1st Edition Education

When it comes to collecting I really don't give myself any rules. I just like to have a well rounded collection while trying not to overspend for any one card. During some searching for cards of more obscure Pirates I came across a parallel I knew nothing about.

2014 Topps 1st Edition Francisco Liriano

When these popped up I went to Cardboardconnection.com to educate myself a little more. It turns out that the 1st edition cards were a prize in the Spring Training Access in 2014 Topps Series 1. Each collector that found a Spring Training access pass was given a complete set of the 1st edition cards. Only 10 sets were made of the over 600 card set!

Needless to say a handful of these sets were broken up and put on eBay. Of course big names like Trout and Harper went for huge bucks. Deals could be had on the lesser know guys.  This is where I come in. 

The seller I bought the Liriano from must have been breaking up close to an entire set as he had a slew of Pirates for sale. Being that many of them had low bids, I started bidding on all the Pirates. While I didn't get any of the star Buccos I did end up doing pretty well. 

The big win for me was the Wandy Rodriguez as it was my favorite Pirate card from 2014 Series 1. It had fun cameos of Marte, Harrison and Burnett. I don't remember how much I spent as this auction was won around the holidays, but I'm guessing most of these went for less than $5.  I remember putting an aggressive bid on the Cole, but still came up short. 

In the end the cards I did win better suit my style. When it comes to parallels I really only like to spend money on the silver frames and acetates. For me it is always fun to find rare cards of Buccos that don't get much love on cardboard. 

So if you are ever on eBay and come across one of these 1st edition cards, snag them up. It might be a cheap way to get a card with only ten in existence. 

Thanks for reading! 

Mountains, Car Trips, Dodgers, Concerts and the Bus.

This past weekend was a whirlwind. Right after work Friday I drove to Canaan Valley which is a ski resort about two hours away from my house. My wife's family gather there every year to hangout for a long weekend. While my time was short there it really is a beautiful area untouched by most commercial elements. It is the kind of place you want to go if you are looking for some isolation or possibly avoiding a warrant for your arrest. 

 I stole this picture, but this is a nice shot of the lodge.

My daughter approved of the swing. Even in the middle of summer it can get pretty cool in the evenings, hence her jacket. 

The worst part of the weekend was the driving. On Saturday my wife and I hopped in the car and left Canaan to head to Pittsburgh. Mapquest said the trip should take a tad over 3 hours but it was closer to four when it was all said in done. The Pittsburgh area has a lot of major construction going on right now so in order to avoid even longer delays you have take a lot of back roads.  While it was a little bit of an adventure we made it in plenty of time for the game. 

It was a really nice day for a game. I'm a huge fan of the 4pm start times on Saturday. Good bit of Dodger fans at the game as usual when they make their yearly trip to PNC.

The game itself was very wild. Both Mat Latos and Francisco Liriano had command issues. The good thing is Liriano was able to do this....

If you don't follow the Pirates then it might be hard to fully appreciate this moment.  Let's just say Francisco doesn't take his hitting that seriously. The homerun was his first ever extra base hit.

Good as time as any to show the Liriano silver frame. Liriano has so done a good job of justifying the 3yr 39mil contract the Pirates gave him. Every so often he'll have an outing like he did on Saturday, but for the most part he has given the Pirates some pretty dominating starts. The biggest downfall is that being a strikeout guy he often doesn't make it past 6 innings as the pitch count goes up.

The Pirates would go on to win the game 6-5 as the bullpen held the Dodgers to one run.

After the game we were treated to a show by O.A.R.  They played for a little over an hour which gave them enough time to hit most of the songs you would want to hear from them. If you haven't seen or heard O.A.R before they are one of those bands that sound better live than on an album.

I pulled both pics from the bands twitter account. The stage is set up right behind second base.

The games had a lot of national tv exposure this weekend so of course you get a blimp.

After the game my wife and I went to Jerome Bettis's restaurant for some drinks. It was a pretty cool atmosphere as he was getting inducted into the Hall of Fame that night.

This is the mural that is hanging outside.

While it was an exhausting weekend, I did have a blast. With my work schedule and the craziness of every day life, my wife and I rarely get time together. This was a welcome mini vacation. The Pirates were able to cap off the weekend by completing the sweep on Sunday Night Baseball last night. The only frustrating thing is that the Cardinals sold their souls to the devil in order to win every game this year. You would hope to gain a game when you go 7-3 in your last ten, but the Cardinals also went 7 and 3.

Thanks for reading!

Plugs Winnings and Sweeps

In case you missed it, The Card Papoy is holding a contest celebrating his blogging anniversary. The winner gets free entry into one of our box breaks.

Click here to join the fun!

See how easy that was.  Now you can tell all your friends how worldly you are because you have a French friend.

Speaking of contests, I was the winner of one recently. Brian from Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary held a guessing contest in which I won. Yay me! This past Saturday I received a large envelope....

So many packs! I have shown restraint by not opening these yet. That rainy day will come soon though and I'll be sure the post the results

 A very creepy boxtopper.

This was still sealed nicely so I kept it as is for now. Old Pirate emblems are awesome.

Thanks for the great prize Brian. Who knew that guessing a few letters would be so lucrative.

The Pirates swept the Giants this afternoon. It is their 3rd sweep in 4 series. It just shows how important Cutch is to the Buccos. As soon as he started hitting at the beginning of May the Pirates have been winning. As expected the Cards, Cubs and Pirates are separating from the rest of the division.

2006 Topps Chrome Francisco Liriano Auto

Liriano was on the mound today and pitched a great game. He still doesn't have a certified Pirate auto so I went looking for a nice rookie auto. I believe this set me back $3. 

Cole and Liriano give the Pirates a nice righty/lefty combination. Ever since becoming a Pirate, Franky has seemed to turn the corner from his wild days. Command can still be an issue, but he has learned to scale back some and not try and strike everybody out. The three year contract that was signed at the beginning of the year seems like it will be very team friendly. 

Go join Kevin's contest

Thanks for reading.