Clearly Nice Cards

I love the acetate parallels in the Topps base set.  For the past two years Topps has put out the Clearly Authentic product, which are similar in appearance to the acetate parallels, it's just that they are in a one touch case.  Last year I picked up two cards from the set.  Both were Cardinals.  One was pitcher Luke Weaver, the other was former shortstop Aledmys Diaz.  In retrospect, it feels like a struck out with those two cards. 

Clearly Authentic is a one card per pack/box for roughly $50, so I naturally did not touch a single pack.  I also decided to go away from the Cardinals this year......

First up is another Anthony Banda autograph.  He's become my go to Durham Bulls player to collect this year.  Banda is also the only player on the team who really seems to have a steady stream of cards that have been produced this year. 

I am not sure if this is pink or red, but I like the card.  The case is a little scratched up looking on the scan, but I feel like my scanner picked up a lot that is not all that visible from just holding the card.  Maybe I need to clean my scanner.  

The serial number is in the lower right hand corner, a little hard to see.  

Flip the card over.....

I always like the reverse black and white image on the back of the acetate cards.  Also kind of nice to be able to see the autograph through the back of the card. 

Last one for tonight....

I have not posted many Charlie Blackmon cards over the years, but I have always had some interest in his career.  I saw Blackmon a few times while he was at Georgia Tech, someone I glance at when I read through the box scores.  

I don't like this card as much as the Banda.  There is not much contrast here between the picture of Banda and the background, which is one of the things that makes the acetate cards stand out.  There is a lot of gray and black on Blackmon's uniform and the background is generally the same color scheme outside of the bunting above his bat.  Even the purple numbers and letters on the Rockies jersey feel muted.  

The lack of contrast really shows on the back.  It's a black and white photo, but there is little difference from the front of the card outside of the purple numbers on his jersey being a dark gray.  I actually think the best part of the back of this Blackmon card is the autograph showing through clearly.  

Topps Series 2 Hits

A quick post tonight.  There have been a ton of products out during the past two weeks.  I feel like I just wrapped up my Archives post and now I am into the Series 2 Topps cards and somewhere in there I skipped Finest.  I might go back and pick that product up in the next week or two.  Until then let's look a few cards tonight that came out of a Jumbo box I picked up from Big D's Sportscards in Raleigh.

Each jumbo box of 2015 Series 2 offers an autograph and two relic cards.  It seems that recently the relic cards usually include one manu-type of card which held true for this box too.  Here's my autograph first......

I was really surprised to pull this card.  I know Willingham was still playing last year for the Royals, but is currently not on a Major League team.  I guess it's not surprising that Topps would have an older player sign cards, but Willingham has not been a regular signer in card products since 2008.  He did sign for a Panini product in 2012, but has almost nothing out over the last seven or eight years.  Usually players stop signing, they stop signing.  I could make a huge long list of players that fit this description, but we are getting off topic.

It's probably not a really valuable autograph, but there are worse things than pulling the autograph of someone with almost 200 career home runs and an OPS+ of 120.

This Blackmon jersey relic was the first of my two out of the box.  It's just about par for the course for a regular box of Topps.  I would love to land a Cardinals card, but I have done a post or two on Blackmon and saw him play a few years back while he was at Georgia Tech.  Plus, relic pieces with pinstripes are always a plus.  Which brings me to my last card for the evening and maybe my favorite card out of this box.....

The card is thick.  Scan does it not justice.  The pin on the right side of the card is a smooth metallic pin with the White Sox 95th Anniversary logo.  I don't remember such a thing existing, but it clearly there on the sleeve of Thomas's jersey on the left hand side of the card.  It's numbered out of /199, but it's hard to see up in the top right hand corner.

Overall, three pretty nice cards as hits from my box.  Certainly could have been better, but after looking through some of the other autographs and relics in this product I am content with the cards I have.  Now, I am going to go do search my base cards for variations and sparkles.......

Ramblin Rockie

I try to pick up cards of different minor league and college players who pass through town who are not necessarily apart of a local team.  Players catch your eyes in different ways, but find their cards is not always the easiest task in the world.  One of the coolest college baseball games I ever attended living in North Carolina was a double header between UNC and Georgia Tech.  The Tar Heels were remodeling their stadium and were playing their home games at the USA Baseball Complex which is about 10 minutes away from my house.

There were at least seven UNC players on that team who are now Major Leaguers: Ackley, Kyle Seager, Tim Federowicz, Rob Wooten, Alex White, Adam Warren, and Matt Harvey.  I am still not sure how they walked away without a National Championship that season.  Georgia Tech had a great offense led by Derek Dietrich and Charlie Blackmon.  

As impressive as the UNC players were, I really liked Dietrich and Blackmon.  Dietrich seemed like he had a great bat for a middle infielder.  Lots of pop.  Blackmon seemed like a toolsy player.  He could run, hit, play a little defense.  Definitely good Major League prospects.  I put both of their names on my mental checklist of players to collect.  I actually have been able to find autographs of both players in Major League uniforms, but both players also have autographs in the Donruss Elite set in a Georgia Tech uni.  I tracked down Dietrich this spring.

Which left Charlie Blackmon.  He has been really difficult, but I finally found a copy of this great looking card for a reasonable price.  Yes, there is a non-logo patch autograph of Blackmon in that set, but why would you want to pass up one of these cool cards?

There have actually been several of these up over the years, but they were always for way too much money.  In other words, over $20 dollars.  His non-patch autograph in a Georgia Tech uni is listed for over $30 right now on COMC.  I like the Donruss Elite patch cards and think I now have one from almost all of the ACC schools save for Maryland (I am going to still count them) and Boston College.    I have a few others from other schools connected to Cardinals or Rays players, but always a really good find.  Kind of wish Topps would put something like this into one of their sets.  Hmmmm.

and now that you've read my post on a Georgia Tech baseball player, I give you the Georgia Tech fight song.  This is the best fight song, outside of NC State, in the ACC.

Lost In Box

I have a pretty large collection of cards.  A few thousand autographs, relics.  Plenty of cool rookies, serial numbered cards, short prints and that does not even touch the hundreds of sets that I have put together during the 31 years I have collected baseball cards.  I keep the lion's share of my autographs, relics, and other cool cards in a bunch of 800 count boxes.  These boxes have some of my favorite cards.  They are my pride, my joy, and are never far from my side while I working on my cards. 

Most nights I sit down at my desk, open my mail, and type up my daily post.  If I am doing a post on cards already in my collection, like my Collecting the Durham Bulls tread, then I sort through my boxes and find the cards I need for my post.  Every once in awhile while digging through my boxes looking for cards, or while putting away a recent aquisition I stumble on something really cool that I have never post on my blog.  It's one thing that I should probably do a better job of as a long time collector with a collection that was already pretty large before venturing into the world of blogging. 

So, here goes....

I spend a fair amount of time collecting cards, writing about cards, and watching baseball.  I have to squeeze it into my evenings in between story time and trucks with my three year old or walks with my wife.  Through in chores around the house, grading papers from school, a little lesson planning.  Baseball games are a steady background noise.  One player I have had an eye on this year is Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon.  Having a great season.  I have a few of his cards flagged to watch on Ebay and COMC and have also seen one or two floating around on a trade room. 

While putting away my newest Matt Carpenter card I flipped past the card of a Minor League autograph from the 2010 Topps Pro Debut set.  I remembered the picture on the card and I remember picking the card up in a big lot of autographs in a Facebook trade when the set was first released.  I just did not remember the name on the front of the card.  Well, I can stop looking...

Perhaps I need to spend an afternoon looking through my boxes and find a few nice surprises that I did not remember having in my collection.  I am sure I could probably make a few posts out of the cards tucked away inside the boxes.  In the meantime, I am going to enjoy this awesome find, even if it was here in my office all the time.