Meeting Matthew At The National

One of my favorite parts of going to the National is the ability to meet up with fellow collectors from Facebook, Instagram, the blogs, Skype, etc.  I have used it as an opportunity to do some in person trades with these guys, and just hand out searching boxes with guys who are just as interested in cards as I am.

One of the people I was able to meet with at this year's National was Matthew.  I met Matthew through a Facebook trading page several years ago when he was only 10.  I believe one of the first trades I ever actually completed with him was for a Jose Fernandez chrome RC (but Matthew may have to confirm that).  I helped him get his collection started by also sending him some care packages and introducing him to blogging and other Facebook card pages.  Matthew actually started a few of his own trading pages and would Skype regularly with my son, Chris, since they are really close in age.  It stuck with Chris so much, that he asks about Matthew all the time, even though the don't have the time to chat any more.

So, I met up with Matthew and his dad at the National and he had this great Hunter Harvey auto from 2015 Bowman Inception.  He gave me the card "just because" which I thought was really nice of him.  I always enjoyed how appreciative Matthew was of the care packages I sent.  I now see his instagram page and enjoy all of the super high end cards that he has acquired since our introduction.  I'm happy to see that his collection has grown by leaps and bounds, and also how he himself has grown into a well respected member of the card community.  I see articles all of the time that spell the death knell of the hobby, but with kids like Matthew, I feel like it is alive and will carry into the next generation of collectors just fine.

Thanks so much for the awesome card, Matthew!

Birthday Gift From Michael - Lots of Autos

My friend, Michael, sent me a really nice birthday gift that had several autographs included.  He contributed to my Sonny Gray side-PC with this really nice Topps Chrome auto.  This is the Team Logo autograph and is numbered 1/25.

I haven't added too much to the Gray PC this year, but I probably ought to.  With the terrible season that he has had this year, the values on his cards and autos has gone down tremendously.  I got a few Gray cards at the National (that I will show soon) for really cheap prices.

Another guy who's stock has fallen is Orioles #1 draft pick, Hunter Harvey.  Harvey has frequented the DL more often than not in his brief professional career.  He has a long road ahead after having Tommy John surgery earlier this season.  This is an IP auto on a 2015 Bowman that Michael sent along.

Michael also included two Jimmy Nelson autos and a bunch of refractors from 2016 Chrome.  I have known Michael for almost 5 years now, and have spent a lot of time with him at Orioles Fan Fest and some Orioles games.  When I went to Baltimore in July, I was able to have dinner with him, and ride around the city (once going the wrong way down a one-way street.  Oops.).  Michael is a great guy and I am glad we are good friends.  He is off to college now, working toward a career that I am certain that he will excel in.  He is one driven kid.  Thank you so much for the gift, Michael!

Max Sends An Amazing Mailday

My buddy Max sent me a box that I got today.  Inside was a lot of stuff that I really loved, but it was a simple gesture from him that really blew me away.  He sent me a game used ball that he picked up at some point, but this ball he signed himself, and inscribed it with the above inscription.  I have a ball signed by another friend, Michael (actually, he has sent me several) and I have also received a ball "signed" by my nephew.  Collecting autographs of famous baseball players is fun and all, but when something as small as a signed ball from a friend or family member comes in, I really enjoy getting them.  Max is such a great guy, and I am so lucky to be able to call him a friend.  I was able to meet him at The National last summer, and had a blast.  He and his family were such amazing hosts, and made us feel really welcome.

Not only did he include the signed baseball, but Max also sent me this signed mini football.  Max is a gifted baseball player, but he is also a very talented football player.  He was the kicker, center and defensive end on his youth team which won a National Championship this past season.  He and his dad skyped me from their hotel room during the tournament, which was really cool.  I wish I could have gotten down to Florida during his games and saw him play.

Max and I have a pretty good system worked out.  I send him cards that he needs for conventions and games, and in return, he sends a couple of them back to me after he has gotten them signed.  The assortment of cards above all came from some of the many huge boxes of cards that I have.  I have always had a ton of 1987 Topps, so using those for something other than kindling.  The more current cards, the two Bowman and the Team USA came from some cards I had lying around and the rest came out of some really cool mid-90s boxes that my mom hooked me up with.  I was especially pleased with how the 1994 Score Paul Wagner came out.

Because I couldn't fit the tenth card onto the scanner, this 1988 Topps Bill Madlock gets its own scan.  It actually turned out pretty great.  I am really growing to love the late 80s designs.  They look really awesome signed, so I intend to add some more to the binder as I get more and more TTMs in.

Max also included some cool cards for my collection, which were the second half of his Christmas present to me.  This Nick Markakis Baseball Heroes relic is really nice.  I think this is an underrated set.

This Inception auto of Hunter Harvey is also really cool.  I like the design of Inception, and was happy to add this to the collection.

Finally, Max included this 2015 Bowman Chrome gold parallel of Steve Pearce that is numbered 13/50.  I liked Pearce when he was an Oriole, but he is with the Rays, now.  He always has done well when playing at Tropicana Field, so we will see how that translates in playing half of his games there.

Thank you so much for the awesome package, Max!  I really appreciate it, and it made my day!

Christmas Gift From Cameron

I got an amazing Christmas package in the mail recently from my good buddy, Cameron.  He really blew me away with what he sent.  He is such a good guy, and didn't have to get me what he got, but it was very appreciated.

The above Matt Wieters three color patch from Panini Donruss is such an amazing card.  Wieters doesn't have much as far as relics and stuff, so this one is a nice addition to my collection.  It really was a surprise.

Cameron included this blue 2014 Bowman Chrome auto of Oscar Taveras as a throwback to our first deal.  We met during a trade for a Topps Hi Tek Taveras auto.  Since then, we have been really good friends.  This is a nice Taveras and it is numbered 9/150.

He included a nice auto of Hunter Harvey from 2014 Bowman Sterling.  I really like this card and I'm glad Cameron included it.  It looks really awesome.

I got this 2015 Topps Chrome Christian Walker from Cameron as well.  I have a couple of these, but am happy to add another one.

Cameron also included a few refractors like this Machado blue.  This card is numbered 18/250.  I don't think I had one of these yet, so I was glad to get this one.

Also, here is a purple refractor of Chris Tillman.  This is numbered 89/150.  I didn't have this one either.

Thank you so much for the Christmas package, Cameron.  The cards were amazing and I love them!

The PWE Bandit Strikes Again

I wish I could teach a course on trading baseball cards.  So many people ship cards unprotected, or with minimal protection, that it gets really old, really fast.  My latest run-in with poorly packaged items comes from an Instagram trade with a kid who's handle is ipautos100.  I'm sure he is a young kid and didn't really have an idea that the card couple be damaged in a PWE, but nonetheless, the main piece I traded for in our deal was creased badly.

The above manufactured hat logo relic was part of a two-for-one deal I made with him that also got me the below Bowman Sterling Hunter Harvey auto in exchange for a 2015 Museum Collection Dalton Pompey auto.  His Pompey got to him unscathed, mainly because I always securely ship my items in bubble mailers.  My Harvey patch got wrecked and when I sent him a pic of it, I got no response whatsoever.  So, lesson learned, I won't be trading with this kid anymore.

I can understand kids not having a lot on money to spend on shipping, but if you are going to be sending higher end, or thicker cards via USPS, they HAVE to be sent in a bubble mailer.  Something smart that these guys can do is save every bubble mailer they have sent to them, and re-use those so they can cut down on supply costs.  I haven't had to buy a bubble mailer in years due to this very reason.  Not only is it a cost-saving method, it is also good for the environment.

I was just really disappointed to get the Harvey patch in, only to see that it was damaged in shipping, and the fact that the kid didn't really seem to care.  He also didn't comment when I posted that it was damaged on Instagram and tagged him in the photo.  He did "like" the photo, though.  At least I have that going for me.

Huge Mega Deal With Michael

Recently, my very good friend, Michael, told me that he was getting back into baseball cards because of my influence.  After a huge buying binge, Michael had a change of heart and decided that his spending was better served on memorabilia.  While he planned on keeping major PC stuff, like his Pee Wee Reese PC, he decided to quickly part with his newly acquired autos and relics.

This is where I stepped in.  Michael has been a good friend of mine for something like 3 years now, and we talk pretty much every day.  I knew that he needed the money, so I was able to help him out.

We scheduled a Skype session for him to show me everything that he was putting up for sale and I gave him a "Yes or No" to express my interest.  We went through every card he had made available and decided to itemize the cost so I could make payments, yet get the cards.

After going through all of the cards, and letting my initial sticker shock wear off, we settled on a deal.  I was getting a great bulk price on the cards, and he was getting instant PayPal.  Win win for both of us.  Now, you will see all of the hits, and a couple throw ins that I got from my friend.

At the top of this post, you'll see an amazing acetate card from 2013 Leaf Trinity.  That Hunter Harvey card is freaking amazing.  Numbered (by hand) 44/58, it really looks awesome.  Just so you know, the rest of what he sent is just as nice, if not better.  So, here we go!

Michael sent me a couple booklet cards from 2014 Panini National Treasures.  This Adam Jones booklet is especially awesome, since it has the "S" from the back of Jonesey's jersey.  It is numbered 6/25.  Another amazing card.

This Brooks Robinson booklet is a jumbo relic and auto card that looks awesome.  This Brooks is numbered 15/25 and the auto is on what looks like some kind of acetate as well.  I really like how the autos show up on there.  I wish I could get a few more like that or the Harvey.

From one of my favorite offerings from the 2014 season was this Museum Collection quad card of Machado/Gausman/Davis/Jones.  I had a couple of these and a couple quads of Davis, so when Michael made this one available, I jumped on it.  This has a bat relic from Machado, a jersey swatch from Davis, a piece of patch from Jones and a 3-color patch from Gausman.  A really nice card, numbered 59/75.

Next up is this jumbo patch/auto card of Adam Jones from 2014 Panini National Treasures.  I was surprised that Michael was willing to let this go, as I thought he was pretty high on this card.  The orange jersey swatch looks awesome scanned, as you can tell.  This card, numbered 13/49, has an awesome example of Jones's signature.

Even more from 2014 Panini National Treasures is this awesome Brooks Robinson relic numbered 72/99.  I had seen this on his Instagram before and wanted to deal for it.  Now, I have it and I am really happy.  This is a great card of Brooks.

One of the most amazing pieces that I got from Michael was this 2007 Topps Triple Threads triple relic card of Yogi Berra.  Numbered 8/36, this Ruby parallel contains pieces of (flannel) jersey, bat and GLOVE!  This is my first game-used glove card.  So really awesome.  I also love the wool jersey, which makes this the third in my collection.  That would actually be a nice side PC, wool jersey cards.  I am so taken aback by this card.  It truly is epic!

Something had to follow up that Berra, so here is a dual relic card from 2009 UD Team USA.  This card is numbered 256/499.  I have increased my Gausman PC by a great deal, and adding this to my collection puts it right at the forefront of the PC.

I have seen prices of Topps Supreme stuff and am amazed at how low the price point is for a lot of the stuff that is out there.  Everything I have seen from Supreme looks great, this Adam Jones included.  This 2014 Topps Supreme Jones has a jumbo swatch of jersey and another nice Jonesey auto and is numbered 22/40.  I want to add more Supreme to my collection, too bad Chris Davis wasn't included in last year's set.

Now, I couldn't let a 2009 Bowman Sterling Nolan Reimold auto out of my sight, so I had Michael add it to my "cart" when he showed it to me.  This is either my third or fourth version of this card and they never cease in their beauty.  I think this year of Bowman Sterling is one of their best offerings of all time.

On our itemized list, this card fell toward the bottom of Michael's pricing (which was beyond fair).  His reason was that he wanted Chris to end up with this card.  Numbered 3/27, this 2012 Topps Triple Threads has two relics each of Lincecum and Strasburg and three relics of Justin Verlander.  Chris loved it when I showed it to him, and I told him that it would be his, once I got it in a magnetic case for him.

Michael busted a box of 2014 Bowman Sterling recently, and added some of his auto hits from his break into our deal.  This Clint Frazier was one of the cards that I really wanted.  I figured that I would pick him up and hold onto him since he is a really good prospect.  I never really get into prospects, but I thought I would give one a shot.  There are a few other prospects that I would be interested in collecting, but Frazier was at the top of the list of guys I wanted to pick up.

Speaking of Frazier, I went ahead and picked up this base card as well.  I have already fended off kids asking me to trade for this card (and the green parallel), but I don't want to part with the Fraziers at all.

I did, however, pick up a few cards I wanted to use as trade bait.  This Colin Moran is one of them...

...so is this Forrest Green (that I won in a "pull" that Michael did).

This Austin Meadows is also trade bait, but would command a bit more than the previous two guys.

I also picked up this Gregory Polanco for potential trade, but he and Meadows might be guys I would be inclined to hold onto.  I do have to say that 2014 Bowman Sterling looks pretty awesome for 2014.  I have heard a lot of complaining about Topps, but I have to say that there was a lot of stuff that came out in 2014 that looked awesome, so overall, I felt like 2014 was a banner year for cards.  What do I know, though?

I picked up this Gosuke Katoh to send to one of my friends.  It was pretty cheap and is a TTM auto.  The card still looks great, and I know my buddy will love it.

Here is another card from the pulls I did with Michael.  This Trevor Williams numbered 73/810 will be for sale or trade, as I don't know who he is.

I was happy to add some of the 2015 Topps First home run coil cards.  This Adam Jones and the below Chris Davis both look awesome in person.

Sadly, the cards don't sell for a lot, so I could have bought one cheaply, but I tried to work out a deal with someone and they wanted WAY too much for them.  Oh well.

I didn't know that Topps brought back Gold Label cards last year, but Michael threw in this Cal Ripken Gold Framed Gold Label card in our deal.  A rare Ripken that I didn't already have, this 61/99 card looks really cool.  When he first showed it to me, I thought it was the late 90s version, which I have several of, but no, it was from 2014 (and framed), so cool!

Another prospect card that I plan on holding onto is this 2015 Topps Rusney Castillo gold parallel RC.  Numbered 1,014/2,015, this is a hot commodity right now.  I could probably sell or trade it for something decent, but I thought it would look good in my RC box.

Getting toward the end of the pile, Michael added this 2007 Topps Opening Day card of the Oriole Bird, with an IP signature.  This is really cool, and I will likely add it to Chris's collection.  I think he will really enjoy it.

A Bob Feller card for my PC is another throw in from Michael.  Numbered 477/500, this 2005 Donruss Timeless Treasures Feller looks really nice.  I have never seen any of these before, so I was happy to add this.

Finally, Michael threw in my current favorite card from 2015 Topps.  This Eddie Vedder first pitch card is awesome.  I already had two in my collection, but Michael knew my love of Pearl Jam, and included it in the deal.  The only complaint I have from this subset is that Topps really should have worked to have autographs included in this.  I would LOVE a Vedder auto, and pulling one would probably put me on the floor.

So, there you have it, my epic deal with Michael.  I was so happy to get this stuff in today.  I told Michael that I would break this up into several posts, but if I did that, there is stuff here in my 'to be blogged' pile that wouldn't get posted til next year.

Thank you so much for the deal, Michael!  I hope the money I sent helps you out.  I look forward to future deals, but let me build some money back up, haha!

Christmas Gifts From Noah

I got a sweet Christmas package from my friend, Noah.  He really hooked me up in the package, and I wanted to show some of it here.

Noah gave me the above Hunter Harvey auto from Bowman Sterling as part of a deal, and included it with the Christmas package.  The Christmas stuff was mostly Orioles for my PC, many of them being Cal Ripken cards.  Noah is a really awesome guy, and really came through.

I sent him a really nice 2014 Museum Collection triple relic auto of Wilin Rosario for his PC.  Is it just me or was Museum Collection one of the best products of 2014?  Either that or Bowman Chrome.

Noah had busted a box of 1991 Score and ended up with quite a few Cals from there and I was the lucky recipient of them.  Thanks so much for the 1991 Score Cal Ripkens, Noah.  I mean, I already had like 20 of them, but 5 more couldn't hurt, right?  Haha.

Really, though, thanks for the Christmas package, Noah!  I really appreciate it!

IP Autographs From Jordan

I posted the other day that I got an IP auto of Hunter Harvey in a surprise package from my buddy, Kyle.  Before I knew Kyle was sending me his package, I had agreed to a deal with his best friend, Jordan, for a Harvey IP auto and a Josh Hart.  Both boys went to the Delmarva Shorebirds game together and picked up the autos.

Both cards look great and I really appreciate Jordan picking the autos for me.  I've definitely met some awesome people on Instagram and it was really nice of Jordan and Kyle to think of me when they were at the game.

A Surprise Package From Kyle

I've been trading on Instagram for quite a while now and I always go back to the first successful transaction I completed on there as a template for how I believe things should be conducted.  I bought a card off of Kyle, who has become a very good friend of mine, in an amazingly quick and easy deal.  Since then, I talk to Kyle on a regular basis and he is very much one of my favorite people I have dealt with on Instagram.

I got a surprise bubble mailer from Kyle yesterday that contained the above Adam Jones 2013 Topps Tribute auto.  The card is beautiful.  I was so surprised that Kyle sent it to me and am appreciative beyond words.

Not only did Kyle send the Jones, but he also sent me a Hunter Harvey autograph that he got in person at a Delmarva Shorebirds game with his best friend, Jordan.  I had initially bought one of the IP autos Jordan got, but Kyle sent this one as well.

Kyle is a great guy. who also posts on Youtube as MrPhilliesphan04.  If you are active on Youtube, you definitely should subscribe to him.  He's a big Phillies and Roy Halladay fan.

Thanks so much for the package, Kyle, I really appreciate it!