Final Contest Promotion

I'm traveling this weekend so I'll run the contest until Sunday night. If you want a chance to win free cards enter now.http://bobwalktheplank.blogspot.com/2015/11/im-600-posts-old-today-contest-time.html

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.

Walk, Papoy and HSCA Collabration #10 (Plus Brian Sends Some Crazy Nice Pirates)

Brian is in the process of moving right now. He sent me a picture of his new house.

Seems like he should have room for his Twins collection. That pool seems a little small though Brian, maybe you can negotiate a little more. I think downsizing to this home was a smart idea.

Box breaks....

Brian went the way of a volume break for his choice of boxes. He went with 2006 UD Futures Stars, 2010 Bowman Chrome and 2013 Topps Mini. All offer some chance of a high end hit and feature some decent cards for our main PC teams.

Overall we did reasonably well. Kevin received a Gary Sanchez auto from Bowman Chrome which was cool and I got three autos,  two of which are productive major leaguers.

This was a pretty decent hit from the UD Futures box. Cruz is one of the most productive power hitters in the game right now. While not super valuable it is a card I will be able to pass along to a Rangers/Orioles/Mariners fan in a trade.

It was a good box for Rangers. Rupe did see some action early in his career, but as far as I can tell he is out of baseball.

This set features a good bit of international players as well as a whole insert subset is devoted to the WBC.  This card was probably worth $100 at some point. I think Dice K might be one of my least favorite players of all time. Have you ever watched a game he pitches? It is freaking brutal. He would take what felt like 10 minutes between pitches.

 A sampling of some of the base cards. Our box was void of Pirates, but overall it yielded some fun cards.

 Anybody that held onto some of Donaldson's autos from this set is sitting pretty now.

 Like Donaldson, Martinez is another guy who took a while to find his way in the majors. I'm sure the Astros regret letting him walk.

The last big rookie from my portion of the box. The Cardinals paid a big price to get Jason Heyward by shipping him off to Atlanta. Some rumors have been popping up that the Braves may look to unload Miller and/or Julio Tehrans and go with the complete blowup of the roster.

 A gold rookie /50

 Some of the Bucco minis

We broke the odds and pulled an auto out of our mini box.  I've opened a good bit of this stuff and have only pulled one myself. Hellickson was just shipped to the Phillies.

 I'm hoping to pull a super rare Wyld Stallyns card!!!

This card wasn't part of my break. I believe it was to stay with Brian, but since he knew Jedd was a WVU guy and from Morgantown he shipped it my way.  This is the pink parallel /25

 Brian threw in some UD Vintage. The Pops steals the show from this bunch.

Very happy that Steve Pearce has put his career together. He was given every chance to succeed in Pittsburgh, but could not shake the injury bug.

I love this card! Kendall doesn't have a ton of certified autos so anytime I can get one it is a big deal. 

 This proof is /50. You get a nice backdrop of the city too.

Now we are getting serious. I believe this is the 1952 Berk Ross Ralph Kiner. I don't have much in the way of vintage Kiner cards. This will be the new centerpiece of that collection. What a beauty.

 This is the most American card ever made.

The final card Brian sent was this purple parallel /10 of Starling Marte. Awesome!

Holy smokes Brian. Thanks for hooking me up with all the Pirates and you seem to be my lucky autograph charm in box breaks. I've been accumulating cards for you for our next break. I'll be shopping for something over the next week. Just to please Kevin it will most likely be a PANINI product.

Thanks for reading!

Spotlight Stealers

I've been much more proactive trying to locate cards I want out of this years Update. Usually I let the market cool off, but the checklist was very appealing so I wanted to see if I could snag a few of the rarer cards.  The good thing is most of the desired cards are from the more obscure bench/reliever type of players like the Arquimedes Caminero and Joe Blanton that I showed off last week. Plates for these guys usually fall around the $10 range.

Now with that being said I knew if certain cards popped up on eBay I would most likely overpay to acquire.  Such as this one.....

2015 Update A.J. Burnett Yellow Printing Plate

Over the years I haven't made it a point to chase plates for more established players. The ones that are in my collection are more of the Joe Blanton types than Andrew McCutchen. My usual thought process is I would rather have an auto of said player than a plate. It's not that I don't enjoy them, but their is only so much money to spread around. 

A.J. Burnett is kind of a unique case, but I was torn on whether I wanted to chase this card. He kind of fits the mold of a Joe Blanton in the sense that he doesn't have a certified Pirates auto. Cards like printing plates are about as high end as your going to get. The reason I was torn is that I'm not the biggest A.J. Burnett fan.  He was very good for the Pirates, but something about him just leaves something to be desired. I'm sure most Yankee fans agree....

For me the deciding factor is subject matter. I love that the background is PNC park and that it features two of my favorites in Gerrit Cole and Cutch. Just like antiques, subject matter can drive a the price a little higher than normal. This card ran me about $25 shipped. In the grand scheme of things not too bad, but much more than I'm use to spending on printing plates. 

By the way if you noticed I try to always type out the price I spend on cards. Kind of a virtual check and balance in my head to keep me from overpaying. 

Here is the base card of the Burnett for a more colorful reference.

Thanks for reading! 

Also, if you like free cards enter my contest.

Contest Reminder

FREE STUFF!!!!! 

I'm 600 Posts Old Today (Contest Time)

Contest Closed

I didn't notice until last night that this post is number 600.  That seems like good enough reason to have a contest. As most of you know I like to keep things simple.  Just leave a post in the comment section. If the turn out is high I may add more winners.  I'll tailor a package to the winner(s) specific collecting habits.

Things have been flowing pretty well lately at Bob Walk headquarters. The trading has still been the main focus, but the collaboration box breaks have really taken off recently as well. Also, I should be able to introduce WAR Games in the next week or so which should be a lot of fun for everybody.

Special thanks to all of those who spend the time reading and commenting on the posts. The interaction is what makes things fun.

Comment away!

Trade: I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning

Tim is a very easy guy to trade with.  He is a Yankee fan first and foremost, but he has an extensive collection that goes beyond the Bronx Bombers. Once I saw that he was looking for some Nats and Rays I knew I was going to be able to hook him up.  I had a quite a stack of both those teams including some high end autos.

In return Tim really hooked me up with a well thought out trade package that has hits, rookies and oddballs. Check these out.

I've seen a few of these Diamond Jubilee cards over the years, but never owned one. From the ones I've seen I'm guessing all these commemorate some type of major moment. Of course the Haddix will highlight the greatest pitched game ever. Pretty cool stuff.

If you ever take a look at Pacific cards on eBay you will notice that prices continue to go up. Some of the early patch cards and autos demand a premium along with the parallels and inserts.  This is a rare parallel /70 of former Pirate closer Mike Williams. 

Kris Benson only had a handful of autos during his playing days. I think I have all the Pirate releases, but this USA card is new to my collection. While he was considered somewhat of a bust for the Buccos he did have a long career. Sometimes the hype machine is hard to live up to. 

 So many Kendalls! The first is the Topps Gold while the middle is the inaugural Rockies addition.

 90's inserts are the best inserts.

 Always nice to get a Cutch. This Bowman parallel is /499.

 Nyjer Morgan before he came Tony Plush. I believe Nyjer is playing in Japan these days.

 120 mph heat

 and 100% sexy beast

 Very young Jason Grilli and Joey Bats. Hermanson was another guy who had tons of hype but failed miserably at the highest level.

Minis! Always nice to get a WVU guy in a trade. Tavon's been much more productive this year as the Rams are utilizing him more in the running game.

 ODDBALL!

Not many Sunoco stations in my neck of the woods so this was a cool surprise.

Thanks so much for the cards Tim. I'll be sending you so more stuff in the near future.

Thanks for reading!