Back Down South Pt. 1 of 2

I hate going out of town, but sometimes my job requires it. This past week I found myself back in Fort Lauderdale doing some work at the port, luckily I have family down there so I usually have something to do besides stare at the wall in my hotel room. Also there is a great card store close by, though he moved since the last time I was down there nearly 2 years ago Scott's Sports Cards is my favorite card shop/vendor I've stumbled across. Scott is a super nice guy with totally fair prices and isn't as greedy as most card vendors seem to be, if you ever find yourself in South Florida I highly recommend checking his store out though it's a small warehouse space now instead of his old storefront in a shopping plaza. Here's the address - 10128 N.W. 53rd Street. Sunrise, FL 33351.

Anyways I walked in looking for 2017 Topps because after buying over 200 cards via retail I got sick after only pulling 2 Braves... that's 1%... Grabbed these three Dansby rookies plus a full team set with multiples of most of them for other folks and a couple other inserts for about 5 bucks.

 2 more of the inserts I grabbed, big fan of both of these designs. Love the simplicity of the Father's Day one and being a big fan of Topps Fire I also dig the 5 Tool inserts.

Not big on cards of TV personalities but it's John Smoltz. Thick Museum Club inserts for a quarter? Huge fan especially of Maddux.

This guy has so many cards I found this super thick Bowman TV insert in between the boxes, I interviewed Touki during the offseason for Talking Chop and he's a super nice kid from South Florida  - Coral Springs where my family lives to be exact, was cool to talk to a super talented kid in my favorite team's farm system about eating at Cherry Smash ice cream. Wish him the best of luck this year in High A where i'll probably be able to catch some of his starts since the Braves moved their High A affiliate about an hour or so from my house.

There were boxes and boxes of autographs, relics, serial numbered cards etc. On this trip though I got there only an hour or so before closing time so I skimmed the top of the boxes for the thickest cards like this Inception auto of Travis Demeritte, which was less than half the price of online.

I've already got this Inception Auto of Max Fried but grabbed another copy because for these prices... why not? This kid is going to be a stud. Should start in AA and if he picks up where he left off in 2016 he won't be there long.

The other guy in the Alex Jackson trade that went down the day before Thanksgiving, further proof that Braves General Manager John Coppolella never sleeps. Pike is a lefty from nearby (to me) Polk County who has struggled by the numbers in the minors so far but has also been in mostly hitter friendly leagues. Excited to see what he can do with a change of scenery hopefully to the massive Trustmark Park in Mississippi of the Southern League (AA)

Thanks Yankees, the strikeout factory is going to miss the 2017 season but this kid has massive upside if he can return from TJS. Plus it's a 1st Bowman refractor for less than a cup of coffee, hard to pass up.

Closing it out with my guy Folty. 2017 will be his year, mark my words. Come back and tell me I'm wrong in October but I don't think I will be. Thanks for reading, I ended up going back the next day and grabbing more cards but I'll make that another post. 

I'm Not Dead Yet - Catching Up Quick

I'm still here folks, I have still been reading your posts and acquiring cards like a mad man just haven't had as much time to post. Maybe I burnt myself out a little bit with 25 posts in March. I also have been kicked out of my office/card room so that my son can move into it. More on that later, let's show off some cardboard.

Joined a box break of High Tek on instagram a little while back for $3 and hit this on card Andruw auto. Not bad

Hard as it was because I love Five Star cards, I waited and waited on this one to drop to around five bucks on eBay and snatched it up. Wisler is having a pretty solid sophomore season so far - 3.98 ERA, 1.12 WHIP over 72.1 IP in 11 starts. He also has a save somehow from when Fredi Gonzalez burned through his whole bullpen in 10 innings once. (farewell Fredi!)

Although I have yet to buy any of this year's Archives I did get this 2015 Archives card of Kevin Kiermaier signed in person at the 2nd Rays home game of the season, he has since broken his wrist and will miss most of the year... bummer. I will probably be going to buy some '16 Archives tonight actually

2 weeks ago I got to go to a Braves Extended Spring Training game featuring some of the kids drafted last year and a bunch of super young International players. That's Christian Yellich's brother Collin on the left and former Bowling Green catcher Trey Keegan on the right who's a nice guy. I was one of about 6 people there and stood here for most of the game. Pretty good time.

Back to cards, I sent this 2015 Bowman Chrome of Tyrell Jenkins out to him right after camp broke and got it back a couple weeks ago. He's knocking on the door in AAA.

As you all know the Braves SUCK this year, historically bad big league team. No way around it, so I look to the future. Pro Debut couldn't come soon enough for me and I was able to snag this Austin Riley auto for a pretty good deal on the Bay right after it released.

Grabbed the Braves team set and Dansby Swanson off Sportlots. Odd that Aaron Blair is shopped into a Gwinnnett Braves uniform but Dansby who was traded on the same day is in an Arizona affiliate uniform. 

Last prospect card I swear. Mike Soroka gonna be a good one I think. Oh CANADA! Ok I scored some old cards at the flea market and will be showing those off later this week after I get caught up on trade packages (Sorry guys!)

One more thing before I go - Has anyone ever stored cards in the garage? I have this large space cleared out in mine to turn into an office space and am going to EVENTUALLY finish the room but is it safe to store my cards out here until then? Thanks for any input and thanks for reading my blog as always!

Waiting Til Next Year - A Trade Post

 P-Town Tom recently dropped a loaded bubble mailer on me and it hit pretty much all my collecting interests.

Plenty of prospects like this new to me Dansby, my first Team USA card of his. 

He dropped all the base cards of players in the Braves system on me from this set plus these Longevity parallels.  

Boom! This guy's cards are stupid high right now so a base plus a parallel are a big addition to my small PC of the fellow Marietta boy. 

Tom also hit my other main collecting  interest - Oddballs. Love that Justice,  I had never seen one like it before. 

Judge Justice sentencing the Merlins..? What!?

Tom sent me a good amount of '93t Braves, making me realize how few I had and that I need to finish my want lists.. the guy must be telepathic. 

The Klesko is another team set need. The Opening Day Smoltz was new to me as well. 

Closing it out with the Braves closer, thanks for all the great cards Tom!

Contenders Blaster - Christmas Edition

Got a gift card to Target from my Mom for Christmas and I swear I looked at clothes and household goods, but I ended up buying an AMC gift card and this blaster:

Retail is crack I tell you, plus TWO autographs! Ok let's see what's inside.

This was the only "Game Day" insert and my first time seeing this one. Happ was drafted by the Cubbies in the 1st round of last year's draft.

Drafted in the 4th round by Oakland Skye Bolt here has the best name in the box.

A.J. Reed, David Thompson, and Casey Hughston make up this trio of impossible to read nameplates. The Braves need to hurry up and find a way to trade for A.J. Reed. Thompson was drafted by the Mets and Hughston by the Pirates.

I actually caught this one just right. Rangers, Mariners and Indians draft picks from 2015 in order.

Here's the autos, undrafted Jairo Labourt gets some love here. Makes me hungry for a gyro though.

Carlos Vargas just signed with Seattle as an international prospect. Nice signature kid.

Ok these didn't come from this blaster but they fit in with this post so here's some Dansby cards I got in the mail the other day. 

USA! USA! I heard that Seager kid might be pretty good guys. Matt Chapman and Mikey White were both drafted by the A's.

This might be my favorite card out of the box, cool to see Elway in his college uni. I don't collect this Bronco though so I think it will find a new home.

Hey these guys were pretty good. Love that Biggio photo.

Trea Turner is the top 'spect for my least favorite team the Washington Senators Minnesota Twins Texas Rangers Nationals. Maybe they can keep the team this time around. Dozier was drafted in the first round by Kansas City all the way back in 2013. I think they're doing okay without him so far.

One of my favorite inserts, 2 NL Central Shortstops of the future here with a Card and a Brewer.

Giants first round pick Chris Shaw on the left there came out a little blurry. Angels first rounder Taylor Ward not too bad. Sorry I need to get a scanner to make this blog look more professional. 

8 Cody Poteet - UCLA Bruins - Marlins

Kevin Kramer - UCLA Bruins - Pirates

5 Carson Fulmer - Vanderbilt Commodores - White Sox

Walker Buehler - Vanderbilt Commodores - Dodgers 

Sucks that Waker Buehler already has to have TJS after just being drafted in June by L.A. LINK

I wanna talk to Sampson! Not one single Braves player or Dansby card out of the 42 cards in my box luckily I had ordered this one plus the 2 above from Sportlots a week or so ago.

Ok almost done here. A bunch of big names with Nola already having debuted for the Phillies. Tyler Naquin hit .300/.381/.446/.828 across AA/AAA last year and was drafted in the first round in 2012, have to think he debuts soon for Cleveland. Tyler Jay was the Twins first round pick in the 2015 Draft. 

OK that's it, here's the rest of the base cards I pulled if your interested in any of these guys let me know. I know I learned a new name or 2 and got some trade bait to boot so not a bad box. Thanks for reading.

There's Gold in Them Hills

Well I'm still waiting on 2015 Bowman Draft to show up in Target, I thought I had read online that it was going to  be retail this year but oh well. I signed up for a box break on Instagram for the Braves and a couple of other teams so I'll just wait to see what I got out of that before ordering any more cards because in the mean time..

I got my first Dansby Swanson card in the mail the other day. I ordered this almost immediately after news broke that the Braves had acquired the 2015 1st Overall pick in a blockbuster trade with Arizona.

Chrome too! As I have said on this blog before Dansby is from the same town - Marietta - as me. The last time the Braves had a #1 overall pick on their team he was also a young shortstop from the south named Chipper Jones. Hopefully Dansby can come even close to the player Chipper was. The Braves just hired Chipper yesterday to be a special assistant to the GM. 

I've got a couple more Swanson cards on the way but it looks like I'm going to have to wait a while for an auto as prices are a little high ---- EBAY

Sticking to first round picks and the Diamondbacks here's a Distinguished Debut of Touki Toussaint from 2015 Pro Debut. Touki was the Diamondbacks #1 pick just last year and the Braves basically traded cash for him. Looking forward to seeing what the South Florida boy has as he supposedly has a verrrry high ceiling.

Is this a Diamondbacks blog? No the Braves have just ransacked the Diamondbacks system over the last year or so. Here's a 2015 Inception Auto of 2013 First Round Pick Aaron Blair who could debut for the Braves this year.

2014 Bowman Chrome Draft Scouts Breakout Die-Cut Refractors #BSBAB Aaron Blair

Die-cut refractor from last year's Bowman Draft will have to do. I never type out the full name of cards but check out how long this one is...

Here's my first Chrome card of new Brave Ender Inciarte. He should be the Braves everyday CF next year and a huge upgrade over Cameron Maybin. 2015 War - Maybin 1.0, Inciarte 3.3

This here is my first 1951 Bowman, crease and all I love it especially the little hut in the background. The Earl of Snohomish hit .292 with 24 homers and 92 RBI in '51 and got a few MVP votes but somehow Jim Konstanty beat out Stan the Man to take the title.

I have other '71s but this is my new favorite. Would be cool to have a copy of this card unsigned just to get it really signed if that makes any sense. This card is pretty much perfect I'd say.

Getting close to having all the flagship Sutton's with this one, I still need his rookie card and one or two more now.

The 2016 Braves will probably not be good. Maybe I will be wrong and they have some 1991 miracle season but I don't see Terry Pendleton and Steve Avery on the roster but I could be wrong. All three of these guys could make their debut next year and we'll find out.

What can I say? I like Heritage Minors. Everybody's excited for Christmas and I'm excited about pitchers and catchers reporting in 2 months! 2016 MLB Spring Training Countdown

I need to buy a blaster of this stuff. Glad Panini brought Contenders back to baseball. 

Albies is 18, Allard is 19. Whole bunch of baby Braves in this post, hopefully this card foreshadows great things.

Like this, can't believe I had missed this one from Stadium Club last year. Though I'd like to forget the '96 World Series.

This is my new favorite Deion card, there are others like it but this one is mine. Plus it's a Members Choice parallel, now I just need the base to go with it.

Saw that Deion basketball card on Tim's blog not long ago and was stoked to add it to my cart for 50 cents or so. The Clear Vision is a perfect example of why I like buying singles online. I would never bust a whole box of that stuff but it's a really cool acetate card for less than a buck it's a really cool addition to my Primetime PC.