Another TTM Success From Rafael Palmeiro

 I had heard that Rafael Palmeiro was signing TTM, so I found two cards I missed when we went to Cleburne and sent them along. I got my cards back and maybe two weeks later, Raffy started charging $20/card, so I got lucky!

I mailed to Palmeiro on May 16 and got the cards back on June 8, for a 23-day TAT.

Some (Not So) Recent Chris Davis Pickups

I have gotten quite a few Chris Davis cards recently in trades and Ebay, but I have been so busy trying to catch up on TTM posts.  All of these have been logged on my Davis spreadsheet, so it is pretty up to date, as far as I know.

Here is another 2015 Bowman red parallel numbered to 5.  I now have two of them, out of the 5.  This one is numbered 2/5.  I have a saved search on Ebay for Chris Davis Red and Chris Davis numbered to 5, so I'm hoping to see some more pop up.

I picked up this 2016 Topps Heritage High Number relic of Davis from my friend, Blaine.  He wanted a Manny Machado RC for it, and I had several, so we made a quick and easy deal for it.

I picked this up from Ebay.  This is one of the 2017 Topps Rediscover Topps buybacks, but for some reason they bought back a 2016 Topps and slapped their Rediscover Topps stamp on it.  Kind of weird.  I got it for $0.99 on EBay, and it will work as a "rainbow" card, I guess.

Speaking of rainbows, here are two 2017 Topps parallels of Davis that I picked up once Series 1 came out.  The black parallel is numbered 56/66, and the purple is not numbered.

Finally, here is the 2017 Topps Vault blank back 1/1 that I picked up recently.  I got it for less than $15, and it came in the magnetic case, along with the certificate.  I thought the blank backs were kind of dumb, really, but since I have Chris Davis 1/1 saved as an Ebay search, it popped up.  Actually, the Heritage 1/1 blank back showed up as well, and I picked it up recently, too.  It is on the way, and will be shown in a (much) later post.

Ebay Pickup - 2012 Topps Chris Davis Blank Back 1/1

While I am not a fan of the concept, I saw a deal on Ebay and jumped on this 2012 Topps Chris Davis Blank Back 1/1.  I got the card for $4.25 + $3.50 shipping.  The seller was actually someone I had talked to briefly on Instagram, but couldn't reach a deal.  He wanted a lot more for the card that I really wanted to give up, plus he didn't have the Topps Vault certificate that came with it.  When I saw it on Ebay, I went ahead and put a bid in, thinking I would be outbid.

I won the card and got it a lot later than I thought I would.  The kid didn't communicate at all, and for my $3.50 I paid in shipping, I got a card + top loader + PWE, all with one Forever Stamp.  Well less than the $3.50 shipping.  I messaged the kid on Instagram and told him he should reconsider his shipping pricing, yet I left a positive feedback.  The card did come in as described.

I'm not a fan of the blank back 1/1 concept.  It's just kind of dumb and really serves no purpose.  However, it is something I can add to the Davis PC.

Ebay Pickup - 2016 Topps Mini Chris Davis Platinum 1/1

I just so happened to be looking at Ebay the other day when I saw that I had a Chris Davis 1/1 on my home page.  I have Chris Davis 1/1 saved in my searches but for some reason, I didn't get a notification.  For $49.99, I was able to jump all over this platinum parallel from 2016 Topps Mini.  I have been wanting to get a few more Chris Davis platinum 1/1s so I may have a chance at a rainbow someday, so, I was glad to pick this one up.

Money still has been tight since the National has come and gone, but following the advice of my good friend, Scott, I would have regretted letting this go.  Luckily, I won't have to worry about  missing out on this card.

Amazing Ebay Pickup - 2013 Topps Triple Threads Chris Davis Wood 1/1

I don't have very many true 1/1s.  I have a platinum parallel of Chris Davis in my PC, and I have a 1/1 Virgil Trucks auto.  I have some printing plates, but they really are out of, what, 4 or 5?  You know, when you factor in that there are the different ones for each color used when printing a card.  Well, I had something pop up on my Ebay feed last week that got my attention.

This 2013 Topps Triple Threads Chris Davis wood 1/1 showed up and I was determined to not let it out of my sight.  This was one of those cards that I knew if I let it pass, I would never see it again.  So, I prepared myself to do whatever it took to be able to add it to the Davis collection.  Luckily, I got it for much less than I originally anticipated, which was nice.

I have always wanted one of the wood parallels that Topps has been putting in Allen & Ginter.  They aren't too crazy expensive, depending on the player, either.  I just haven't been able to get a Davis.  Funny thing is, I had just seen the wood 1/1 of Adam Jones on Instagram, and the guy who had it offered it to me, but I passed on it.  I am really lucky that this Davis showed up just a couple days afterward!

This is just an awesome card.  Not only is it a true 1/1, but it is autographed and it has a really nice O's patch on it as well.  I think my Chris Davis collection is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.  It has taken a lot of work, but I am really happy with it.  Thankfully, he re-signed with the Orioles, and I can watch him bash homers for them for a good while.

Pickup From Michael - 2006 UD Legendary Cuts Pee Wee Reese Plate

My friend Michael has been raising money for whatever venture he is getting into these days.  I'm not sure what type of card or memorabilia is intriguing him at this moment, but I was able to benefit from one of his sales recently when I picked up this 2006 UD Legendary Cuts Pee Wee Reese.  He, as always, had a real good price on the card, and I wanted to help him out.

I think Michael has kind of abandoned his Reese PC, which, I don't blame him.  Not a lot of new stuff is being issued for Reese and a lot of his vintage stuff carries a premium since he was a Brooklyn Dodger.  Still, I figured I would take this card since he is a Hall of Famer, and it is a printing plate.  I might be able to flip it later on for something interesting.

Thanks for the quick and easy deal, Michael!

Christmas Gift From Michael S.

I got a nice surprise package in the mail recently from my friend, Michael S. from Instagram.  He and I both have been really busy lately, and haven't chatted much, which I regret.  I have some cards for him, but I have been waiting to ship once I find some more stuff to add to the pile.

Michael really surprised me with what he included in the package.  I had never seen the above 2006 Bowman Originals Nolan Reimold auto.  It is hand numbered and comes in a sealed snap case.  They don't scan very well, but that's ok.  I loved the Bowman Heritage when it came out.  I feel like it may be time for Topps to go back to the well with Bowman Heritage.

Michael included this 2009 Topps Chrome Nolan Reimold auto as well.  I have a couple already, but since I super collect Nolan, I will take duplicates of his relics and autos at any time.

Michael added this 2008 Donruss Diamond Kings Reimold auto.  The card looks really awesome and is numbered 149/500.  I always liked Diamond Kings, when they were their own standalone product, and when they were inserts in Donruss products.  They always look awesome.

Finally, Michael included this 1/1 sketch card.  I have actually seen this one on Ebay from time to time.  I never jumped on it, though.  Now that I have this in my hands, I'm really impressed with the art of it.  The guy is really talented, that's for sure.  I used to do a good bit of artwork when I was younger and always struggled when drawing people.  This guy really nailed it, I think.

Thanks so much for the Christmas care package, Michael.  I really appreciate it and am happy to add all of these cards to my collection!

Ebay Pickup - 2013 Topps Chris Davis Graded Printing Plate

I picked up a bit of a steal (I'll come back to that in a minute) on Ebay when I got this really cool 2013 Topps Chris Davis graded printing plate.  The plate is the cyan version (I already had one of the other plates, but I forget the color).  It has been graded by BGS, as you can see, and has a 9 grade.  This, from what I've been told, it a really good grade for a plate.

This card was on my watch list on Ebay for a while, but no on picked it up.  Finally, the price dropped, and I snatched it up.

Total shipped, I spent $6.79 on this plate.  Not bad, right?

I feel like I did pretty well on it, considering raw plates of Davis go around $40 or $50.  I don't know how I got this steal (well, maybe I do, it was a bid auction, not a Buy It Now), but I am really happy that I did.

Ebay Pickup - Another Chris Davis 2015 Topps Printing Plate

I found another Chris Davis printing plate from 2015 Topps on Ebay, so I had to pick it up.  This one cost a lot more than the black printing plate I got the other day, but I was ok with it.  From what I understand, it takes four printing plates to make a card, black, yellow, magenta and cyan.  I now have black and magenta, so I could quite possibly land the other two if I see them available.  It would be really cool to have the "rainbow" of printing plates, but I am not holding my breath.  I will keep an eye out, nonetheless.

Ebay Pickup - 2015 Topps Chris Davis Black Printing Plate

I picked up a nice addition to my Davis PC recently when I found this 1/1 black printing plate on Ebay.  I was able to get it at a pretty good price via auction, and it came in the mail today.

I still need to find a platinum 1/1 of Davis somewhere so I can have some hope of completing a rainbow.  I doubt that day will come, since those platinums are so hard to find.  Anyway, I can take comfort in the fact that I landed a plate for the collection, and one that looks really cool.  The best part is, I actually was able to win another plate of Davis from 2015 Topps, the magenta, and it should be here any day.

Awesome Pull - 2015 Gypsy Queen Dee Gordon 1/1

A few weeks ago, I picked up a couple packs of 2015 Gypsy Queen, not expecting to pull a lot, but when the mini card slid out from under the other cards in the pack, I got a nice surprise.  The card was no ordinary mini card, it was this 1/1 graphite parallel of Dee Gordon.

The card is incredibly thin.  I took it back into the shop and put it in a screwdown for tobacco cards, but the card still slid around inside the case.  So, the shop owner cut up one of his business cards to slide behind the card to give it a little more thickness, which worked.  The fact that he used the actual card itself to match up with the business card while he was cutting, well, the both of us were wide-eyed as those scissors came down.  After it was all said and done, I laughed and said, "You don't know how close you were, with one slip of the hand, to seeing a grown man cry."  He looked at me and said "You mean two grown men.."

Wendell is a good man, and I had all the faith in the world that he wouldn't mess up my card.

The card is awesome.  I really wish it was an Oriole, but Dee Gordon is having a fantastic year.  I don't often pull actual 1/1s, so this was an epic pull for me.  I've had people ask me to trade this, but I believe that I will hold onto it, at lease until I can get the Chris Davis (if at all possible).

Ebay Pickup - 2014 Bowman Chrome Chris Davis Printing Plate

Finding stuff in my "to be blogged" pile that I can write about isn't tough.  It's even nicer when I have single cards that I picked up that I can blog about quickly and easily after a long day.  Today is one of those days.

I worked almost 12 hours today and I am wiped.  Instead of skipping an entry tonight, I can just show off this 1/1 printing plate from 2014 Bowman Chrome of Chris Davis that I picked up recently.

I would love to go for the rainbow, but I missed out on the superfractor recently when it sold on EBay for $115.  Maybe it'll pop up next time. Anyway, I got a good deal on this one, and just barely missed out on the red parallel.

Bowman Chrome was a great product this past year, as you are all aware.  I plan on getting all of Davis's parallels for this, and who knows, maybe even the superfractor, if it ever comes back online.

Another Day, Another Chris Davis 1/1

I completed a trade on Instagram the other day when I sent a guy named Michael (who's Instagram name is sportscards_infinity) a 2014 Bowman Gold Refractor auto of Daniel McGrath in exchange for the above Chris Davis 2013 Topps printing plate.  This is the yellow plate.

I was glad to add this to my collection, which now has 13 different versions.  I still, obviously, need the 1/1 platinum parallel.  I always enjoy getting the printing plates.  One of these days, I need to count up how many plates I have, but I know I have a bunch.

My First Chris Davis 1/1 Platinum Parallel

My main complaint when it has come to completing a rainbow of a player has always been that it is almost impossible to find a platinum 1/1 card.  I mean, it is so tough to find one, I have no platinum 1/1 parallels of any of my PC players.  I came really close with the 2010 Topps Nolan Reimold, but I missed it by a week.  That card was at a LCS near Charlotte for a while, with a $75.00 price tag, and when I finally got the guts to buy it, it had been purchased a week prior.

So, when I saw this 2014 Topps Mini Chris Davis platinum on Ebay last week, I jumped all over it.  I didn't really want to buy any cards at that time, since we have been monitoring our money very closely, but I knew I would regret it if I passed it up (as I had learned from one of my good friends, if you see a card that you think you'll never see again, you have to buy it).

I have no other versions of the 2014 Topps Mini Chris Davis, but I can assure you that I am on the lookout for a few, and once our money situation gets settled later this month, I'm pouncing on some of the parallels.  If I see one of the printing plates, I can go ahead and tell you, the credit card will be utilized just to make it happen!

So, I'm really happy that I was able to find this 1/1 Davis, and I thank Ebay for their saved search feature, which assures me that I won't miss some of this really hard to find stuff.

Ebay Pickup - 2013 Bowman Alex Murphy Printing Plate

I apologize for not posting yesterday, but I was at a MiLB game with my good friend, Ryan.  I got home today and had too much to do to be able to post my recap, so look for that tomorrow.  In the meantime, take a look at this 2013 Bowman Alex Murphy printing plate.

I got this plate off of Ebay for $9.99 BIN, which was a steal!  Murphy is doing pretty well at Low A Aberdeen, even though the team isn't playing well at all right now.  So far, this season, Murphy has played 16 games in Aberdeen and 4 at Delmarva.  In all, he is batting .274 with 2 homers and 7 RBIs.  Not terrible, but he needs to pick it up some more.  I think he'll be fine, since this is his first full MiLB season.

Instagram Pickup - 2008 Topps Chris Davis RC Printing Plate

I made a quick and easy deal on Instagram the other day with a kid named Ryan.  I saw that he had posted this 2008 Topps Chris Davis RC printing plate for sale for $40.00 shipped, so I had to jump on it.  I think I had seen this several months ago on Ebay and let it slip away, so I wanted to make sure I didn't let that happen this time around.

The plate is pretty cool, as all plates are.  It is the Cyan plate.  Thanks for the super easy deal, Ryan, I hope we can trade again!

Ebay Pickup - 2014 Topps Chris Davis Printing Plate

I got a good deal on Ebay the other day when I got this 2014 Topps Chris Davis printing plate for just over $30.  I really needed it if I was going to pursue the rainbow.  I already have the purple, clear and a couple of the other variations.  I lost out on the blank back, which went off the other day at $121.  Yeah, I'm not going to spend that much.  I just saw that the 2012 blank back was listed on Ebay, so I figure maybe I'll see the '14 again.  I may even go after the '12.  I would like to complete one rainbow at some point, but those true 1/1 cards really kick my butt.

Anyway, this printing plate is really cool.  I actually have a quite a few printing plates in my various PCs, so they're not too tough to come by.  I'm still glad I got it and at such a good price.

Ebay Pickup - 2010 Topps Brian Roberts Printing Plate

For $20, I picked up a 1/1 card I needed for my 2010 Topps Brian Roberts rainbow.  $20 is really not bad for a printing plate if you think about it.  I know, printing plates really aren't 1/1s, what, with the 4 or 5 colors represented.  You know what I mean: Black, Yellow, Cyan, etc.  This one is the Yellow printing plate, but I did need a printing plate for the rainbow and I now have it.  I would really love to be able to land the Platinum 1/1, but I have yet to see it.  I still kick myself for letting the Platinum Reimold out of my sights.  Dang.

Anyway, sorry for the short post, but I'm exhausted after a long day of work, so I'm cutting myself off early and heading to bed.  I hope you all have enjoyed my PC additions, because there are still more to come!

2012 Topps Mini Nolan Reimold Printing Plate

I made a surprise discovery oon Ebay a couple days ago when I saw that someone had the Topps Mini Printing Plate of Nolan Reimold listed for $20.

I jumped all over it when I saw it.  $20 for a printing plate that I definitely needed for my PC?  You know it.  I really didn't think I would be able to add any of the 1/1's from 2012 to my 'Reimold Rainbow', but I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.  I'd like to add some plates from his other years as well, but it is a matter of finding them, and being able to afford them.

I'd write more, but I'm still wore out from last night's Who concert in Greensboro.  What an awesome show!  I've now seen them twice, once in 1989 in St. Louis and again last night in Greensboro.

Adding to the Virgil Trucks Collection

The one of one card I alluded to the other day was this Virgil Trucks cut auto from Tristar SignaCuts Bronx Edition.

I'm not the biggest fan of how these cut signatures are done, a lof of which are parts and pieces of other cards.  Originally, I had thought it was a crumpled piece of paper that had been signed, but upon further review, he signed his leg...

The card does look good and it is a 1/1, so this is my first 1/1 of Mr. Trucks.  I had to add it to the collection and I was able to do so for under $20.