Card of the Day: 1987 ProCards Macon Pirates Mascot

Pirates ’18 Bowman High Tek Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to jake1725 on being the lucky winner of the Shane Baz 2018 Bowman High Tek Prospects Auto.  Once jake1725 sends me their mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

Pin Highlight: 2017 MLB Little League Classic – Cardinals vs. Pirates – Baseball Pin

There is no doubt that one of the major highlights during last year’s Little League World Series was the Major League game that took place at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.  In nine innings the Pirates defeated the Cardinals 6-3.  It even got it’s very own Topps Now card.

Three different pins were made to celebrate this inaugural event.  The first two are fairly simple to find.  One features the MLB Little League Classic name with logos from both teams.  A second has Fredbird and the Pirate Parrot on it.  The third pin is what you see pictured above.  As you can probably tell, it has the MLB Little League Classic name, team logos, and is in the shape of a baseball.  Unlike the other two though, this pin was not available for sale over at Little League.  A majority of them were given out to game attendees.  Only Little League players and their families, plus any Lycoming County residents lucky enough to win a lottery were allowed to attend the game.  Not much of the general public made it in.  All pins are made by WinCraft.

Sports Card Info has been known to get me into certain events for free, but this wasn’t one of them.  So how did I get one?  For a short time Fanatics had them for sale.  The day after I purchased mine, Fanatics pulled them off the market.  Why?  I don’t know.  The next thing I saw were them being handed out on T.V.

The 2018 Little League World Series takes place August 16-26.  Little League recently unveiled the official logo for the 2018 games.  The Phillies will take on the Mets August 19 in the second MLB Little League Classic.

Pirates ’17 Topps Archives Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to kinkinsley on being the lucky winner of the John Smiley 2017 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto.  Once kinkinsley sends me their mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

2017 Topps Now Predictor: MLB Little League Classic – August 20th

Rumors were confirmed this week that the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals will play a regular season game in Williamsport, PA this year.  The game will take place on August 20th, right in the middle of the Little League World Series.  It’ll be broadcast on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball”, and played at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.  Based on the official press release from the Williamsport Crosscutters, only Little Leaguers and their families will be invited.  Tickets will not be sold to the general public.

The MLB Little League Classic would make for a perfect Topps Now card.  It is right on par with the Fort Bragg game they played in 2016.  I’m predicting that Topps will make a Topps Now card to commemorate this game.  If they do, it would most likely show up for sale on August 21st.  I at least just want to see a base Topps Now card made.  If any of the players do something spectacular, I guess autographs and/or relics won’t be out of the picture.  Whoever pulls the Topps Now Golden Ticket for August 20, 2017 will be due a special gold stamped parallel #’ed/1.

Its not easy to predict who and what will receive a Topps Now card.  This game feels like a sure thing.  Having it take place in my backyard is even cooler.  I visit BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field almost every summer for a bobblehead night.

Pirates ’04 UD Etchings Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to Mark on being the lucky winner of the Josh Fogg 2004 Upper Deck Etchings – Etched In Time Auto #’ed/325.  Once Mark sends me his mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

The 35th National: Day #2

Day #2 of the 35th National was a fun one.  Then again, everyday at the National is fun.  I participated in promos from Upper Deck and Topps, then took some time to check out some of the many dealers found outside of the Corporate Area.  I even seemed to pull a little MOJO!

Here are the major highlights of the day for me.

Diamond Stars paintings of “Cards That Never Were” – Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Van Mungo and Billy Werber Diamond Stars cards.

Frank Crosetti Diamond Stars.

1927 World Series (New York Yankees) Press Pin

1902 Pittsburgh Pirates National League Championship Lapel Pin

Dennis Rodman

1992 Donruss Diamond Kings Supers.  This auction house had a complete set on display.  Only 10 sets are known to exist.

I purchased 15 packs of 2014 Topps Baseball and took them over to the Topps booth.  In return I got 6 Allen & Ginter minis – (2) Jim Brown, Johnny Manziel, Mike Trout, Jadeveon Clowney, and Derek Jeter.

Upper Deck started their wrapper redemption program this morning at 10:25 a.m.  Today’s promo cards were of Jack Nicklaus, Joc Pederson, Johnny Manziel, Archie Griffin, and Wayne Gretzky.  I also got one of those Magic Johnson Amazon.com cards.  Wait until you see what I got in the pack I needed to open in order to get these.

In order to get my Upper Deck wrapper redemption pack today, I decided to open a pack of 2014 Upper Deck SP Game-Used Edition Golf.  Inside the pack was this Jack Nicklaus Inked Fabrics Shirt/Auto #’ed/10.  I also pulled a Nancy Lopez Tour Gear Dual Shirt #’ed/35.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 1979 World Series Pittsburgh Pirates Press Pin

Let’s face it.  The Pittsburgh Pirates are the only pro team in Pennsylvania worth watching right now.  The Phillies are over, the Eagles suck, and the Steelers don’t even know what a football is.  Its way too early to say now, but the Flyers and 76ers probably don’t have too much hope either.

This year the Pirates had their first winning season since 1992.  For years Pittsburgh would start off well but then completely fall apart.  Something has finally clicked for them.  Since my Phillies aren’t in it, I have to be rooting for the Pirates.  I’d like to see them go all the way, but for some reason I just don’t see it happening.

The last time the Pirates were in the World Series was 1979.  They beat the Orioles four games to three and Willie Stargell was named the MVP at the age of 39.  This is the pin provided to members of the press at the time and is worth about $100.00.

OYO Sportstoys Field Set Review

According to Santa Claus, there are only 97 more days to Christmas.  Kmart has already rolled out the first Christmas commercial this year, and it’s just the beginning.  It really does come sooner with each passing year.

OYO has recently added a new lineup of toys to their collection that I’m sure will be a big hit this holiday season – Field Sets.  Collectors began snarfing up OYO’s Field Sets this past summer during the All-Star Game in New York.  Now they offer four types of Field Sets for each MLB team – Starter Set, Infield Set, Outfield Set, and the Game Time Set.  If you’re looking to go all out, it’s best to go with the Game Time Set as it is the highest level, and consists of the other three sets in one.

The 157 piece Game Time Set contains the following:

• 136 OYO Building Blocks
• 10 OYO minifigures – 9 OYO team characters & 1 OYO Umpire (The umpire minifigures are exclusive to the Field Sets)
• 11 baseball accessories (9 gloves, 1 bat, and 1 ball)

Although the minifigures that come along with each Field Set don’t represent specific players, their facial expressions completely make up for it.  The faces on the Field Set minifigures are much more animated when compared to the actual player minifigures OYO sells separately.  You could always take the head of a Field Set minifigure and put it on the body of one of the player specific ones.  That’s one of the great things about OYO’s toys.  They’re interchangeable.  Not just with each other either, but with other building toys such as Lego.  So if you wanted to have two OYO teams playing against one another and during the game they get invaded by some Lego alien set, it’ll work.  Its limited only by what your imagination can come up with.

What would I like to see OYO do next?  They are currently working on blind packages that contain a few random minifigures.  I think this is a great idea, as the blind packaged collectible market has taken off.  But the figures inside need to have some type of chase factor.  Minifigures with variations would work.  How about randomly inserted redemptions for you to get your very own minifigure made?  I think they need to expand on the Field Set idea and move into stadiums, vendors, team buses/planes, fans could build.

OYO has really hit a niche market that I think Lego missed.  Anything that can connect you with what you love now to something you played with during your childhood is awesome.  If you think these things are popular now, wait until the Lego movie comes out next year.

Sheldon’s 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates Sketch Card Subset

Artist Monty Sheldon has been creating Sheldon’s Sketch Card Champions during the past two years, and in addition to the 2010 regular set, he will be releasing a sub set that will acknowledge the 50^th anniversary of the World Series Championship achieved by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960.

Sheldon’s sketch cards are made available weekly through eBay auctions, and starting with card no. 113 and continuing through card no. 119 he will be auctioning off a 50^th anniversary set of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, who won the exciting 7 game series in dramatic fashion with Bill Mazeroski’s game 7, series ending home run in the bottom of the 9th against the formidable New York Yankees.

Sheldon will be providing a sketch card that will correspond with each game played of the 1960 World Series.  Included in the set will be Pirates team members that played a pivotal role in each of the games and each card will be signed and finished 50 years to the exact day that World Series game was played, making this a true 50th anniversary set.

Included below is a player checklist and the auction end date for each card.  The scheduled eBay 7-day auctions will all take place at 18:00 (9:00 PM eastern, 6:00 PM pacific).

• Tuesday, OCT 5 (game 1) – Dick Groat & Vern Law (card #113) – auction ends 10/12
• Wednesday, OCT 6 (game 2) – Dick Schofield & Gino Cimoli (card #114) – auction ends 10/13
• Thursday, OCT 8 (game 3) – Tom Cheney & Dick Stuart (card #115) – auction ends 10/15
• Friday, OCT 9 (game 4) – Roy Face & Bill Virdon (card #116) – auction ends 10/16
• Saturday, OCT 10 (game 5) – Smokey Burgess & Don Hoak (card #117) – auction ends 10/17
• Sunday, OCT 12 (game 6) – Roberto Clemente & Hal Smith (card #118) – auction ends 10/19
• Monday, OCT 13 (game 7) – Bill Mazeroski & Harvey Haddix (card #119) – auction ends 10/20