That definitely looks like the work of an inept packsearcher. Typically the thinner cards won't get damaged by a packsearcher manipulating the pack, while the thickness of larger cards makes them more susceptible to visible damage. Either way, it sucks. Hopefully Topps can do something for you.
For whatever reason I've had more trouble finding the greens than anything. I think I have more of both the blues and reds from the Pirate team set than I do of the greens, and have never seen a copy of the Jack Wilson green, which is the only one I need for the player rainbow.
The Starting 9 probably would net around $10-15, so even then it would be short of cost in and of itself. Personally, I picked up the lot expecting nothing but base cards and maybe a few 1/pack type parallels, since I'm lacking a ton of cards from the years we busted. I think it would be tough...
Just to play devil's advocate, the player slots do allow the buyer to avoid added hassle if the player has changed teams. For example, there were at least two nicer hits for Juan Gonzalez and Kenny Lofton last night, the Juan Gone's coming as a Tiger and Ranger, and Lofton as a Brave and...
Personally I'd like to stay around the same number of boxes and price point for the next break. The break definitely took longer than anticipated, but I think that's at least in part because many of the cards were sticking, and unlike modern products you can't just slide straight to the hit in...
Awesome. I watched the first dozen or so boxes, but then my computer started acting up. From what I saw, it looked like the boxes yielded a nice range of hits for the team and player slots.
I'm surprised so many of the team lots are still available. I need the Pirate base cards from just about all of the sets being busted, so I'll consider it money well spent just getting most of the base cards I need and a couple 1 per pack parallels. Anything beyond that is just icing on the...
Dave & Brian's in Tarentum is probably the best remaining card shop in the area.
Your best bet is definitely waiting for the Robert Morris show. It attracts dealers nationally, though the show tends to be a little vintage heavy for my taste. You'll find a nice mix of affordable vintage...
I'm slowly becoming a binder convert. I moved all my base Jack Wilson's to a binder a couple years ago, and will likely be moving all of my Wilson inserts and other Pirate base cards to pages when I place my next supply order. Right now anything above a common is in a penny sleeve and...
Two more from the weekend. I found the Lee for $1 at a show, so I couldn't pass it up. His only cards as a Pirate were released after he retired, so finding an upgrade will be tough unless Lee does any autograph appearances, but even then the fee would probably be more than I'd want to pay...
Thanks Danny. I've always liked the fact that it's a project I forget about for month, and then pick back up when other aspects of my collection(s) slow down. There are a handful of toughies in there, but fewer than you'd expect considering how many players the team cycled through in the...
A couple recent additions, with big thank you's to waxpax and moonlight for knocking a couple more off my list. The Carmen Hill, who made his Pirate debut in 1915, is now the oldest in my collection.
I should mention I picked 1950 as a fairly arbitrary start date. I have around a dozen pre 1950 signatures, but since the team's history goes back to the 19th century, I figured I'd start with a more manageable goal and then work backwards. Since the team had terrible teams for much of the...
It's been a long while since I've shown off any of my new pickups here, but figured this milestone warranted an update. I've been working on getting an autograph pictured in a Pirates uniform of every player to appear in a major league game for the Pirates since 1950. With the addition of a...