Great Dime Box Finds At The National

If the National lasted two weeks, I still don't believe I would have had enough time to look through all of the dime boxes that I saw.  Nonetheless, I did go through quite a few of them, and was happily surprised at some of the cards that I found.  There were color parallels of some of my PC guys, there were a bunch of vintage (I bought out a guy's 1972 Topps that he had in a dime box to help me have a decent start when I begin that set), and several good rookies.

The two best cards that I found in the dime boxes were, in fact, rookies.  The above Josh Donaldson 2010 Bowman was a great find for a dime.  He is a legitimate MVP candidate (although, I hope he falls short for my own selfish reasons) and is having a career year.  I liked Donaldson quite a bit when he was with the A's, but now that he is with the Blue Jays, I can only respect the fact that he is a really good player on a team I am continuing to loathe more and more.  Still, though, for a dime, this is a great card.

Because I have so many 1987 Topps cards, I am always looking to help folks out with that set.  I doubt that I will ever be rid of my 1987s, but I can dream.  The one card that I always am picking up is the Barry Bonds RC,  Usually running for $2-$3, I got this one for a dime.  I could easily sell it for 20x to 30 times what I paid for it, which isn't bad.  If I had found more, I would have grabbed them, too.  I may end up holding onto at least one of these at some point, since I do like the set design, and this is the most iconic card in the set, steroids or not.

Breaking Boxes With Weston

I recently entered a box break that my buddy, Weston, held over at his blog "Fantastic Catch."  He busted boxes of 2008 Tristar Projections, 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus, 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition and 2012 Donruss Elite Extra Edition.  Naturally, I picked up the Orioles and I also grabbed up the Cubs and Brewers to use as trade bait for a couple friends of mine (and also to help Weston fill the break).

I feel like I did pretty well on the break, as I ended up with a sweet 4-piece jersey card of (then Cub) Oriole utility player, Ryan Flaherty.  This is a really cool card, actually.  I'm glad I ended up with it.  "Flash" has had a decent career with the O's, especially since he was a Rule V pick that managed to stick with the club all season in 2012.  He has filled in admirably for the O's when Manny Machado and J. J. Hardy have gone down to injury.

I got this nice auto of former Cubs prospect Barret Loux.  He was a first round draft pick (6th pick overall) by the Diamondbacks in 2010.  A check on baseball-reference shows that Loux hasn't played since 2013.  I wonder what happened to him?

One of the former Oriole prospect autos that I got was this Kyle Hudson which is numbered 6/25.  His last entry on baseball-reference says that he was released by the Angels on July 1, 2014.

Another auto that I got was this Josh Vitters from 2008 Tristar Projections.  Vitters was a first round pick (3rd overall) in the 2007 draft and was picked up by the Rockies this past February.

I got this nice 12/25 card of Orioles former first round pick, Brian Matusz.  Matusz is a really nice guy, but I wouldn't trust him with the game on the line in the playoffs.  He is likely to be traded before Spring Training ends, which will bring an end to a somewhat disappointing run in Baltimore.  I really had hoped that he would make it as a top of the rotation starter, but it just hasn't worked out.

One of the Cubs cards I was able to pick up was this Albert Almora from 2012 Elite Extra Edition.  Almora is almost forgotten with the emergence of Kris Bryant.  At least, I haven't heard much about him with all of the Bryant drama going on.

Finally, I got this awesome Josh Donaldson prospect card.  I liked him when he was on the A's, but I can see him becoming a real thorn in my side now that he plays for the Jays.

Thanks for the break, Weston!  I'm glad I could be a part of it, and I hope you do another one soon!

Instagram Pickup - Josh Donaldson Tristar Auto

I completed a trade recently on Instagram that landed me this 2007 Tristar Prospects Plus Josh Donaldson auto.  The trade was completed over a month ago, but I'm just getting around to posting about it because I have a ton of stuff sitting here, waiting to be blogged.

The trade was this card for a 2014 Topps Chrome George Springer sepia parallel.  While it took the kid a little longer than I would have liked to ship me this card, it got here, and was in great shape.  I think he just forgot to send on time, which I can't blame him; sometimes life gets in the way.

Donaldson isn't a PC of mine, and while I respected him as a member of the A's, I know I will like him less now that he is a Blue Jay.  He is a really good player, though, and I got this card with the sole intention of adding a few good player autos to my collection.  Not necessarily guys that I PC, but ones who I think are pretty good, and will be fun to find when I thumb through my boxes.

I've had a few folks already ask me if I would trade the card, but I'm not really inclined to do so, for the reasons stated above.  In the vein of why I got this card, I actually have been in the process of picking up a few others for that same purpose.  Just relics and/or autos of guys who I feel are pretty good players.