Pulls from the Nickel Bin

I like to buy baseball cards using loose change. Whenever I can buy something without pulling out dollar bills, I feel like I'm getting something for nothing. The cards in the picture were five cents each. My favorite card is the 2010 Topps Miguel Cabrera. It's a basic, conserative design. Also, Cabrera is one of the better hitters in the league. I also like the Halladay card even though it still has him in a Blue Jays uniform. Halladay is off to a sick start for the Phillies. I also bought an Upper Deck Alex Gordon card. Does anyone remember when he was the next great prospect? What ever happened to his 2006 Topps rookie card? I also got 2007 Topps cards of Angel Berroa and Mark Prior. Unfortunately, the Prior card has a small ding on the bottom right corner. Oh well. It's still a pretty decent deal.

eBay Mailbag: Florida Marlins

I recently spent 25 cents for 5 Marlins commons on eBay. I like making these small purchases on eBay. I can get a nice package without breaking the bank. I got an Upper Deck First Edition card of Andrew Miller. What ever happened to him? Wasn't he supposed to be the next great thing? I got another A&G card. This time it's a Dan Uggla card. I love the A&G design. I'm tempted to buy a box of A&G this year. Finally, I received three 2010 Topps cards of Marlins pitchers. Josh Johnson is pretty much the ace of the staff. But everybody has said good things about Ricky Nolasco this year. Matt Lindstrom is now closing games for the Astros. He's also on my fantasy team. So far so good. This kind of purchase is really a stop-gap until I can get to a card show. eBay is great (We can argue this in another post) but there's nothing like buying cards in person.

eBay Mailbag: Houston Astros

I picked up 4 Astros common cards on eBay for 15 cents because they were cheap and I was bored. Also, I like Allen & Ginter base cards. The other three cards were just a bonus. The A&G card is Carlos Lee. The other three cards aren't anything special but still a decent bargain. I've never like ToppsTown. It's like half baseball card half game piece. 2010 Topps is OK, but isn't Mike Hampton retired yet? I think that 2010 Upper Deck has a better design than Topps but the whole logo issue hurts the card's appearance. Overall, I did pretty good since I only spent pocket change.

eBay Mailbag: Washington Nationals

I purchased the five cards pictured above from a seller on eBay for a grand total of 33 cents. That's not a bad price, even though these are Nationals cards. I bought this lot for two reasons. First, I wanted to get the Ryan Zimmerman card. But also, I wanted to sample the 2010 Topps and Upper Deck offerings. Believe it or not, this is my first purchase of 2010 baseball cards. I am never an early bird when it comes to buying baseball cards. The first thing I notice is how obvious the lack of team logos is on the Upper Deck card. The Topps cards seem to be the expected Topps product. However, the Opening Day product seems to be too close to the regular Topps product. I wish the Opening Day cards had a matte finish for autograph purposes. In any event, I think I made good use of my money on this purchase.

2009 Topps Silk: Livan Hernandez

I bought my second 2009 Topps Silk card from a seller on eBay for a total of $2.84 shipped. I think that’s a pretty good bargain. However, it is a card of Livan Hernandez. Still, less than three bucks bought a Topps Silk card. The card is numbered 50/50. Does this mean that this was the last Hernandez card produced or is it just a number? Some sellers might think this number is somehow worth more because it is the last number. Personally, I don’t care what the serial number is. I don’t understand how one number can be worth more than another. I hate how some people will drive up a card’s price because the serial number matches a jersey number or birthday or some other number. By the way, does anyone know what Livan Hernandez is up to this year? I actually had to look it up. Apparently, he’s hanging on for dear life with the Nationals.

eBay Mailbag: Bobby Abreu

My latest eBay purchase cost me all of 6 cents shipped. If I can find a non-junk wax card on eBay for under 10 cents, it's mine. I don't really care who's on the card. In this case, former Yankee Bobby Abreu was on the card which is pretty cool. He's in a Phillies uniform but that's OK. The card is a 2006 Fleer Team Fleer insert #TF-5. So for 6 cents, I received an insert card of a former Yankee. How can I go wrong? Abreu was last year's bargain basement player for the Angels. The Angels gave him a bit of a well-deserved raise this year. Abreu was a productive player while in the Bronx and it was sad to see him go.