more ideas, but I thought a small box will tide us over until I get caught back up.

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  3. Base card? Awesome! Good luck with the Topps Supreme box.
    I've been watching Dave & Adams website like a hawk for nice deals, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

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    1. It has been pretty quiet. If the Contenders boxes come down a little more in price it might be worth a look. I think it yields five or six autos.

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  4. I went with quantity for a purchase from D&A. Thing is that D&A have those deep discounts, but Blowout appears to have better prices overall.

    That said, hope everyone will be okay with what I get...to be revealed later this week.

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    1. That is awesome. I just wanted to do something fast as I'm way behind posting trade packages.

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks! Tanner had a few cards out there before he passed away. I was happy to snag that one.

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  6. that's a great collection. i recently received a ttm return from former dodger manager grady little, which replaces the ip auto i bought a while back in my dodger manager autograph collection. mine goes back to alston, and i already have a couple of dave roberts autos, so i'm current!

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    1. I've only fooled around with the certified autos. As far as I know Leyland, Tanner, Murtaugh and Lamont is it.

      You have quite the collection. Maybe one day you can show us on your blog... :)

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  7. That is pretty hardcore when you can track down not only utility player certified auto, but management and executives.

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    1. Leyland has a few certified autos so he wasn't hard to track down. The Huntington card was real hot when it hit the market, but cooled to the $5-10 range after about 6 months. The Lamont and Murtaugh cards were challenging.

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  8. Congrats on finding the Lamont! If a Tigers fan saw that card they'd probably burn it, but I'm glad you're able to cross it off your list. I kept an eye out for it myself for a bit and can see why you had no luck until now.

    Also, great manager collection, especially the Murtaugh!

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    1. Yeah, that was by far the hardest card to track down. It had been a thorn in my side for a long time. It is kind of a mystery how many were made. My guess is somewhere in the 10-25 range.

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