New NOW

Finally had some time to get through some non JBF mail today.  Pretty excited about two cards that were unearthed.  As many of you know I'm an unapologetic NOW supporter. 

For the first two years the Pirates have been middle of the road in terms of cards produced which has made it a fairly easy set build. The most notable card produced happened to be card #1 in the NOW set (Francisco Liriano). I remember spending $30 on it and feeling ashamed.  Now it can fetch about 10X that so it turned out to be a wise move.

This year the Pirates are setting a higher pace in terms of production.  As of today they've had 6 produced. The above are the first I've received so far.  I'm most excited about the Colin Moran card as it marks his first card as a Pirate (minus the Spring Training NOW card). It was a legit cool moment too as he blasted a Grand Slam in his first home at bat.  Always refreshing when a non walk off NOW card is produced.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Triple Threat

I've been away from home most of the weekend, but I wanted to showoff this bad boy. It is one of the nicest cards I've added in a long time. 

2016 Triple Threads Marte/Polanco/Harrison Auto /27

You don't often see triple autos that feature three every day players, but such is the case with this awesome Triple Threads card sent to me by my good pal Kevin of Card Papoy fame. He had told me to expect a high end direct delivery from eBay, but you don't really prepare for an awesome triple auto. 

I have a bunch of cards from Kevin to showoff soon, but obviously you can see why this one needs a post all to its self.  Wow Kevin!!!!!!!!

El Coffee

I lied about getting back to cards today.  What I do have is a new bobblehead! The extra bonus of the bachelor party weekend was that the game we attended was Gregory "El Coffee" Polanco bobblehead night.

This year the Pirates started limiting many of the giveaways to 20,000 so I was pretty adamant about getting to the stadium early.  A couple months back my buddy and I went to Jordy Mercer bobblehead night and missed out.  We stayed a tad too long at the bar.  Man, that still pisses me off.

The funny thing is the nickname has really nothing to do with coffee.  His coach when he was 15 years old said he looked and acted like another player that had the same nickname. It just stuck after that.  A+ marketing game by Dunkin Donuts to get on the sponsorship.

While it is not as cool as my tipping chair Bob Walk bobble, the coffee aspect makes it quirky and fun. Now I just need to find one of those singing Cervelli bobbles!

Thanks for reading.

Liking Lots a Lot

Other than my box breaks with Kevin from Card Papoy and Brian from HSCA, my main way to accumulate trade bait is buying lots off of eBay.  Either a box breaker is getting rid of his Judgeless loot in one mega lot or the seller offers great combined shipping rates.  My latest pickup was of the combined shipping nature.

 I won several non Pirates, but this one was my favorite. Bowman Inception is always a much cheaper way to get a high end prospects autograph or future Game of Thrones actors.

 Polanco cards are dirt cheap right now as he is getting really close to being labeled the dreaded "injury proned" player.  This only cost me $8, which is about half of what it would have been last year.

 This jersey/auto cost me $4. When Polanco was first called up these were in the $30 range.

I always mention how collecting the late 70's Pirates is really cheap.  Players like Madlock, Parker and Al Oliver all sell low.  This Topps Supreme Madlock only set me back $3.

If you are a frequent purchaser on eBay it may be worth your time to check the sellers other listings. Usually I see a Pirate card I like and put a bunch of low ball bids on other auctions.  You may be surprised what you end up with.

Thanks for reading!

Opening Day Dud

The Pirates and Red Sox played a weird game today.  Both teams had one big inning, but the Red Sox got the bigger blow by hitting a homer in theirs which proved to be the difference.  Both starting pitchers were probably a little better than their stat lines will show as the game was moving at a vigorous pace until the fifth inning.  The Pirates will have their work cut out for them on Wednesday having to face Chris Sale.  I'm hoping our success against left handed pitching continues into this year!

I was happy to see Polanco do well for the Dominican Republic in the WBC.  It was cool to see him and Marte in the outfield together.  Of course I was a sucker for the Topps Now cards featuring any Bucco at the WBC. I nabbed a couple Cutch cards that I'm still waiting for.

Hope everyone is enjoying one of the best days of the year!

Card Shaming

I've been good lately about not getting trapped into buying a card I really didn't want. I'm sure many of you have had that moment when you put in a bid and instantly regret it. Well a couple months back I had one of those.  In the grand scheme of things it wasn't a ton of money, but just enough to get mad at myself.

One of my favorite cards of 2015 was the Series 1 Pirates team card. I wasn't chasing a rainbow, but I made a conscience effort to accumulate the parallels that I enjoy like the silver frame and clear acetate. Well in early December this card popped up.

2015 Topps Mini Pirates Team Card /10

Obviously I like this card, but I've made it kind of an unwritten rule to not go crazy on parallels that aren't the silver and acetate variety. Obviously if I'm showing the card you know how the story ends. I ended up paying over $25 for this card. The price was really not too far out of whack, but it was the lack of discipline that pissed me off. For the most part when a card gets over the price of a blaster I usually stop and ask myself "do I really want this card." Instead of waiting I got sucked into the moment and overpaid for a card in which I could have done without.

This use to be a lot more common occurrence when I was younger and single. Now the goal is to make sure money is going to a card I actually enjoy and not blindly accumulating cards for the hell of it. Lesson Learned.....

Thanks for reading. 

Have no Fear

A few months back Zach "The Underdog" participated is some random group breaks in which his designated team was the Pirates. Being a cool dude he contacted me about a trade. I was able to find him a few high end Padres in order to secure these beauties.....

This is kind of a crappy scan, but this card was the main attraction. 2014 National Treasures was a great set for Buccos. This Cutch is /99 and features his nickname to go along with a jumbo jersey piece. Awesome! 

 I can remember if Bowman Sterling was part of the break or if Zach had this one put aside for me. Either way I'm happy to add McGuire cards to the collection.  Reese is a high end prospect in which the Pirates drafted along side Austin Meadows in the first round a couple years back. Most prospect evaluators loved what the Pirates did that years as both McGuire and Meadows look to be top talents.

 The other high end card of the trade is this Gregory Polanco auto jersey. Obviously I'm a huge fan of Polanco as he has high ceiling. Even with his bat still trying to adjust to major league pitching his defense and baserunning allow him to be a very valuable player. If he learns to hit a little more he would be a comparable to someone like Alex Gordon but with more speed.

 Some GQ Buccos. I was a fan of the Walkoff winner subset. The card featuring Walker was a walkoff homer opening day.

 It is looking more and more like Josh Bell might play a significant role in Pittsburgh next year at first base. Always exciting when the home grown players make their debut.  If all goes well Top 10 prospects Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Josh Bell and Alen Hanson should debut.

Some of the hardest cards to get my hands on are commons from the high end sets like Museum Collection. Always thankful to receive those in trades!

Thanks for the trade Zach. I'll be sure to hit you back in the near future. I've been accumulating some trade bait since our last deal.

Thanks for reading.

Walk, Papoy, HSCA Collaboration #11 (Marte Partay Addition)

As you can tell our box breaks were very close together this time around. I received packages from Brian and Kevin just a couple days apart. Obviously not a bad problem to have.

Kevin decided to roll the dice with a box of 2002 SPX. This set doesn't provide much in the way for base cards, but gives the opportunity for a monster hit. While that didn't happen, part of my haul was a Frank Thomas jersey that I immediately traded to Kevin for a Pirate card to be named later and some foie gras.

Since that was really my only card of substance I'll just show a couple of base cards that proves we actually opened the product. SPX is a very star oriented set so most of the big names are in there.

 I'm guessing the Captain is enjoying retirement.  I believe he is engaged to Hannah Davis.

 She seems nice.

 I got two Pirates out of the set. Giles and Ramirez are welcome additions.


So that pretty much sums up the break, but we are far from done.  Kevin sent some crazy nice Pirates to keep our long blind trade going.

National Treasures was stocked full of great Pirate cards. I made it a mission to find the Notable Nickname cards and hunted down Polanco's like it was my job. Well, Kevin has helped me in this crusade by sending this unique on card auto of the Pirate right fielder.

A couple weeks back Kevin busted a box of flagship. He was nice enough to send the gold Polanco. 

 Vintage is something that is always welcomed. How can you not love the 55 Bowman tv design.

Holdzkom has one of the more unique signatures you will ever see. He came out of independent baseball in 2014 to help the Pirates make a playoff push. Injuries and command issues kept him in AAA all of last year.

You ready to have a Marte Partay?

 Cool auto from one of the coolest sets.

 Things are getting crazy! A Bowman Sterling rookie auto of the gold glove left fielder.

 How about a Topps Supreme Marte auto /35.

 Or a Triple Threads jersey /27!

Holy smokes Kevin that was a lot of Marte's. You really outdid yourself.......but wait

 The showstopper. A 68 Clemente All Star card. Heck of a way to end the trade.

This Bieber kind of creeped me out.

Thanks a ton Kevin. It was really exciting to see so many great cards in this trade package. Rest assured I got big plans for our next trade. I'm not really sure what direction I'm going in for our box break...maybe PANINI????

Thanks for reading.

Personally Vested

The other day I was watching a game in which Gregory Polanco got a huge hit and I found myself more pumped up than normal. It is one thing to actually be at the game and celebrating with the entire stadium, but I was sitting alone on my couch.  Their might have even been a fist pump and an audible "yes."

I'm a pretty reserved fan by nature. A loss doesn't ruin my day nor does a win give me some weird confidence boost. My reaction left me wondering why the hell I was getting so excited for a regular season win. I watch a ton of baseball so I've already witnessed a lot of late game heroics, so what made this moment stand apart. 

My best guess is that my card collecting and overall fandom have become intertwined. I don't collect cards as an investment, but I think mass purchasing of a certain players lends itself to some kind of bond. My brain knows that I've spent a lot of time and money accumulating cards of certain players so maybe their is a certain sense of accomplishment and justification knowing that player is doing well. 

For those who follow my blog on a semi regular basis know that I went all in purchasing Polanco autos when prices bottomed out after his debut. As a team collector this is always the difficult choice. Do you bite the bullet early and risk the player being a bust, or do wait to purchase and price yourself out when the player turns into a star.  For every Andrew McCutchen their is a Brian Bixler, Brad Eldred and Chad Hermanson.

With Polanco I decided to go all in. I'm not a prospector, but I found the skill set interesting. His minor league obp and success versus left handed pitching made you think he was less likely to bust than most.

So I guess that is why when Polanco does well, I get pumped. The verdict is still out on what type of player he will be. I'm just happy that he seems to be finding his way at the major league level. If he continues to develop to something even more I would be downright ecstatic. I might even double fist pump....

All the cards shown have been featured at some point on Bob Walk the Plank. Several were included via blog trade from the likes of Brad's Blog, The Card Papoy and Jaybarkerfan.

Thanks for reading!