A New Addition for the '69 Set

My eBay purchases seem to have really slowed down recently. As a matter of fact, my collecting purchases in general have slowed. I don't think that I am losing interest in the hobby, I just think that I am finally learning what most of you already know - Topps floods the market with a ton of different products and rarely use different photos. So it's kind of like buying the same cards over and over. Call me jaded, but I'm fairly sick of it.

When I do purchase cards, it seems they are for various PCs. This was this situation with my latest purchase. Behold:

I was able to grab this PSA 2 Bob Gibson for essentially a Lincoln. I know some of you will feel I overpaid, but I happily traded my cash for this cardboard. The card has seen its fair share of life. It has a crease right down the middle and the corners are well loved.

The more I work on this set, the more I fall for low-grade cards. I look at each one and imagine the life it has lived - from a little boy tearing open the wax, to a young man trading it for his favorite player. Perhaps the card went into a 10-year-old's shoebox and stayed there until that boy grew into a man, who then sold it in a garage sale. If only the card could talk, I'm sure it would have an incredible story. 

That's it for now. Thanks for sticking with me even though my posts are few and far between.

I hope everyone is well!

Another Tate Added To The Collection

A little while back, I posted about a few Dylan Tate cards that I recently acquired. Tate was the Rangers' 2015 first round pick, drafted number 4 overall. He should be part of a pretty special rotation in the future, assuming he doesn't get dealt.

2016 Bowman Inception hit the streets last week (or the week before, I can't remember). For whatever reason, these cards don't sell for nearly as much as traditional Bowman Chrome autos, so I keep an eye out for a deal.

That's exactly what I found in this Tate parallel, numbered to 99:

I snagged this for less than three bucks! Happy to have it.

I will say that I don't care for the background design for this year's card. I don't really get the relation between space and baseball. Previous designs featured baseball themed backgrounds and non-baseball backgrounds. However, the non-baseball backgrounds were at least of clounds and felt pretty generic. These are just hideous.

Either way, when you can get an on-card auto of a top-5 pick for less than a Lincoln, you do it.

Let's Have An Update, Shall We?

Sadly, as it is becoming the norm rather than the exception, it has been a while since I last posted. I have been reading the blog roll, but, save for a few instances, I haven't had much interaction. I have, however, continued to collect, and my scan folder shows just a bit of what I need to talk about:

I recently knocked a couple cards off the Top 5 Most Wanted.

Let's have a look.

First up is the Cole Hamels Real One auto from 2016 Heritage. I managed to pick this up at my LCS. I've been looking for one for a decent price, but nothing ever found its way to eBay in my price range. However, I traded a few cards to my LCS owner a while back, so I was able to grab this for essentially $10.

The next card not only had a place on the Top 5, it also had a spot in my Bowman Auto Project.

This is the 2015 Bowman Draft Chrome auto of the Rangers' 2015 first round pick (#4 overall) Dillon Tate. This card has also been too expensive for my tastes, so when I saw a BIN price that was in my range, I grabbed it. 

But that isn't the only Tate card I grabbed. He has a few autos in 2016 Bowman, and I couldn't resist.

Tate has an auto in the Top 100 insert line. This is the gold parallel, and by my understanding, this is the only version of the card that is signed. I have yet to see any other parallels that are autographed.

Then I snagged this purple retail auto. I'm too lasy to look up the numbering, but I think it's to 199.

Tate is also featured on a Turn Two insert. This one took a bit of spare change to grab. Why? Well...

...Because it features two autographs. Lewis Brinson is featured on the back side. Like the Top 100 insert, it appears that this is the only version of the card that is autographed EXCEPT for the superfractor.

Lastly, I also grabbed this gold retail auto, numbered to 50. I still need a green version (numbered to 99), and I recently missed out on an orange version (numbered to 25).

Outside of Turn Two auto, all of the 2016 Tate autos cost $10 or less. Gotta ball on a budget, you know.

So there are a few new things. Hopefully I can a few more soon (well, sooner than later).

Hope all is well!

Jose Altuve Keeps Finding His Way To Me

Recently, I've noticed a trend in the "hits" that I pull. One particular player keeps showing up in my packs. Who is it?

The shortest man in MLB, Jose Altuve.

A few weeks ago, I decided to buy a box of 2016 Museum Collection. It's an expensive box, and it only contains three cards. I found this in my box:

Bought a box of 2016 Tier One...pulled this Jose Altuve /10 auto relic! pic.twitter.com/FS797go1KX

— My Cardboard Habit (@cardboardhabit) June 9, 2016

That's a jumbo relic/auto numbered to 10. I sent it in to Beckett to have it slabbed (side note: I should get this back today or tomorrow).

Not bad!

Today, I bought a box of Stadium Club. I love that product. My first auto was this guy:

This is the gold auto parallel, numbered 21 of 25. I've never pulled an auto parallel from Stadium Club before, so that's pretty cool.

Let me say here that I am not complaining about pulling Altuve autos. There are definitely worse autos to pull. Even better, Altuve is pretty collectible, so both of these should sell fairly easily. I know not everyone is a fan of selling rather than trading, but I use the proceeds to enhance my collection. These will certainly do that. (I've got the Stadium Club auto listed on eBay for $45. If you are interested in either card, let me know!).

Bowman Inception streets later this week, and I am fairly certain Altuve won't be in it. Looks like my streak will end before it ever really gets started!

I hope everyone is well!

P-Town Is Where It's At

I've never been to Peoria, Illinois. I've driven through the state to get to Chicago for spring break 11 years ago, but I wasn't back into the hobby yet, so I had no idea that Peoria is the home to incredible cards.

At least, that's the perception I get from P-Town Tom's latest package. A little while back, I sent Tom a framed parallel of Addison Russell (I think???) from 2016 Gypsy Queen. I'm trying to slim down my collection, so I didn't mind sending a card that I had no use for. 

I expected nothing in return. But Tom would have none of that.

Last week (or earlier this week - summer really throws off my measurement of time), I received a bubble mailer from Peoria that was filled with all kinds of awesome.

The first two cards were for my Rusty PC and my soon-to-be listed Pudge PC. Sadly, I sorted those before I scanned them. Sorry about that.

But Tom also included three sweet Dillon Tate cards. I'm pretty excited that Tate is a Ranger, so I'm stoked to add his cards. And let's face it - any card featuring a player wearing a USA jersey is just awesome.

Here was the first card:

Wow. Awesome card! Then I found this beauty:

This card is nice and shiny, which is why my scanner hates it. Awesome watch from a national team jersey! But wait, the best is yet to come:

CRUSADE!!!! How effing MAJESTIC!!! I absolutely love this card - I've always like Crusade cards, but I've never cared for Panini's no logo cards. However, add in the USA jersey, I'm sold. So perhaps you don't get as excited for this card as I did, but that's cool. I lvoe this card and now I know that I need to get all the parallels.

Tom - I can't thank you enough for the cards. I truly didn't expect anything in return, and I can't thank you enough for what you sent!

Holy Buckets, Batman!!! An MCH Update!!!

Sorry, but this post has nothing to do with Batman. I'm sitting in a survey methods course talking about questionnaire design, and honestly, I'm bored. For some reason the title just popped into my head when I decided that I should write an update.

During the course of the past couple weeks, I've picked up a few cards from eBay. Let's take a look.

First up, I snagged this gold refractor parallel of the Joey Gallo Top 100 insert from 2016 Bowman. I dig these parallels, but I've always been a bit of a fan of chasing a cardboard rainbow. This is the only version of this card that I have.

Every year in recent memory, Topps has put out the "Spring Fever" insert usually available only in shops as a "free" pack when you purchase a box of Series 1. Occasionally, a pack will have an auto. This card falls into that category, but someone other than me pulled it. It's a rookie auto of Luke Jackson, numbered 33 of 175.

I saved this card for last. I've been wanting it since I saw the sell sheet for 2016 Bowman. In the product, there is an insert set called "Turn Two." It features two key prospects form the organization, one on each side of the card (ironically, it doesn't necessarily feature middle infielders, which is what I think of when I think "turn two"). 

Some of these inserts feature autos of the two players featured. The Rangers have one of these cards, featuring last year's #4 overall draft pick, Dillon Tate and star prospect Lewis Brinson. I failed many times trying to get my hands on one, but finally succeeded last week:

Strangely, I've only seen the gold parallel numbered to 50 and the superfractor. I haven't seen any autos on the base, green or orange refractors of this card, so I think the autos are only on the gold version. With this card, I've been able to snag at least one copy of each Ranger auto in the 2016 Bowman set.

I hope everyone is well! I'll have more to post soon!

Additions To The Harry PC

Well, school has officially started again. One of the reasons I decided to go back and get my PhD is so that I could teach at the collegiate level when I finish. One of the benefits of this is getting summers off if I choose, but that really isn't an option while you're a graduate student. So, I'm back on the grind.

I made a couple purchases last week on eBay to fill some holes in the Matt Harrison PC. Both of these are pretty rare cards, so I'm extremely happy to add them.

First up:

This is the black mini parallel from 2013 Topps, numbered 2 of 5. I have been watching this card for almost, if not more than, a year. When I first saw it, the seller had a BIN price of $30 with no best offer option. After what seemed like an eternity, I was finally able to negotiate a price of $6. I've been working on patience as a buyer, and it is really paying off.

I think I only need the platinum 1/1 and a printing plate to complete the 2013 mini rainbow.

The next card:

This is the yellow printing plate from 2013 Topps flagship. This is the first time I've seen a printing plate from 2013 flagship. The buyer was asking $9.99, so I jumped on it.

So there are my newest babies for the PC. I've got more Harries coming from COMC, but I'll post about those later.

Hope all is well!