TTM Success - Trey Mancini

A private signing with former Oriole, Trey Mancini popped up that I jumped on.  I wanted to finish the above 2017 Topps Heritage rookie card that I had already gotten signed by Donnie Hart at Orioles Fan Fest years ago.  I had hoped to get the card signed sooner, but at least it's done.

I found the 2017 Topps Chrome refractor in my Orioles box and decided to add it to the submission.  I sent the two cards off, then found the green ice foil parallel from 2021 Topps.  I reached out to the signing promoter and he allowed ke to add the foil card to the submission.  So, this was kind of a dual TTM.  Not that it matters.

Mancini (b. 1992) is attempting a comeback for the 2025 season after opting out of his minor league deal with the Marlins this past Spring Training.  He has played in the majors from 2016 to 2019 and 2021 to 2023 for the Orioles, Astros and Cubs.  He missed the 2020 season while battling stage 3 colon cancer.  He had 801 hits, 129 home runs and a .263 batting average.  

I mailed the first two to the signing on August 12; the foil card on August 30.  I got all three cards back on October 7 for 38 and 56-day TATs.  I paid a fee of $20/card.

Another Blind Trade With Drake

After falling way behind on trade and 50/50 posts, there looks to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  I have a few stacks of cards that need to be scanned and uploaded, and with my laptop being on its last legs, scanning and uploading has become an arduous task.

That being said, I am not intentionally withholding scans.  It's just a huge pain in the butt.  I got this blind trade from my friend, Drake over the summer, and have just recently been able to scan the cards.  The Trey Mancini at the top of the post is a key highlight of the blind trade.  Drake also sent me a bunch of team set cards of some guys that he has seen, while I hooked him up with an almost complete Wood Ducks team set (where I sat those Julio Valdez cards, I cant seem to figure out).

The KeBryan Hayes 2019 Topps Heritage Minors card shown here was a big surprise.  Drake really hooked it up with what he sent. 

Je sent a good many Bowman cards, including a Kenen Irizarry 2018 Bowman.  I was going to send Drake a few of mine, since Irizarry was playing independent ball near Drake, but he talked me out of it.  It seems Irizarry is a tough auto still.

My niece could have saved Drake the trouble and signed Jacob Berry's card for him.  What a signature.  

I missed out on getting Kevin Made with Myrtle Beach, so Drake helped me out there as well.  He also got the above dual of Benny Montgomery and Jaden Hill signed.  I had someone else get one of these done for me as a 50/50 this season, also.

The above Dan Radison is different.  I keep looking at it, thinking it is a Starting Lineup card, but it isn't. 

Drake also added a couple Topps cards to the album in the above 2019 Topps Jakob Junis and the 2020 Topps Edwin Rios.

Thanks for the trade, Drake! I appreciate all of the work you put into it.

Some Random National Pickups

I didn't have as much time this year to look through bargain bins and search for too many cards that weren't on my wishlist.  Still, a few things jumped out at me, and I got some nice deals.  The above Ken Lehman card is really awesome.  I spent $20 on it, which I thought was a bit high, but I loved the design.  It is a Hires Root Beer card from 1958.  I looked some up and it does appear that I got a good deal on the card.

I bought this 2018 Pro Debut green parallel of Anderson Tejeda for $5.  The card is numbered 30/99.  I think $5 was a steal.

Finally, here are a few autos I picked up cheap.  Bubba Thompson should be a Wood Duck next year.  Cody Sedlock has had a lost season, but should be back on track now.  Zac Lowther is a really nice Orioles prospect, who is even nicer in person.  Finally, I got another Trey Mancini auto for the collection.

Orioles Fan Fest 2018 - Autographed Cards

Another Orioles Fan Fest is complete, and this year, I went all out with getting baseball cards signed.  I had all five time slots covered this time around, and was able to get multiple cards signed at almost all of them.  I also had some help with my son, Chris, my friend, Ryan and also my friend, Michael.  Michael really hit a home run for me by getting this Brady Anderson signed.  I know I owe him big for this, as he really loved the card and wanted to keep it.  This is a 1998 Pacific Revolution.  It looks so awesome in person.

This 2000 Finest Larry Bigbie orange refractor drew a response from Bigbie, himself.  He remarked "Wow, that is an old card!"  He's right, but it sure is a nice one.  I am really happy with it, and only paid a few bucks for it on Ebay.

This Nestor Cortes is another pickup.  It is a die ccut card numbered 05/99.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get it signed, but right when Chris got to the front of the kids line, Cortes came and sat down.  It turned out really nice, even though I wuickly had run an eraser over it right before he signed.  Thankfully, my mom had given me a pack of the giant pink erasers a couple weeks ago.  I put them to good use this weekend.

Darren O'Day was the first person we got, and the above 2015 Topps black parallel was one I was really excited to get signed.  I had bought it for a few bucks from my friend, Anthony, and really wanted to get it done.  I had sent O'Day a gold parallel of that card to Spring Training last season, but never got it back.

I had Chris get me the 2017 Topps, mainly because I wanted to puff up some of my Topps set numbers.  I wanted to get parallels and refractors done mostly, but I was able to add a few Topps base here and there.

I bought this Anthony Santander orange shimmer from 2014 Bowman Chrome last week, once I knew who's vouchers I had.  I saw it on Ebay for something like $6.00, but was able to get it cheaper from sportlots, instead.

This 2011 Topps Chrome orange parallel of Adam Jones was featured on this blog a long time ago, in a care package from my friend, Pete.  I had narrowed all of my Jones cards down to four, with Chris taking two, and I taking two through the line.  The handler denied Chris's second card, so I quickly put my second away and went with this one.  I had a recurring theme the whole time with orange parallels, and I'm not complaining at all.  It sure turned out nice.

Tim Beckham denied me a second card, but he signed two for Chris.  They all turned out really well.  I especially like that Chris, himself, requested that Beckham sign the Heritage Minors in blue.  It really looks good.

Here is another orange parallel, this time from Kevin Gausman.  This one turned out so well.  I'm glad I raided my PC boxes for some nice parallels.

I got four cards signed by Trey Mancini.  The Panini National Exclusive was given to me by a little guy named Reid at this past year's National.  I've been trying to message him, but haven't gotten a response since then.  He was ahead of me in the line to get in that last day of the National, and ended up walking around with me for a while.  The middle Topps Gallery was a gift from my buddy, Cal, and I am really happy that I brought it along to get signed.  It is hard to tell, but that is an Artists Proof card.  Finally, I really wanted an Oriole on a 1987 Topps Chrome from this past year, just to keep up with my 1987 Topps theme in my albums.

I also got four cards signed by Hunter Harvey.  The 2014 Bowman Chrome gold parallel on the right is numbered out of 50, and turned out really nice.  I have a bunch of other Harvey cards.  If he goes to Frederick to start the season, I may be able to get him when they come through Kinston.

I put some dime box pickups from this past year's National to good use at Fan Fest.  All of these Mike Wright and Chris Lee cards were dime box finds that I held onto.  The Wright cards are misprints, of course, as he never was a National.

I added three cards to the 1987 set while I was at Fan Fest.  Michael got Larry Sheets for me, and Ryan hooked me up with John Russell.

Here are some horizontal cards that I was able to get done.  The 2010 Upper Deck was from Ryan, and had Jaycob Brugman's signature on it.  The 1994 Score is Wane Kirby.  I had to bring the generic Orioles cards, in case I saw someone I didn't have cards of.  I was glad to use my 1994 Score.  The Upper Deck was one Ryan brought.  I kind of wish I had gotten a voucher of Chance Sisco, since I found my Bowman Pipeline card that I had Cody Sedlock sign this summer.  Chris got it signed by Chris Lee in the kid's line.  Lee said Sisco was on his way, but we were late for our 2:00 signing, anyway.  Maybe next year.

Here is a batch of other cards I was able to get done.  We had a session with Joe Orsulak, and he also was in the kid's line.  The Orsulak in the middle is a Bowman Tiffany, which turned out really nice.

Chris laid down three Alan Mills cards in the kid's line, and Mills signed them all.  I was glad for that, as I couldn't decide if I liked the 1995 Fleer over the 1993 Topps.  Ryan contributed the 1993 Ultra, and let Chris keep it.

Finally, Austin Hays signed two cards for me in the first session we were in.  Chris got an 8x10 signed.  I had my autograph book with me for that session, and Hays said he would do two of the four I had on my page.  I was fine with that, as it meant I could get one of the Carolina League Prospect cards signed and his Aberdeen team set card done.  I abandoned the book after that session and just tried two-per for each station, and it worked pretty well.

Ryan got the David Hess signed for me while I was in line for the last session.  He had my card box with him while I was in line and remembered that my box was alphabetized (and he remembered me saying I had one Hess card in there).  Michael got me the Miguel Castro.

In all, I left Fan Fest with 56 autographs on baseball cards.  Not a bad way to start the year.

I have a few other things from Fan Fest that I will show later on between TTM successes and a couple more Christmas gifts that came in, so stay tuned!

Christmas Care Package From Xavier

I got a nice care package in recently from my friend, Xavier, that had a bunch of Orioles cards.  I hadn't had much of a chance to talk to Xavier recently, since he has been so busy at college.  Still, that didn't stop him from sending a little something my way.  I really appreciated the gesture.  There were a bunch of Orioles cards in there that I needed in my collection, so it really worked out.

Thank you so much for the package, Xavier!

A Couple Trades With Cal

My friend Cal made a couple trades with me recently.  He and I have been talking about TTMs and autos lately and made a few deals.  He just busted a box of Topps Gallery and sent me these two that I needed for my PCs.

I really like this product.  I haven't seen any that I could open, so getting these from Cal was pretty nice.

The above Trey Mancini is an Artist Proof, which is pretty cool.  It's not numbered, but I like it.  I may take it to Fan Fest in January to get it signed, but I do already have a few Mancinis that I had planned on taking with me, so we will see.

Finally, here is a purple chrome refractor of Derrek Lee.  I always forget that Lee was an Oriole.  I remember when he was traded to the Pirates.  I think I saw his first game with the Pirates, but I could be wrong.

Thank you so much for the deals, Cal.  I hope we can do some more in the future.

2017 National Card Show - Trey Mancini Autos

I realized when I got home from the National, I picked up a bunch of Trey Mancini autos!  I got most of them really cheap, with the exceptionof this 2016 Bowman purple refractor auto and the below graded 9.5 10 refractor auto.  I bought these two cards as "investments" and plan on getting the purple graded.  It is numbered 211/250 and should get a pretty decent grade.

This graded refractor auto is a pretty cool card.  I had some help in picking it up, as Anthony and Max showed this and the purple to me.  I made a deal for the both of them, and saved a good bit of money.

I got this 2017 Stadium Club auto from a guy named Parker at the Saturday trade night.  I traded him my Gleyber Torres Pro Debut red parallel numbered to 10 for this and $20.

I made a bulk deal for this 1/25 Mancini dual patch auto from Diamond Kings.  I got a nice discount on the whole lot that I purchased, but this card was the key to the deal.

I traded my Royce Lewis relic/auto to a kid named Griffin for this Mancini Bowman auto.  He is a Twins fan, so he was really excited to pick up the Lewis.

This was one of the last cards I picked up at the show.  I randomly asked a guy if he had any Mancini stuff, and he said that he had the "Bowmanized" inception for a great price.  I think this card looks so cool, so I picked it up.

Finally, this was my first purchase at the entire show.  I got this from a fellow Orioles fan, so I paid a bit of a premium for it, but I finally had an Inception auto from this year, after getting shut out on a few on Ebay.

New Topps Now Pickup - Mancini's Magic Bat

Trey Mancini has done pretty well so far this season.  He might just end up becoming a new full-on PC for me, especially now that Nolan Reimold has retired and is not likely to have any new cards issued.

When Topps Now issued this card about the game the night before where Mancini hit a couple homers, then Gentry and Machado borrowed his bat and did the same...  I had to get it.  I got the 5-pack, and send one of the cards to my new friend, Andy, who is a huge Mancini fan.  I know he enjoyed the surprise.

There are a couple other Orioles Topps Now cards from this year that I missed out on, so I will have to EBay those.  I like this year's design.  The back has almost a glossy refractor look to it, which is pretty cool.

Orioles Prospect Pickups From The National

As the Orioles crap the bed on this season, now is as good a time as any to look toward the future.  While I was at the National, I utilized the bargain boxes to add some O's "prospects" to my collection.  The above DJ Stewart jumbo relic/auto cost me less than $5.00, but is a pretty cool card.  Stewart hasn't really lived up to his "first round draft pick" billing, but since his promotion from Low A Delmarva to High A Frederick, Stewart's batting average has picked up by 42 points from .230 to .272.  He had 4 homers at Delmarva this year, coupled with another 4 at Frederick.  He should develop more power, but that remains to be seen.  So far, Stewart appears to be far away from reaching the Majors, but one can still hope.  The kid is only 22, so hopefully he can continue to improve.

This Chance Sisco was a dine box find.  Sisco might be the top Orioles prospect, and may see playing time in the majors next year.  He is only 22, but holds a .322 career average over 4 minor league seasons.  The Orioles desperately need a high average player who can get on base.  Compared to the dismal .230 average that Matt Wieters is showing this season, Sisco may be an upgrade over the former phenom.  Sisco isn't regarded as a plus defender, but Wieters seems to have regressed defensively somewhat, and has always been suspect as his game-calling.  I look forward to seeing what Sisco can do, but I doubt he gets a call up in September.  We may have to wait to see how he performs in Spring Training 2017.  By then, Wieters may likely be gone.

24 year-old Drew Dosch is batting .256 with an OBP of .306 at AA Bowie this season.  He has 7 homers and has struck out 87 times.  He was a 7th round pick in 2013 and hopefully will continue to move up in the O's system.  He's a third baseman who has Manny Machado to look up at in the depth chart for a couple more seasons before Manny leaves via free agency.  I got this card for less than $5 out of a bargain box.  This 2015 Bowman Chrome blue refractor auto is numbered 28/150.

I was excited to find this Cole Billingsley auto in a bargain box for $3.00.  He is currently at Short Season (A) Aberdeen and is batting .283 with 3 homers over the course of 46 games.  Not bad for his first season of pro ball.  I look forward to following Billingsley's career as he rises through the ranks.  Hopefully he will make the majors, which would be really cool for a kid featured on a 2010 Bowman card at the age of 16.

Finally, we have a 2016 Bowman Inception Trey Mancini auto that I picked up for less than $15.  I love these cards.  My buddy Robert busted two cases of Inception and actually pulled this same card.  I wanted to get it from him, but he sold it before I had a chance to make an offer.  Oh well.  This card is not numbered,  but the auto is on-card.

Mancini sports a .306 average across 4 minor league seasons.  He was promoted to AAA Norfolk, a notoriously unfriendly park for hitters' stats, but has batted a respectable .279 with 13 home runs over 118 games.  Mancini stands a chance to be called up when rosters expand on September 1.  If anything, he must be added to the Orioles 40-man roster this off season, or they risk exposing him to the Rule V Draft (where any team can draft him for the price of $50,000, but must keep him on their 25-man roster, or offer him back to the O's for $25,000).  It is a no-brainer that Mancini is added to the 40-man no later than the off season.

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!