Whoa Nellie

I picked up this card.....It has a Nelson Cruz autograph.

When most people think of Nelson Cruz they think of this......

However, I will always remember Nelson Cruz for this ole job......

although before missing that Freese triple he was having a pretty good postseason in 2011....

The Box I Got vs. The Box I Want Part 2

This weekend I started a set of posts on my 2013 Ginter box I bought last week and how I am reshaping my hit cards to better fit my collection.  During my last post I focused on my box topper, which was a Josh Hamilton, but I turned it into a Miguel Cabrera.  My relic cards will be the subject of today's post which I will say might have made some really happy.  I was not so happy, but I cashed in on a really good pair of relics and landed four cards that better fit my collection.

So, here are my two relic cards:

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Nick Saban Used Shirt? 

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Nelson Cruz Jersey

Nelson Cruz is just kind meh, but I know a lot of people that would have been hoping up and down if they had pulled that Saban shirt card.  Honestly, I do watch college football, but it's somewhere down on the list behind baseball and college basketball.  I do follow and watch NC State and Mizzou I would not say I am a die hard fan.  I can watch any baseball game and be pretty happy, not so much with football.

Saban once stepped over a player have a seizure to go sit in his office.  Saban gave his quarterback a spanking once on national television.  From the perspective of a casual fan he seems like a bit of an asshole.  I do not care if the guy wins, he's like college football's version of John Calipari.  Although, I am not sure that Calipari ever looked like this....

So, obviously the Saban card was getting shipped out, but I just was not sure what kind of haul I could get for that card.  I have known a Bama fan or two and know they can be a little bit over the top, so I was patient, and played my cards well and cashed out Little Nicky for a pretty good haul.

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Paul Goldschmidt Autograph

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Chris Archer Autograph

Not a bad thing ever to dump a relic card for two autographs.  I was especially happy with the Goldschmidt autograph.  He's have a great season and I feel like his cards are probably underrepresented in my collection.  The Archer is self explanatory: Durham Bulls, Raleigh native, and Rays.  Goodbye Saban.

Which left me with the Nelson Cruz.  I decided to package the Cruz jersey together with a couple of other Rangers relics and traded them to a Rangers fan who had pulled two Cardinals relics of Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright.

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Adam Wainwright Jersey

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Matt Holliday Jersey

Both cards are welcome additions to the collection and got me started on putting together my Cardinals team set from the Allen & Ginter set.  Overall, I was happy with my two trades.  I started out with two relic cards, one average and one above average, and walked away with a pair of autographs and a pair of jersey cards from the Cardinals.  More Ginter later in the week.

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Set

I have finished up another one of my projects from the 2013 Topps Series 1 set during the past two weeks and have not had a chance to share some of my cards in this space.  I had originally mentioned the sweet looking die cut cards in my initial glance at the 2013 Topps set and then later again shared a Ken Griffey Jr. card that I picked up from the set.  It took a few more weeks, but I have now finished the whole insert set.

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Stan Musial 

As mentioned before, the cards remind me a lot of some of the insert cards that Pacific put out in the late 90s which I loved to collect.  While these die-cut cards are not nearly as difficult to track down, and are seeded at a much higher rate, they are clearly among the more difficult cards from the 2013 Topps set to find cheaply.  The Ebay auctions for the Cut To The Chase cards tend to be very competitive and they do well in the trade market too.  The majority of the set has excellent player selection with my two personal favorite cards being the Stan Musial and Lance Berkman cards.  There are a few head scratchers.... 

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Lance Berkman

I am slightly puzzled why Berkman makes so many appearances in the 2013 Topps set when he was injured and unproductive for most of 2012.  Not that I am complaining about Berkman cards, but the Cut To The Chase set does not appear on the literature for the second series of Topps meaning that this set is stopping at one set of 23 cards.  Perhaps Topps could have put in a Matt Holliday or Yadier Molina if they were looking for a modern Cardinals player to add to the set.  

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Nelson Cruz 

The most puzzling card in the set is the Nelson Cruz card.  By my account he was probably the fourth or fifth best player on the Rangers last year and here is sits with a cool insert card.  Now, Topps did put a Josh Hamilton card in this set, but still Nelson Cruz?  Adrian Beltre hit way more than Nelson Cruz, is not afraid of walls, and was one of the top fielding third baseman in the league.  I guess they could have also picked Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, maybe even Albert Pujols.  All better than Nelson Cruz.