Museum Collection Pickups!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I haven't opened a pack or broken a box in ages, but thanks to eBay, I've been able to get a little taste of a lot of the new products. One of these products was the new Topps release, Museum Collection! It is yet another high end, clean, and top of the line release by Topps, and another I can dream of actually having the guts to buy a pack of. Nonetheless, for the singles collector that I am, this set is a major win for me. Take a look at the first two cards I've been able to add from this set:

First, I was able to win the auction for this quad "Primary Pieces" relic numbered only out of 25 of 4 of the better closers in baseball: Heath Bell; Brian Wilson; Craig Kimbrel; and Mariano Rivera! Granted, Bell has blown 3 save opportunities, and Wilson is unfortunately shelved for all of 2012, but over the past few years they have both been as dominant as can be! Kimbrel had an unreal rookie season, and he's off to a great start in 2012, and well, everyone knows Mariano and how much of a legend he is. It's a good looking card all around, and it'll go into my Yankees PC due to the Rivera jersey swatch being included on the card. 

Second, and finally, I added this "Archival Autographs" card numbered 24 of 100 of Diamondbacks stud Ian Kennedy! Kennedy started his career in the Yankees system, and I'm not going to lie, I was really glad they traded him off when they did, as a part of the Curtis Granderson deal two years ago. Fortunately for Kennedy's sake, getting out of the AL East was a blessing from the skies, as he went on to show why he was a top prospect last season, winning 21 games and only losing 4! He finished 4th in Cy Young voting and had most Yankee fans, including myself, completely stumped. This season he's gotten off to another solid start, winning 3 games in his first 5 starts, without a loss.

It's safe to say the Diamondbacks really lucked out with this guy. I've always wanted to see him succeed, and although he couldn't do it in New York (which not everyone can), I'm glad he was able to put it all together and show off his potential. I picked up this beauty for about $10, and I thought it was worth every penny.

What do you guys think of Museum Collection? See Ya!

Trade with Michael from Six-4-Three DP!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Continuing on my occasional attempts of catching up, here is a little mail I got from my new trade buddy Michael, who writes the blog "Six-4-Three DP"! He runs a very nice blog, which hasn't quite been noticed by a whole lot of you guys yet. Without a doubt I suggest you give his site a look in the future, because I'm sure he'd appreciate more readers! Anyways, Michael and I were able to work out a nice little deal, and here is my share of it:

Michael was able to successfully attack all of my team/player collections with some new cards I didn't have yet! One big card he included was the black bordered card of Swisher from last year's Heritage. I haven't even seen that card before, so I'm glad somebody was able to notice it and send it my way. The A-Rod "Stadium Lights" card is awesome, but didn't somebody say they were glow in the dark? I don't remember, but I swore I heard somebody say that. Well, I tested it and no light showed. Still a sweet card. 

Never noticed this either. Both of these cards are out of the 2011 Heritage set, and have the same card number. However, the pictures are different. Can anybody inform me if they know what kind of variation this is?

Under the "Drew is Collecting" piece of the sidebar, I stated some current MLB players I enjoy receiving cards of. One of them is without a doubt, the bearded man from San Fran, Brian Wilson. I don't have a whole lot of his cards, but I love getting a new one or two here and there. That's exactly what Michael did, so I really appreciate that!

I'm not gonna lie, I love the heck out of these 2011 Kimball Champions minis. I don't even remember which ones I had or not, but it doesn't even matter, I'll take all of them! One day it would be awesome to do this set. The only part I don't really care for is that the backs are really simplistic and boring. But who looks at the backs these days anyway?

Do you want to know just how convenient this trade was for me? I already had the regular Gardner rookie card, and Michael sent me the gold parallel. As for the Pineda, I already had the gold parallel and he sent me the regular. What a guy this Michael is! Also, I've done some research on Cito Culver, and I hope that he carries his potential into the majors one day. This Bowman Platinum really is a beautiful card.

Last but surely not least was this 2004 Upper Deck "Matinee Idols" relic of Mike Mussina! I mentioned in my previous post how my favorite pitcher of all time is the Sandman, Mariano Rivera, followed by Andy Pettitte. But without a doubt, a close third is Mr. Mussina himself. Not only was he one of the most consistent pitchers in baseball history, but he also had the honor of being the first baseball TTM success I've ever received! Since then, I've created his trifecta, and this just adds to it. Gotta love the Moose.

Thanks so much Michael for the trade, and sorry for the enormous delay of getting the cards out. I'm going to go work on getting that together now!

See Ya!

2012 Topps eBay Additions!

Hey guys, Drew back here! About two weeks ago, I had to check out some 2012 Topps cards, but I wasn't interested in dropping a ton of money for a box, or even packs. Instead, I took the eBay route, and picked up a few relics from the set. Take a look:

First, I managed to add the Robinson Cano bat relic to my Cano PC, for about $6! The relic design is just ok to me for this set, because I think there's just a bit too much space not used. However, I like that it's a clean design with not a whole lot going on, putting more emphasis on the relic piece. The inserts using this design without the relic look pretty bad though, not going to lie.

The second, and final (for now) relic I picked up was this one above of Giants freak closer Brian Wilson, who certainly has one of the more different personalities in the game today. Some people hate him, some people love him. Personally, I think he's awesome, because 1) his beard is amazing, and 2) he adds something to baseball that not many other players can do. He's helped transform his Giants team into a fun to watch, contending team with many characters that make it easy to root for them. This is my first semi-decent addition  to my collection of Wilson, and hopefully there will be a few more to come in the future.

See Ya!