My Canadian Pipeline

I don't know how Doug does it, but he always sends me a ton of WVU cards. I feel like every package I get is loaded down with multiple autos and parallels. Recently I sent some cards up to Canada and sure enough Doug hit me with a ton of great cards with WVU being the central theme. 

While I collect WVU guys both in their college and professional uniforms the preference will always be the collegiate garb.  This is a really nice jersey/auto of former Mountaineer running back Charles Sims.

I hate that Tavon is starting to get the "bust" label.  Hopefully the quarterback situation in LA gets stabilized this year.

I love Contenders! Always a deep checklist to go along with a really nice on card auto.

Quite the trio of Geno's! Hoping he can find a nice home backing up Eli Manning in New York. Geno got drafted into a disastrous situation with the Jets that pretty much set him up to fail.

Doug is also a nice pipeline for my modest Penguins collection.

This Hagelin is just fanstastic. Probably my favorite looking card of the bunch sent.

Goaltender cards are just so cool.  No wonder Doug collects goalies!

My first Shelton Gibson card!

Former Penguin Tyler Kennedy had a nice 5 year run with the Pens and helped them win a cup in 2009 against the Red Wings. 

How about a bunch of old Panini Steeler stickers! 

Thanks for all the cards Doug.  Look forward to our next swap. 

A 1/1 Splurge

2017 Stadium Club Willie Stargell 1/1

I guess it is not too much of a splurge when it only cost $26, but that still represents a pretty significant single card purchase for me. When this card popped up on eBay I thought it would be cool to own, but I didn't think my high bid of $23 plus shipping would hold. Surprisingly my bid held up and I'm the proud owner of a cool new 1/1. 

As for the card itself I was happy to see such a unique card of Pops. While his last few Stadium Club cards have been great I feel this is the best yet. You know your cool when you wear your own toboggan. 

Bring back Stargell Stars! 

Fighting With the Select Few (Collecting Your Alma Mater)

2005 UD Reflections Kay Jay Harris /15 Auto

Probably not the greatest of click bait to feature an obscure WVU player, but bare with me just for a minute....

Kay Jay Harris went undrafted after his senior season at WVU, but still received a handful of releases from some of the bigger rookie oriented sets. His cards have always been cheap.  So much so that you have to look for auctions with free shipping or else you will pay more to get the card to your house then the actual sell price. 

Over the years I've actively pursued dozens of players like Kay Jay Harris.  It was fun because I watched them all play in person and the cost was minimal.  It is always fun to have a personal tie to the cardboard you purchase.  

As my WVU collection grew I decided that I would chase some more obscure parallels to give myself a challenge.  I definitely underestimated how hard and costly this could be. Most of my focus goes to bigger WVU names like Pat White, Steve Slaton and Joe Alexander.  They surprisingly still have a strong market when you get into the low numbered cards.  Many cards still go into the $20 to $30 range.  Not break the bank type of numbers, but if I'm going to spend that kind of money I would rather it be on my Pirates collection.  Even the Kay Jay Harris above set me back $8.  

I'm beginning to think I might have some luck scouring Sportlots and Just Commons. My hope is that the seller would just assume that this is just some scrub card that no one would really want.  In theory I kind of thought this would be true on eBay auctions, but obviously there is someone just like me wanting to add obscure WVU players to their collection.  

I guess long story short is don't underestimate college collectors. 

Thanks for reading! 

  

Optical Illusion

2017 Donruss Optic Ivan Nova Autograph

Not the nicest looking card you will find, but it's Ivan Nova's first certified auto as a Bucco. Kuddos to Panini for branching out their Pirate checklists in 2017.  I've been able to snag this Nova and a David Freese auto in a two week span.  Topps continues to rehash the same veteran Buccos over and over.  I get having big rookies in every set, but maybe after the 50th Starling Marte auto we could try someone else.......just a thought.  

Nova has come back to earth his last 10 starts, but his overall body of work has been solid when you consider the bargain contract the Pirates gave (3yr 26mil).  Relievers have been getting those type of deals so the Buccos have to be happy to get some cheap innings.  

I have my fingers crossed that Francisco Cervelli and Felipe Rivero get an auto soon! 

Bo Knows......How to Destroy My Scanner

Last month Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life contacted me about some Pirate cards I might be interested in.  Of course I rarely ever say no to a trade so Bo sent them my way along with a lot of All Star cards I won in his version of the Big Fun Game. 

So many cards!!!!

Attempting to sort.....

The easiest way to display my favorites were to put them in player order.  Most of the cards I feature are from the early 2000's.  So many great forgotten sets! Buckle in and enjoy the scans. 

Kind of hard to see, but this is a WBC Chrome card of Gift Ngoepe.  Gift became the first African born player to make it to the major leagues this year.

Ultra was very underrated.

Plenty more Jack Wilson below, but I just wanted to feature a Fleer Legacy card. I love these obscure sets.

Matt Morris was horrible for the Buccos, but I love getting some short term guys.

Kuwata made his major league debut with the Pirates in 2007 as a 39 year old rookie.  He became the first Japanese player in Pirates history.  The stay was short as he was designated for assignment two months later.  The Pirates tried to get him to stay on as a coach but he declined and went back to Japan.

Pokey was one of the better defenders in the early 2000's but his hitting left something to be desired.

Craig Wilson was a personal favorite during his Pittsburgh days.

Bo gave me a ton of Bowman rookies.  Here is a sample of guys that made it to Pittsburgh.

Upper Deck MVP was a set I purchased a lot.  UD had some nice sets for those on a strict budget between MVP and Collectors Choice.

I think Jack Wilson might still be the longest tenured Pirates in the PNC park era.  Counting minor league time Cutch probably has him since Jack was a Cardinals prospect.

Fleer Tradition was another fun set that was affordable.

Don't drink and scan kids.

So much Fleer!

Now it is time for cool baseball card guy Jason Kendall.

I think my favorite is the UD celebrating the win card.

Next up is Aramis Ramirez.  Surprisingly he beat out Giles and Kendall for the most unique cards in the box.

I scanned the Sports Illustrated card separately because Nunez and Ramirez are listed wrong. I've always been partial to the canvas Diamond Kings card so that is my choice of best of the bunch.

4 unique cards of Mr. Operation Shutdown himself Derek Bell.  He was a real life Pirate as he basically took the teams money and vanished without a trace.

Dennys!!!! My brother and I use to beg to eat at Dennys so we could get cards.  We would always fight over the Pirates.

Freddy was great during his stint as a Pirate. He has a decent amount of cardboard representing his time in Pittsburgh, but it always felt like he should have more.

I'm a sucker for a good managers card.  Lloyd Mclendon is probably most remembered for a blowup he had during a game in which he took a base back to the dugout.  That should be a card.

A good game for Pirates fans is to see who can name the most players in this picture.  It is pretty hard.

Here are my favorite cards from the Big Fun Game.

This card has been featured on the blogs before, but it is always worth showing. Randy Johnson batting was an event worth documenting.

One of the more unique players in recent memory.  Such a great looking card.


Thanks for all the great cards Bo. I just pulled the trigger on a COMC order that has some cards for you as a thank you for the Pirates lot and the Big Fun Game.  This was a ton of fun to sort through.

Thanks for reading!

Frankenstein Card

2006 Bowman Originals Jason Bay Auto/Relic 1/1

This card made me laugh so I put in a small bid and sure enough I won it.  The fact it was a reissue of a relic from 2002 then signed and hand numbered in 2006 seems kind of weird. Who knows, this card might actually be fake.  The Bowman Originals set was riddled with counterfeits on the secondary market.  I remember at one point seeing a handful of fake McCutchen autographs on eBay. I even contacted a seller directly to tell him he may want to take a card down. 

The issue is that most of the autos were stickers so people could manipulate the card and numbering. If you ever think about spending any significant cash on a card from this set make sure you do some research.  It is amazing what people will manipulate in order to make a few bucks.  

Thanks for reading! 

Kiss My Acetate

I'm still trying to scan a billion cards that Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life sent me last week. Hopefully get that finished tomorrow, but we will see.  Damn scanner is loud and close to were my daughter sleeps.

Gerrit Cole Topps Series 2 Clear Acetate Parallel /10

Do I think too many parallels exist,....yes. With that being said I do have a handful that I seek out every year. For the last couple of years my favorites have been the silver frame and clear acetate cards from flagship. Last year Topps decided to make the silver frames 1/1's instead of numbered to /20 like the previous couple of years. That is a good way to price someone out of a collection. I don't even think they produced the framed cards this year. That leaves me with the acetate cards in flagship.

One odd thing I've noticed about the acetate cards is that I've purchased many via the Buy it Now option. When you put a low numbered card on auction you are always rolling the dice, but in my experience the acetate cards hold their value very well. You seldom see them sell for below $10. The BIN price for this Cole was $15 with free shipping.  That seemed reasonable so I pulled the trigger. 

I often think I'm drawn to these cards because they remind of some crazy 90's early 2000's parallel. While many people were out of collecting at this time, I was going strong and fell in love with cheaper brands like Pacific. You add some lightning bolts and make this a diecut this could easily be a Pacific card.  :)

Thanks for reading!