I'm in Deep

Last summer I opened the most boxes I had since the mid 2000's.  This was mostly due to the fact that I was recovering from surgery and it helped with the boredom. One set that went on super sell during that time was 2014 Donruss. Around the time of the 2014 National I believe Dave and Adams had a sale in which boxes were marked all the way down to the $40 mark. I opened a ton.

Since I opened a ton, I obviously accumulated a ton of cards.While a tough set to complete, the shear volume that I opened pretty much gave me a master set. A few eBay lots here and there helped cap off the base short prints and the majority of the remaining insert sets.

In terms of autos I decided I would give that set a run as well. The checklist was void of guys like Trout and Harper so I figured it was worth a shot. Each box yielded at least 2 autos so I was able to get a bulk out of the way quickly. Here is the checklist....

1 Billy Hamilton
2 Dave Parker
3 Wil Myers
4 Jason Kipnis
5 Mike Zunino
6 Manny Machado
7 Bucky Dent
8 Kris Medlen
9 Chris Sale
10 Dusty Baker
11 Oscar Gamble
12 Willie Horton
13 Brandon Barnes
14 Martin Prado
15 Brandon Maurer
16 Alex Wilson
17 Andrew Brown
18 Starling Marte
19 Chris Rusin
20 Jordan Zimmermann
21 Evan Gattis
22 Mitch Moreland
23 Josh Donaldson
24 Bruce Rondon
25 Asdrubal Cabrera

26 Troy Glaus
27 James Shields
28 Jeurys Familia
29 Wilmer Flores
30 Didi Gregorius
31 Reymond Fuentes
32 Ivan Nova
33 Kevin Gausman
34 Jay Bruce
35 Michael Choice
36 Daniel Nava
37 Nick Castellanos
38 Lance Lynn
39 Taijuan Walker
40 Xander Bogaerts
41 Kolten Wong
42 Jurickson Profar
43 Mike Napoli
44 Zack Wheeler
45 Vinnie Pestano
46 Michael Morse
47 Jay Buhner
48 Oscar Taveras
49 Adam LaRoche
50 Miguel Sano

When I first decided I was going to go for all of them I knew some would be tough. The Hamilton, Marte and Gattis were redemptions and at the time of release Bogaerts and Taveres were sought after rookies.

I got lucky by pulling Boagerts, Taveras and Marte. Gattis and Hamilton were purchased off of eBay. Thankfully all three redemptions were executed by the player. I thought the rest would be smooth sailing......I was wrong.

Donruss didn't announce any official short prints, but you could see some shaping up over time. After some investigation it seems that at least 4 players were sp's (Glaus, LaRoche, Castellanos and Familia). This set has been saved in my eBay searches for over a year and I had never seen the LaRoche and Familia and only 1 a piece of Glaus and Castellanos.

Thankfully patience paid off last week when the Troy Glaus hit eBay. A few other people must have known this card was an sp as my winning bid was $15. Glaus autos usually sell for much cheaper. I probably would have went much higher so $15 was a small price to pay for a years long wait.

So as of now I'm only 3 cards short from completing the set, but who knows when they may show up again.

While these cards are not numbered my assumption is that they are rare. To not see something for over a year in a set in which a lot of people opened makes me think less than 20 were produced. 

This will be the last time I try completing something like this. I don't consider myself a set builder so this pursuit is way out of my comfort zone. Obviously I'm in too deep with this set now to scrap it, but it just isn't as fun as finding a random Pirate I need.

Thanks for reading! 

Mixing and Matching

I'm well aware of what most of the blogosphere thinks of Donruss, but I will continue to troll all of you! At least I'm not showing the base cards, right! Maybe all of you can put a trashcan beside your computer in case you have to throw up. I guess I just equate the set too much to my childhood.

The patch cards in Donruss were extremely tough pulls. They are all numbered to /15 and fell about 1 a case. While scouring for some AJ Burnett cards I came across this weird card. I guess Donruss had a leftover Marlins jersey.

I normally don't buy cards of Pirate players if they are void of the Bucco uniform, but the price was right since I also added this patch of Justin Wilson.

Justin Wilson had a great 2013 with the Pirates, but regressed in 2014. During the offseason the Pirates traded Wilson to the Yankee for Francisco Cervelli. The trade has worked out pretty well for both teams so far, but I'm in the camp that a position player trumps just about any reliever. I'm praying that Cervelli can have a full year without missing time due to injury.

On a side note I've been hoarding a bunch of cards for trades lately. Mailbox assault will be commencing very soon.

Thanks for reading.

Market Inefficiency

When you buy enough cards off of eBay you begin to notice trends. The obvious ones include Topps selling higher than Panini and on card autos more than stickers. A few weeks back I was doing some searches for Gerrit Cole and came across this....

2014 Donruss Gerrit Cole Box Topper Auto

I'm pretty much a sucker for anything Cole so I watched this auction for the 5 day period as it sat without a bid going to the last day. The starting bid was 9.99 which I'm sure detracted bidders, but I thought for sure it would go higher. Sure enough I was the only bidder. 

I started searching sold auctions for box toppers and overall it is a good way to find some deals on some big names. My guess the low prices have something to do with the combination of how to protect and display. Also, as a seller they are kind of a pain in the ass to protect and mail.

Either way I was happy to score an auto of one of my favorite Buccos for a good price.

A Couple of Birds

Over the past year I've opened a fair amount of Donruss. So much so I accumulated most of the set and a lot of the autographs. Combine that with a nice eBay win of 12 auto lot back in the summer I decided I'll make an attempt to complete the Donruss Signatures set. The checklist consisted of 50 autos, but only a few carry high secondary market value. If the set included the likes of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout I wouldn't have even thought about it.  Here is the list.

1 Billy Hamilton
2 Dave Parker
3 Wil Myers
4 Jason Kipnis
5 Mike Zunino
6 Manny Machado
7 Bucky Dent
8 Kris Medlen
9 Chris Sale
10 Dusty Baker
11 Oscar Gamble
12 Willie Horton
13 Brandon Barnes
14 Martin Prado
15 Brandon Maurer
16 Alex Wilson
17 Andrew Brown
18 Starling Marte
19 Chris Rusin
20 Jordan Zimmermann
21 Evan Gattis
22 Mitch Moreland
23 Josh Donaldson
24 Bruce Rondon
25 Asdrubal Cabrera

26 Troy Glaus
27 James Shields
28 Jeurys Familia
29 Wilmer Flores
30 Didi Gregorius
31 Reymond Fuentes
32 Ivan Nova
33 Kevin Gausman
34 Jay Bruce
35 Michael Choice
36 Daniel Nava
37 Nick Castellanos
38 Lance Lynn
39 Taijuan Walker
40 Xander Bogaerts
41 Kolten Wong
42 Jurickson Profar
43 Mike Napoli
44 Zack Wheeler
45 Vinnie Pestano
46 Michael Morse
47 Jay Buhner
48 Oscar Taveras
49 Adam LaRoche
50 Miguel Sano

At the time of release the younger guys like Tavares, Bogaerts and Billy Hamilton carried most of the value. I actually pulled Tavares and Bogaerts and Billy Hamilton was a redemption so it was pretty easy to cherry pick that one off of eBay for a cheap price. Thankfully he fulfilled the obligation and I have that in hand. 

This past week I was able to knock what is probably the most expensive auto in the set and one of his teammates. 

Off the top of my head I'm only missing 6 of the autos. I'm waiting on a few auctions to end and some COMC sellers to get back to me. One that I know I haven't seen is the Adam Laroche. I'm not sure if they even made that one. I believe the only redemptions were Starling Marte and Billy Hamilton which I have and were filled very quickly.

Overall this has been a fun project that should be easy to put to bed as long as the cards come to market. I should have a better idea of what I'll need by late next week.

Thanks for reading!

2014 Donruss Set Needs

I had all intentions of doing a trade post tonight, but my daughter decided that she doesn't want to sleep tonight so I never got time to hit the scanner. So my audible is to ask for some help with a set I'm trying to build. 2014 Donruss is a little bit of a pain in the butt. Cards 1-45 were the Diamond Kings and Rated Rookies and all were short printed. I've done a pretty good job of accumulating over the months and have just a few remaining.

Figured I would ask for a little help before I hit Sportlots to knock out the set.  Here is what I need.

Diamond Kings
#2 Mike Trout
#3 Derek Jeter     Figures I would be missing Trout and Jeter...
#8 Eric Hosmer
#17 Evan Longoria
#21 Joe Mauer
#27 Josh Donaldson
#28 Felix Hernandez
#29 Troy Tulowitzki
#30 Chase Headley

Rated Rookies
#36 Travis d'Arnaud

Also if you are sitting on any of the inserts let me know. My intentions are to knock out the set first and put my focus on the inserts and autos later. I'm have all my inserts together, but haven't taken the time to make a list yet.

I'm always sitting on a bunch of trade bait so I'll be happy to hook anybody up that can save me some $ on Sportlots.

Live From Houston

Spent the day making my way to Houston for some training this week.  This is my second time here so I'm hoping to have a better experience. My first go around wasn't too much fun as the weather was crappy and my hotel wasn't within walking distance of a lot of the fun downtown attractions. This time I'm in a nice hotel right downtown. Should be able to find some stuff to do.  My hope was to catch a Rockets game but they are out of town. Maybe I can meet some bastards like George on Seinfeld.

If any of my Texas blogger friends are familiar with Houston I'm open for food and entertainment suggestions. I'm don't have a car, but I'm right in the middle of town.

I mentioned the other day that Donruss had a wrapper redemption for three rookies.  I'm sending in a bunch of wrappers to see how many I can get, but in the meantime I also won an eBay auction from a seller that sold them all as a lot. If I happen to get more from the redemption's I'll be happy to trade to anybody else who was completing the set.

Thanks for reading!

Box Break: 2014 Donruss x 3

Part 2 of my Black Friday wax binge was 3 boxes of 2014 Donruss. Dave and Adams knocked the price all the way down to 36 bucks which was a great deal. Each box guarantees 2 autos and a relic card. While I wasn't able to top the big hit from my set of Heritage high number, I thought I had some pretty good boxes.

Press Proofs

On average you will pull 2 Press Proofs a box.  Most are numbered to 199 while some of the rarer versions are /99. This King Felix was my favorite as it was the Diamond King version /99.

 Elite Dominator

Elite Dominators are numbered to /999 and have a cool look. One of the fun aspects of Donruss is that you get a lot of parallel cards and throwback inserts.

The Elite Series

I pulled two pretty big names from The Elite Series insert set. They are also numbered to 999. I actually pulled two of the Strasburgs. 

Stat Parallels

You get a bunch of the stat parallels in each box. This Longoria numbered to 88 was the best I pulled.

Broke the odds with this Gee patch /25. Not the best swatch you'll find, but you can make out three colors. 

The checklist of autos in series 1 Donruss is a nice mix of young and old. Retired players such as Horton and Baylor was neat to pull. I'm on a hot streak pulling Taijuan Walker as my Topps Chrome box a few weeks back netted me a black refractor.  Of course my favorite auto was the Starling Marte redemption. I know he signed this card as I've already received one in the mail earlier this year. I may challenge myself and try and complete the entire auto set. 50 cards overall, but you don't have to worry about any huge names.

Overall for $36 Donruss is a fun break. The base set is very plain and uninspiring, but the inserts and autos make up for it. The set itself is tough to put together as well. The first 45 cards in the set are all short prints with 1-30 being the Diamond Kings and 31-45 the Rated Rookies. I've opened a lot of boxes and still don't have it complete. Also, Donruss got sneaky and added three cards to the end of the set via a wrapper redemption. I'm sending in a ton of wrappers to see if I can get multiples of each card. The players were Tanaka, Abreu and Ventura from the Royals.

Tomorrow I'll show off my Heritage Minors box.

Thanks for reading!

A New Cutch

2014 Donruss Series 2 Andrew McCutchen Auto

I can count on one hand the number of McCutchen autos I've been able to add in the past year. The prices have skyrocketed to the point where finding one is hard to do for less than $50. When Series 2 of this years Donruss came out I noticed Cutch was on the checklist. I figured he would be a redemption as he has a few Panini products that have yet to be filled (I have 2 outstanding myself). To my surprise this card was live. I was able to purchase it a few months back for around $28 shipped. 

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. 

Box Break: 2014 Donruss Series 1

Like I said yesterday my impulse box break consisted of two boxes.  The Topps Chrome box that I showed off yesterday and a box of 2014 Donruss Series 1.  I've actually opened a fair amount of Donruss while I was off recovering from my surgery. This was about the same time as the National and Dave and Adams was running a big sale. For an autograph collector like myself it was a good way to accumulate some fun autos and some trade bait. It also yielded the Biggio Recollection auto which was a nice pull.  I found this box to be a little above average, but not for the autos....

 I like the Dominators and Elite Series inserts.  All of them are numbered to 999.

 Jay Bruce Diamond King /400

 Eric Hosmer Stat Parallel /217

 Brandon Moss Press Proof /199

Nothing too special with the Brandon Barnes auto.  He was traded to Colorado in the Dexter Fowler deal. Miguel Sano is a big prospect that will be returning from injury this coming season. I was happy to pull an auto of the Twins prospect.

The big card in the box was World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. The patch is numbered to 25 and has three colors. Patch cards are pretty hard to come by in Donruss only falling 1 or 2 a case. I guess if there was ever a time to pull a Bumgarner it is now.

You get what you pay for in Donruss. The set itself is pretty plain, but the inserts and "hits" are plentiful. For less than $45 you get a couple of autos and usually at least 1 relic.  I actually had a box yield two autos and 3 relics back in July. In terms of Panini products I still like Prizm better, but Donruss makes for a fun break. I may take a stab at Series 2 once it comes down a little in price.

Thanks for reading.

My Favorite Pull of the Year

Back around the time of the National show in Cleveland I ordered a bunch of Donruss from Dave & Adams.  This was around the same time I was recovering from my surgery so it was the perfect storm of boredom, wanting to open cards and pain killers.  I actually did pretty well in the boxes.  I'll show off the full load sometime soon.  This is just a quick post to showcase one particular card.

2014 Donruss Series 1 Recollection Auto /50

I was pretty excited to pull this card out of the box.  Biggio is one of the those players that everybody likes so even though I'm not an Astros fan I was happy to pull it.  It also helps that the Recollection autos are hard to come by.  Extra bonus for showing Biggio during his catching days!  

Hope everyone has a good weekend.  I'll be heading out to watch my Mountaineers take on #4 Baylor. Hopefully we'll have some good luck and pull the upset.

Thanks for reading!