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. 

Cards from Cards on Cards II - A Trade Post

Got home from work the other day in the pouring rain (yes rain, not snow) and found a surprise bubble mailer from Kerry of Cards on Cards all the way from rainy Portland.

Starting off with my first 2015 A&G relic of now free agent Mike Minor. Still think there's a chance the Braves bring him back if he gets close enough to Opening Day without signing on somewhere else. He made 5.6 million to not throw a single pitch last year so I don't feel too bad for the guy.

This Ace of Diamonds Smoltzy may be my favorite card in the package. Even has a old school card back - I searched google for "ace of diamonds John Smoltz" because the card is in the other room and found this....

Don't think Topps printed any of these bad boys up in '84, here's the link to a pretty cool article on John - SMOLTZ

Ok sorry for that but sometimes laziness pays off my friends.  Here's a cool fold out card of maybe the 2 best pitchers of the 90's that is pretty relevant all these years later. Greg Maddux and that other guy..

I'm on a hot streak on picking these cards up 1 at a time either at shows or through trades. Eddie looks pretty young there.

This Murph's frame is embossed and makes for a great looking/feeling card in hand.

Kerry sent a bunch of PC guys but this Deion was my favorite new addition being from one of my favorite sets ever.

Kerry sent new stuff too, a rainbox foil of EY Jr. and the last base card I needed from Topps '15. Just in time for Topps '16 in 5 days!!!

Love this green refractor of Justin the Tiger.

19 days til Baseball guys, my countdown lasted all of one day.. Kerry sent this and a bunch of other set help off my want list. 

Like a lot,  thanks a ton man!

Kelly's back for his third tour with the Braves, let's see where he went in between. 

8 teams in 6 years including his 2nd stint in Atlanta. Talk about a journeyman.

If everything goes to plan I should be here on April 9th taking in the Braves and Cardinals so here's to you Kerry, thanks for all the great cards.

2x3 PWE Club Dividends

Got back from my annual Thanksgiving trip to Atlanta last Tuesday night to a stuffed mailbox. Amongst the junk mail and bills there were 4 trade packages, including this awesome PWE from Jeff over at 2x3 Heroes. I also got packages from Brad, Tony and P-Town Tom.

Jeff really knows how to get the most out of 1 ounce of cardboard. This All-Star Stitches card of Smoltzy is awesome and is my 2nd relic of my favorite pitcher of the Big 3 from the 90's. If you didn't hear his HOF speech from last year check it out , he makes some really awesome points about young pitchers and Tommy John being the first TJ patient to reach the hall. 

Another sweet card of the Hall of Famer this one a die cut and a black parallel of Tommy Hanson. Big Red looked like the Braves ace of the future just four years ago and now he's gone,  crazy how life works. RIP Tommy.

My mailbox has been a Lecavalier hot box lately. Douglas just sent me an auto and now this beauty from Artifacts #'d/150. Thanks for this one Jeff 

More Artifacts, which might be my favorite hockey set. Like the hockey version of Museum Collection.  Hey MLB let Upper Deck do baseball cards again you idiots. 

Finally Jeff knocked off all but 2 of the team set from the new Upper Deck Series 1 cards. Love how almost all the photos are from the Stanley Cup,  nice touch Upper Deck your the best.

This one's my favorite, the pursuit, the puck, the patch. This one's got it all. Thanks for all the great cards Jeff.