Trade Post - A Cracked Bat

I really can't tell you how long ago I got this great group of cards from Julie of A Cracked Bat fame.  We have exchanged packages back and forth and I am not sure this officially represents a trade but for tagging purposes, that's what I am calling it.

First up were some newer Giants:

This is a great assortment and I needed them all.  The purple background on the Bumgarner is pretty and I really like the Panik die cut - it was a card that I had never seen.  I am hoping that Panik continues the All Star play that was happening prior to his back injury during the second half of last year.  With the new Giants additions to the starting rotation, it seems like Chris Heston of no-hitter fame will be relegated to the bullpen unless some gets hurts.  The Giants rotation will be quite strong to go with a NL leading offense - watch out Dodgers.  The bottom 3 cards partner with Panik to form 3/4 of the Giants infield, Giants cards as Orange Refractors are awesome.

Julie also included a nice group of Barry Bonds cards.  I am a little sad to see him as hitting coach for the Marlins, it would be nice to see him at Spring Training this year in the Orange and Black.  Reminds me a little of Jack Clark becoming a Dodgers coach, he looked terrible in Dodger blue.

The Cepeda is a reprint but it was the last original back I needed for the Giants team set which is awesome. It did bring back some PTSC (Post Traumatic Set Collecting) as I made the idiotic decision to collect both the regular and original back versions in 2010.  As I recall this is a 157 card insert set over all 3 series and the original backs were inserted 1/hobby box.  I didn't keep track of how much I spent but I recall some of the Ryan, Mantle and Jeter cards being $5-10 each.  I need to focus on the awesome Will Clark and Matt Williams cards to distract me.  I also love getting oddball stuff with Giants logos like this Cracker Jack sticker and hologram!

Finally a great relic out of Topps Archives of the Kung Fu Panda.  I miss the personality and humor Sandoval brought to the Giants but last year Matt Duffy did more than replace Panda with his great rookie performance.  I am sad that because he plays the same position as Kris Bryant as he won't have a Rookie Cup on his Topps base card this year but I am hoping he doesn't have a sophomore slump.

Thanks Julie for a great group of cards!!!

Manurelic Bookends

The first manufactured patches I recall entering the hobby came from Upper Deck in the 2004 Sweet Spot Classic release.  I didn't crack much if any of that product but I do remember seeing some boxes broken at my LCS.  The "patch" card as it was called was usually the last card in the pack/box and featured a wide variety of famous players.  There were also a number of different patches for many of the players in the set.

Here is a Christy Mathewson I picked up recently celebrating the 1911 World Series.  Somewhat of an odd choice as the Giants lost that Series to the Philadelphia A's 4-2 with Mathewson going 1-2 in 3 starts (there was a 6 day rain delay in the middle).

Each player has several different patches produces in different print runs.  I have 8 different versions of these cards in my Willie McCovey collection (print runs of 10, 25, 50, 125, 150, 200, 230 & 300).  There is a version out of 75 listed in Beckett that I have never seen before, I suspect it doesn't exist.

As I recall, I liked these cards when I first saw them.  They were new to the hobby, showed some creativity and allowed for some retired players to be more prevalent in the hobby.  Once Topps got on the bandwagon and started calling manurelics "hits" in their Jumbo boxes, I started to change my attitude about them and got to the point where I almost despised them.  I don't know if I am softening up as I get older but my attitude is flipping again and I am starting to like some of the releases.

Take for instance this 2015 Topps Series 2 First Home Run manurelic of the Kung Fu Panda:

These manurelics were inserted in retail blasters at 1/blaster, kind of an extra added bonus when you bought a blaster.  I actually made the decision to buy a couple blasters this year in part to get one of these cards.  I unfortunately didn't pull a Giant but got this one on Sportlots at a very reasonable price.  These are very thick and heavy, the medallion in the middle is made of some sort of metal.  The silver foil lettering doesn't come through that great in the scan but the card in person looks really nice.

As the oldest and newest manurelics in my collection, these cards represent what I like about this relatively new part of the hobby.  There are still a few in-between that were ill conceived but hopefully moving forward we will continue to see nice cards with solid designs.

There has been a Panda Sighting

I think I made my thoughts on Pablo Sandoval pretty clear a few weeks back, here is a link if you want to refresh you memory or take a first look.  Panda has had a fairly solid start hitting close to .300 through the first few weeks of the season.  With his replacement Casey McGehee struggling to get over the Mendoza line, this change is not looking good for the Giants so far.  This increases my disdain for the Panda's decision even more but not enough to stop collecting his cards.

All of Sandoval's base cards this year have shown him in his Red Sox uniform but apparently Topps is trying to rid themselves of Pablo jersey pieces as he has shown up in several 2015 Topps relic releases as a Giant.  It seems like I am in the minority of Giants fans in still picking up Panda cards and the Red Sox fans must not like cards of him as a Giant because these cards are selling for very low figures.

Here is a trio of recent pick ups.

This 2015 Gypsy Queen relic is a nice looking design and I think Topps picked a nice picture to feature with this design.  It looks like he launched an opposite field shot right before this picture was snapped.

 This is from the flawed Tribute release where many of the autos were coming out smeared.  I wonder what the fate is of all the base cards and relics that got sent back to Topps.  I figured prices would be driven up but not in the case of this Sandoval card.  I really like the large, baseball diamond shaped swatch on this card.  There are 3 current Giants in this set as well - Posey, Bumgarner and Pence - and I may need to track those down as I really like the look of these cards.

The final card in this trio is from Museum Collection and also features a nice big swatch.  Since this one is white and the other two are gray, Topps must have at least 2 different jerseys on hand of Sandoval so I expect to see a few more relic cards of the Panda coming out in future sets.

Three nice cards, three solid designs, just wish it was of a player that didn't turn his back on the team that believed in him, invested in him and helped him get 3 World Series rings.

My Feelings About the Panda

I am heading out very early tomorrow morning for work trip that won't bring me home until Friday. I don't have much in the way of posts planned but I did upload some scans in case I have some time free in the evenings to write some posts.
 
I don't believe I have shared my thoughts about Pablo Sandoval's departure from the Giants and I am certain I haven't commented on his recent comments blasting most of him teammates and the organization.  I thought it would be good to clean out my scanned folder and share some thoughts from this diehard Giants fan.

2014 Topps Trajectory Relic

As the story goes Pablo passed up the same or more money from the Giants to move to the Red Sox in free agency.  At the time Pablo was gracious and said he just wanted a fresh start.  My feelings at that point were a combination of sadness and relief.  I was sad to see him go, he was a fan favorite, my kids love him and he was a hero of the past two World Series victories.  I was relieved because I feel the money he was given was too much, the length of the contract too long and was worried the long term contract would result in him gaining weight and being ineffective.

2013 Topps Triple Thread Relic 16/18

Then the Giants acquired Casey McGehee to replace the Panda at the Hot Corner.  He is a much cheaper option.  He had a pretty solid year last year and won the Comeback Player of the Year award.  He displayed virtually no power and I can't imagine that getting better at AT&T Park this year.  Overall I think it was a solid signing and it eased my mind a bit, at least we won't be trotting Joaquin Arias out every day.

2013 Topps Tier One Relic 113/399

Panda has almost left my consciousness, I had moved on.  Then his idiotic comments came to light.  I somewhat get why he would rip the entire organization's front office. He was hurt by a perceived lack of respect due to a lowball offer during the off season prior to the 2014 season.  At the time I think the offer was wise but hurt feelings would not be out of the question.  But he then ripped all of his former teammates with the exception of Hunter Pence and reveals that he was never going to resign with the Giants. I thought back to victory parade after the World Series where the fans gave him so much love and he told them he would do everything to come back. I guess that was all a lie.  And what did the rest of the Giants team do to him.  This didn't make this Giants fan feel good and made cutting any emotional ties quite easy.

2011 Topps Heritage Stamp with Justin Morneau 55/62

So what is my plan moving forward with regards to Panda cards. I am a Giants collector, I won't be going after any of his new cards other than the ones I need for my sets.  I doubt I will go after any of his past cards unless they are base card needs. If I run across a neat looking card at a very good price, I may pick it up but I don't see any active pursuit of his cards.  I will still enjoy the cards that I have in my collection and they will always bring back memories of some World Series titles.

2010 Bowman Sterling Dual Relic with Prince Fielder 179/199

Have there ever been two players who belong on a card together more than these two?  Sayonara Panda, enjoy Boston and try to stay away from the cream pies.

Immaculate Collection - What do you think?

I haven't seen too much noise about this set in the blogosphere, but that is typical for most higher end products.  Several weeks back Panini released Immaculate Collection.  Each box contains 6 cards with 1 base or parallel card and 5 hits.  Every card is serial numbered to 99 or less.  Boxes are going on line for about $160.  Personally I never see myself buying a box of this stuff but I did go after some Giants from the set.

One of my goals in 2014 was to pick up all the Giants base cards and short of some SPs and a couple recent releases I am doing really nice on achieving this goal.  I thought this set might stump me similar to 2013 Panini America's Pastime did last year.    However I did a quick shopping spree a couple weeks back and was able to score all 3 Giants from the base set.  Take a look:

 Starting off is Buster Posey.  I love the catcher poses on Panini products as the lack of a license really doesn't jump out at you.  I think this is a great looking card.

 Next up is World Series hero Madison Bumgarner.  This card is aesthetically damaged a bit with the lack of Giants across his chest and the SF logo on the hat. 

 Finally to finish up the base team set is Free Agent Kung Fu Panda. After the shout outs to resign Pablo during the victory parade I have a new level of confidence that the Giants will step and and make a good enough offer to keep him in SF.

I was also able to pick up a Panda relic for a very reasonable price.  It has a print run of 99 and has a plain black relic.  I like how the picture is different from the base card and while a logo would greatly enhance the card, it still looks pretty solid.

I am going to keep my eyes open for some more hits to see if I can score some on the cheap.  Also, Willie McCovey has some Padres themed cards in the set I need to try and track down. Wish me luck and let me know what you think of this set.