Some Recent Nolan Reimold Pickups

While he had a seemingly rough year, Nolan Reimold is still one of "my guys."  I still scour Ebay and Instagram for Reimold cards that I don't yet have in my collection.  Recently, I made a deal with a kid from Charlotte for this 2007 Bowman Heritage auto.  I sent him some Paypal and he sent me this awesome on-card auto.  For some reason, I didn't have this card in my collection, so I am glad I can finally add it.  The auto looks great, I think.  I'm left to wonder, though, when will Topps bring back Bowman Heritage?  This was a really nice set and would work either as an insert set or an "every now and then" standalone set.

Here is a pink parallel from 2016 Topps Update.  I picked this card up from COMC.  It is numbered 31/50 and looks pretty cool.  I need to pick up some more of his parallels from 2016.  I just haven't had the time nor the funds to do so.

Finally, here is a really cool Reimold that I picked up in a trade with a kid named, Will, on Instagram.  I sent Will two cards he selected off of Ebay to make up for this, but in the end, I still think it was a great deal.  This is the red back short print from 2016 Heritage.

I don't know how short printed these were, but this is the only one I have seen.  It is a really cool card, and it came in great shape.  I was really glad that I saw it when I did, and be able to pick it up as easy as I did.

I'm really glad I was able to add all of these Nolans to my collection.  I'm really holding out hope that the Orioles bring him back, but I think it is highly unlikely.  If they don't bring him back, I'm still going to collect him and still going to cheer him on.  He's a great guy with a great family.  Here's hoping he gets a good deal for 2017.

TTM Success - Pat Neshek

I don't do too many TTMs of current players, mainly because I never know which ones are signing.  Everyone who does TTM, though, knows that Pat Neshek is one of the best signers that currently play in the majors.  I had a few cards that I wanted to send him, then I bought a box of 2016 Topps Heritage Update and pulled this purple chrome parallel.  Once I had that, I knew I needed to get my cards in the mail.

I had been pre-treating some chrome and Finest cards with a pencil top eraser and have gotten pretty decent results.  However, I had heard that baby powder worked really well on chromes, so I figured I would give it a shot.  So, this card was put in a ziploc bag with a little baby powder, then wiped clean with a wash cloth.  As you can see, the auto turned out pretty nice, and didn't bubble at all.  Not bad.  I think I'll probably stick with baby powder for the chrome and Finest cards.  I do have some that were rubbed with an eraser coming up in a few future posts, so a comparison can be made.

Rumor had it that if you sent any autographed cards to Neshek, he would send you one of his own, so I pulled a couple autos that I had in my card show box and sent them along.  He returned my mailer back with the two cards at the top, a 2010 Topps and 2013 Topps.  Not bad!  The bottom two are the other cards I sent for him to sign, a 2016 Topps and 2015 Heritage.  All of the cards turned out great.  He definitely has one of the best signatures around.

Neshek (b. 1980) has played in the majors since 2006 (skipping the 2009 season) for the Twins, Padres, A's, Cardinals and Astros.  He has a career record of 28-19 with an ERA of 2.93 and 378 strike outs.

I mailed to Neshek on November 23 and got the cards back on December 3, for a 10-day TAT.

2016 Topps Heritage High Number Box Break

I anticipated that I would have a lot of free time today due to Hurricane Matthew passing over us.  I was right, so I picked up a box of 2016 Topps Heritage High Number from my LCS and wasn't disappointed.  There were a bunch of Orioles in the box, including Nolan Reimold, which was nice to see.  I also pulled this purple chrome parallel Hyun-Soo Kim rookie card.  The purples were one per pack and are not numbered.

Something else cool about the set is that Matt Wieters makes an appearance, a first for any Topps product that isn't an online exclusive.  Even though his time with the Orioles may be over, it is nice to finally be able to add some of his cards to the collection that are under the Topps brand.  I know Panini and some of the other companies are nice and all, but baseball cards just aren't right without the Topps logo.

My box also had one hit, which was an Albert Pujols relic card.  I am sending that along to my good buddy, Andrew, who PCs Pujols.  I also ended up with a Marcus Stroman action SP, a couple high number SPs and a Tim Lincecum as an Angel card (which went to Chris).