Five Months of Mail Roundup!

2021 and the start of 2022 has been busy for me and I've once again neglected the blog. I've still been buying, selling, and collecting, and I've got some fun stuff to show off from recent pick ups. Let's get right to it:

 

Henry Davis - 2021 Bowman Draft Refractor

 

Baseball America released it's farm system rankings recently, and the Pirates are back near the top of the league at #3. That's what you'd expect out of a rebuild. GM Ben Cherington has depleted nearly the entire Major League roster in favor of prospects, and we're seeing the result in the cardboard world with lots of Pirates prospect cards. 2021 #1 overall pick Henry Davis is certainly part of that, and he's one of the blue chip prospects in 2021 Bowman Draft. Thanks to a TCDB trade, I was able to grab this as well as a regular base chrome.

 

 

Ke"Bryan Hayes - 2021 Topps Chrome RC

 

I've been collecting as many of Ke'Bryan Hayes' rookies as I can, both from flagship and chrome. I've got 5-6 of each so far through TCDB trades. If you've got any, send them my way! 

 

Ke"Bryan Hayes - 2021 Topps Rookie Cup RC Auto - Foil /90

 

This is the only Hayes autograph that I have in my collection at the moment since his prices have skyrocketed. For some reason, his 2021 Rookie Cup autographs are very affordable compared to other products. I am absolutely obsessed with this card - the horizonal style is perfect and it has a clean, on-card signature. The foilboard looks great. I'm still hunting a good price on the same card, gold #/50. 

 

2016 Bowman Draft - Bryan Reynolds Auto Refractor /499

 

While this may seem like an unassming Bryan Reynolds Bowman First autograph, there's something very speical about this particular card...

 

 

Ebay 1/1!!! Serial #10, Reynolds jersey number. I'm usually not one to caresabout these types of things, but as a Reynolds "super collector" of sorts, this was a special find for me. It truly does it make it one-of-a-kind for me, and I was willing to pay a little over value for the "ebay 1/1."

 

 

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor /50

 

I'm getting a little closer to my 2020 Topps Chrome Bryan Reynolds rainbow. Today's mail included the gold #/50, which had been on my wish list for a few months. Annoyingly, for several of the parallel colors, Topps did both a "gold /50" and "gold wave #/50," or "green /99" and "green wave /99." This is creating a little extra work for me, but I guess I could look at it glass-half-full because it's more for me to chase. Not counting the Superfractor, the complete rainbow is 17 cards, and I'm sitting at 11. I still need:

• Green /99
• Blue wave /75
  
• Orange /25
• Orange wave /25
• Red /5
• Red wave /5

 

 

 

Any leads on those are appreciated. Moving on to basketball:

 

Anthony Edwards - 2020-21 Panini Mosaic RC

 

 

Immanuel Quickley - 2020-21 Panini Przim Red Cracked Ice  

 

Obi Toppin - 2020-21 Panini Przim  

 

LeBron James - 2014-15 Panini NBA Hoops Silver #/399 

LeBron James - 2018-19 Panini NBA Hoops Silver #/199

 I've been lucky to pick up some basketball retail through Target online, which is a nice change of pace from never finding retail for the last two years. I was able to get a few Mosaic blasters, and I was happy to find the Edwards rookie, although my other breaks were largely duds. 

The Quickley cracked ice was an eBay purchase under $10, and Toppin was pulled from a pack. I'm a huge fan of this year's Prizm design and an even bigger fan of the photo on Toppin's card. If you've watched a Knicks game this year, you'll recognize that as as his post-dunk celebration.

As for the two LeBrons, those were two needed additons to a small LeBron project that I'm working on. The goal is to get my hands on a silver parallel from every year of Panini NBA Hoops in whoch Silver parallels were printed. After a hiatius, Hoops returned in 2011-12, and Silver parallels began to emerge three years later in 2014-15. With the addition of the two above, I am just two away from completing the "set" of eight cards - I need 2015-16 and 2021-22. 

Thanks for reading!

June and July Mail Roundup

At this rate, this blog is amounting to monthly "Mail Roundup" posts, which will have to do for now. Life is getting very busy, and I'm starting to learn how much free time I was granted during my quarantine-life. Life is back to normal (for now) and it really has been tough to sit down and write.

It's still better than the blog dying all together.  I think writers in the blogging community put a lot of pressure on themselves to write consistently and often. Two years ago I made the commitment to write one post a month, and I've more or less stayed true to that, and frankly it's something I'm proud of. 

The other good news is, while I'm having a hard time getting in front of the computer to write, I'm still collecting at a decent pace and I'm making it a point to carve out time for my hobbies, and I've had some fun maildays that are worth showing off here. And, since I missed a post in June, I'm back to round up two months worth of card mail.

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Chrome

(L) Sepia

(R) Negative

Some exciting news, I've decided to chase after the 2020 Topps Chrome Bryan Reynolds rainbow, and I've gotten off to a nice start. I did the same for Reynold's 2019 Topps Chrome Rookie Card (and since that post, I landed the super), and I'm still one card away from wrapping up that rainbow. 

It's been about a year since the release of 2020 Topps Chrome, and I certainly did not help myself by waiting. I haven't seen anything lower than the gold #/50 listed on eBay or COMC. Aside from two Pirates collectors who each have one of the Orange #/25, there is no trace of anything out there that I need. At this point I'll just hope that a big breaker does a 100 case break of 2020 Topps Chrome and maybe some of these will surface...

Until then, here's what I've got so far:

(L) X-Fractor

(C) Prism Refractor

(R) Refractor

(L) Blue #/299

(C) Purple #/199

(R) Pink

(L) Gold Wave #/50

(R) Green Wave #/99

The best part about building this rainbow: Bryan Reynolds cards are pretty dang affordable. Don't forget that this dude was the starting Center Fielder  for the National League All-Star team this year. 

Some more Buccos:

Nick Gonzales - 2020 Bowman Draft Refractor

I'll wager that you'll see a lot more of Nick Gonzales on this blog in the future. Since last posted about him in May, he has moved from the #32 prospect in baseball to #29.  This is my second copy of this card, and I'll likely grab a few more. He has been playing this season in High-A, and I imagine we'll see him rise through the ranks quickly next year. 

Travis Swaggerty - 2018 Bowman Draft Gold Refactor #/50

Another top prospect in the Pirates system, Travis Swaggerty. Excited to pick up my first gold refractor of his. 

Elijah Hughes - 2020 Panini Contenders Draft Picks Autograph #89

Elijah Hughes - 2020 Panini Contenders Draft Picks Autograph Variation #89 

Grabbed a two autos from Elijah Hughes, one of the best Syracuse guards in recent memory. These were a few bucks apiece. Both cards are #89 on the checklist, so one of these is a variation but I honestly don't know which is which. 

A few more hoops cards:

(L) LeBron James - 2009-10 Panini "The Franchise" Insert, Artist Proof #/199

(R) Kobe Bryant - 2009-10 Panini Artist Proof #/199

The two cards above actually came as a lot, and therefore I think I got a fair deal on them. Lots are typically not advised for sellers hoping to maximize profit, so I feel good about snagging these as a package.

(L) Kobe Bryant - 2018-19 NBA Hoops Silver #/199

(C) LeBron James 2016-17 NBA Hoops Silver #/99

(R) LeBron James 2017-18 NBA Hoops Silver #/199

In the May Mail Roundup, I talked about how I'm hoarding LeBron serial numbered cards. I'm doing the same with Kobe. There's not a specific strategy behind this. Both of these guys are legends, and some day I'd love to have a box full of short printed cards of two of the best players of all time. Maybe it will bring back great memories. Maybe it will pay for my kid's tuition. Who knows. 

That's it for this month. It was another great month of card mail. Thanks for following along.

The Pirates Don't Suck (Yet)

Baseball season is underway. Somehow - by the grace of god - the Pirates aren't doing nearly as poorly as expected. With this afternoon's win over the Twins, the Pirates have raised their record to 10-11. Pre-season projections had the team winning 60 games - so some quick math tells me that 10 wins in 21 games projects to 77 wins in 162 game season.

We will actually win 77 games? No shot. The rebuild is full swing, and we'll be sellers at the trade deadline. After we ship out some of our consistent role players for prospects (I'm looking at you Adam Frazier), I imagine August and September will be rough.

Regardless, this has been a fun start to the season, and I am elated to have baseball back on my television. To celebrate, let's check out some of my recent Pirates pickups:

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Allen & Ginter Chrome Gold Refractor #/50

After a miserable 2020 campaign where he hit below the Mendoza line and looked like a shell of the player we saw in his rookie year, Bryan Reynolds is back to his old self. With this add, I'm now up to 38 unique Reynolds cards.  Not only was this a nice addition to my Reynolds PC, it's also another great add to my Pirates Gold Room. I know many collectors are experiencing "chrome fatigue" and aren't thrilled bout Ginter chrome. I didn't buy any boxes of it but I think this gold parallel is a beauty. 

Tyler Glasnow - 2017 Topps Chrome Rookie Debut Gold Refractor #/50

Speaking of gold parallels,  I was able to add this Tyler Glasnow card to my old PC for a reasonable price. As he continues to dominate, I'm not sure how many more of his cards I'll be able to snag. 

Nick Gonzales - 2020 Bowman Draft Paper

Nick Gonzales was the Pirates first round pick in last year's draft at #7 overall. He's a big time prospect, so collectors of all types are clinging to his cards. I was able to acquire this through a TCDB trade. This is my first Gonzales card and I hope it's the first of many. 

Phillip Evans - 2018 Topps Stadium Club Autograph

(L) Phillip Evans - 2018 Topps RC

(R) Phillips Evans - 2018 Topps Rainbow Foil RC

The Pirates have a handful of new faces in the everyday lineup, one of whom is Phillip Evans. Evans made a quick debut with the Mets in 2017 and 2018 but it only amounted to about 50 plate appearances. He spent all of 2019 in the minors before making his way back to the show with the Pirates last year. Across four seasons, he's still only played in 63 games, making him a widely unknown name. I was able to trade for all three of the cards above on TCDB. 

David Bednar - 2020 Topps Foilboard Rookie #/264

While this certainly isn't the flashiest of my recent pickups, it might be my favorite. Bednar, a Pittsburgh native, was part of the trade return for Joe Musgrove. Bednar isn't a big name but he's pitched very well for the Pirates and has earned himself a look in high leverage situations. He's a Pittsburgh native and has quickly become a fan favorite. The foilboard parallels were added exclusively to Wal-Mart complete sets, and they're one of the prettier parallel finishes that I've seen. 

Joe Musgrove - 2018 Bowman Chrome RC Refractor #/500

When Joe Musgrove was dealt to San Diego over the winter, I let go of several of my Musgrove cards, including most of my autographs. I had too many, and his cards were fetching a decent price right after the trade.... Fast forward to last week when he threw the Padres first ever no hitter. I had immediate seller's remorse. Nostalgia washed over me, and I hopped on eBay to see if I could find a cheap rookie. For $6, this is what I came up with. It's nice to have a shiny Big Joe rookie back in my collection. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Mailday Roundup: August Pickups

"Mailday." A term that we use daily in this hobby and probably take for granted. The US Postal service is crucial to exchanging cards. USPS isn't perfect, and we have all have our gripes - but 51 cents seems like a small price to pay to swap some cardboard across several hundred (or several thousand) miles. Here's to hoping that political greed won't interfere with our hobby.

Thankfully I haven't experienced any drastic changes in my USPS service yet. My latest big purchase arrived in a timely manner...

I'm excited to announce that I was able to add a second superfractor to my collection last week:

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Finest The Man Insert Superfractor #1/1

The love for "The Man" inserts in 2020 Topps Finest has been well documented, and with good reason. I was especially pleased to see that my favorite player, Bryan Reynolds, was lucky enough to be featured in the set. I keep my eyes peeled on eBay for most things Reynolds-related, using several saved searches and checking daily. This card went up on a .99 cent auction and I made sure to be there when the bidding closed. I won it for what I think is a reasonable price. Not cheap, but it could have been my only chance to own this card. It still cost me less than a hobby box of Topps Chrome, and I'd certainly rather have this than some mystery cards.

Due to the colorful artwork on this card, you're not seeing much of the superfactor-y chrome finish. It's only really evident in the space by his name and by the Topps Finest logo. The bigger standout to me is the color of the text at the top. The base cards fill in the text at the top with a pink/magenta color. This isn't my card, but here's what I mean:

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Finest The Man Insert 

Nothing wrong with the base cards, they're sweet too, but I'll take the white on the superfractor all day.  And of course, there's a 1/1 stamp on the back!

The seller threw in some extras which was really cool of him to do. Aside from the 2016 Bowman Draft, I didn't have any of these, so I netted 4 new Reynolds cards for my collection in this deal. 

Bryan Reynolds - 2017 Bowman Chrome - Prospects Gold #/50

Another eBay pickup for the gold collection. This was Reynold's last card in a Giants uniform before being traded. With these additions, I'm up to 31 unique Bryan Reynolds cards.

Thanks to a generous Free Stuff Friday from Kerry at Cards on Cards, I was able to grab these two inserts in a PWE. Speaking of, Kerry, I owe you another PWE - I'll get one out soon. 

I still root for and collect Tyler Glasnow, and due to some early success in Tampa, he's showing up on quite a few baseball cards. 

Lonzo Ball sure isn't playing like a #2 overall pick, and any spotlight that may still be on him will quickly shift to his younger brother. Lonzo's only 22 and I think he's got a pretty ideal situation in New Orleans. Only time will tell if he'll pan out, but thanks to Kerry I'm lucky to have a Lonzo rookie in my collection.

Robert from $30 a week habit and I pulled off our first TCDB trade last week, and it was a good one. I've been a huge champion of TCDB on here - and I'm telling you - if you're not on there, you should be. If it were not for the trade tool on the website, I don't think this trade would have happened. Although Robert didn't have too many Pirates that I needed, he had lots of great cards on his For Trade list, and I was able to build up a nice little stack of eight cards and we made it happen.

The highlights are above. Robert was kind enough to part with a rookie card of the hottest young rookie the game. Not to say I stiffed him - I sent him some pretty nice cards too. 

Believe it or not, I'm more pumped about the Eduardo Escobar rookie. Gold border and serial numbered #/2012. To me, Escobar is one of the most underrated players in the game. He 's not young (31) and he's not flashy, but he had 35 HR and 118 RBI last year. Those were all career highs by a long shot, so hopefully it wasn't a flukey year. 

Thanks for the cards, Robert!

All in all, it was another great week of visits to the mailbox. As much as some of us will declare otherwise, it's in our nature to enjoy gifts and surprises - and it's certianly in our nature to enjoy giving to others. Opening up the mailbox to find a PWE will always be a fun little feeling. I won't take it for granted.

This is Blog is Now a Bryan Reyolds Fanpage

For someone who has never considered himself a collector of one specific player, I'm definitely starting to look like a Bryan Reynolds superfan. As I was preparing this post, I realized that four of the seven cards that I'm planning to show are from one player.

It got me curious to check some stats on my Reynolds collection. According to TCDB, which I update religiously, I have 23 unique Bryan Reynolds cards. I also learned that my collection ranks as the fourth largest quantity on the site. There are two other collectors with 24, and the largest collection sits at 31. As I continue to seek Reynolds cards through trade and the occasional purchase, I might be gunning for that #1 spot. 

Here are some pickups from the week, starting with TCDB trades:

Bryan Reynolds - 2016 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

This came in from California, where a SF Giants send me this card in return for two Giants cards. This is actually the first copy the "1st Bowman" I've gotten my hands on in the "paper" version. Topps used the same image on his autograph card in the set, which I have a few of. 

(L) Mitch Keller - 2019 Topps Gallery

(R) Bryan Reynolds - 2019 Topps Gallery

For someone who buys a decent amount of retail cards, I'm a little surprised that I've never picked up any Topps Gallery. These are the first Galley cards in my collection. The artwork truly is impressive and they look great in-hand. I swapped these two cards with a Braves collector in Georgia.

Chris Archer - 2020 Topps Rainbow Foil

Stephen Strasburg - 2020 Topps Gold Parallel #/2020

These two cards have a cool story behind them. A collector in Pittsburgh contacted me on TCDB and offered the Archer rainbow foil in exchange for a handful of random basketball and baseball cards. It turns out that he's working on a project where he's putting together packs of cards of athletes from Pennsylvania. He then donates the packs to his local Ronald McDonald House, where they are added to a prize locker for teenagers. Inside the pack you'll find the cards and you'll be encouraged to log onto a website associated with the cards where you can learn about your home-state legends. 

Once I learned about the project, I offered up several more cards of PA-born athletes - names like Neil Walker and Marvin Harrison. The trader was gracious enough allow me to add in the Strasburg parallel. I feel like this card encapsulates the 2019 World Series very well. 

(L) Bryan Reynolds - 2019 Topps Gallery Autograph

(R) Bryan Reynolds - 2019 Topps Now Rookie Cup

We'll wrap up with my two eBay purchases on the week. The Topps Gallery auto is... the base card with an autographed sticker on it. Very on-brand for Topps!

The Topps Now card is the first I've ever purchased. I've never been too interested in the set although I think it's a cool idea. This particular card drew me in for a few reasons - it has print run of just 376 and it has both the RC stamp and the gold cup. Lots to love. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Mailday Roundup: A Superfractor, Some Bucs and a Trout

Welcome to this week's mailday roundup!

I usually try to start these posts a little slower and work my way up to the big guys. This week is a little different. Let's start off with a bang.

Chris Archer - 2019 Topps Chrome Sapphire Superfractor #1/1

You are looking at my first-ever Superfractor. It only took me seven years of collecting but I have finally added one to my collection. I've wanted one for a long time and this was the first one that really made sense to purchase. Although I'll probably never open a box of Tops Chrome Sapphire, it's the cousin of Topps Chrome - my favorite set. 

When Archer was traded to the Pirates at the deadline in 2018 it was a really, really big deal. The Pirates had a reputation for protecting prospects and not trading for proven vets. The trade was received very positively by Pirates fans. From our end, we were giving up a bust of a pitcher (Tyler Glasnow) a Single-A Prospect (Shane Baz) and potential MLB starter (Austin Meadows). Two years later, 95% of Pirates fans will tell you they hated the trade back then. They're lying.

I was able to get this at a really reasonable price. Due to extreme underperformance, the value of Archer's cards have absolutely plummeted. I watch his cards pretty closely. Last night an auction for his first Bowman Chrome autograph went for $6.00 and change. For a guy that's made the All-Star twice in the last five years, that's brutal. I haven't lost hope just yet - He's still only 31, he was playing through injury last season and I don't think the now-ousted coaching staff was doing him any favors. 

I hope the best for Archer... but I have my doubts too. Either way, he's a good man who's easy to root for and I'm ecstatic to add this card to my collection.

(L) Josh Bell - 2017 Topps Chrome RC Gold #/50

(R) Josh Bell - 2017 Topps RC Gold #/2017

The Chrome Josh Bell on the left has been on my target list for a very long time. Due to JB's great season last year, it's way over-valued. One finally popped up on eBay at .99 cent auction. I watched it throughout and swooped in at the last minute with a winning bid. I ended up paying about 1/3 of what most BIN sales are asking but what I paid is probably about what it's actually worth. Nothing like a .99 cent auction to prove the true value of a card!

The card on the right came my way via a TCDB PWE swap. The same over-value effect was in play, and I had to send my trade partner a nice Manny Machado rookie as well as a Hunter Pence rookie, both of which I pulled from packs many years ago. I was sad to see them go but they went to a great home and I was able to add another JB rookie to the PC. A gold serial numbered rookie, nonetheless.

(Clockwise)

Tyler Glasnow - 2017 Topps Silver Pack

Tyler Glasnow - 2017 Topps Chrome Refractor 

Cole Tucker - 2019 Topps Update

Josj Bell - 2017 Bowman Chrome

Some more goodies from TCDB trades. The Glasnow silver pack card is super shiny and it looks stunning with the Sunday alternate 1979 throwback jersey.

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Rainbow Foil

(L) Giancarlo Stanton - 2017 Topps Gold Label Class 2 Blue #/99

(R) Stephen Strasburg Gold Label Class 1 Blue #/150

The three card above came my way via Alex and Chavez Ravining. The Gold Label blue parallels were part of a recent contest in which I was fortunate enough to finish in the prize pool. Alex was also kind enough to throw in the Reynolds rainbow foil card as well as few other Pirates. I'm still chasing down his rookie cards, and now his second year cards are showing up in every set. It will feel overwhelming, but it's more to chase! The rookie cup cards are always cool.

Mike Torut - 2013 Topps Chrome Update

We finish up with a random yet rare non-Pirate. I'm not a Trout collector, but of course I'd love to own some cards of the greatest player of this generation and undoubtedly one of the best ever. I don't own any of his rookie cards, and I've more or less written that off as a possibility. 

His third-year cards are in my all-time favorite set, 2013 Topps Chrome. I'm not entirely sure how the Topps All-Star Rookie Gold Cup works, but it shows up on his 2013 Topps Chrome card making it more valuable. I'm more or less obsessed with the set. So much so that I built a set of the blue parallels #/199 over the course of six years. Through that project, as well as opening several 2013 Topps Chrome hobby boxes, I own several Trout third-year cards. The card above appeared in Update and I didn't own a copy. I grabbed the card above for just $9. It's a great addition to a tiny Trout collection.

Thanks for stopping by.