The Other Side of the Move

It's been a little over two months since we signed on the dotted line and bought our first house.  There's certainly been plenty going on to keep us busy, between working on the house, summer fun, and work.  Cards have been on the back burner, and that was probably long overdue.

For the better part of the past year, collecting had started to feel more like a chore than a hobby.  In 25 years of collecting, I don't know that I've ever had such a prolonged period of disinterest.  But it got to the point where my collection had become so spread out and disorganized that it was tough to enjoy the cards I had, and tracking down new cards just exacerbated the problem.

But one of the great parts of moving from a string of apartments to our very own house is the extra space.  While getting the basement fully finished may wait a little longer than I had originally planned, I've carved out a nice little card sorting area.  I have the space to sprawl out, get things sorted into binders and boxes just the way I want, and not worry about having it cluttering up the bedroom or living room like it did in the past.  I'll try to get a post up in the near future with my setup.  It's nothing fancy, but it's made a world of difference in making a dent in my collection.

I can't say I have the full blown bug again.  I was part of a group break of 2016 boxes with my team collector buddies, and snagged a couple dozen cards at flea markets this summer.  But I'm going to make sure I get myself better organized before I consider diving head first into adding new cards on a regular basis.

But that can't stop me from doing things with the cards I already have, right?  With all the house stuff going on, I've been pretty checked out of baseball in general.  But when I saw a Gregory Polanco signing on twitter that was right around the corner from my office, I couldn't pass that up.  After a 45 minute wait outside in direct sun on one of the hottest days we've had so far this year, I was able to get Polanco's Chrome rookie signed.  While I would have preferred a blue signature, I'm just happy to have one of my favorite recent Pirates cards signed.

Now that the unpacking is (mostly) done and my cards are a little more manageable, I'm hoping posting will fit back into my schedule.  I probably won't get back to my post-per-day rate that I once held to, but I'm planning on getting at least 2-3 posts up each week.

I'm looking forward to catching up on reading all of my favorite blogs from the past couple months and getting back into the swing of things.

I Can See Clearly Now

With 2015 just hitting the streets, it seems fitting that I'm just getting caught up on last year's release.
2014 Tek was one of my favorite products, but the Pirates were left in the cold with only one player in the base set.  And of course that player had to be a well regarded rookie.  Polanco's cards were selling well last year, and that made finding solid prices on his Tek cards tough.

But as his prices have cooled, I've been able to add to my Tek rainbow.  At about $12, this auto /50 ran me about what I paid for the regular base auto nearly a year ago.  But live and learn.  I'll have a more targeted strategy for chasing down the Bucs in this year's release.

Welcome to October

I don't think there is any sport I associate so strongly with a season as baseball.  Hockey and basketball feel like a mercifully out of place ending when the winter sports wrap up as the shorts come out.  And while I love a good football playoff game in the snow, the holiday cheer makes the Superbowl feel a little anti-climactic to me.  But baseball?  After a long, sweltering, glorious summer, nothing feels as fitting as the weather begins to bite and the leaves begin to turn as playoff baseball.

 Tomorrow is the third consecutive one game play-in for the Pirates.  I'm hoping for another win, but the Cubs are a tough match up.  If the Pirates have a chance, they need to get the "good" version of the two guys in this post.  No player has been as frustrating to me as Pedro Alvarez.  For all his pedigree and early success, he has always been a maddening strikeout machine.

And while Polanco shows flashes of brilliance and is still very young, the margin of error couldn't be slimmer and a win and you're in, lose and we wait for next year scenario.

But win or lose, I'll be enjoying a glorious post season with glass of apple cider in hand.  Here's to October.

My First Polanco

I'm a budget shopped.  It's just the way I am.  Aside from cards in my Jack Wilson collection, I rarely pay more than $5 for a card.  Sure, I have plenty of $5 cards, but I typically wait until I can snag one at a better price.

But the recently released Topps Tek set had me excited from the day the set was announced.  I had high hopes that even with a small-ish base set, we would still see a fair number of Pirates.  After all, when you have the reigning NL MVP, why wouldn't there be at least two or three cards in the set.

Oh, that's why.  It's Topps.  While Topps did manage to include Orlando Hernandez and Rafael Palmeiro in the set, they somehow overlooked the NL MVP, a recent number 1 overall draft pick, and just about everyone else that wears a gold P.  Maybe they really did want to go to extreme lengths to mirror the original Tek sets.  After all, the Pirates didn't really have many players worthy of inclusion in a short set in the late 90's.  But hell, even the '98 Tek set had 2 Pirates, with Aramis Ramirez and Jason Kendall both making the cut.

What Pirate fans did get was Gregory Polanco.  Not a bad consolation prize, assuming his career pans out.  But it also meant that any hopes I had of a mid-tier player like Pedro Alvarez or Starling Marte sneaking in that would allow me to pick up cards on the cheap went out the window.

But after my case of Topps resentment passed (or at least faded), I started hunting down the best prices possible for these cards, even if it meant stretching my self imposed spending rules a bit.  I landed this Polanco for $10 about a week and a half after the product went live.  It was right at what I was willing to pay, and was the lowest price for the card at the time, though a few have gone for a dollar or two less since then.

It's my first Polanco auto, so I'm happy to cross his name off my list, and even happier that I was able to do so with an auto from a fantastic looking product.  The cards don't scan great, but look very nice in person.  My only complaint is that the autos are on the same Spiral Brick pattern that is the most common base variation.  Unfortunately, it's also my least favorite of the designs in the set.  But hey, I guess with the way Topps put the product together I should be happy I got a Pirate at all.

Stay Gold: Group Break Results

The group of team collectors I'm a part of did another group break on Halloween night.  The break was a little smaller this time, since new low to mid tier products have come to a trickle this time of year.  But we managed to scrounge together a decent break: 2 jumbox of Topps Update, 2013 Topps Mini, and a box of the heavily discounted 2014 Stadium Club, which was down to something like $67 when we ordered (compared to the cool $95 we paid for our first box).

While I'll always stick to buying singles over boxes, I love group breaks.  Not the 85 Monster Case Break Blowout, complete with dbag acting like Don West from Shop at Home.  But a small break like this with some good buddies?  Sign me up.  For $10, I knew I would be getting the Update team set, a few other commons I needed, a couple low end inserts, and at least a fighting chance at a nice hit.

And fight I did.

The break was actually looking bad for my Bucs heading into the last box.  Nothing of note, except for a foil and gold parallel.

And then - bam!  The next to last jumbo pack held a beautiful Clemente Gold Label card pictured above.

Anybody who even occasionally reads this blog is probably sick of hearing about how much I love 90's cards, and how 2000 was the year I got back into collecting.  And Gold Label from 2000 was a set that still holds fond memories, though I don't think I ever opened any packs until a few repacks years later.
 And though the scan doesn't show it, the card is insanely thick.  Like...I have it in a one of those old 25 card snap cases right now, because I couldn't find anything that was the proper size.  I don't know if the card had to be printed that thick for a specific reason, or if they just thought it would look better in a quarter inch thick gold frame.  But either way, it's a beautiful card that brings back some warm and fuzzies for me.

On top of that, I was able to just about complete the non-parallel team set from Topps Update.  I didn't pull the Josh Harrison Stat back variation, and I'm still missing one of the Polanco FIN inserts, McCutchen Power Players, and all the World Series Heroes.  But along with the Clemente I did score the Polanco image variation SP.

While it is a cool photo, and I'm thrilled to not have to actually spend money on this card...could somebody tell Topps this is the exact same photo they put into Stadium Club?  You'd think in the day and age of digital photography, where photographers can literally take an unlimited number of photos without any real concern for printing, storing, or running out of film, that Topps could find one additional cool image to use for this SP.

Not bad for $10, right?