"Set" Complete - 2017 Topps Chrome Purple Rookies

A long time coming. When I returned to blogging in July of last year, I set out several collecting goals -one of which was to put together a complete set of 2017 Topps Chrome Purple Parallels. These particular parallels are numbered #/299.

I actively pursued the set throughout the summer last year. I targeted rookies first as they're usually the toughest to find and most expensive. By October, I was feeling a little fatigue from chasing down the cards and decided to pivot and chase only the rookies.

Also last year, I wrote about chasing and eventually completing the 220 card 2013 Topps Chrome Blue Parallel set, with all cards #/199. Completing that set is, by far, my biggest collecting accomplishment to date. 2013 Topps Chrome is my favorite set ever. 2013 was the first year I got deep into collecting and the set has become sort of keepsake for me and a symbol of my love for this hobby.

As fun as it was... here's the rub: The 2013 project took me six years (granted, I had 219 out 220 cards in hand for over a year while I waited for the last card to surface).

Now, while I don't pursue these projects as an "investment," (HOBBY JAIL WORD!!) I'd be lying to if I said there isn't a degree of "prospecting" involved with this. By no means I am building these sets with the intention letting them appreciate and then selling. However - if one of these guys is the next Mike Trout, that would be awesome, and might help pay for my kids' tuition some day. Who knows. The point I'm making is, I'm more eager to collect the rookies than the vets, as those could really hold some value some day. For example, the 2013 set has rookie cards of Gerrit Cole, Nolan Arenado and Manny Machado. It also has Topps Rookie All-Star Gold Cup cards for Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. All short printed to 199. The Trout one is particularly valuable. 

I remembered collecting the 2013 set, and how I shelled out at least a dollar or two for every card. It was usually more than a few dollars, even the vets and no-name rookies. Alfredo Marte, Mike Kickham, Donald Lutz, Paco Rodrguez - any of these ring a bell? I probably paid $10 total for those four cards for the 2013 set. Multiply that across a 220 card set... that's a lot of money. Hence my decision to target just the rookies for the 2017 set.  Out of the 200 cards, only 44 are rookies. Much more doable!

I think setbuilders would agree that there's always that one elusive card. That was certainly the case for me - I have been sitting on 43 out of 44 cards for a year, almost to the day. I was able to gobble up a bunch of these quickly through COMC. But for damn reason, #59, Kyle Freeland, was no where to be found. Maybe there's a Kyle Freeland super-collector group that I don't know about. Nothing against him - he's put together an average-at-worst MLB career thus far - but not seeing his card surface for 365 straight days drove me bananas. 

Thanks to an eBay saved search, my heart skipped a beat when I finally laid eyes on the unicorn last week:

I was a little nervous because it was a .99 cent auction. But I set an alarm, dropped in with 30 seconds left in the auction, and dropped a max bid that was absurdly over market value. The card itself is probably worth a dollar or two, so the seller was probably pumped to get $6 for it. Paying 3-6x value isn't a habit of mine, but this card has quite literally become priceless to me.

Before checking out the cards, let's discuss the motivation behind the set:

Why Topps Chrome? It just happens to be my favorite release every year. I like that it's flagship but with a smaller checklist and a shiny finish.

Why 2017? *I'm going to sound like the dreaded card investor again for a minute* I really believe in this rookie class. Furthermore, I believe the timing is perfect. It seems that there is always a big lull in value somewhere between one to three years after a product release. The product launches, people pay crazy prices to jump all over the hot new rookies and the next Babe Ruth (whomever it might be that year), and then the price starts to slowly and steadily decline. Then, five or so years after the release, the players that actually pan out are getting into their late 20's, the prime years for a baseball player, and values jump again as they become perennial all-stars. 

Why Purple? This may surprise you a bit - but aside from orange (gross) and canary yellow, I don't think there's a worse color parallel for a baseball card. Give me red, blue, black, gold, pink, hell, even green - but purple usually looks silly unless it's a Rockies card. 

The draw for me is the short print to 299. The notion of knowing exactly how many copies of a card are in existence is such a fun concept to me. The purple #/299's are the highest short print that was offered in 2017, so I rolled with it. I looked into the blue #/150's, but they're a little too rich for my blood. What I'd really love is for standard refractors to be numbered #/500, or even #/1,000 and I'd go for those, but I don't make the rules.

Here's a look at the 44 card "complete set." Straight from my phone camera because I'm too lazy to scan them all:

And now let's talk about some highlights. When looking through each of the cards, I separated them into two different tiers:

Tier 1: Potential Hall of Famers:

#169 Aaron Judge

#79 Cody Bellinger

#9 Alex Bregman

Relax - I said potential Hall of Famers. I know it's early, but the tools are there.

Tier 2: Potential perennial All-Stars:

#47 Trey Mancini

#8 Dansby Swanson

#75 Yoan Moncada

#100 Benintendi

There's definitely room for debate here. Trey Mancini had a huge year last year, and flew largely under the radar because he plays in Baltimore. He was gearing up for another big year this year before being diagnosed with colon cancer in March. He recently finished chemotherapy and is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the 2021 season. God bless! If there's a lesson to be learned here - his cancer was discovered due to low iron levels found during a routine physicals. Get a damn physical!

Dansby Swanson, I think, has highest ceiling out of anyone in the group due to his offensive presence and gold-glove caliber defense. Moncada's ceiling is right there with him, but his strikeout problem is, well, a problem. After setting an MLB record for strikeouts in 2018, he progressed beautifully in 2019 and hit .315, before taking another step back in 2020. Next year will be very telling for him.

Speaking of regression, how about Benintendi's 2020? Sheesh. He was awful for 14 games and then ended up injured. He'll need to have a big year in 2021 to remain relevant, but the raw talent is there.

#158 Josh Bell

#189 Tyler Glasnow

Of course you can't stop by The Bucs Stop Here without some Bucs stopping here. Both of these cards probably belong in Tier 2. Glasnow is, in my opinion, the single most exciting young pitcher in the MLB. He's 6'8, built like a catapult, throws 100+ and has a curveball that falls off a cliff. Sadly, because he plays in Tampa, he's terribly under-appreciated. There is a handful of of former Pirates that I still collect. He and his teammate Austin Meadows are part of that handful.

Josh Bell is also in the regression category, having a pretty weak 2020 after an getting an All-Star nod in 2019. I could go on about his poor mechanics, lack of defensive ability and so on, but I'll spare you today. I'll hope he returns to form in 2021 and all will be right in the world.

There you have it. 44 cards, each with their own story. It was fun to build a set with my own rules - now I see why so many bloggers love Frankensets. I don't have any immediate plans for another parallel set, but I'll wager I get another one rolling soon. 

I had a blast building this set, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. 

So It's Time to Dig Into the Gerrit Cole Collection

The things Pirates GM Neal Huntington would do for a time machine. Especially when it comes to Gerrit Cole. I guess that's true of any MLB GM. For the record, I'm a big fan of NH, and I really liked the Cole trade at the time. 

Let's rewind to January 13, 2018. The Pirates are coming off a disappointing season where they won just 75 games. They still have a competitive roster with a good amount of young talent. Andrew McCutchen has been in a steady decline and has been openly shopped in the trade market all off season. The infield positions were looking average, but with outfield of Corey Dickerson/Starling Marte/Gregory Polanco, and a rotation of Cole plus Jameson Taillon, Ivan Nova, Trevor Williams, and Chad Kuhl - things didn't look all too bad.

This put the Pirates in a tough in-between. Enter Gerrit Cole, the Pirates first-round, first overall pick in the 2011 MLB draft. He's coming off what is likely his worst season in the bigs with a 12-12 record and a 4.26 ERA. He's two years removed from his 19-8, 2.60 ERA season where he made his first all-star team. 

Cole is 26 years old and has two years left on his rookie deal. It's a foregone conclusion that when the deal runs out in two years, the Boras-represented Cole will be commanding a hefty price tag. GM Neal Huntington has a tough choice. Does he ride Cole out? Or does he trade a prized starting pitching gem while the price is high? 

Neal selected the latter. The return haul was three major-league ready players and one prospect. 3B Colin Moran, RP Michael Feliz, SP/RP Joe Musgrove, and OF prospect Jason Martin. It's still too early to fully access the trade. Moran has evolved into a serviceable 3B, Musgrove has been inconsistent but is fantastic when he's on. Feliz is looking like a lost cause. Martin is still progressing in AAA. 

So, here we are in 2019. If wasn't for the brilliance of his teammate, Gerrit Cole would probably going to the Cy Young award, which he deserves entirely. He's blossomed into exactly what he was projected to be as a high schooler and a draft prospect. I'll go on record and say that I truly don't believe Cole would have ever been THIS type of pitcher in Pittsburgh. He needed a fresh start and some change.

When Cole WAS a Pirate, I collected him pretty heavily. I still pick up Cole cards when possible, but I imagine the price tags are sky-rocketing or about to. 

Check out some of Cole collection below.

2013 Bowman Chrome Base RC

2013 Topps Chrome Base RC, Refractor and Base

2015 Topps Opening Day Blue Foil

2013 Topps Update Emerald Parallel RC

2013 Topps Chrome Blue Parallel #/199

This card is part of the complete set of 2013 Topps Chrome Blue Parallels #/199 that I finished recently.

 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen 3-Color Jersey Patch #/5 

I acquired this baby through my Epic Trade with Brian from Collecting Cutch

2013 Topps Chrome Blue Autograph #/199.

Best for last. I actually picked this up back in early July for about a third of what it's going for now. Thankful for that likely timing, 'cause this card is a beauty.

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!

2 Blaster Break - 2014 Topps Chrome/2014 Bowman Platinum

Overcome by "the itch" at Target last night. 

Except instead of browsing hanger packs and picking through the .99 cent packs, I was fortunate to come across some discounted blasters.

Boy I love seeing those big orange stickers. I've seen them on other blasters- NASCAR, Press Pass products, but never on anything this recent or collectible.

I cracked into the Chrome first, and was smacked immediately with the reminder of the inevitable "Chrome Warp."

Looks like these puppies have been sitting on the shelf for some time. I'm a huge fan of chrome, always have been- but the bend in the cards is a tragic flaw. I'm surprised that this hasn't been resolved in the hobby, I can't imagine that I'm the only who feels that way. I mean, it's 2015 for Pete's sake!

The blaster promises a 4-card purple chrome pack, and this one delivered. I imagine the Jeter card is somewhat collectible being his final year. I like the Bogaerts as well, a very clean RC.

Some more highlights.

Moving on to the Bowman Platinum with two Pirates. None in the Chrome, so I was happy to see two top prospects make an appearance in the base set. Bell and McGuire are the #4 and #5 prospects in the Pirates farm system, respectively. Welcome to the PC boys.

Two parallels and a (now) household name.

Here are my three inserts, which is very Tanaka-centric. How about that insert on the bottom? Doesn't it look like something's missing there?

Maybe an autograph? 

That was my first thought- the design of this card is very similar to many horizontal autographed cards I've seen (Topps Tribute comes to mind). For whatever reason, Bowman Platinum seems to love this sort of design and tease. If anyone ever hears of Tanaka signing TTM, let me know... this baby is asking for it.

Lastly, Mr. Bogaerts makes another appearance. This card looks fantastic with the Ruby background to match the Sox Jersey. And again, I'll never complain about a rookie.

Overall, solid return. More importantly, I had alot of fun ripping these packs. At full price there may have been some remorse, but I can live with the result after the hefty discount. Anyone else see good $12.99 blasters at Target lately? Not sure if this was a local deal or a company-wide initiative.

Everything here is for trade, so drop a comment if you something piques your interest.

Thanks for reading!

Nate

Pirates PC Additions

A quick post on this Saturday afternoon to demonstrate that I do, in fact, still collect baseball cards.

One of my goals as a Pirates collectors is to have at least one certified autograph of player on the active roster. It's not always easy- finding certified auto's can be tough, especially with all the roster change in baseball.

This season, I was in luck. The three major acquisitions all certified auto's out there.

I'm a huge fan of Sean Rodriguez, as well as this card. He has a very elegant signature, and I was able to pick this up for a very affordable price (as it should be, he's only a bench guy). 

Another card that I was very happy to acquire. Remember when Upper Deck had an MLB license? This may have been the last year. This card was probably a great pull back when Corey Hart was a complete, 5-tool player for Milwaukee. The story is much different now, as Hart is used only in pinch hitting roles, with a rare start mixed in.

I really enjoy this card. The gold parallel look blends well the jersey color (even though it's Milwaukee). A plain white jersey, with a clean sticker signature... and short printed /99. Solid!

I have yet to find an affordable Cervelli auto. He's having a great year which of course I love, but I can't bring myself to shell out $15 bucks just yet. In all reality, he's very unproven as a professional, so I'm surprised his cards are calling for such a pretty penny. 

So, this A&G bat piece will have to do for now! It fell nicely into my budget. I was happy to see him in a Pirates jersey in 2015 Topps Series 1, and I'm hoping to see some more cards with him in the black and gold this year.

Big 44 Reincarnated, With a Contest

Hello world!

After a 9 month hiatus, I will attempt to make my triumphant return to the blogging world. My time off has been a product of many factors, the foremost being a very busy schedule. After starting a new job last summer I have finally settled in at work and have achieved a somewhat consistent schedule.

There's another reason that I've been away from collecting- which is collecting-related; and I will chronicle that in length in my next post (stay tuned).

But enough about me! To kick this off, I want to see if there's anyone out there that is still interested in listening to me ramble. If you're out there, please join me in dusting off the cobwebs and attempting to revive my blog. It all starts with this contest:

It's essentially a smorgasbord of nothingness! Details: 

2013 Topps Target Red Ryan Ludwick 

2014 Topps Miguel Montero Wal-Mart Blue Parallel

2013 Bowman Chrome Elvis Andrus Refractor

2013 Topps Chrome Starlin Castro Purple Parallel

2013 Topps Chrome David Ortiz Die Cut

2012 Topps Mark Hamburger "Golden Moments" Auto

There's actually some pretty good stuff here. Lots of parallels and shiny stuff.. even an autograph from a dude named Hamburger! What could be better?!

Here are the rules: The contest will run until Sunday, April 26th at 10 PM EST. There are three ways to enter:  (1) Drop a comment. Anything works. (2) With your comment: Detail, in a few sentences, your favorite memory/most cherished moment that took place in a major league ballpark, and (3) "Pimp" this contest on your blog. You know the drill.

So that's a maximum of 3 entries per person. All entries will be randomized, and lucky number 1 will be taking home the loot.

If this goes well, I'd love to continue to do more in the future. Let's get this rolling...

An Exciting Return From My Hiatus - Polanco, PC's, Pimps, and More

I'm back! It's been a few weeks since I've posted, and for good reason. As many of you have probably learned, my line of work requires me to move around quite frequently. I am excited to announce that for the foreseeable future, I have settled back in Pittsburg... just in time for baseball season! This of course means I've got a new address. If you're planning on sending anything, please ask me for my new address before sending. I've put in forward requests at all of my old addresses, so it's not the end of the world if something goes there, but I'd love to avoid that step if possible.

I've been so busy with work that I hadn't been home long enough to set up an appointment with the cable company. I finally got my cable and internet installed yesterday, so I'm up and running for the first time in two weeks. 

I'll start with some very exciting news- not just for the city of Pittsburgh- but for the sport of baseball. As I'm sure you've heard, the great Gregory Polanco has arrived on the North Shore. Even better, I was lucky enough to be in attendance.

And what a special night it was. The young man has made quite the splash for the Bucs, and the entire team has responded well. I've often heard that with him, McCutchen, and Startling Marte, the Pirates outfield should be the best in baseball and I hope that proves to be true. After the game, I went home and scoured my collection for any Polanco cards, and here's what turned up:

Not a bad lot at all. I remember purchasing the auto, of course. I grabbed it back in the fall for less than the cost of blaster. It's value has since doubled, although I would never consider selling it.

Next order of business, the newest additions to my Jason Grilli PC:

My favorite card here is the Archives gold parallel, which arrived courtesy of Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown. He's also holding SICK contest right now, so I highly suggest you head over there right now!

My Grilli PC has been shaping up nicely, mostly because he's not a big enough name to drive up autograph prices. Both of the autographs combined cost me less than a blaster, and the blue Tribute is numbered to 50. I also love his sig, sleek and sharp! 

Last PC addition is this 2012 Topps Jared Hughes Gold Sparkle. This is my first and only Jared Hughes card. Due to Jared's recent success, I had to jump on a nice rookie of his. He's a been a very consistent reliever for the Bucs this season.

I also splurged on a Topps S2 blaster, which I'm sort of regretting. What actually sold me was the $10 of coupons, which I figured would be nice for some future discounts. However, the coupons are relatively useless. My pulls very unspectacular, and I only one Pirate, a Jordy Mercer base card. 

I've posted all of the cards that I'm not looking to keep in a separate post, HERE! Shoot me an email if there's anything you'd like. Some PWE swaps might be fun!

Last order of business: Part 2 of "He Was a Pirate?" will up within the week. If you missed Part 1, please check it out HERE!

Thanks for reading!

My Wax Box

A few weeks ago, I came across a blog post that presented a brilliant idea: Buy packs, and don’t open them. Yep, that’s right. It sounds difficult I know, but it’s actually been one of the best decisions of my collecting career.

(I can’t recall whose blog it was, but if this sounds like your idea: A. Thank you and B. Please drop a comment and take credit!)

So it works like this: If I’m at Target or Walmart shopping for items aside from cards, I hit the card aisle and grab some packs. I approach it with two simple guidelines: Look for bargains, and buy in bulk. If anything decent is discounted, I grab that. If I’m at Target, I usually grab a box of packs from the Fairfield Company, which is basically the only way to “buy in bulk” without using the internet. Here's an example:

When I get home, I take my packs and throw them in a designated box- my Wax Box! My goal is to build up a nice collection of packs, so when I get the urge to rip some retail, I have a variety of packs available to me. If I buy a bunch of packs, I may open one or two immediately and throw the rest in the box.

Above is my accumulation thus far and I hope it continues to grow. Not only is this type of collecting tons of fun, but it eliminates the impulse to run out and buy packs. If I want to open packs, I've got them. It takes a good deal of self control to avoid shredding them all at once, but it really does pay off! 

Now this isn't to say that I don't still run out and buy new products, because I absolutely do. It seems like yesterday that I was eagerly making my way out grab some 2014 Bowman.

I'd love to hear some feedback. Aside from the mystery blogger who prompted me- Anyone else do this? If not, would you consider trying it?

Thanks for reaading!

Four 2014 Bowman Baseball Hobby Packs, With a Hit!

After seeing some blog posts about 2014 Bowman, I definitely needed to get my hands on some packs. I considered a blaster, but opted to hit my LCS. For $17 and change, I was able to secure myself 40 cards with a reasonable chance some at parallels or a hit. That's a way better deal than a blaster, plus I'm supporting my LCS. Hell yeah.

 The design is pretty sharp. I'm a big fan. I like the design much more than Topps Series 1- I'll never get over that weird border thingy hanging around on the right hand side of those cards.

Here are the highlights:

I'll start with two base cards that stood out to me, for different reasons. The Rendon card hit struck me immediately because I've seen that picture a thousand freaking times. I'm pretty sure it's the only picture of him that Topps owns. As for the Morales card, I found it funny because he's currently unemployed. It's not often that you open a brand new product and find a guy in an outdated jersey.

I was lucky enough hit a Tanaka rookie, one of the more sought after cards thus far in 2014. I was thinking about selling it, but I was able to get some good return from a different card (read on for more), so I think I'm going to hang onto this bad boy. The Lambo card is the only Pirate that I pulled. I've already been showered in Lambo RC's from Topps flagship, but I like this one better. Hopefully this guy can prove to be an effective major leaguer some day soon.

My two parallels, both from the "hometown flags" parallel line. The Castellanos RC was a nice little hit. From what I understand this guy is projected to have a solid career.

Lastly, I beat the odds and hit the one auto in the box. It's actually the first time I've ever hit an auto from an LCS hobby pack. This is a actually a bit of surprise considering how many dozens of packs I've bought- so it was nice to finally get a big hit!

I had never heard of Jesse Winker, so I did some quick research. He's a very young prospect in the Reds system, projected by most prospecting sites as the 4th or 5th best prospect in the Reds' system. This guy won't see be seeing the bigs for several years, if he pans out- the story of every prospect. Chances are, like 95% of prospects, this guy will never make a name for himself. 

Based on that, this card went straight to eBay and served as a perfect refund for my original purchase. It rarely works out like this, so I'm feeling pretty fortunate. If this guy ever hits it huge and becomes the next Mike Trout, please feel to come back to this post a berate me. I deserve it. 

Thanks for reading!