New Cards From A Crappy Weekend

This weekend was by far one of the worst I've had in quite some time. Without going into a lot of detail, my aunt passed away and my best friend is having marital problems that appear to be leading to divorce. I'm extremely family and friend oriented, so both of these were pretty tough on me. That sounds incredibly selfish, but it's the truth.

However, before things went downhill Saturday morning, I made a visit to my LCS Friday afternoon. I bought a few packs of 2014 Bowman...then I decided to buy the whole box. This is a problem for two reasons. First, I pulled the auto in the first stack I purchased. In case you didn't know, the autos in this product are always in the top-right six packs. I don't know how or why Topps let this happen or why they haven't corrected it, but it's pretty much guaranteed that if you open a new box the auto is in that particular stack.

Second, I've already completed the 2014 Bowman first run set (I don't know what the real name is, but that's what I call it). Adding 240 more cards to my duplicates box isn't helping me. It's taking up space. But with no other product out that I'm interested in, this was my option.

I was lucky this time, I pulled a couple of nice cards.

This is a Bowman Top 100 die cut insert of Red Sox prospect Henry Owens, numbered 87 of 99. I'm not a Sox fan, so I have no idea about this kid. This is, however, this first die-cut that I've pulled. It can be yours, just make me an offer! If you have one of the Rangers die-cuts (especially the Gallo), I would love to work something out. If you don't no worries - just make me an offer with that you do have.

The auto I pulled is pretty awesome:

A Taijuan Walker blue refractor auto, numbered 171 of 250! If I would have pulled this card last year, I could have sold it for a fortune! However, after missing all of the season this far with an injury, his value has dropped. No problem for me - I really like this card! While his signature isn't really legible, it is very interesting. The card itself is pretty immaculate, no real defects other than a thumb print (no idea how it got there). Anyone know how to "clean" a card? I want to get rid of the print before I send this one in to be graded?

I also added a card to my Tom Grieve collection:

I have quite a few Grieve cards (I will scan them in at some point), but this is the first that is a "food issue." From the panel of a 1977 Hostess product, this card was cut out and kept in really great condition. I especially like that it features those wonderfully awful baby blue jerseys with the goofy font. Add those in with the busy sideburns and you have a card that features everything wonderful about the 70's.

Well, there you have it. My latest additions. I hope you enjoyed reading about them!