2010 Bowman Chrome on Sale

While I was at Walmart picking up that second A&G blaster I saw that 2010 Bowman Chrome was on sale for $12. I didn't start collecting until the Spring of 2011 so I missed out on the original release of  2010 Bowman Chrome. Having never busted packs of the product I took my chances and bought the cheap blaster. I did ok but here are the better cards of the box.

2010 Bowman Chrome Rajai Davis Refractor

2010 Bowman Chrome Austin Jackson RC Refractor

I think the card gods want me to start an Austin Jackson PC because I have pulled so many refractors of him this year. Let's see how 2012 plays out because I do have a decent headstart if I decide to PC him.

2010 Bowman Chrome Eric Young Jr. RC Blue Refractor 108/150

 I was really surprised and excited to pull a blue refractor out of a discounted blaster. I know they aren't crazy rare since there are 150 of each blue refractor but still it's a nice pull. I actually like what I've seen from Eric Young Jr. so that's an added bonus.

If you haven't already and want a cheap but fun blaster break you should check out your local Walmart to see if they have any of these 2010 Bowman Chromes on sale.

Discounted Blasters are Addicting...

I couldn't resist and decided to buy the other discounted blaster of 2011 A&G. I did alright on this blaster and I promise it's my last A&G blaster of 2011. I just couldn't resist when I saw it sitting there all alone.

 

 SPs:

318 Brett Wallace

330 CC Sabathia

336 Kevin Kouzmanoff

342 Mike Pelfrey

Hometown Heroes:

HH1   Buster Posey

HH29 Rick Porcello

HH33 Austin Jackson

HH73 Mark Teixeira

HH87 Jeremy Hellickson

HH89 Todd Helton

Minds That Made the Future:

MMF13 Carl Linnaeus

Floating Fortresses:

FF18 HMS Devastation

Ascent of Man:

AOM14 Haplorrhini

Baseball Highlight Sketches:

BHS-5 Albert Pujols

Minis:

26 Edwin Jackson (A&G Back)

82 Scott Rolen

124 Chad Billingsley (Black bordered)

223 Chuck Woolery

327 David DeJesus

AP-25 Black-footed Ferret

UG5 Amityville Haunting

SRU7 Snake Charming

Once again I got a "hit" out of the A&G blaster. Luckily this time it's a PC item due to the recent trade between the Astros and Red Sox. 

The relic looks a little dirty too so that's always cool. I'm really hoping Lowrie can stay healthy and hit his stride with the Astros. We all know they could use a good SS during this rebuilding phase.

Also, I promise I'll be buying a new scanner soon and I'll try to scan more when I'm visiting my mom's house where my old scanner is. Any suggestions for a cheap scanner would be welcome, don't want to spend too much on one.

Discounted 2011 A&G Blaster

I was at Walmart and decided to check out the card aisle for any recently reduced blasters. I saw a couple of 2011 A&G for $15 so I bought one. I did alright but nothing earth shattering. Here are the cards worth noting.

SPs:

304 Madison Bumgarner

305 Justin Morneau

311 Ian Stewart

319 Jon Niese

Hometown Heroes:

HH14 Carl Pavano

HH16 Dan Uggla

HH21 Jon Lester

HH52 Ian Kinsler

HH60 Alex Rodriguez

HH88 Roy Oswalt

Minds That Made the Future:

MMF34 Archimedes

Floating Fortresses:

FF15 USS Cairo

Ascent of Man:

AOM24 Homo Sapiens

Baseball Highlight Sketches:

BHS-25 Ichiro

Minis:

63 Neil Walker

82 Scott Rolen (A&G Back)

89 John Axford

108 Roy Oswalt

343 Drew Stubbs

AP-23 Red Wolf

UG3 Waverly Hills Sanatorium

SRU2 Fire Breathing

The best card in the blaster was....

I always love getting autos in blasters and this David DeJesus is no exception. I know this may not be an amazing auto to pull but I really like his signature. Plus the A&G framed autos always look really nice. Not a bad box for only $15. Now I must fight the urge to go back and buy that last blaster on the shelf. 

If you need anything I listed or any base let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for the Bagwell Santa!

Over at Sports Card Arena we had a secret Santa gift exchange this Christmas. The person who drew my name is someone I'd traded with before and they knew exactly what to get me to make my Christmas great. 

This Bagwell will be a great addition to my PC. I really need to step it up when it comes to collecting Bagwell GU and auto cards. I've been focusing on newer products and younger Astros a lot recently but in 2012 I'm going to make more of an effort on the Bagwell front. 

Thanks again to Wayne for the great Bagwell and to all the other guys there at SCA for making this such an awesome year for me. If it weren't for the guys over there and you fellow bloggers I don't know if I'd enjoy this hobby as much as I do.

Trading with the Nap

A couple of weeks ago I contacted Napkin Doon about helping him inch closer to finishing his Gypsy Queen set. I sent him a handful of set needs and he told me he'd be sending a Jed Lowrie GU. When I received the package I was excited to see that I got a lot more than a Jed Lowrie GU.

I don't have many Joe Morgan cards but I think I'll be picking up a few more this next year. Obviously in 'Stros uniforms only.

This Biggio card is so much more awesome in person. The scanner doesn't do it justice and I kind of want to track down the other versions too.

This was the only card I thought I'd be receiving and had that been the case I'd still be satisfied. Lowrie is a new acquisition for the Astros and I hope he makes himself at home here in Houston. I know we could use some help from him during this rebuilding phase.

Finally the card that put this trade WAY over the top...

Once again the scan doesn't do it justice but this card is beautiful. I have no experience with eTopps but this card makes me want to try it out. It's serial numbered and awesomely shiny. 

I can't thank Napkin Doon enough for this awesome trade and I hope to complete many more trades with Nap in 2012. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas with their families!!

I'll take that $2.99 bobble in the window please.

Ok so the bobble head wasn't really sitting in the window but it was only $2.99. I recently stopped by Goodwill trying to find a random/cheap gag gift for a party this Friday. I didn't find a gift for the party but I did find this pretty awesome Brett Myers bobble head. I don't have many bobble heads since I usually forget when they're giving them away at games so lucky for me I came across this one. 

 They had two and I almost picked up the second one as I thought maybe The Daily Dimwit might enjoy it but someone beat me to it while I was browsing the aisles. Better luck next time I guess.

Sometimes it's hard to say goodbye...

About a week ago you may have seen my recent acquisition of a Wandy Rodriguez DDC. That card was part of a trade that would send a Manny Banuelos auto in exchange for 2 Astros auto refractors and the Wandy DDC. Unfortunately there was some confusion and the Astros refractors were never found so the trade was cancelled. Banuelos will be headed back here to Texas while the Wandy DDC is already back in Kansas. 

It was a great week having Wandy in my collection with all his diamond die cut glory but it just wasn't meant to be. I wish you all the best and hope you find a good home Wandy DDC. Maybe you'll come back to me in another trade, this time for good. 

PS: Hunter Pence DDC and Brett Wallace DDC send you their love.

The Diamond King is ending the year in style

The Diamond King is running a contest to commemorate the end of 2011. I'm a bit late on jumping into the contest but the prizes, 7 different ones to choose from, are pretty awesome. Follow the link for complete rules and good luck to everyone that enters. 

*Photo Courtesy of The Diamond Kings Header*

Diamond King End of Year Contest!!!!

From one 'Stros fan to another

I recently mentioned that I still needed the Brett Wallace DDC from this years Topps Giveaway and Sam from The Daily Dimwit decided to help me out. He had a duplicate so I traded him my 2011 Brett Wallace A&G auto for the shiny DDC.

I now have all 3 Astros DDC's from Series 1 meaning I only need the Walmart black bordered Astros to finish off my 2011 Series 1 Astros collection. I also need the Pence black leather nameplate but I am fine putting that one off for awhile.

Thank you again Sam and hopefully we can work something out in the future for those Astros dupes. 

AFC South Champions

Forgive me for my tardiness but I needed a couple of days to settle down from the excitement, ha. I grew up here in the Houston area and have supported Houston teams my entire life. I supported the Oilers while they were here and when the news broke that Houston would be getting a new franchise I became a Texans supporter instantly. After 10 years of sub-par football the Texans have finally clinched a playoff spot and division title.

Houston is one of those cities where teams are consistently mediocre with spurts of success here and there. We may not be as "cursed" as the Cubs, the City of Cleveland or Detroit but we have had more than our fair share of heartbreak. The Oilers and Astros both had success here and there but always found a way to break our hearts when it mattered most. The Rockets had two championships and Houston will forever be grateful for those. The Dynamo, Aeros and the now defunct Comets have had great success here so at least we have that to hang our hats on. 

Don't take any of what I just said as bitching and moaning. I was just giving a brief history of Houston sports and why fans were so excited when the Houston Texans brought home a division title. The way they clinched the AFC South Sunday was fitting for where this team is headed. In years past they would have either come up short driving down the field or they'd have been on the other side giving up a lead and losing. Not this year, this team has really bought into the "next-man-up" mentality and it's making them a dangerous team to play. 

I'm excited for what's coming next for the Texans and I'm hoping they can at least win a playoff game or two. Here are a few photos from the impromptu celebration outside Reliant Stadium Sunday night.

*All photos courtesy of the Houston Texans Blog*

J.J. Watt saying hello to the fans.

T.J. Yates, Jacoby Jones and DeMeco Ryans

Connor Barwin pumping up the crowd.

Texans faithful going crazy!

Congrats again to the 2011 AFC South Champion Houston Texans!! Which reminds me, I need to run to Academy and see if they've got any of the division champion shirts in stock.

Getting more J.D. from The L.C.

Recently AJ from The Lost Collector let me know he had a J.D. Martinez card I may be interested in. I did actually need the card so we set up a trade with me sending a Manny Banuelos throwback in exchange for the Diamond Anniversary J.D. Martinez. Luckily we don't need David Stern to approve our trades in the blogoshpere.

2011 Topps Update Diamond Anniversary

AJ also threw in a handful of other Astros, here are a few of the ones that stood out.

I liked some of what I saw with Anuery Rodriguez last season and I'm hoping to see even more from him in 2012. I like the look of these Cognac parallels they look really "elegant" compared to a lot of cards out there right now.

Here's another guy we got to see a little of last season. I don't have much to say about Shuck right now but he's another young player that us Astros fans have to look forward to.

Taking it back old school with this card here. Hidalgo takes me back to my early memories of the Astros. I was born in 1987 so I came of age when Bagwell and Biggio were just starting off. I have vivid memories of going to Astroworld in the morning then heading across 610 to the Astrodome and seeing Bagwell, Biggio and Hidalgo play.

Thanks again to The Lost Collector for the awesome Astros cards, they'll be well loved here.

Took a Gamble and "Won"

I recently took a gamble on eBay for a card I've been after all year. My Brian Bogusevic PC is slowly growing and since 2011 Topps Series 1 came out this year I've been looking for a black bordered Bogusevic #'d/60. I've seen a few with BIN for $15 but I kept the faith and pressed on hoping to find one for less than $10.

Last week I searched eBay and found an auction for the card I'd been searching for. The only problem was there was no picture of the card, not even a stock photo. I'm always hesitant to bid on or purchase cards without a picture but I contacted the seller to make sure the card was indeed the one I was after. After a few quick responses I felt comfortable enough to take the chance and put in my bid at the last minute.

$5.76 and 4 days later I receive this beauty in the mail...

I am so happy to have found this card for so cheap and I'm glad the gamble paid off. Out of the entire 2011 Topps S1-2-Update I'd have to say the black bordered cards are my favorite. In person they look so crisp. I'm one black border shy of completing the Series 1 Astros set but I'm in no rush as I've gotten all the players I was hoping for.

1/3 of a Beckett Trade

Recently I pulled a Manny Banuelos auto from a 2011 Bowman Chrome blaster. I had a lot of interest in the card and finally decided to trade it to a member on Beckett. The trade went smoothly except for a slight hiccup involving two of the three cards I would receive in the trade. Hopefully in a week or so I can post the rest of this trade as those two cards are the ones I'm most excited about. Not that I'm not excited for this Wandy Diamond Die-cut.

2011 Topps Wandy Rodriguez DDC

I've always been a big Wandy Rodriguez fan. He's not the best pitcher in the league but I really think he can hold his own with some of those better pitchers. He's one of the better pieces the Astros will be able to trade this year which is bittersweet. He's been in Houston for many years now so it's going to be sad to see him go but hopefully he'll return one or two good prospects to an organization that needs all the help it can get.

Now that I've got the both the Pence and Wandy die-cuts I just need the Brett Wallace ddc to finish the trio. I'm not really looking too hard for the Brett Wallace as I haven't really gotten too excited about him as an Astro.

TTM Success Courtesy of Wesley Wright

I love receiving TTM's during the offseason cause I've usually forgotten about them by now. It adds even more excitement when I see a SASE not remembering who I sent to. 

Today's success comes from the young Astros pitcher Wesley Wright. I mailed this one off in April c/o The Oklahoma City Redhawks, the new Triple-A club of the Astros.Wright is a decent pitcher when he can keep everything under control. I hope to see him in Houston more this season.

This one smudged a bit even after I "primed" it for signing. It's all good though cause it still looks pretty good. 

This one looks much better except the scan is super crooked. 

Thank you to Wesley Wright for responding and signing. Also, thank you to my sister for scanning these cards and emailing them to me.

Yesterday was an awesome mailday for me as I got in two new autos from some young Astros. Both of them came from eBay and cost me less than a blaster would have. 

2011 Bowman Chrome Brian Bogusevic RC auto

I love this card cause it's a nice clean auto and it's on card. I apologize about the glare but you can still see the beauty in it. I really hope Boggy keeps up the good work this coming season, it'd be good to have one constant on this young Astros roster.

2011 Tristar OMLB signed by Jason Castro

I got this ball for cheaper than an OMLB costs by itself, not autographed. I've never tried any of the mystery ball Tri-star products but I'm sure glad I won this auction. I think it'd be a fun product to try in the future.The Tri-star holograph sticker is on the other side of the ball. 

Contest Winnings Galore!!!

Today was a great mailday for me as I received my winnings from two blog contests. The first cards come courtesy of The Card Hobbyist who ran a contest where you could win multiple cards throughout the month. I received a number of cards from the contest but here are just two of them, both of them pretty awesome.

Jason Bay Topps Chrome Refractor

Early Doucet Game Day Gear

The second winnings were from Things Are Funner Here. I was the closest to guessing the amount of cards in a box, however I went OVER the correct amount and that's no bueno. Luckily I got a consolation prize of Astros cards. Once again I'm just showing a couple of cards.

2011 Bowman Jack Shuck base

2011 Topps Chrome Anuery Rodriguez RC

Thanks again to The Card Hobbyist and Things Are Funner Here for the awesome contests!!

Two More Additions to the J.D. Martinez PC

As you know from previous posts on this blog, I'm now focusing on the younger Astros including J.D. Martinez who made his MLB debut this past season. I think he has a bright future ahead and hopefully he'll be a long-time Astros outfielder. 

2011 Topps Update Black #'d/60

2011 Bowman Chrome Base Auto

I'm adding to his collections slowly but surely. It's an exciting time to be an Astros collector as we get so many new players to watch.

2011 Bowman Chrome Blaster

I was at Target yesterday when the blaster bug hit me. I haven't ripped any packs in a few months so I thought Bowman Chrome would be a great way to get back into things. I'm thankful I did as I got a pretty nice hit for the $20 it cost me.

I apologize for the picture quality as I'm currently without my scanner and can only use my iPhone. 

Manny Banuelos base auto!! I know people have been having luck with Bowman Chrome blasters so I shouldn't be surprised but this is still an awesome auto to pull. Yes, it is for trade.

Long time!!!

As many of you may know I'm currently splitting my time between Deer Park and The Woodlands. Living in two different places has caused me to lose focus on the blog front and I apologize for that. There's no excuse for slacking on the blog and I've done it more than once so I need to step my game up. I have a few ideas in the works to keep me posting during this time so keep an eye out for those.

I haven't received many cards lately (another reason I need to brainstorm posting ideas) but I recently picked up this beauty off eBay using my eBay bucks from the last earning period. This Bogusevic card set me back $1.25 in eBay bucks (including shipping). 

This is a 2006 Bowman Signs of the Future auto from Houston Astros OF Brian Bogusevic. If you're wondering why Bogusevic looks like a pitcher in this photo it's because he was a pitcher then. The Astros moved him to OF a little after drafting him which is why it took him a few years longer to finally make the big league roster. Now I'm no fan of sticker auto's so I deduct a point but I really love this card. 

As I may have said before, I plan on focusing a lot more on the younger guys (which is basically the entire team minus Carlos Lee) for my PC. Bogusevic, J.D. Martinez, Jordan Lyles, Bud Norris and Jason Castro just to name a few. 

Once again sorry for the delay in posting and I hope you're all doing well!

Time to plug in some contests!

I know a lot of you already know about these two contests but here's the chance for anyone who has missed out on the news. Let's start off with the MLB Postseason contest over at The Great Orioles Auto. Project. Here's your chance to make your guesses on who wins the MLB playoffs with this bracket challenge. All details can be found here.

Over at The Card Hobbyist you can win a bunch of cards just by commenting on the blog during the month of October. You can enter and find the details by hitting the jump.

As always good luck to everyone who enters and if you win any Astros cards I hope you think of me. Ha.

Two Autos and a Plate

The cards featured below are probably some of my nicer cards I've received this year. Two of them came via eBay and one was from a trade over at my favorite forum, Sports Card Arena. 

I really like the look of these 2011 A&G autos. I picked this one up awhile back for less than $4.00 shipped so I think it was a pretty good bargain. I hope Wallace improves during the off-season and comes back next year ready to take over 1st.

I am in love with this 2010 Bowman Platinum auto from my new PC guy (taking the place of Pence. Bagwell is still #1 with J.D. coming in 5th behind Biggio, Berkman and Ensberg). I looked at these autos in January and I could have paid $5.00 or so for it but I waited and now I had to pay $12.00 shipped once he got called up and got on a hot streak. Since I don't plan on flipping this card for a profit I'm okay with that investment.

This is my first printing plate and my first ASTROS 1/1. Awhile back I was fortunate enough to pull a sick 1/1 patch auto of Don Maynard from 2008 Leaf Certified but I've never owned a 1/1 for my PC until now. This was the card I traded for on SCA and I think it was pretty fair. I traded a handful of 2010 Topps Chrome refractors and a Strasburg rookie for Mr. Manzella here. 

I hope you enjoyed the read and I'll be back soon with a few Bagwell PC items to show off.

Recent eBay Pick-ups from the past few weeks...

Here are a couple of eBay pick-ups I've received over the past few weeks. I haven't been buying too 

many cards lately due to the increase in comics I've been getting each week. Once I get through September and narrow down my pull list I should be back on my normal amount of card purchases. I got pretty good deals on the following cards and used up whatever was in my PayPal.

I know I said I was done with Hunter Pence cards and I basically am but I set a goal to get all the 2011 Series 1 Astros cards and I couldn't resist this black border 13/60.

Here's another #/60 but at least this guy is still on the Astros (for now at least). I'd much rather have Pence on the team but you'll take what you can get when you're a 'Stros fan ha.

This isn't a #/60 black border but the normal Walmart black border. I am a big fan of Bogusevic and behind J.D. Martinez he is my new favorite Astros player. I got this bad boy for $0.26 SHIPPED!! Yes the card cost less than the stamp to send it.

There you have it, three pretty cool Astros cards for less than $10.00. I can't complain about that especially when the majority of that money came from the Pence card. I'll be writing another post soon about the two auto's I got off eBay and a trade with someone over at Sports Card Arena.

Trade with Section 36

I recently traded with Ron over at Section 36 after he posted some trade bait. I have a couple of Oswalt GU already but I couldn't pass up the chance to get this nice looking 2008 A&G GU. 

This is where being fairly new to card collection has an advantage. I think collecting for less than a year now I haven't become fully jaded to all the overproduction of jersey and bat cards. I still get excited getting a one color Astros/Texans jersey from trade or eBay. Heck even when I have a mail day of mostly common or insert cards I get excited. I hope to keep this excitement towards the "little things" for quite some time but I know a time may come when I lose that feeling, but for now I'll cherish it.


If you don't already follow/read Section 36 you really should. It's a very enlightening and entertaining blog that I try to keep up with daily. Today's post about giving away free tickets to games is a good one. Thank you Ron for the trade and hopefully we can do another one sometime soon.

Welcome to the "new 52" from DC...

Last night/this morning I was at Bedrock City Comics in Houston for the midnight release of Justice League #1 which officially launches the new era of DC Comics. Comic shops around the country opened their doors at midnight to usher in what many people hope is a successful era for comics in general. The store I was at had around 60+ people there browsing the racks and chatting about all things nerdy. After a few raffles for variant copies, action figures and posters the time was near for everyone to check out and officially purchase the flagship book for DC's new era. 

 Photo courtesy of iFanboy

I tried to resist reading any reviews before going to the shop but I caved and read a review from Conor over at iFanboy. This time I am glad I read an early review because Conor helped keep my expectations in check for this relaunch. Which brings us to my thoughts on Justice League #1.

I enjoyed this initial issue for what it is, the beginning to the introduction into how and why the JL was created. That may have confused a few of you but what I mean is this is just issue #1 in a story arc that I'm sure cover 5-6 issues. It would be near impossible for the creative team to introduce every member of the JL in a meaningful way within a 40 pg. book. I heard a few people complain at the shop that the story felt as if it were just a Green Lantern and Batman book. Yes those guys were the readers first look into the future JL but I like the approach taken by Geoff Johns. 

Also, mentioning the future "big boss enemy" without spending too much time on it was great. It's the perfect tease for two reasons, 1) it gets regular comic readers excited for the showdown and 2) the casual reader may have missed the mention and as the showdown draws closer they may pick up on these clues and be like, "Oh man that's awesome, didn't they mention him in issue 1? Let me go back and check." It keeps the reader engaged for the longhaul.

I enjoyed the art as this was my introduction to Jim Lee's style. At times there was a bit too much action in the panels but overall the art was terrific. I look forward to how the art will look throughout the rest of the arc/series with Lee at the helm. 

Rating: 4/5

Overall I'm excited for not only this series but for many other series in the new DC Universe. Am I a bit sad to see some of my old regular comics reboot? Of course, I'll miss Zatanna having her own series but I'm also excited to see her in Justice League Dark which comes out in late September. September is going to be an awesome month for DC titles and I have faith it will be a strong start for what looks to be a great future. Next week I plan to review/discuss my pick ups from the first major week of the new DC.

Recent eBay pickups...

Like I said in my previous post I haven't really been buying/trading much lately but a few weeks ago I purchased the following cards. Two of them came from Canada so it took awhile to ship but for the price it was well worth it. 

I picked up this Berkman TT for less than $1 shipped (I needed to spend my $1 so it was a good pickup). It's a nice addition to my small Berkman PC.

The seller of the card below threw this in with my purchase. This card and the next one were the ones from Canada which I picked up for about $5.25 shipped which was an excellent deal. I figured I could wait a few more weeks with shipping for that kind of price.

I love this card and I love Gretchen Bleiler! She's one of my favorite winter athletes and she kills it on the snow. I had been looking for this card for awhile so I'm glad I finally own it.

2005 Astros WS TTM Success

At the beginning of the season I sent out TTM requests to numerous baseball players. The majority of those were current and former Houston Astros. I have an ongoing project to collect as many IP/TTM auto's from the 2005 Astros World Series roster. 

This weekend I took another step towards completing that goal when I received the following cards. I was surprised to see a SASE in my mailbox as it's been months since my last send out. I'm pleased with the results though.

I'm lazy so I scanned them at the same time. Two autographs from Mike Lamb who played IF during the Astros WS run. I sent to Mike courtesy of the Camden Riversharks which was his Atlantic League club this year. 

Thanks for taking a look and I apologize for being MIA lately. I haven't been buying/trading as much lately so not much to post about. I will be increasing my post load now that the Texans are starting up soon, DC comics is releasing their "new" titles and I've been trading/buying some more. So be excited ha.

eBay and a Nacho Mail Day(s)

Here's another great mail day courtesy of eBay and Chris over at Nachos Grande. I bought the eBay items using a gift card my girlfriends mother gave me for my birthday. Whenever I have a gift card I'll always buy something I've been putting off. Most of these cards are from the past week but once I got Chris' card in today I decided to finally post.

We'll start off with Hunter Pence 2011 A&G that Chris sent over in exchange for a 2011 Topps Diamond Parallel. A&G and Bowman Platinum may be my last sets I grab Pence cards from (unless Topps Marquee has some good ones with him in an Astros uniform).

I still love the old school look of A&G even if this years set has disappointed many.

Now for the eBay cards...

 

2011 Bowman Platinum Ruby Hunter Pence. I like the design of Bowman Platinum much more this year than I did last year.

 Jimmy Paredes has looked pretty good so far this season with the Astros. They're a team filled with mostly young guys and I'm excited to see how he and the rest progress throughout the years.

Delino is fast and can hit the ball well but I haven't seen enough about him to make my mind up on what kind of player he will be. I figure for $3.00 you can't go wrong with getting a young Astro with plenty of upside.

My favorite eBay pick up would have to be this 2008 Bud Norris auto. I love Norris and he seems to have a bright future in the organization. He likes to strike guys out and he isn't afraid to come at even the bigger guys. 

Thanks again to Chris over at Nachos Grande for hooking me up with the Pence. Thanks to you guys for taking the time to read this and hopefully soon I'll have a few J.D. Martinez auto's to show off for you. He seems to be one of the guys I'll be focusing on collecting now. Have a great one!!!