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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Selective with Select

Panini Select is one of those sets that I pretty much ignored. It was basically Prizm without the nice checklist. As most of you know I don't let the non license issue stop me, but this set didn't have much going for it. Even when the boxes were discounted to a fraction of the original price I still passed.

The only signer in the set that peaked my interest was Justin Wilson.  No matter how bad the set if an obscure Pirate is in it, I want it.

2013 Panini Select Justin Wilson Gold Prizm Auto /25

The base autos leave something to be desired so it was nice to locate the gold variation. At least it has a little pop to it. It is always exciting to find obscure parallel autos of middle relievers!

Wilson was a serviceable middle reliever for the Pirates for a couple of years. Last offseason the Pirates sent him to the Yankees for Francisco Cervelli.  The deal worked out fantastic for both teams, but it was extra sweet for the Pirates. That offseason the Pirates had already lost Russell Martin to free agency and were in dire need for a catcher. Thankfully Cervelli put together his best season as a pro and was a key component  in the playoff push. You have to like any trade of a reliever for a position player. 

Thanks for reading. 

7 comments:

  1. And later the Yankees traded Justin Wilson away for Luis Cessa (who the Tigers originally got in the Cespedes trade) and Chad Green.

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    1. The life of a left handed reliever. Poor guys never stay in one place long. He was a little bit of a late bloomer so he doesn't even hit free agency until 2019. Hopefully he does well in Detroit.

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  2. That gold card does look really nice. It works well with the Pirates colors.

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    1. Oh yeah! The gold versions are much nicer than the base autos.

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    2. Agreed - the gold is perfect for the Pirates.

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  3. great-looking card. I enjoyed Select in the 90s. too bad Panini isn't making better use of the name.

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    1. I didn't like what they did with Pinnacle and Select. I can tolerate everything else.

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