Red Ink is nice!

I said a few posts ago that I wasn't actively going after the red ink ones. Then a bunch popped up and I was able to get this one at a price I was comfortable with. It was already graded by someone more enterprising then myself. 

It's nice to have the rookie one first! I would like to get the other regular heritage ones to go along with the blue autos I already have. A mini auto set through the years. 

A whole lot of player options got declined in the last couple days. Very interesting to see how free agency goes this year. Phillies are betting Realmuto won't find a better deal then what they offer. Brad Hand is available and he would be perfect for the Phillies awful bullpen. 

Thanks for reading!

Ginter X Box break -- a couple nice ones!

I was able to pick up a Ginter X box from Topps at MSRP. 18 packs in a box for 100 bucks. Not exactly cheap but in this market a bargain! Secondary box prices aren't as crazy I think but if I didn't get it at regular price I probably wouldn't have bothered. Topps limited these to 1 per email address on their site so it didn't sell out instantly. There are no inserts, all base with short prints one every 2 packs. I do like the base card design. Also, 1 mini per pack, can still hit a brooklyn back and exclusive to Ginter X is the red mini out of 5 and a silver mini out of 1. You are also guaranteed 1 auto per box which is nice for Ginter. 

I only scanned 3 cards but they were the highlights!

Last pack I hit this mini.. didn't realize it and almost sat on it when I threw the wrappers away. 

 You may have heard of Luis Robert. He seems to  have a promising future, needs to learn how to hit some off speed stuff and he could be really good. 

The next hit was the auto.. not a baseball hit but pretty nice!

This is the gold auto out of 5. It's actually the rarest auto hit you can get in these boxes. 1 in 259 packs. 

If  you want to learn about her.. https://www.kelseycook.com/

Last but certainly not least. I was hoping for a red or silver mini. I had never seen 1 in person. 

Mr Ken Griffey Jr! This is obviously the red, it's hand numbered 2 out of 5 on the back. 

I am very happy with my single box break. No complaints about hitting 2 cards that more then pay for the box I think. Not that I sell too much. 

Thanks for reading! 

Diamond Icons -- Jim Thome!

I had always wanted a Thome autograph with him in a Phillies uniform. I remember when he signed here right before the new stadium opened. It was a big deal for the Phillies to get such a big name. He doesn't have a ton of options in a Phillies uniform. Some nice Dynasty stuff but that was a bit more then the budget. I was able to offer on this card and the seller accepted. 

It's from a nice high-end product. 

 Solid signature, low numbered, sharp looking card. I'd love to open Diamond Icons but I'm not paying 2k a box or whatever crazy number it is. 

Congrats to the Rays! I hope they win it all. I personally can't cheer for the Dodgers or Braves to win. I do like those teams for Fantasy Baseball though they score a lot of runs. As of this typing the game si 3-2 Braves so we'll see what happens!

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Major League Materials!

I was able to acquire some nice Ryan Howard cards from 2020. Got sniped on 2 last night but that's ok. Thankfully after some effort I landed these 3 nice cards that go as a 'set'. The one of one obviously only had 1 shot at and hit a price I was comfortable with. The other 2 I was able to bide my time and got for way less then the high water mark. 

The 1/1, /25 and the /50 all together! I do appreciate that Topps put in nicer patches in the lower numbered cards. Hopefully Howard is hitting a home run in that picture out of the batters box. According to cardboard connection this is the full rainbow! 

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Elite!

 I recently received my 5th copy of this card in the mail. 5 down 95 to go! (It's a pipe dream but hope springs eternal) I don't like to spend more then 40 dollars on them and there are a few out there with much higher price tags. Surprisingly, all 5 of mine are graded and not by me. I think a lot of these got graded when Howard really blew up his MVP year and this card was quite pricey at one point. Thankfully for Phillies collectors like me the price didn't remain outlandish. 

This is numbered 10 out of 100 on the side. Kind of hard to read on my scan. I've watched and bet on quite a few of the playoff games so far. It's been fairly entertaining. No real big surprises. I didn't think the Cubs were all the great and I'm not shocked Atlanta vs the Dodgers seems inevitable. I have no real affinity to either team so just hoping for some good games to watch. 

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2020 Finest Flashbacks Team Set!

I didn't get the opportunity to buy any of these boxes. I wish I did, apparently MSRP was only 50 dollars which in this market is an insane bargain. I believe secondary market immediately jumped to 300 or so per box. With a quick check online seems that the market is settling around 450-500 per box if you want one. The initial rush to sell is over so it doesn't seem worth it. You would have to hit a monster card to get your money back. 

I did get the Phillies team set for pretty cheap. 

 Realmuto gets the all star and base card treatment. Speaking of Realmuto, if the Phillies don't sign him, what a disaster. They traded Sixto Sanchez and Jorge Alfaro from him. Alfaro was a throw-in but Sixto looks like a legit pitcher. He's throwing triple digits with control. If they don't sign Realmuto who I really think is a great catcher why trade for him?! Klentak stepped down as GM yesterday but he's still in the organization (probably cause he has 2 years on his contract). Hope the new GM prioritizes Realmuto. Arrieta is coming off the books so they should have plenty of space under the luxury tax.

Thanks for reading!