Weekly Trade Bait #11 – Birthday Boxes Week 3 of 11

I’m back with what I hope will be a regular series.  Did you miss the other installments?  Well, you can either scroll down a couple posts or check out the “Trade Bait” link at the top of the blog.  There’s a 1/1, some other low numbered parallels and a few good autos among others in there. Also, stickers!

I’m late again with this supposedly weekly post, but I’m still here.  What can I say other than my work has been all sorts of time-consuming lately.  The good news is we’re hiring help, but it may take some time before things really get back to a normal (read only 8-10 hr/day instead of my current 10-16) schedule.

Anyway, here’s week 3 of my pack busting adventures. As always, all Cardinals are going to Madding and all Rangers to Play at the Plate unless they tell me otherwise, because I am deeply in dept to both of them.

Studio 5

Adam LaRoche
Danny Graves
Miguel Tejada
Maury Wills – Portraits – Zenith Blue #/55
Adrian Gonzalez – CLAIMED
Khalil Greene

My first thought is that I just found our best Portrait card so far.  That blue border makes it that much better.  I don’t think I’ll be able to keep this for long.  Second thought: Adrian Gonzalez was a Ranger?

Studio 6

Hee Seop Choi
Craig Monroe
Jeff Bagwell
Yuniesky Betancourt
Albert Pujols – CLAIMED
Jimmy Rollins
Dale Murphy – Studio Heritage relic #/250

Not only did I get an extra card, but it’s a sweet numbered relic of a maybe should be Hall of Famer.  By the way, I’d put Bagwell in that category too.

UD Piece of History 5

Vernon Wells
Grady Sizemore
Hunter Pence
Ian Kennedy
Bill Murphy
Boston Tea Party
USS Enterprise
Mark Buehrle/Johan Santana – Cut From the Same Cloth #/799
Kerry Wood – Stadium Scenes Jersey Red – NOT FOR TRADE

Second pack with an extra card and the second pack with a relic.  You can see that I’m showing the back this time once again because it’s going into my personal collection.  How often do you pull a hit of a guy you collect?  I’ve done it a couple times, but I gotta say it never gets old.

UD Piece of History 6

Magglio Ordonez
Joe Blanton
Scott Rolen
Jose Morales
Colt Morton
The World’s Fair
Wright Brothers
Vernon Wells – Franchise History #/699
Lance Berkman – Franchise History Jersey Gold #/99

Wow! This is turning out to be hit week!  With 8 weeks to go, it’s a little sad we couldn’t spread it out a bit more.  Still, that’s a really nice Berkman relic no matter when it shows up.

Pinnacle 5

Matt Wieters
Jeff Samardzija
Carl Crawford
Clayton Kershaw
Miguel Cabrera – Position Powers
Brandon Phillips
Austin Jackson
Jake Odorizzi

I wish the Cubs would just trade Samardzija already.  I don’t trust his ability to be an ace for the club, but a lot of GMs may think he has that potential.  Let’s milk that.

Also, anyone know the reason Wieters has no Topps cards?

Pinnacle 6

Billy Butler
Kevin Youkilis
Lucas Duda
Adrian Gonzalez
Alex Rios – Position Powers
Johan Santana
Jose Altuve
Gerrit Cole

An Alex Rios insert?  Yeesh.  Did I really read that Youk is heading to Japan?  Say hi to Matt Murton for me.

Hometown 3-1

Yadier Molina – CLAIMED
Jack Morris
Kerry Wood – NOT FOR TRADE
Fred Lynn
Mike Scott
Andre Dawson
Jim Palmer
Jody Davis
Josh Reddick

Hey Hey! Another Wood for me!  A lot of Chicago in the first third. Not a bad thing.

Hometown 3-2

Ellis Burks
Pedro Martinez
Gerrit Cole
Skip Schumaker – CLAIMED
Andres Galarraga
Ken Griffey Jr. – CLAIMED
Jordan Zimmermann

Another Cole rookie, too.  He’s going to still be good next year, right?

Hometown 3-3

Buddy Bell – Hometown Signatures – CLAIMED
Dave Parker – Nicknames Gold
Dave Parker – Nicknames Black
Miguel Cabrera
Garrett Jones
Jake Peavy
Tom Browning
Clayton Kershaw

Hit week ends with a bang! The first of three autos will be heading to Play at the Plate and it’s a neat looking signature to boot.

Each insert has a gold and black bordered version, with the black being the rarer of the two types.  Odd to find both for the Cobra, but at least the colors seem appropriate for a Pirates guy.