Additions to the Pirates Gold Room

I often struggle to understand my identity as a collector. Wether its on the blogs or on Twitter, I feel like I often come across collectors who are very specific and intentional with their collections. 

Sure, I collect the Pirates. Yes, there are certain players that I prefer over others. Yes, there are cards I stay away from and cards that I'm drawn towards.

At the end of the day, I'm not too specific. I don't have a favorite player. I rarely build sets. 

However! If there's one thing that I love above all else, it's Pirates gold refractors. I've been making a point to acquire gold refractors as often as possible. Typically, Topps gold refractors are serial numbered /50. That's a good sweet spot for me. Only 50 copies makes it decently rare - but not impossible to find. Prices can get steep, but I haven't seen anything too outrageous.

Here are some of my recent pickups:

2019 Bowman's Best Mitch Keller Rookie - Gold Refractor #49/50

2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects Ke'Bryan Hayes - Gold Shimmer Refractor #40/50

2017 Bowman Chrome Tyler Glasnow Rookie - Gold Refractor #46/50

2019 Topps Update Bryan Reynolds - Gold Refractor #/50. This is the latest addition to my  Bryan Reynolds rainbow. I'm only missing Orange #/25 and Red #/5.

I've really enjoyed chasing after these. I feel like it's given me some purpose when it comes to "what to chase," and as we know, the chase is half of the fun. 

Mini Mistake

Have you ever been shopping for clothes in a hurry an accidentally grabbed a Youth size when you meant to get an adult size? I'll admit it. I have. More than once in fact! And apparently, I'm prone to same mistake when it comes to baseball cards.

One type of card that I seek to collect - maybe more than any other - is Pirates gold refractors. They're so pretty.

I went hunting online the other day seeing if any new gold refractors had turned up on eBay for a decent price. Then I came across this:

I mean WOW! That gold background really pops with this card. Numbered #50/50 (eBay 1/1!). I had to have it.

Keller is the Pirates top pitching prospect, and one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. He pitched 11 games in the bigs this year and he was... brutal. There were flashes but overall... brutal. Which makes for a great buy-low! And I've been doing a lot of that with him.

I was absolutely pumped to get this card for a good price. But when it showed up in my mailbox...

It shrunk! 

Yep, I accidentally purchased a mini. I have no problems at all with minis, but they're just not for me. I prefer full-sized cards. It was right in the title of the listing too, so shame on me. 

Either way it makes a nice addition to the PC.

How do you feel about minis? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Indifferent?

2019 Topps Update: Ripping (4) Hobby Packs

This weekend I was able to slip away to the LCS and suppress my burning desire to grab some Update. They had some hobby packs in stock for $4/pack, so I was happy to walk away with four packs. 

It poses an interesting question: Would you rather buy a blaster, or five hobby packs for the same price?

There's no right answer. I'll typically go the Hobby pack route for a chance at an auto. I also prefer to support local business when possible. 

Here's what I needed up with:

Pack One

Alberto Hanser #30
Lane Thomas RC #227
Alex Colome #76
Braden Bishop RC #125
Miguel Castro #163
Adam Ottavino #236
Ken Griffey Jr. "Est. 1869" Reds Insert #EST-13

A.J. Pollock #70
Brad Boxberger #191
Zack Britton #214
J.T. Realmuto ASG #58
J.D. Hammer RD #27
J.D. Martinez #134
Joe Biagini #292

Pack Two

Cal Quantrill #23
Mike Zunino #239
Cole Tucker RC #197

Adam Jones #242
Walker Buehler ASG/All-Star Rookie #8
Kyle Bird RC #80
Michael Brantley 35th Anniversary #84-46

Wilmer Flores #203
Pedro Avila RC #115
Jose Abreau ASG #160
Matt Chapman #157
Ty France #129
Tommy Kahnle #161
Luis Alvarez RC #247

Pack Three

Nathan Evoldi #282
Michael Chavis RC #170
Marwin Gonzalez # 110
Skye Bolt RC #211
Sergio Romo #164
Kevin Plawecki #225
Hunter Pence #86
Carter Kieboom 35th Anniversary RC #84-14

Gary Sanchez ASG #4
Melky Cabrera #21
Curtis Granderson #187
Carter Kieboom RC #109
Yasiel Puig #106
Josh Donaldson #257

Pack Four

Mitch Keller RC #218

Junior Guerra #64
Tommy Edman RC #84
Avisail Garcia #188
Matt Wotherspoon/Braden Kline Rookie Combos #264
Hyun-Jin Ryu #297
Soaring in the Six #241
Sandy Koufax "Inconic Card Reprints" Insert #ICR-13

Jake Odorizzi #36
Mike Moustakas ASG #49
Mike Trout ASG #146
Xander Bogaerts ASG #144
James McCann ASG #15
Chris Paddack RC #207

Recap:

Two Pirates rookies! Considering I only purchased four packs, I'll certainly take that. I'm still hunting for Bryan Reynolds. There were some other good rookies in here, with Tommy Edman, Chris Paddock, and Carter Keiboom (2x) showing up. I also gave myself a shot a an autograph, which always adds a layer of fun. 

Aside from the Pirates, everything here is available for trade.

Curious to hear from others: Did you rip any Update yet? Do you have any desire to? 

2019 Topps Chrome Hobby Box Break

A few months back, I placed a pre-order for one 2019 Topps Chrome Hobby Box and one 2019 Bowman Chrome Hobby Box. This has become somewhat of tradition for me. I always place the order a few months in advance, I forget about it, and I'm usually pleasantly surprised when I get a UPS notification about a package shipping.

The Topps Chrome box just showed up yesterday and I was able to dive right in. 

My card collecting peak was 2013-2015 and for that reason, I really miss full borders on Topps Baseball cards. Starting in 2016 they moved away from borders and now they take the images right to the edge of the card. Minor complaint, just a matter of preference.

In the spirit of being picky, the Last Name-First Name format is an interesting call. I can't recall the last time that Topps went this direction. Not something I really care about, merely an observation. 

Overall I'm a fan of the base card design. It's clean, and there's half of a border. We'll take it!

Kicking us off is one of the most promising young pitchers in the game. Man, I hope this kid pans out and recovers well from Tommy John. There's no reason to believe he won't. I've found myself pulling for the White Sox because I really want all of these prospects to pan out. They committed to the rebuild 110% and it would be nice to see that pay off.

I was lucky enough to pull three Pirates - and they're all over the map. This is only my second Colin Moran card, the other is his rookie auto from 2013 Bowman Chrome when he was donning a Marlins jersey and a clean shave. Kevin Kramer is still in the wings as one of the next-up AAA prospects and will likely be up next year. 

My two autos, both Rookies. Certainly nothing that will blow me away - but this box wasn't a total loss. Ryan Borucki is a new name to me. As a Pirates fan I very rarely catch any AL baseball unless they're on national TV... hence why I haven't seen a Jays game all year. Brad Keller is more familiar to me because I've streamed him a few times on my fantasy baseball team. He's been acceptable or better for KC and seems to have a future in the MLB. I'll hold onto these two and hope for the best.

These two are arguably bigger "hits" than the two autos. Full transparency, I actually had no idea that the card on the right was a refactor until I took this picture. Nailed it!

Really happy to see the Polar Bear show up twice. I'm pulling for this guy and hoping he's here to stay - I'd hate to see a sophomore slump. The Mets are starving for a bonafide slugger like him. 

Anddd this is officially a Mets box and that's quite alright because this a sweet card. You have to love when a parallel color blends perfectly with the team colors. Nothing like black or gold parallels for the Pirates, blue parallels for Dodgers/Rangers, red parallels for the Cards, etc. etc.

This card is the perfect example. It's numbered to 25, and according to my research, this is a photo variation.

Overall, a nice little break. Thanks for reading!