A Dozen Alternatives To Triple Threads Pt. 2

In the first part of this post I took a look at six sets that fans of the Triple Threads releases should take a look at for their collection.  This thread will continue with six more and include my favorite out of the bunch, the 2003 Topps Tribute set.

2012 Topps Museum Collection Jon Jay Dual Jersey/Autograph

2012 Topps Museum Collection Matt Holliday Quad Relic

2012 Topps Museum Collection Matt Moore Autograph

7. 2012 Topps Museum Collection- See the description of the 2010 Topps Marquee set too.  This set has some Triple Threads looking cards with a different package.  I did really like the white cards with the autographs though.  Generally young players, but good card design with clean space for signing.  There might be 400 of them, but I have always loved this Matt Moore autograph.  

2005 Topps Pristine Aaron Boone Autograph

8. 2005 Topps Pristine- Always a hilarious high end set in my opinion.  There is more than one issue of it.  The cards had packs of cards within packs of cards when you bought the boxes and the cards were always "limited".  One must realize that when Topps uses the word limited, it means that the card is slightly hard to find then toilet paper.  For example, this cool Aaron Boone autograph has an "Uncommon" label in the corner.  It means there are 247 of them.  

2010 Topps Sterling George Sisler 6 Piece Bat Card

2009 Topps Sterling Carlton Fisk 4 Piece Bat/Autograph

9. Topps Sterling- Like Triple Threads I didn't put a year.  This set actually has cooler relic pieces than Triple Threads and they tend to have some cool Hall of Famers.  See George Sisler.  However, that Carlton Fisk card is destroyed by the sticker autograph. 

2012 Topps Tier One Mike Morse Autograph

10. Topps Tier One- This card set is really nice.  Topps put the autographs on card.  There are some really good players out there too.  This set is one of the better ones on this list.  

2003 Topps Tribute Sparky Anderson Dual Jersey/Autograph

11. 2003 Topps Tribute-This set featured a lot of Hall of Fame players with on card autographs.  Tigers fan, or no Tigers fan this card is really cool.  Topps has continued to issue the Tribute cards, but they continue to tinker with them.  For awhile, they went to sticker autographs.  Nice cards, but not nearly as nice as the card above.  

2011 Topps Tribute Barry Larkin Bat/Autograph

Of course, Topps switched back to on card autographs this year, but they are in card containers and some people (Matt Kemp) haven't signed their redemption cards.  

2009 Topps Unique Scott Rolen Patch

12. Topps Unique-Really cool idea with really small patch cards.  There are autographs, but they have stickers.  If you are looking for a jumbo chunk of someones jersey, this is your set.  

  

Dodger Bobble Trade

I haven't done a good thorough trade post in awhile, but had a one last week with Dodger Bobble.  I have made several other trades with Dodger Bobble in the past and can always find a good home for the Dodgers cards that wonder into my house.  We started off with a few small cards, but ended up with a bigger trade after I threw in a 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Trio Autograph of Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley, and James McDonald.  I added a 2012 Triple Threads Matt Kemp card too.  You can read more about the Dodgers cards here.

I am trying to round out my 2012 sets by adding a few autographs and also picked up some pretty sweet Cardinals cards in the process along with a couple other odds and ends.  So, without further delay here are the autographs:

2012 Topps Tier One Mike Morse Autograph 

2012 Topps Tier One Danny Espinosa Autograph

2012 Topps Tier One Joel Hanrahan Autograph

2012 Topps Tier One Jason Motte Autograph

2012 Topps Tier One Jose Valverde Autograph

2012 Topps Museum Collection Elvis Andrus Autograph

2011 Topps Finest Aaron Crow Autograph

2010 Topps Chrome Jon Jay Autograph

2012 Topps Heritage Cardinals Team Card Signed by Marc Rzepcynski

The Rzepcynski autograph was a throw in from Dodger Bobble and I was really happy to get this card.   I try to get certified autographs of as many Cardinals players as I can possibly get, but there are a few that have none.  Rzepcynski is one of them.  

I also picked up a Triple Threads card of Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton with some sweet powder blue jersey swatches:

2008 Topps Triple Threads Steve Carlton Triple Jersey

I also picked up a few nice serial numbered Cardinals cards and a few base cards from the 2012 Topps Museum Collection set.  

2012 Topps Museum Collection Cardinals Cards

2011 Topps Triple Threads Bob Gibson

2012 Topps Tier One Black Matt Holliday

2012 Bowman Blue Adam Wainwright

2013 Topps Museum Collection Prince Fielder Quad Jersey

I picked up another great pair of Topps Museum cards for my collection yesterday by adding a quad jersey card of Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder and an autograph of former Durham Bull Alex Cobb.  First the Fielder.  The quad jersey cards are a staple of Museum Collection sets and they come in a couple different forms.  My card is the most basic form of the quad jersey cards with just four pieces of plain jersey and no signature.  Still a much nicer card than a basic jersey card.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Prince Fielder Quad Jersey 

I know that many people pay attention to what Miguel Cabrera is doing, but Prince Fielder is having a great year so far too with a line of .276/.408/.506.  Add in the fact that he's on pace for another 30 home run season and also over 120 RBIs and Prince could have a pretty special season.  I picked up a few Prince Fielder cards last year during his first year in Detroit and might have to add a few more to my collection this year.  

2013 Topps Museum Collection Alex Cobb Patch/Jersey Autograph

My second Museum card belongs to former Durham Bulls, and current Rays starter, Alex Cobb.  While Cobb is not a top of the rotation starter he's a solid Major League starting pitcher.  In fact, this season he's had a pretty good year posting a 5-2 record with 54 strikeouts in 9 starts.  This card was really inexpensive for a hit card from a high end product and I like the patch piece of the left.  I believe that the blue stitching on the bottom of the window is the mountain on the Majestic logo meaning that the patch piece above is the bottom of the ray patch.

The Problem with Triple Threads

Yesterday, I posted a write up about the Topps Triple Threads releases starting with the original issue in 2006, all the way through this year's release.  I cited the positives of the set, but today I here to discuss some of the weaknesses of the set and also offer up my usual alternative piece about a set (in another post).  Let's start by finishing the argument on the Triple Threads set.  I see two major problems with this set that prevent it from being a slam dunk every year that force me to rank my favorite annual release in the bottom half of important card sets over the last 30 years.  

Stickers are stupid, single jerseys are lame
If you are going to have a high end product then why not get the players to sign on card autographs?  It's well established that the Triple threads product is going to sell for Topps regardless of whether or not the boxes cost collectors $150, $170, or $200.  I would pay a little bit more to get a card with a players signature on the piece of cardboard and not on a sticker.  I know a lot of other collectors who feel the same way.  Further, if you are going to have players sign stickers than spare me the single jersey pieces.  I recently picked up the jersey card below:

2012 Topps Triple Threads Lance Berkman

This is a pretty nice card and as sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning I was going to end up with a copy of a Lance Berkman Triple Threads jersey card this year.  Topps made one, he's on the Cardinals.  I am sold.  Wait a second, this is a high end product.  Why am I getting one piece of jersey in the shape of a home plate?  Lame.  Lame. Lame.  Jersey pieces must cost card companies the same amount of money as a snack pack of Fritos.  Seriously, how many little squares can they cut out of one jersey?  I am not sure where the blogger is who makes his own custom cards, I see it on my Blogger role and they are cool, but I want something cooler.  All Lance Berkman Triple Threads cards should say "PUMA" or "FAT ELVIS" or something better.  I am pretty sure such a card would not break the bank.  It's clear after collecting this set for seven years that the bottom line for Topps is the bottom line.  I know I am not stating anything revolutionary, but nowhere is it clearer than with the production of this set.  

Donruss, Leaf, Pinnacle, New Pinnalce, Score, and the rest of our friends

I remember in 1998 the overabundance of cards issued by Donruss.  They single handedly put out my cardboard than most companies put out in a decade.  Seriously, they put out like 30 sets.  Worse than putting out 30 sets they were all the same thing with different designs.  Same price points, similar inserts.  It was like they were competing against themselves.  

Here we are fourteen years later and we have one card company that makes the same silly mistakes that card companies made over a decade ago.  Seriously, Topps Heritage, Allen & Ginter, Gypsy Queen, and T206 are really similar.  Many years they are all released and have similar autographs, relics, etc.  Topps does it with all their products though.  Look at this year's calendar.  You've got Tier One, Museum Collection, and now Five Star.  They are all really similar products and not very far away from Triple Threads when you look closely.  For example, in Triple Threads you get several pieces of jersey that spell something out.  In Museum Collection you get a big piece of jersey.

2012 Topps Triple Threads Evan Longoria 7 Piece Relic

2012 Topps Museum Collection Evan Longoria Jumbo Jersey

They're the same thing basically, but by releasing two similar products Topps is really just competing against itself in one argument, or worse they are dressing the same thing up and selling it to collectors twice.  Personally, I like the DIRTBAG card better, but if I just had to settle for a huge chunk of Longoria's jersey I'd be cool.  Anyway, it would be nice of Topps to stop issuing some of the extra sets, like Museum Collection, which just last for a year or two and disappear.  

 

2013 Topps Museum Bruce Sutter Triple Relic Autograph

In case you missed the beginnings of my blog last year, I have a rule about not opening high end wax products.  Terrible luck in the past, plus the ability to control my product hits through trades and purchases has led me done the path of letting others risk most of the danger.  I still get an itch once in awhile and will drop good money and a high end pack, but that is pretty rare.  My rule still does not mean that I will not dabble in the product once the cards have reached the secondary market.

Last year I really enjoyed the first release of the Topps Museum Collection and was excited to get my hands on a few cards this year.  Last week the product hit the shelves and I overcame the temptation of ripping a box or pack to wait out a few cards in trades and auctions.  My first pair of cards came in the mail this afternoon.  Big one first.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Bruce Sutter

Sutter was the last Cardinals player elected to the Hall of Fame and also had his jersey retired at the beginning of last season.  Sutter was one of the dominate relievers of his area and he was also noted for being one of the pioneers of the split finger fastball.  Sutter is a pretty easy autograph to find on the secondary market, but is mainly in a Cubs or Braves jersey on most of the cards.  While I do not like sticker autographs, especially on a high end product, this card was a little too nice to pass by.  Especially since it is my first Sutter autograph in a Cardinals uniform.  The red patch piece on the left-hand side of this card makes it a little bit sweeter.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Jaime Garcia

And I also picked up this jumbo Jaime Garcia jersey card.  It's been a bad day for Jaime, as it was just announced he is out for the season, so I will simply say that this is a pretty cool jumbo piece of his jersey.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Holliday Quad Jersey

Matt Holliday is having one of his worst seasons as a professional baseball player.  Currently, he's about 40 points off of his career batting average, 30 points off of his on-base percentage, and most alarmingly 90 points off of his career slugging percentage.  His home run total is still on-pace for around 25 home runs and almost 90 RBIs.  Does not sound bad, but the Cardinals pay their left fielder $16 million dollars to be an offensive force.

The decline in Holliday's performance has also lead to a decline in the price of his cards.  The most notable drop can be seen in Holliday's autographed cards where the prices have dropped from the $20 to $30 neighborhood to the $10 to $20 neighborhood.  The decline in prices can be seen with some of Holliday's other cards too, but you have to be a little bit selective to take advantage of the discount.  Take this card for example:

2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Holliday Quad Jersey 

 

When the Museum Collection set dropped in late May the Holliday quad jersey cards were selling for around $20.  The patch version was selling for $30.  The further the release date of Museum Collection gets in the rear view mirror, the lower the price gets on this card.  Currently, the price of this card is south of $10.  Isolated incident?  I also picked up another nice Holliday card that followed the same pricing trend as this Museum Collection card.

2013 Topps Archives Gold Matt Holliday 

I loved the new Topps Archives cards this year and was excited to see the 1985 design.  Even happier to see Matt Holliday on one of these cards.  I immediately kept my eyes open for the gold version of this card.  The card prices started out between $5 and $10 on this card, but can now be had for $1 to $2.

I know that some people can find this trend with other cards and often attribute the drop in price to settling in the secondary market or a decrease in the popularity of the set and singles after the sets initial release.  However, Cardinals fans and collectors tend to be pretty loyal and many of the established players on the team tend to have stable prices.  The same can be said of other well established players on teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Braves.  For example, the gold parallel of the Yadier Molina card from the Topps Archives set has consistently hovered around $5 for the past month.

A Case Break, A Trade, and A Purchase

I have four pretty sweet cards to show off tonight.  I am going to start with a case break of Topps Museum Collection that I bought into while I was out of town the past few days.  I got my beloved Cardinals and Rays and ended up with a good array of base cards, but more importantly, I got two Cardinals hits.  The first is a Jon Jay Signature Swatches.  The card has two pieces of Jay's uni and an autograph.  There is a print run of 250 cards, which is giant by today's standards, but still a good card.  My second card is a Matt Holliday Primary Patches quad relic with a red and blue patch.  It's a nice addition to my Holliday collection and definitely my good card from this case break.  I know that Holliday has an autograph in Museum collection that I will be on the look out for along with an Allen Craig autograph.

2012 Topps Museum Collection Jon Jay Signature Swatches Autograph 13/250

 2012 Topps Museum Collection Matt Holliday Primary Pieces Matt Holliday Quad Jersey/Patch 81/99

My next card came to me in a trade and I was really excited to land this card.  This card is from the 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game set.  The first two years of this set, 1999 and 2000, were the best two years in my opinion with the 2000 being slightly better.  The 1999 cards featured a picture of an SI cover with a small white rectangle in the bottom corner where the player signed on the card.  I like the 2000 version better because of the empty space.  Good, clean pictures with a simple frame and the autograph.  Great looking cards.  This one features Al Kaline.  Great card, great 'graph, and a definite keeper.  

Last card tonight is a purchase.  I will always try trading for a card before I buy, but I found a good value on this card from the 2011 Topps Update set.  The card is a Cliff Lee autographed patch card numbered 22/25.  I am sure that it will bring me something good back.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Kemp Jumbo Bat Card

I posted my first two Museum Collection cards of the year to my blog last night and have another great card to share this evening.  It might be too far to say that I collect Matt Kemp cards, but he is certainly a player that I enjoy watching and I have taken more than a passing interest in his cards over the years.  Last year his cards really took off at the beginning of the year before cooling off after a series of injuries limited the playing time of the Dodgers outfielder.

Kemp was a visible part of several different Topps set last year and this year has been no different.  I had not added any new blog-worthy 2013 Kemp cards to this point in the calendar year, so I was happy to land a really cool and unique card from the Museum Collection as my first.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Kemp Jumbo Bat Card

Surprisingly I do not own many jumbo bat, or bat barrel cards in my collection.  I was surprised that this card was available as cheaply as I found it, so it was a no-brainer to pick it up.  The jumbo bat cards in this year's Museum Collection set have actually sold very well.  I've really been on the look out for a Jon Jay edition, but ended up with a few others in the process.  The bidding on these cards on Ebay has been heavy and trading for these cards has also demanded a steep price.  For example, I tried to trade for a Jon Jay jumbo bat this weekend as was asked for a little more than $50 for the card.  I also tried buying a card on Ebay, but the bidding went over $40.

For my time and money, this Kemp card was had for half the going rate of the Jon Jay cards I have been pursuing and I have added a much better card to my collection.  I actually really like looking at the larger pieces of the bat relics and might lean towards giving the jumbo bat cards the nod as my favorite cards in this year's Museum Collection release.  Maybe I will pick up a few more.

2013 Topps Museum Tim Raines Autograph

I am getting close to pulling the plug on my Topps Museum Collection cards for the year, but I had one major target left to pick this past week.  I have had my eyes on picking up a Tim Raines autograph the last few months, I had one specifically in mind, but I was happy to see a really nice on-card autograph of the former Major League All-Star in the Museum Collection set.  Raines has a really nice autograph and has signed plenty of on-card autographs since he has retired from baseball.  While I would prefer an Expos autograph, Raines still looks mighty nice in this White Sox jersey.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Tim Raines Autograph

If you have not added a Tim Raines card to your collection, I believe he is one of the more undervalued players from the 80s and early 90s.  I'd go as far as saying that Raines should receive consideration from Hall of Fame voters and if I had my way I would go ahead and put "The Rock" in Cooperstown.  Let's get this out the way first:  The biggest fault of Tim Raines is that he played his great years in Montreal in front of tiny crowds.  There are not a ton of baseball fans who would put Raines on a list of great players from the 80s and the matter is further complicated by the fact that the organization has moved to Washington D.C. and the Nationals do little to recognize their history north of the border.

The Nationals do have a Ring of Honor where Raines, Dawson, Gary Carter, and Rusty Staub are all recognized, but I do not think the Nationals would (or do) campaign for their players the way the Cubs did for years with third baseman Ron Santo.  The case for Raines is pretty simple: He started his career by leading the National League in stolen bases four consecutive years and stole more than seventy each of his first five seasons.  He scored more than 100 runs in three of his first five seasons leading the league twice during his career.  Raines also won a batting title in 1986.  I realize that a great five or six years of baseball is not enough for the Hall of Fame, but Raines did a lot more than just steal bases and win a batting crown.

One of the best parts of Raines career numbers is his On Base Percentage.  Raines was great at drawing walks and would frequently draw 80 to 90 walks in a year.  He had several seasons where he owned a OBP over .400 and ended with a career mark of .385.  He also ranks 5th all-time in steals, is near 3,000 hits, and also ranks in the top 100 (63rd) in Offensive Wins Above Replacement Average.  His JAWS Score (A measure used to measure Hall of Fame worthiness) ranks him seventh all-time as a left-fielder behind names like Bonds, Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson, and Yaz.  He also ranks higher than Manny Ramirez, Billy Williams, and Ralph Kiner.  $10 for an autograph of a great player?  Steal.  

This Week's Trades Part I

I have made several trades this week, but haven't had a chance to post any of them on my blog, so I am going to spend this evening and tomorrow showing off my trades from the past week.  Sunday I will show off a few collection pieces I have put together over the years involving a lot of cards I picked up in a trade earlier this week.  

This evening I am going to focus on three different trades that I made earlier in the week.  The first trade involved a dealer from St. Louis.  Living and collecting baseball cards in St. Louis for most of my life I've noticed that the market for Browns cards is non-existint at times.  It's true that the Browns were a terribly run franchise and were unpopular for a good reason, but they did have a few good players during their history.  George Sisler might have been the best of all the St. Louis Browns.  In fact, he owned the American League hits record until 2004 when Ichiro Suzuki broke it.  In the process of breaking the record, Ichiro studied up on Sisler and grew to appreciate the Hall of Famer so much that he visited his gravesite outside of St. Louis during the 2009 All-Star Game.  I snagged this card for a pair of Pujols and Holliday relic cards.  

2010 Topps Sterling George Sislger Bat Card 

The second trade was completed on Facebook.  I traded a few Red Sox and a Matt Moore autograph for these two awesome cards.  The first card is more of a curiosity and I've always wanted this card.  It's a 2006 Topps Alex Gordon cut out card.  This card came in the pack this way.  The long story short is that Topps had some sort of contractual problem and printed these cards too soon.  They needed to get Alex Gordon off the cards and this was the solution.    The other card I received in this trade was a 2011 Topps Ozzie Smith bat card.  Always great to get some Ozzies.  

2006 Topps Alex Gordon Cut-Out

 2011 Topps Ozzie Smith 60 Bat

Last trade for tonight.  A local one.  Josh Hamilton cards are really easy to trade in these parts.  There are many people that have stories about how they saw Josh Hamilton play in high school, or Legion, or their uncle's backyard.  I believe Athens High in Raleigh might have outdrawn the Pirates, and perhaps the Reds, while Hamilton was in high school.  I pull out a few Hamiltons, listen to some stories, and walk away with some sweet cards in the end.  A few Hamilton jerseys and a pair of Hamilton Heritage Chromes and I got.....

2012 Topps Museum Collection Matt Moore Autograph

 2012 Topps Museum Collection Allen Craig Triple Jersey Auto 

One Year. 30 Really Good Cards.

I have had some down time away from my blog over the past week and am ready to get back into my baseball cards.  It's been a busy weekend with family in town, school work, voting, and all sorts of other happenings going on.  However, I wanted to take a little bit of extra time and write a cool post for my local card shop, Big D's Sports Cards, and it's owner Jimmy.  This weekend he is celebrating his store's first year in business.

I did not actually make it into Big D's the first month the store was open, but I have made it in a few times since.  I saw a post Jimmy made on Facebook Friday about the anniversary.  I took a few minutes to flip back through the pages of my blog and checking out some of the cards I had landed on my trips into the store.  I have to say that I am truly amazed at some of the cards I have picked up over the past year and must say that I could not have found half the cards on this list without the help of Jimmy.  

Here's a look back at my best thirty pulls, purchases, and trades from Big D's:

#30- 2011 Topps Pro Debut Leslie Anderson

I picked this card up this summer.  Jimmy has another customer who is great at getting in person autographs.  As a Durham Bulls fan, I love the certified autographs, but that's not always an option.  Anderson was a good player on the Bulls for several years and I was happy to add an autograph of him from a trusted and reliable source. 

#29- 2014 Topps Heritage Derek Jeter Action Variation 

I love Topps Heritage.  It's a staple set of any good card collection these days.  You don't collect sets? You should just buy a complete set of the Heritage cards.  Opening the boxes and putting the set together is a blast.  This was my cool pull from my box this year.  A cool card given it was Jeter's final year in the bigs.  

#28- 2013 Bowman Inception Hak Ju Lee Blue Autograph 1/25 

A current favorite Durham Bull.  I still have great hopes that Hak Ju Lee will play regularly in the Majors.  He's a great defensive shortstop.  If only he could figure out the offense.  This card also comes from one of my favorite sets of the past few years.  Great looking card, low print run, with a cool serial number.  

#27- 2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Moore Quad Relic with multi-colored patch 

A card from my first trip into Big D's.  It was a Durham Bulls heavy trip.  This was a really cool card.  I look at it often.  

#26- 2014 Topps Stadium Club Koji Uehara 

I really enjoyed the rehash of Stadium Club that Topps put out last month.  Picked up a box and really enjoyed this Koji autograph.  I have a student in my class this year who is a big Koji fan.  He's chipping away I guess.  Cool autograph and a really cool looking photograph.  

#25- 2014 Topps Archives Jose Abreu Printing Plate 

A really cool hit out of an Archives box, which was the most ridiculous box ever.  Not always the biggest printing plate person and I am not overly attached to the White Sox.  Jose Abreu is a nice player.    I actually sold this card, but it is still a cool story.  Right?  More from this box later....

#24- 2013 Topps Finest Matt Adams Autograph/Bat 

Jumbo Pepsi with a bat and an autograph.  Cool looking card.  

#23- 2014 Topps Archives Ron Gant Printing Plate Autograph 

Cool 90s player, former Cardinal, autographed printing plate.  The second card from my Topps Archives box on my list.  It was a really good box.  

#22- 2013 Topps Tribute Terry Pendleton Autograph 

A favorite from the 80s Cardinals.  He's a Brave on the card, but still a really nice looking card.  TP has a great signature.  I picked this card up at a trade night at Big D's.  

#21- 2002 Topps Tribute Ken Boyer Bat Card

A really cool set.  A really cool card.  Boyer is not a guy you see a lot of cards of, but he's a really important player on some good Cardinals teams.  See the 1964 World Series.  

#20 - 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Giancarlo Stanton Jumbo Jersey 

I really enjoyed the Gypsy Queen product this year.  There are several cards from that set on this list. I picked up two boxes of the product this year and opened them with Jimmy at the shop.  Fun times.  I did not pull this Stanton card, but took it off of Jimmy's hands a few weeks later.  Beautiful card of a great player.  

#19.  2010 Topps Opening Day Topps Vault Blank Back Evan Longoria 1/1

I could make a top 10 list of all the Longoria's I have picked up at Big D's.  This is a cool one.  I have done a little bit with Topps Vault cards in the past, but never a Longoria.  While I am not always a huge fan of 1/1 cards, I like this one.  Company seal, cool case, and a letter from Topps.  

#18- 2014 Topps Stadium Club Shelby Miller Autograph 

While the Uehara might be a better card in terms of rarity and value, I was really happy to pull this Shelby Miller card out of my box of Stadium Club.  First, Shelby has a great autograph.  He signs lots of stuff and his autograph always looks the same.  I love the Sunday hat with the Stan Musial patch on the card too.  

#17- 2012 Bowman Draft Michael Wacha Autograph

It was a lost season for Wacha, but this is an awesome card.  Wacha's early Topps cards offer a few on card signatures, but almost everything within the past two years has been a sticker autograph.  This is my favorite Wacha on card autograph.  Really nice signature.  

#16- 2014 Topps Archives Tom Berenger Major League Autograph 

I like Major League the movie.  Tom Berenger seems alright.  This also came out of my Topps Archives box.  I was try to decide whether the Gant and Abreu plates and this card were better than my Gypsy Queen pulls?  You will have to keep reading to find out.  Snorting Bull secret fact: As a Cardinals fan the Cubs are my least favorite team.  The Indians are right down there with them.  

#15- 2009 Topps Finest David Price Autograph Letter 

Top half of my list.  I re-did about six times.  I am not sure there is a right or wrong answer with the rest of the cards on this list.  I love David Price and this is a really cool card.  One of my favorite Durham Bulls of all-time.  Hope he does well with the Tigers next year.  

#14- 2009 Topps Tribute Evan Longoria Triple Bat Relic Autograph

I could really make a list of just cool Longoria cards I picked up at Big D's during their first year in business.  Longoria cards take up more than 10% of the list and I stopped trying to decided which were the best and just narrowed it down to my favorite three.  I had a hard deciding so I made it four. Can't over look that 1/1 back up at 19.  I love the design of this card and the pieces of bat relic look cool with the bluish/green background and black bottom.  Great contrast and again a cool card.  

#13- 2013 Topps Supreme Chris Archer Autograph 

I had been searching for one of these for awhile.  The 2013 Topps Supreme product was only released in Asian markets, while the cards are available on Ebay, they are a pain to buy.  

#12- 2014 Bowman Platinum Stephen Piscotty Patch/Autograph 

I saw Piscotty this summer at the Triple A All-Star game in Durham.  One of the better Cardinals hitting prospects.  Should show up in St. Louis some time next summer.  Jimmy picked this card up from another customer in his shop and sent it my way.  It's a red colored card with a Cardinals player, an autograph, and a red and blue patch.  It's an awesome card.  

#11- 2013 Topps Tribute World Baseball Classic Ben Zobrist Autograph 1/1 

Another Durham Bulls favorite.  This card would be way higher if it were a Rays card.  World Baseball Classic takes a little luster off, but still love the design and background.  Plus it lists Zobrist as a 2B and an OF, but he's wearing a 1B glove.  Nothing could be more Zorilla than that.  

#10- 2014 Topps Gypy Queen Torii Hunter Jumbo Patch 1/1

Top 10.  Now they are getting really tough.  One of my favorite products this year.  Had to pick up a jumbo patch right?  Here it is.  This is cool.  Jimmy had this in the shop, not pulled out of my boxes.  

#9- 2014 Topps Acetate Parallel Shelby Miller 5/10

Not a huge huge fan of parallels, but I loved the Acetate cards this year.  Picked up a ton of the Cardinals.  Landed the Miller at Big D's. 

#8- 2009 Topps Unique Evan Longoria Autograph 

I've even seen this card in a few years.  Jimmy landed one and sent it my way.  There is one on Ebay right now, but it's $99.99.  Yikes!  

7.  2014 Topps Gyspy Queen Zack Greinke Button Card 3/3

This was a pretty cool pull.  Still not my favorite Gypsy Queen pull.    

6.  2009 SP Authentic Evan Longoria Autograph RC 

I also picked up his Bowman's Best RC Autograph from Jimmy this year too.  It was came in fifth on my informal straw poll of myself mainly because he was wearing an old Devil Rays uniform on the card.  New Rays uniform, it could have been top 5.  

5.  2007 UD Premier Ivan Rodriguez Patch 

One of the first cards I picked up from Big D's.  Jimmy emailed me a picture of this card.  My jaw dropped.  Insane patch.  

4.  2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Shelby Miller Flag Card 

Second favorite Cardinals pull this year.  Gypsy Queen was very kind to me, I did not even put the two printing plates (Kershaw and Utley) that I landed on this list.  A memorable day at the card shop indeed and this card was the icing on the cake.  It is limited to just 5 copies.  Miller and Musial are the only Cardinals in the set of flag cards this year.  I take this card out and look at it all the time.  

3.  2013 Topps Tier One Evan Longoria Autograph/Patch 

Not the hardest Longoria card to find by any means, but it's just a really beautiful card.  Great design and cool patch piece.  I'm looking right past the sticker autograph.  

#2.  2014 Bowman Inception Oscar Taveras Autograph 

This card might have jumped a few during the past week.  Was still in the Top 5.  Jimmy found this card for me, not packed pulled.  Favorite Taveras autograph in my collection.  

#1- 2014 Topps Mark McGwire Autograph 

Just picked up a box of Topps Series 2.  Last box of a product at the store and this is in it?  I did okay.  

It's been a fun first year of having a local card shop in Raleigh and I could not have done anywhere close to this well with adding cool cards to my collection without the help of Big D's Sports Cards and it's owner Jimmy.  A huge thank you for everything you do to help me out with my collection and a congratulations on a great year in business.