Baseball Cards: More Allen & Ginter

Howdy y'all, apologies for not posting the White Sox and Royals recaps recently. Current events (GTA V) have kept the majority of my free time occupied and I just never got around to getting online to write. Since my last post, the good news has been the Indians have managed to battle their way into one of the wild card spots.Now the hope is that they can stay there. As I'm writing this they're closing in on a sweep of the lowly Astros, getting one step closer to the post-season in the process.

Regardless of what happens, I'm pleased for the team and more pleased at the fact we'll have posted our first winning season since 2007. So really, it's my first year as a Tribe fan where we've ended the year above .500 (I only started following the team properly in 2008). That's a cause for celebration in my book.

Anyway, I received some new baseball cards in the post over the past few days so I thought I'd share my new pick-ups here. They're all from the beautiful set that is 2013 Allen & Ginter. Let's begin:

Another Justin Masterson card to add to my PC I'm working on. Here we have a 2013 Allen & Ginter jersey relic that I got for just $1. A bargain and a really nice card (although I would have preferred the jersey patch to be from the home whites).

Up next is a mini jersey relic of Tribe right fielder Drew Stubbs. He hasn't had the best debut season in Cleveland and has really struggled with the bat all year but I've been impressed with his defense in right field. Despite his troubles, I couldn't resist bidding for this card. I really like it's design and Drew comes across as a pretty likeable guy, with that Texas drawl of his. For $1.49 I wasn't going to say no.

Here we have a jersey relic of former Indians ace and 2008 AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. I know, it's not  a Tribe card but come on, he used to play for us. And he's still tearing it up at the age of 35. I was a big fan of Cliff and will never forget his super-heroic 2008 season. All for just over $2 as well. Not bad.

Ok, from here on all connections to the Indians disappear I'm afraid. Why did I pick up this Carlos Gonzalez card? Well the star outfielder for the Rockies has been the heart and soul of my fantasy team this year and for the grand sum of $1 I thought why the hell not. It's a pretty nice card too, although I wish the pinstripe on the patch was slightly more centered. 

Last but not least is this delightful card of the reigning AL Cy Young winner (for just a tiny bit longer) Mr David Price. For just $2 I wasn't going to pass on getting a mini jersey relic of a Cy Young winner and it's a beautiful looking card too. Plus the patch is home-white too, so it's win-win for me. 

So there you have it, my latest additions to my fledgling card collection. As you can probably tell I really love those jersey patch cards, particularly the framed mini's. I expect I'll be looking to add some more before the year is out, maybe in the off-season when the prices drop slightly. We'll see...

Thanks for reading.

Baseball Cards: New Acquisitions

This year I decided to start collecting baseball cards. Not seriously, not like those dudes on Youtube who break box after box. Just casual collecting, of certain players, or getting a set of Indians players. I particularly look for autograph and relic cards of players I like, whether they play for Cleveland or not.

Over the past couple of years I've managed to get the odd Topps team set of Indians cards from a UK seller on eBay, but apart from him it is pretty difficult to get cards here in Britain. The postage from America is now pretty high and I'm lucky to get cards sent here for under $10. So I never really bothered with it, plus I spend too much money on useless crap as it is.

But after finding some cheap Justin Masterson cards earlier this year from sellers in the States, including a few that were autographed, I decided to scour eBay for deals and it's become a bit of a habit. So I currently have a Justin Masterson PC I'm working on (which I'll show off in a future post) but I still keep my eye out for any other cards that look good and more importantly, that I can get for a decent price (aka, a bargain).

So here are some new cards I've received in the post over the past couple of weeks:

Let's start with this Jason Kipnis card from Topps 2013 Series 2. It's a signed Chasing History insert that I bought for under $5 and is the first autographed card by Kipnis I have gotten so far. It's not signed on-card which is a shame, but an autographed sticker is better than no autograph at all. The young second baseman is one of my favourite guys on the club, how can you not love the guy, and I'll be looking to acquire more of his signed cards in the future.

Up next is this gorgeous on-card autographed Trevor Bauer from Topps 2013 Gypsy Queen. It set me back $6 which I thought was a pretty good price. I know, it kinda sucks that he's still in his Arizona gear despite this being a 2013 card but I don't really mind. It's quite nice to have an Indians player not in his Cleveland uniform. I just love that autograph too, it's absolutely perfect. This card had some trouble being dispatched so the seller was kind enough to throw in a couple of Bauer's rookie cards from the Topps 2012 base series as well. I hope Bauer can finish the season strongly in Columbus and I expect he'll get called back to Cleveland in a few days as part of the September call-ups. Fingers crossed he can impress.

This mini Asdrubal Cabrera jersey relic from Topps Allen & Ginter 2013 arrived just today. I couldn't wait for it to show up as its been a card I've had my eye on for a while. I love how the mini card is framed, it's a beautiful effect that really makes it stand out. The Allen & Ginter series produce some stunning cards and these 2013 editions are no different. This Cabrera card is the first jersey relic I've ever received and I just love the idea that I own a piece of game-used uniform he wore. I'll be buying a lot more from the Allen & Ginter series in the near-future, it's a set I absolutely adore. This card cost me just $2 as well. Now that's my kind of bargain.

I received another card along with my Cabrera relic today and it was this Adam Wainwright mini jersey relic, again from Topps 2013 Allen & Ginter. It cost me $3, which is a great price for an NL Cy Young contender (ok, so Clayton Kershaw should have it in the bag, but you never know). The Cardinals ace is having another great year, so I wasn't going to turn down the chance to grab one of his cards at such a great price. I know, he's not an Indian, but he's a pitcher I like and a pretty damn good one at that. So I jumped at the chance to add one of his cards to my collection and it's a beauty.

I hope you enjoyed this post, a slight detour from the normal run-of-the-mill stuff you get here at England Tribe. I've got some more cards lined up to buy in the near-future, especially some Allen & Ginter autographs, so watch this space for more.

Thanks for reading.