Pull of a Lifetime?

So, this happened yesterday.

I did a livestream on my Instagram as I busted my three jumbo boxes of Series 2 Topps.  I was boring folks to death reading off the names of the base cards, and showing the short prints, relics and autos until I hit this card in thr 8th pack (out of 10) of the third box.  Then I went nuts.  I think it was justified.

I waited to post it until I video chatted with some close friends separately on Snapchat, doing a slow reveal each time.  I wanted to see some of my friends' reactions, and they were all priceless.  Once I finished up with my good friend, Will, I got the card scanned and also posted it on my Instagram.

Now, the card will be headed to my safe deposit box, where it will reside with the rest of my treasured cards and baseballs.

I am really happy that I pulled this card.  It is truly beautiful.

Awesome Yogi Berra Auto

While I was visiting my good friend, Andrew, last week, he and I met a guy in his area who did a lot of selling of baseball cards on Ebay.  During our meeting with the guy, he pulled out a tub of a bunch of late 90s-early 2000s wax boxes.  He ended up giving each of us a few of the boxes.  One of the boxes that he gave me was a 2001 Topps box.  While busting the box, I hit this Yogi Berra on-card auto.  This is probably the best possible hit I could have gotten out of that box.  The back of the card was slightly damaged due to sticking to the rest of the cards, but you can hardly tell.  The front looks great.

I have already had folks ask me for the card, but I want to keep it since I like Yogi a lot.  I just think it is really awesome that I hit this card in a free box that was given to me while I was on vacation.  Who knew that I would hit something so awesome.

Virgil Trucks's 100th Birthday

Even though he passed away in March of 2013, not a day goes by that I don't think about Virgil Trucks.  He was a really good man; one of the best former players to interact with fans.  He afforded me the opportunity to interview him over the phone, which you can read here.

I am doing a giveaway on my Instagram (follow me @wregenthal) in honor of his 100th birthday.  He always gave to me, so I want to give to someone else.  Also, I encourage you to check out my Virgil Trucks collection, here.

Trucks was born on this day in 1917 and passed away on March 23, 2013, at the age of 95.  I enjoyed writing to him and receiving letters back.  He truly was one of the best.

Christmas Gift From James

My buddy, James, sent me a nice Christmas package that had this Moose Skowron auto that I can add to my IP/TTM album.  James told me that he picked it up from his LCS for a good price.  The auto looks legit, so I'm fine with it not having a COA.  The card is a 1979 TCMA and is definitely one I would have sent TTM if Skowron were still alive.

Skowron (b. 1930 - d. 2012) played in the majors from 1954 to 1967 for the Yankees, Dodgers, Senators, White Sox and Angels.  He had 1,566 hits, 211 home runs and a .282 batting average.  He was a 6-time All Star and finished as high as 9th in the AL MVP voting (1960).  He won the World Series with the Yankees in 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1962.  He also won with the Dodgers in 1963.  He appeared in 8 World Series in his career.

James also sent me this nice Albert Almora relic from 2013 Panini Team USA.  Almora is a great up and coming ball player, and I am glad James thought to send me this card.

Thank you so much for the awesome gifts, James!  I really appreciate it!

Christmas Gift From Robert

One of the first Christmas gifts that came in this year was this awesome 2016 Topps Hi Tek red parallel auto of Rafael Palmeiro.  The card is numbered 4/25 and looks awesome!  I this the card scanned great.  Robert has been a great friend for some time now, and I was really happy to get this from him.  I sent Robert some nice Jorge Soler cards for his PC, which I hope he needed.

Thank you so much for the awesome gift, Robert!  I love this card and I will have to go to the card shop for some more magnetic cases, so this one is properly taken care of!

Birthday Gift From Nick - Prospect Autos Galore

The best part of receiving birthday packages from the card community has been the originality and thought that fellow collectors have put into what they have sent.  I oftentimes tell my friends that I would much rather receive a nicely written note instead of them spending their hard-earned money on me.  I got a package from my little buddy, Nick, on Friday and loved what he sent along.

I had cleaned him out of Orioles stuff long ago, so Nick scrambled to find some things that he gelt would suffice as a birthday gift, but he really could have just stopped at the above Topps custom card.  The card features Nick from several years ago when he met Houston Astros ace, Dallas Keuchel.  Nick signed the card and personalized it to me.  For someone so young, you can tell that Nick has practiced his autograph for quite a while.  The card is awesome.  Nick actually is a very talented ballplayer.  He messages me after each game that he plays, and they always seem to be wins.  I hope to hear his name called in a couple years during the MLB Amateur Draft.  I'll already have a pretty sweet auto!

Nick sent along some prospect cards that he had been holding onto recently.  This Patrick Leonard from 2013 Bowman Platinum is a really nice card.  It's not numbered, but the jumbo relic and auto are still nice.

Bowman Inception is probably one of the most appealing to the eye of any product you will see.  I watched my buddy Robert bust several cases of this at the National, and the cards just looked amazing.  I was really happy that Nick sent this along, this card looks great.

Not a prospect or an auto, this Masterpieces Randy Johnson relic is still a nice card.  Masterpieces was always a great offering from the last days of Upper Deck.  This is one of those products that I wish Panini or Topps would buy the rights of (can they do that?) and re-release into the market.

Finally, here is a really good prospect auto from 2016 Chrome.  I'm not a Red Sox fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I recognize that Owens is a pretty good prospect.  I know a lot of Red Sox fans who would want this, but since it was a gift from Nick, I won't let this leave my collection.  I will likely redeem it soon.

I met Nick through Instagram maybe two years ago and completed a couple trades with him.  We talked off and on after our initial dealings, but really hit it off earlier this year.  We pretty much talk every day.  He has to be one of the funniest people I have ever met; not for sheer comedy alone, but the fact that when Nick has something on his mind, he is not afraid to speak it.  Usually, that elicits some pretty candid responses from others in our Skype calls.  Nick cracks me up.  He is also amazing with my son, Chris.  Nick is always reaching out to Chris and chatting with him.  I think it is good for Chris.  Maybe one day, he will work on giving more than one-word responses.

Thank you so much for the birthday package, Nick!  I really appreciate it!

National Free Signer - Bobby Shantz

We met free signer Bobby Shantz during the Wednesday Sneak Peek at the National.  Unfortunately, the wait in line was excruciating and it set the tone for most of the other VIP free signers for the rest of the show.

Shantz, himself, was really nice, and did take the time to chat with everyone.  I was afraid I would miss out on him, so I waited in line for over 2 hours to get him.  By the time I got up to him, Andrew had given up and gave me his ticket.  I used both name tickets for my and Andrew's cards.  They both turned out great.

Andrew and I both got 1950 Bowman Shantz cards signed.  This is Shantz's rookie card.  During my chat with Shantz, he noted that this card was an old one.  I asked him if he kept any of his cards and he said no, but fans sent him cards all of the time.  He said that he rarely sees this one, though.  He seemed happy to see and sign it.  The card turned out great.

I am happy to have met Shantz.  He was a really nice, friendly guy.  I'm also glad I was able to help Andrew out and get his card signed as well.  Too bad the line was ridiculous.  I might have to approach the free signers differently next year, because those lines killed my legs and feet this year.

Ebay Pickup - 2016 Bowman Trey Mancini Auto

I picked up my first Trey Mancini auto off of Ebay a couple weeks ago.  I knew I wanted one once 2016 Bowman came out.  Mancini was the Orioles minor league player of the year last year after hitting .341 between High A Frederick and AA Bowie.  He helped Bowie win the Eastern League Championship last season.  He started the season in AA this year as well, but was moved up to AAA Norfolk after 17 games.  He is currently batting .241 with 3 home runs at Norfolk.  Keep in mind, Harbor Park is tough on hitters, so Mancini's lower average should not set off any alarms.

I was also able to save on shipping on this card as well, since the seller I bought it from lives in the same town as me, and frequents the same LCS.  That worked out great!

Reimold Care Package From Zach

I have been talking to my friend, Zach every day since our first deal.  He is a really great guy and has been a lot of fun to talk to.  He surprised me last week with a care package that had this 2009 Bowman Sterling dual auto refractor for my Reimold PC.  I had the base version already, but not the refractor.  This card is numbered 119/199 and looks awesome.  It is already in a magnetic case and team bag.

I was amazed at Zach's generosity when I got this card.  It didn't take a nice card for me to know he was a great guy, though.  He has gone out of his way to be a friend, which I definitely appreciate.

Thank you so much for the card, Zach!  I really appreciate it, but more importantly, thank you for the friendship!

TTM Success - Bob Bailor

The second TTM success that I got yesterday was from former Oriole, Bob Bailor.  This one I was really excited about, not because he had been an Oriole, but because I was able to make use of a 1975 SSPC card that was part of the huge batch of old stuff that Max had sent me.  I felt like the SSPC card would look pretty cool signed, and I was right!

Bailor also signed this 1985 Topps card that I found in a box of cards that my mom had given me.  She hooked me up twice recently with several huge boxes of early to mid 1980s cards.  My new repurposing effort has really been fueled by the cards in those boxes she gave me, and has given me a new joy in searching those boxes.

Bailor was nice enough to include this signed post card, along with the two that I had sent.  It turned out really nice, as well!

The funny thing was that this is the side of the card I had seen when I originally opened my mail.  It wasn't until my wife took it from me to see if this signature on the back was real when I saw the auto on the front.  I guess I was so excited to get something extra, it didn't occur to me to turn it over.

Bailor (b. 1951) played in the majors from 1975 to 1985 for the Orioles, Blue Jays, Mets and Dodgers.  He had 775 career hits, 9 home runs and a .264 batting average.  I say he was a former Oriole, but his time there was less than a cup of coffee, amassing a total of 14 games split between the 1974 and 1975 seasons.  It is interesting to note that Bailor was drafted by the Blue Jays from the Orioles with the second pick in the 1976 Expansion Draft.  The first pick of the draft was Ruppert Jones by the Seattle Mariners.

I mailed Mr. Bailor on February 22 and got the autos back on February 29, making it a 7-day TAT.

Awesome Trade With Jared

My friend Tim from the blog "I Love The Smell of Cardboard in the Morning" emailed me recently about a package he intended to ship to me.  In his closing remarks in the email, he mentioned that a fellow blogger had pulled an amazing Manny Machado dual relic/auto and was looking to unload it.  I took a look at the card and was amazed by it, but shot myself down pretty quickly.  My thoughts were "this card is awesome, but there is no way I will be able to afford to pry it away from him..."  Fast forward a couple weeks and I get a surprise follow on Instagram and then an email from the proprietor of the owner of the card, fellow blogger Jared from the blog Catching Up With Collecting.

Jared had heard that I was an Orioles fan and would be interested in the card, so I asked him what it would take to pry it away.  Then, I remembered that I was going to be heading to the antique shop in Columbia and could possibly find some cards that were on his top ten want list.

So, after my trip, I had a couple cards I thought Jared would like, and we instantly matched up on a deal.  You can read about what he got in the trade here.

This Machado card is really awesome, and I am happy that I was able to pull off a trade to get it.  It is numbered 8/10 and will go in a magnetic case, once I go to the card show in the middle of this month.

Thank you for the deal, Jared!  I hope you are as happy with your end of the deal as I am with mine!

Christmas Package From Robert

I got an awesome Christmas care package from my little buddy, Robert, the other day and was really excited to see what he included.  Robert is fairly new to my little Instagram chat group, but he has assimilated into the group almost seamlessly.

Robert really came through and sent me some stuff that I love!  The above Christian Walker blue parallel auto from 2015 Inception just looks so cool!  It is numbered 75/150.  I actually don't think I have seen one of the blue autos yet.

Robert also included this 2009 Bowman Sterling auto of Nolan Reimold.  This is my favorite card of Reimold.  I have 6 of these now.  I still need to get myself the gold parallel.  These cards just look awesome.  Since I have so many, I ought to send one of them to be graded, you know, just for fun.  I may do that at some point.

Thank you so much for the Christmas gifts, Robert.  I appreciate it, and I am glad that we were able to meet and become friends these last few months!

TTM Success - Mike McCormick... Again

I sent off two TTM requests last week and got one back the other day.  I got this 1959 Topps buyback of Mike McCormick signed after it being out only out for about 5 days or so.

This was the oldest buyback card that I had pulled, which was kind of nice, but I still don't really care for the foil stamp that Topps puts on these things.  When I pulled it, I kind of thought to myself, gee, nice '59, but really, what do I do with it?  Then, I remembered that McCormick lived in NC, so a TTM would likely take a short amount of time, so I gave it a shot.

This is a second year card of the former Cy Young award winner (1967).  I didn't realize (or maybe I just didn't remember) that McCormick was a former Oriole.

He charged a $5 fee to sign this card, which wasn't too bad.  He is 77 now, and you can see in his signature that age may be catching up to him a bit.  I do like how his auto kind of matched the facsimile auto on the card.

The Foulbunt Top Ten - No. 2

Each of the card on this list were ones that cost me a decent enough amount of money and/or were amazing gifts from friends and loved ones.  Each card is desirable and would be highly sought after by any collector.  The next card on my Top Ten list is one that took me over 20 years to add to my collection.  It is also one card that I was almost willing to pay any price to get it in my hands.  It is also the only card in my Top Ten that came out of the Junk Wax era, showing that there are cards from the late 80s to early 90s that still command value and mystique.  Card No. 2 in my Top Ten would be No. 1 in any collection, but it is supplanted here, but is still an amazing piece:

My 1992 Donruss Elite Cal Ripken auto card was one that I wanted to add since it was announced to be able to be pulled out of 1992 Donruss packs.  I can't even begin to count how many 1992 Donruss packs that I opened in hopes of adding this card to my collection.  I had a chance to get one at the 2012 National, but declined, believing that I would be able to find one cheaper than what I found there.

I made it my mission to get this card at the 2015 National and I was able to leave Chicago with it in my hands.  I dropped $300 on the card, but in the end, I was super satisfied with it.  I had walked clear across the Donald Stephens Center looking for it, until I found a vendor who had it.  My excitement probably cost me a few bucks, since he wasn't willing to come down on the price any.  It didn't matter.  I wanted the card so bad, I was willing to pay up.  The hunt for the card was a welcome side-quest at the National and made it a very enjoyable time.

The auto is on-card and is still share after all these years.  It is also the only signed card in my Top Ten.  I guess it shows how much I value vintage and rookie cards.  Still, Cal was my first PC and my first baseball hero.  I doubt I will be able to add any Ripken card that means more to me than this one.  As amazing as it would be to pull this out of a pack, I was happy with being able to find it when I could afford it, and bring it home.

Top 10 Wishlist Pickup - 2011 Topps Black Diamond Virgil Trucks Auto

This is one of those cards that really should be seen in person to be truly appreciated.  When the Black Diamond Wrapper Redemption cards came out, I missed the boat and failed to submit my wrappers.  I didn't catch on to the wrapper redemption thing until the next year with the Topps Gold Rush cards.  Man, did I miss out.  I had seen that Virgil Trucks was a subject in the autograph offerings of this set, but I hadn't bought one because the price was way too much for me.  I had seen several of these sell for $100.00, so I held off.  The prices were really all over the place, then poof, none were to be seen for a while.  I would search for one here and there, never to find any, but autos of the other guys in the set were plentiful.  Trucks was so elusive.

Finally, I remembered to add the search "2011 Topps Black Diamond Trucks Auto" to my Ebay saved searches, and kept checking my phone daily to see if any ever would pop up.  As luck would have it, I signed in to Ebay one day, just to look around, and one was listed right in my Home feed.  Why did it not show up on my app?  Well, as I would find out, I hadn't checked my app that day, and this card was newly listed.  With a Buy it Now price of $29.99, I immediately bought it.  I didn't want to let another one go by without me picking it up, and the price was well below any of the other cards I had seen.

Numbered 56/60, the card is in amazing shape.  Once I scanned it, I put it in a magnetic case and will re-use the brand new toploader that the seller included.  The card is just beautiful, and will now be one of the top cards in my collection.

This is one of those cards that I have been watching for so long, I am excited to add it to the collection.  New Virgil Trucks cards don't show up often, or ever, really, so my Trucks collection is virtually complete.  I may find an oddball card here or there, but in all honesty, I have just about everything I can find that pertains to him.

Not a day goes by that I miss receiving letters from him telling me how his family is doing, or him asking me about my son.  I would have loved sending him a letter a couple weeks ago to tell him that Chris got his first two hits of the season, or that he aspires to be a pitcher.  All of this for a man that I never met once in my life.

Mr. Trucks was amazing to all of his fans, and I am really happy that I can now say that I have this card in my collection.

Topps Redemption Replacement - Dylan Bundy Autograph

Last year, Andrew and I went in on a Matt Holliday redemption card from the 2013 Postseason.  He sent me some money, and I picked up the redemption card, since I had an account on Topps.com.  I redeemed the code and waited patiently for the card to come.

Meanwhile, this year, I redeemed one of the "Call Your Shot" promotion cards and won a relic/auto card.

This would set up a bunch of redemption confusion.

Andrew grew tired of waiting over a year for the Holliday card to come in, so I called Topps to inquire about the card.  They said that Holliday was under contract to sign, so it would come... eventually.

Andrew and I waited a little while longer, until he finally asked me to call Topps and have them replace the card.  So, I called and they asked what team(s) I would be interested in as a replacement.  I told them that he would want Cardinals, but Orioles would be ok too.

So, about a week later, I receive a package in the mail from Topps.  A Giancarlo Stanton relic/auto from 2013 Topps Triple Threads.  Wow, Andrew really lucked out on that one.  I called Andrew up and told him that Topps replaced the Holliday with the Stanton.  Andrew was elated, and I put the card in the mail the next day.

That day, I get another package from Topps.  Inside this package is the above Dylan Bundy auto, and a note from Topps apologizing for the delay on the redemption and here is my replacement.  I think to myself, well, where did the Stanton come fro.... wait a second!  I forgot all about the relic/auto from the Call your Shot promotion.  Oops.

I sent Andrew the wrong card.  He got the Stanton, and I got this Dylan Bundy.  It worked out, somewhat.  I mean, Bundy in no way compares to Stanton.  We had looked up what the Stanton was selling for on Ebay, and it was around $40-$50, and $40 was what he had paid for the Holliday.  So, I told him that I was cool with him just keeping the Stanton, since it kind of helped him recoup his money.  I got lucky on the Call Your Shot card, so landing the Bundy was fine with me.

This is one of the main reasons that I hate redemptions, though.  It took over a year to get something for the Holliday.  I actually have a card pending from Panini that is almost a year old as well.  Guys need to get on the ball, so to speak.

Mail From Anders - It's Rick Manning Day

Yeah, a total of 0 people will get the movie reference in the title.  Anyway, I'm getting toward the bottom of my "to be blogged" pile.  I have had a stack of cards that came in a care package from my friend, Anders, that has been sitting here for months.

Anders is a really nice kid from Minnesota who had traded with me a bunch.  For one reason or another, he has moved on from cards, but still "likes" and comments on some of my Instagram posts.  I miss chatting with him, but I know how life sometimes gets in the way of our hobbies.  I'm hoping he comes back soon.

Anyway, in the package was a bunch of signed cards from Anders.  Along with the above Manning, there were signed cards of: Jaret Wright, Len Barker, Brian Tallet and Cody Buckel.  Anders also included unsigned cards of Mo Vaugh and Masahiro Tanaka.

I especially likes the Manning and the Barker because they were on 1981 Topps.  That set is always underrated, and I tend to forget about it from time to time.  I never actually built the set, I bought it from a store that was closing for a really cheap price.  I tell myself that I will actually build it at some point.  We'll have to see if I follow through.

So, thank you so much for the package, Anders.  I'm sorry I let it lag this far behind!

Instagram Trade With Jacob - Lots of Autos

I completed a deal on Instagram recently with my buddy, Jacob, after he had been offering me the above Willie Mays auto for some time now.  I think I passed on this card quite a few times before I finally gave in and bought it from him with some cash and also sent him a bunch of cards for his various PCs.

The Mays is a really nice card and is in good shape.  This auto is actually a lot better than the one I have on my Mays ball.

Jacob also included a bunch of extras that I wasn't expecting.  I imagine these cards were TTM autos that he had received, but I really liked them all, nonetheless.  This Wade Boggs relic/auto is pretty cool, even though it is creased quite a bit.  Two Hall of Fame autos in this deal, not too bad.

Here is an auto of the 1948 Rookie of the Year, Al Dark.  Dark passed away in 2014 at the age of 92.  He had a pretty decent career, having hit 2,089 hits, 126 home runs and carrying a .289 batting average over 14 years in the majors.  He won the World Series in 1954 with the Giants.

 Here is an auto the Jacob sent me of former 20-game winner, John Tudor.  Tudor played in the majors from 1979 to 1990 and had a career record of 117-72 with a 3.12 ERA and 988 strikeouts.  He won the World Series in 1988 with the Dodgers.

This 1986 Donruss of Chris Chambliss looks really nice signed in blue sharpie.  Chambliss was the 1971 AL Rookie of the Year.  Over 17 seasons, he had 2,109 hits, 185 home runs and a .279 batting average.  Chambliss won the World Series with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.

Here is an auto of former pitcher, Bryn Smith.  This is a 1983 Fleer.  Smith played from 1981 to 1993 and had a career record of 108-94 with a 3.53 ERA and 1,028 strikeouts.

Finally, here is a 1983 Topps Traded Steve Kemp auto.  Kemp played from 1977 to 1986 and 1988.  He had 1,128 hits, 130 home runs and a .278 career batting average.

Thanks for the deal, Jacob.  I definitely wasn't expecting the extra autos and they all turned out to be really cool!

Ebay Pickup - In The Game Manny Machado Auto

My friend from Instagram, Fred, messaged me recently and showed me this Manny Machado autographed card that was really cheap.  I ended up winning the auction for $15.00.  I was disappointed that the card was delivered in a PWE and came a bit curved, but I put it in a better toploader and am straightening it.

The card is nice, though, and I really appreciated Fred showing it to me.  I have quite a few Manny autos, now.  I just wish he would start hitting for the season, because the Orioles need his bat right now.

Thanks for showing me the card, Fred!

Ebay Pickup - 2014 Leaf Trinity Jeff Hoffman Auto

I picked up this really cool auto of former ECU pitcher, Jeff Hoffman, off of Ebay recently for a steal.  I paid $6.01 shipped for this card for the sole reason that he was wearing his ECU jersey in the photo.

I live about 5 minutes or so from ECU and while I didn't attend the school, I do follow them now that I live in the area.  I haven't been able to make it to many of the games, especially since Chris's baseball has started up, but I have been to a couple since I moved here in 2009.

Anyway, I was really happy to get this card and will hold onto it as we all watch to see if Hoffman can develop into a major league pitcher.