a recent purchase of mine

this bad boy cost me $8.51 including the shipping. i was pretty happy to get it. it's not every day you see a patch card with this many colors on it. the seller listed it as a 4 color patch, but you can see that it's clearly a 5 color patch. count em: gray, black, white, red, and blue.

i started collecting hank this year after adrian gonzalez got off to a hot start. i had been collecting adrian for a couple years. it sucks being priced out of your player, but i'm not complaining too much. i did make about $130 selling 5 autos that i bought for maybe $16 with shipping. it's definitely funded my blalock collection. i now about 15 autos and 6 patches including the beauty to the right.

when i found the mo rivera card below, i decided to look at some other 1996 leaf signature series cards, and i stumbled across this card. though its not serial numbered, this gold version is supposed to be limited to 500 sets.

there doesn't seem to be to many thome certified autos around. the guys just gets no respect. i mean his power numbers are just incredible. yes, his career ran right through the heart of the steroids era, but he hasn't slowed down much since testing began, and his peaks come at what you would expect for his age at the time. 554 career probably clean home runs puts him in some pretty good company. he even has a shot at 600. any thome collectors out there?

a must for any pittsburgh fan

i was born to late to ever visit forbes field in pittsburgh, but i feel like i've been there before. my dad and uncles used to tell me tales of past superstars that played there: clemente, stargell, mazeroski, the waner brothers and pie traynor. but, they always made sure that they included josh gibson in the discussion of the greatest pittsburgh players. they told me how he was probably the real home run king, and that he, not babe ruth, was probably the greatest player ever.

now the card to the right of gibson is a little misleading. he is in his crawfords jersey. the crawfords were another nergo league team in pittsburgh at the time of the homestead grays. gibson actually played for both teams during his career, but it was the homestead grays that played their home games in forbes field not the crawfords.

i'll hold off on snagging this card for a few days just in case any other pittsburgh fans out there want to grab it.

mo gets no. 500

mariano rivera has had a remarkable career. last night he picked up save number 500 against the mets. what has been so incredible about that number is the fact that rivera has one pitch. he throws his famous cutter, and that is it. just sit back and digest that a bit. i mean he has consistently dominated big leagues with one pitch. this never happens. it doesn't matter if you throw a 105 mph heater. you won't make it very far if that's your only pitch. major league hitters are way to good to be dominated by one pitch, one speed. yet mo has established himself as the most reliable and dominate post season closer in history. oh and his regular season numbers aren't too shabby either.

so before you run out and drop another c-note on another prospect, give this card a look. it's from back in the day when getting a certified auto in a pack was a thrilling prospect.

back to mo's cutter. i think that's the one pitch i'd like to step in the batters box and try to hit. anyone else up for that?

a good day for a rookie

there is no better feeling than coming through in the clutch. white sox rookie gordon beckham did just that last night. beckham, who has been struggling a bit in the bigs, had a nice day at the plate going 2 for 5 with an rbi. that rbi was very important though. it came in the bottom of the ninth of a tied game for his first career walk-off hit.

here is a nice low numbered auto of gordon. it has about 4 hours to go and is currently at $48.59. i think it will go for upwards of $100. oh yeah, it also has an auto of former florida state catcher and current san francisco giants prospect buster posey. i mean, if you're going to spend that much on a rookie who may never hit over .200, you may as well get another one for your money.

more rare game used

mark buehrle is a great example of a lifer in the amerian league. he's a three time all-star and a has a ring from the 2005 season. at 30 years old and 129 career wins, i think you could seriously add him to the discussion of the next 300 game winner. he'd have to average 17 wins a season for the next 10 seasons which is certainly not out of the question

remember when discussing 300 game winners, they usually reach that mark at a pretty old age. so durability is always an issue. buehrle has never started less than 30 games since his first full season in 2001.

what makes this card a rare game used is the fact that mark has 48 career plate appearances.

a rare game used

"el duque" orlando hernandez was one of my favorite players. armed with a jerky motion and a will make it in the majors, el duque was part of 4 world series champions. many may not know about his other successes. in cuba, hernandez won 2 more titles and holds the record for winning percetage. he also has a gold medal from the 1992 barcelona games.

now about the card in question. it a game used bat card of el duque. game used bat cards are certainly not rare, but when you consider that hernandez spent only 2 years in the national league and made only 137 career regular season and post season plate appearences, it becomes clear why this card is rare. the man probably only used a handfull of bats in his major league career.

this card got me thinking about unique game used collections. does anybody out there have a pitcher specific game used bat collection? bonus points for american league guys.

something i have my eye on

i usually don't post about items that i want, but i thought i'd give this one a shot. here is an auction for a box of my favorite product as a kid. frank thomas has always been my favorite player so when i saw an insert set totally devoted to the big hurt, i fell in love.

the frank set isn't the only perk though. the base cards were very nice for the time and the heading for the hall inserts were nice as well. i remember pulling a nolan ryan heading for the hall. it was definitely one of my biggest pulls for a long time. being 8 years old at the time, i wasn't able to bust much wax. what is your favorite set of the early '90s?

how to spend $600

while thinking about some vintage cards that i'd like to add to my pc, i ran across some startling figures. take this beauty for example. a 1939 teddy ballgame play ball rookie could be mine right now for $600. heck, it could be mine for even less. now, i'm not a red sox fan, but i am a baseball fan. when you look back at what ted williams accomplished, its really just incredible.

keep that card in mind as you look at what else was had for double the bit price of the williams. yes, someone actually paid more for a david wright rookie than a ted williams rookie. wright is a good young player and all, but i'll print out the blog and eat the paper if he goes down in history as being better than williams.

an unknown ian kinsler

ian kinsler, the slugging second baseman for the texas rangers, has been a known commodity in the collecting world for quite some time. a quick search of the completed listings on ebay (the new, accurate beckett) shows many autos going above $10.

there is an eerily similar player manning the 4 position for the toronto blue jays. he was drafted in 2003, just like kinsler. he is putting up big power numbers this year, also just like kinsler. only it seems no one knows about the former first round draft pick. i'm speaking of none other than aaron hill. he's batting .302 with 15 homers and 41 runs scored. pick up this card on the cheap while you can.

obo

Just curious, what percentage of the buy it now price do you offer if given the chance? I usually start at 25%.