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Tuesday, June 14, 2016

The Bear Project

One of the great aspects about my hometown of Morgantown gaining a minor league team last year is just starting paying dividends the last couple of weeks. Now that the WV Black Bears are entering their second season, cards featuring players in the Black Bear uniforms are starting to hit the market. With the release of Topps Pro Debut both 2015 first round pick Kevin Newman and 2nd round pick Kevin Kramer are featured prominently.


I've decided to accumulate as many cards as I can of the local team.  Since this team is a Pirate affiliate this is really nothing new for me to collect other than I'm going to make a conscience effort to keep track of what I'm accumulating.

Here are a few of the cards I've found so far....


Kevin Newman is very affordable on the secondary market so it has allowed me to chase some higher end cards that I would normally pass on. These two plates popped up not long after the Pro Debut went live.
 This is a blank back 1/1 that I actually was excited to own.
 The orange parallels are /25.
This is a gold parallel of the Distinguished Debuts insert /50.  

The Kramer blank back went live the same time as the Newman.  Kramer items are also very affordable. 

I've also picked up a few lots of the base cards to add to my collection.  I hope at some point to be able to pick up a printing plate of Kramer, but I've yet to see one hit eBay.  

Could you imagine all the Seinfeld references if these two make it to Pittsburgh?  I'm sure that would get old quick. Plus these guys were probably in Kindergarten when Seinfeld went off the air.  

If you happen to pull any Black Bears cards I'll be happy to take them off your hands. 

Thanks for reading! 




14 comments:

  1. Nice cards! It's cool to have a minor league team close by, cheap games to go to. Went to a Wilmington Blue Rocks game last weekend was a good time.

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    1. It is fun. I'm only about a 5 minute drive from the stadium so it makes it nice.

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  2. My local minor league team is an indy leaguer, so not any cards to chase except for team issue stuff. My heart is disappointed by that but my wallet is quite pleased. Also, the Office and Seinfeld in one post? Gotta love it!

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    1. We have an Indy leaguer about 40 minutes north of my town. It is so close to Pittsburgh that I never go. Would much rather just drive the extra 20 miles to see the Pirates.

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  3. You are the Zippy Zappy of Morgantown!

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    1. Zippy's love for his SI Yankees is much greater than my love for the Black Bears. This is only our second season so we are still developing our relationship.

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  4. Does that one card REALLY have a Seinfeld reference on it?

    Pathetic.

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    1. The funny thing is I didn't notice it when I bought the card. When I saw it in person, I pretty much said to myself that this is pretty stupid.

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  5. Your cursed Bears got in the way of my beloved Staten Island Yankees winning the NYPL Championship, RIVALRY!

    In all seriousness congrats. I'll keep an eye on exclusives for you. On a side note, remember to buy team sets available at the stadium. They'll probably have the leftovers from last year for sale this year.

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    1. Yeah, I bought the team set and the CHAMPIONSHIP set last year. If they are marked down I may pick up another. What size shirt are you? I'll see if I can find a Black Bears championship shirt for you!!!!

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    2. Hah yeah like I'll accept a shirt. I will accept team sets though 8-).

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    3. The opener for the Black Bears is Sunday but it sold out. I'll probably head up Monday and Tuesday to see if I can find some discounted team sets.

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  6. Oh man... that's one of my favorite openings from that show. As for them Bears... I like the idea of collecting your hometown team. I've thought about starting a San Jose Giants PC a few times. Best of luck on your latest project.

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    1. I figured I'm getting in early with the Bears so that I can really ease into the collection. I figure at most it will only be a handful of cards featuring the Black Bears uniform. Sets like Topps Debut and Heritage Minors likely being the only sets.

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