Hello, I haven't perished: New Blog!

Well, well, well. Let’s give this another shot. After a three-year blog hiatus, I’m making my glorious return.

Hello friends! It’s me, the operator of The Bucs Stop Here, formerly known as “Big 44 Cards.” Does anyone remember me? I’m certainly not offended if you don’t.

Let me refresh your memory: As far as who I am on the blog-sphere: I suppose my identity was a Pirates-faithful, cardboard loving junkie living in Pittsburgh. My passions were collecting all things baseball, all things Pirates, reviewing and sharing hobby box and retail breaks, and of course, connecting and sharing cards with fellow bloggers.

Things have changed a bit. 

Nowadays, I have relocated out to Ohio because of my job (no complaints!) and sadly my cardboard habit has slowed over the past three years. My purchases shrunk to one box of Topps Chrome and one box of Bowman Chrome upon their release, and the occasional Pirates auto. I have a weird thing where I try to own an authentic autograph of every current Pirate, regardless of what jersey they’re repping on the card. Even the trade deadline rentals. This has left me some super random cards names – Marlon Byrd, John Axford, George Kontos, and Joakim Soria, to name a few of the "bigger names". Trust me, it gets even weirder.

One of the reasons I got away from collecting was the way I was collecting – the feeling that I was gambling. I’m not much of a set collector. I PC the Pirates, but there really aren’t any specific players or types of cards that I look for. So I’d find myself buying packs and boxes, both retail and hobby, just hoping for hits. Hoping that I’d dig up some great Pirates cards, but also hoping I’d hit that Tanaka auto, that Ohtani auto, and so on. I was pouring money into cards that I didn’t even want (I’m not talking thousands or anything, it wasn’t out of control), but I started losing touch with WHY I love card collecting. And I started to feel weird about my hobby.

Hopefully, this all about to change. When I first started blogging, the goal was simply to have an outlet for a passion of mine. I had no idea that I was about to connect with some incredible fellow traders. And I’m ecstatic to see that many of those blogs that I began following back in 2013 are still kicking today. I’m looking at you, My Cardboard Habit, Chavez Ravining, foul bunt, Mint Condition, all the way to the backstop..., Bob Walk the Plank, and so, so many more.

Anyhow – I’m done being sappy. I’m going to rebrand my blog to focus less on “hits” and focus more on my Buccos. I used to collect a decent amount of football and basketball. That may make an appearance at times, but I’d really like to zero in on the baseball/Pirates theme. Will I stop buying hobby boxes entirely and hoping for a big hit? No. There’s a certain boyhood magic in ripping open packs. But in three years, my prospective has changed. I’d rather spend my hard earned dollars on my Pirates PC than anything else. 

In an effort to hold myself accountable, here are some goals moving forward:

• Continue to grow Pirates PC, specifically certified autographs
• Get a Twitter up and running
• Post at least once monthly
• Build a set of 2017 Topps Chrome Purple Parallels /299 (monster task - more on this later)
• Send some packages out to you 
• Connect with some new, kick-ass collectors

I'll have some posts coming soon. Farewell “Big 44 Cards,” and welcome to The Bucs Stop Here!