Six Years in the Making: 2013 Topps Chrome Baseball Blue Parallel Set

Way back in 2013 , I chronicled my desire to build the entire 220 card set of 2013 Topps Chrome Baseball with a twist: Not only did I want to build the full set, I wanted to build it entirely of blue parallels which are numbered to /199.

I’m happy to say that I achieved that goal two years ago during my blogging hiatus when I finally hunted down Madison Bumgarner. I sat on 219 cards for almost a year before the Bumgarner card finally popped up an eBay saved search. I’m a huge fan of that eBay feature. 

Last week I pulled the set out and went through it card-by-card. Man, there are some memories in here. It was hell of a journey that took a lot of time and effort. To commemorate the journey, let’s hit on some random thoughts.

There were some cards that are a steal for the price, looking back:

• #1 Mike Trout
• #25, Hyun-Jin Ryu RC
• #65, Didi Gregorius RC
• #78, Nolan Arenado RC
• #179, Aaron Hicks RC

There were cards that I paid way too much for, looking back:

• #12, Manny Machado RC
• #57, Jurickson Profar RC – ouch
• #73, Trevor Rosenthal RC
• #138, Yasiel Puig RC – This was the most expensive of all 220 cards. I remember all the “mania’s” around certainly players when it comes to collecting (Darvish, Tanaka, Ohtani), but I think Puig-mania takes the cake. A lot of THREE of these cards sold for $7.50 on eBack in June. Brutal.
• #220, Bryce Harper

There are things about this set that make me really sad:

• #104 Roy Halladay, #88 Tyler Skaggs and #32 Jose Fernandez left us at way too young of an age.
• Christian Yelich did not have a base card in this set, only autos. It was his rookie year.

What the hell happened to:

• Evan Gattis?
• Allen Craig?
• Robbie Grossman?
• Mike Olt?
• Mark Trumbo?

There are some bonafide future Hall of Famers towards the end of their careers:

• #10, Derek Jeter
• #34, Felix Hernandez
• #68, Paul Konerko
• #79, David Ortiz
• #100 Miguel Cabrera
• #168 Alex Rodriguez

Now that the set is six years old, we have a very good idea of what these 220 players careers look like. The rookie class is strong with names like Machado and Arenado, and the Trout card has the “All Star Rookie” trophy stamp on it, so that boosts it’s value. Because of that, I sent these three cards of the Beckett for grading. Grading was never my plan necessarily -- but I guess that’s kind of the point of building a set and then holding onto it: Looking back and seeing what's changed. Digging up memories and preserving value.

I’m hoping the three cards come back with decent grades and further add to the intrigue of this set. Either way, I’m excited to place the set back in storage and pull it out in another two years.

This was a huge challenge but it's been fun and rewarding to build it up card by card through trades, hobby shops, COMC, and eBay.

What do you think? Should I try something similar again?

Catching Up On Some Recent Trades

I've been getting a ton of mail lately, far too much to keep up with on the blog- but here are this week's highlights:

All five of the cards above are from CynicalBuddha over at Collector's Crack. He's a huge baseball fan,  and has some really interesting collections. Definitely worth checking out his blog!

I was very pleased with everything he sent me, particularly the Grilli gold border. I love Grilli's S1 picture- It sums him up well. Buddha was kind enough to throw in a bunch of other cards. Next up, an auto...

Sent to me by Mr. Judson Meeks over at My Cardboard Habit. If you don't know Judson, you probably blog on a different planet. Judson runs a very entertaining blog, and he's an incredibly generous trader. I think I've established myself as Judson's "Pirate Guy," which I am more than OK with. 

I'm not in love with the design of these Trajectory auto cards, but I am in love with a rookie auto from a current Pirate. My thoughts on Lambo are pretty well documented.

Thanks to both of my trading partners, and thanks to you for reading!

My Dormant Blog Comes Alive with a Topps Redemption!

Yes you read that correctly. I received a redemption from Topps! It's really possible- more on that to follow.

We all have our reasons for our week long blogging hiatuses. My reasons are no different than any you've heard or written about- work, school, significant other, other hobbies- etc. Therefore I will not bore you with monotonous details of my unexciting life. 

Although I haven't been writing, I've been actively reading and pursuing upgrades to my Pirates PC. As I've mentioned in previous posts, one of my unwritten goals for the year is to acquire a certified autograph of every Pirates player, however realistic that may be. I've made some awesome progress in the past few weeks:

First up is Gaby Sanchez from 2012 Topps GQ. I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of Gypsy Queen auto's, mostly based on design. The blue ink on card and the fading area for the auto looks really smooth. I got this bad boy for under $5 shipped.

Gaby is currently the only true first baseman on the Pirates roster with a major league contract. He's a guy who mashes lefties (.333 in 102 AB in '13) but can't see the ball against righties (.204 in 162 AB), which evens out to a subpar .254 last year. He saw his playing time against lefties, and as a defensive replacement. Hopefully he can come around this year, as it looks like the position lies in his hand for now.

Next up is Clint Barmes from 2006 Upper Deck Artifacts, numbered to 800. Although this card is a sticker, it actually works quite well. The sticker itself is transparent and doesn't look entirely miserable on the card. It's also numbered which is always a bonus for me. This was right around $5 bucks shipped.

Clint's known as an excellent defensive shortstop with a below-average bat. He, much like Sanchez, is often inserted into the lineup in the 7th inning or later as defensive replacement. He's known as a great guy around the locker room and a true "veteran presence." If I reacll correctly, manager Clint Hurdle brought him to Pittsburgh after being impressed with Clint's character in Colorado.

Here's Russell Martin, 2007 Bowman's Best. A simple card for sure, but I don't ever mind that. I have some beef with those silver auto stickers, but it was the only affordable option for Russ. The sticker honestly doesn't look that bad because most of the card is silver anyhow. I grabbed this card for $10 shipped.

Russ is much more of a household name than the other guys, so I'll save my comments regarding his offensive ability. What I love about him most is his ability to throw out base runners. More importantly, the threat of his cannon prevents opposing teams from running on him in the first place. According to the 2013 Fielding Bible, Martin saved the Pirates 16 total runs last year. He was also runner up for the Gold Glove Award for his position. Not too shabby.

Lastly, a redemption came through from Topps- Gerrit Cole 2013 Bowman Platinum, Jersey and Auto /199. I actually bought this redemption back in the fall, and it came through in only four months, which I am NOT complaining about.  I picked up the redemption card for around $30 dollars, which seemed like a good deal at the time- and I have no regrets.

As for the card itself, it's nothing amazing. The jersey swatch is a simple plain white, and the auto is a sticker (boooo). I love the fact that it's a blue parallel numbered to 199, giving it some rarity. I also like how Cole is wearing number 75, which was his minor league number. He's been wearing 45 in the majors and most likely will continue to do so for the remainder of his career. Overall, a nice card.

Thanks for reading! 

Nate

A Hanger Pack of 2014 Topps S1 and a Quick Puig Rant

A little late to the party, but not too late. Fashionably late, we'll say. I hope you're not sick of seeing these babies just yet.

Yesterday I picked up a hanger pack of 2014 S1 from the big blue box. From what I've seen and heard, this year's design is nothing to write home about. I decided to judge for myself:

It's nice to see a bonafide star gracing the cover, rather than a potential star. Let's get straight into the box contents.

Starting off the with base cards, they're not horrible. I've heard a ton from collectors about the design, and rightfully so. It's different, that's for sure. I don't have a huge problem with the wavy bottom, but it's the strange looking cut-out-tab looking thingy on the right side that really gets me. It's entirely unnecessary. In my opinion, one non-straight edge is plenty. It's also not necessary to have the team names spelled out on the right hand side when the logo is already in the bottom left. But I digress.

This was my only Pirate, which is disappointing. Better Cutch thatn no one though! I do like the Ripken insert, probably because it has the old-school look. Simple, colorful, effective.

Above is the new red sparkle parallels, which I prefer much more than the old emeralds. These look sharp. I also like the Upper Class inserts, which are also clean and effective. It's also cool to see Randy Johnson in a 'Spos jersey, about to hurl an 89 mile per hour slider (that will most likely break your knees).

And of course, the obligatory Puig insert. To be blunt, I am thoroughly sick of seeing this guy. I'm sick of seeing so much praise for a guy that hasn't even had 400 major league at bats. It's safe to say that I will root against this guy in 2014. Combine both his on and off-field antics with the fact he's completely reckless, and I've got plenty of reasons to dislike him.

The common rebuttal from collectors is often, "He's good for the hobby." Is he? Is he good for the hobby? Or is he good for Topps?

I'd argue the latter. Set builders in particular come to mind. It seems that set builders dread having to search for a Puig card to complete their set, because they're either too expensive or no will trade them.

Rant concluded. Moving on:

The top row is the good ol' blue Walmart blue parallels. Not much to see there. I also landed two canary yellow parallels, which are absolutely hideous. I will say however, that the Callaspo parallel looks excellent only because of the A's colors. I can't think of any other team that this would work with though; so A's fans, you've lucked out here. Everyone else: Sorry.

I was happy to see that the gold parallel was at least a relevant, everyday player. We'll see if Mr. Brown continue striking bombs in 2014 and stand out for reeling Phillies squad.

Every thing except for Cutch is for trade. Get in touch if you see something you like!

I'll be tearing open some hobby packs later tonight, so hopefully I'll have another post up sooner than later. 

Thanks for reading, 

Nate