I'm a White Guy

2014 Panini Immaculate - Frank White Autograph - #/99

I must admit, I'm a "White Guy".

Now, that's not saying anything about the pigments of my epidermis, but rather, my fandom for Royals legend Frank White.

The man won eight Gold Gloves, and got immortalized in this Bobblehead for it:

But still, he doesn't show up much in trading card releases since his retirement...let alone have many autographs or relic cards.  The last Topps product he was in was 2013 Archives.  However, Panini has done a little bit better job with Frank -- including him in 2013 Hometown Heroes, 2013 America's Pastime, and 2014 Immaculate.  Apparently he had a low-numbered card (#/3) in a repack product called "2017 Leaf Greatest Hits", but I have never seen that one.  The only relic card I have of his is 2002 Topps Gold Label. 

But going back to the card at the top of this post, that is an on-card autograph from 2014 Panini Immaculate that arrived at my door yesterday, and it only cost me $1.75 total.

How?  Last week Ebay released a short-term coupon code ("PERKMEUP") for $5.00 off of any purchase of $5.01 or more. (**Hat-Tip to The Lost Collector and $30/Week Habit for posting/liking this code on Twitter so that I saw it.) I had been watching the White auto for awhile, but wasn't willing to pull the trigger for $7.  However, I could do it for less than $2!!  

It is numbered 30/99, signed in blue pen which goes with the uniform, and is a great addition to my Royals collection.  I would have to say that collectively the Immaculate line is probably my favorite product out there in the last several years, so getting any more Royals from there is awesome.

Did anyone else use the PERKMEUP code or score any crazy deals lately?

This Post Is Immaculate

 

The best-looking product this year that I have seen was Panini Immaculate.  It came out in the summer and people immediately started pulling out some amazing cards from it (that Brett went for $460).  There were quite a few case breaks happening for it, but the prices for a slot were going for more than I wanted to pay, and I just kept getting outbid on them.  Instead, I decided to take the money that would have gone for a slot in the case break and just pick up a few singles on Ebay...creating my own cheaper break.  I watched several breaks that I had bid on (and lost), and there were no Royals cards in there that were better than these (and about half of them were shutouts for the Royals), so I don't feel like I missed out on them. 

The card at the top was a great value -- Raul Mondesi /99 - Immaculate Materials - 5 swatches.  The fabric is blurry in the scan since it is so thick.  The Royals have rushed Mondesi before...hopefully they are patient with him and he will develop into a solid player.

The second card I picked up was Alex Gordon /99 - Immaculate Duals.   It shows the Alex Gordon low follow-through...best exemplified here. 

 

While I was on the site, I looked for any other cool, cheap Royals cards I could snag.  The first card I picked up was this "Zebra" from 2016 Donruss.  I believe they called these "Holoflow" parallels.  They are numbered /199 and are very shiny/refractory (you can pick that up in the bottom of the scan).  LoCain is showing a little of his "lean-back" follow-through on this beauty.  

 

Another quick pick-up was this Danny Duffy 2017 Chrome in the 1987 Topps style.  It was free shipping and the seller likely had a negative profit on this one.   It's a beautiful glossy card and I'm glad to have it.

All in all, these cards cost me WAY less than a case-break slot would have, and I am pleased with what I got. 

If you are looking for what's still available from that set, you can check COMC or the 'Bay.

What is your favorite Panini Immaculate card that you have seen?

Big Pile Shipping and 2011 Spending Total

The BIG PILE has shipped!  That's what the 12 winners envelopes look like, with a little customs form on top for our Canadian winner.  :-)  They went out on New Year's Eve from CA, so should arrive in your neck of the woods sometime later this week.

A lot of people have been talking about collecting goals recently and how they plan to change their behavior in the new year.  I was interested in how much I spent on cards in 2011, so I asked my wife.  My guess was around $175.  I had bought a 2011 Topps Football hobby box ($55), plus a few Ebay purchases, some Sportlots, and some group breaks.  She told me the actual answer...$327.  I had forgotten some supplies, some miscellaneous Target packs, a Craigslist purchase and shipping on trade packages. But that's still a big gap!  Luckily that is not enough to break the bank or cause a problem in our overall financial situation.  However, I do want to be more aware of what I am spending as the year goes on, so I am going to try to track it on the blog to keep it front-and-center in my mind.

I am also going to limit the "accumulating" aspect of my collecting in the first half of 2012 and focus more on organizing and posting things I already have.  I won't pass up a good trade offer or one of my regular group breaks, but will rather try to avoid those days of trolling ebay or Sportlots without a real "need" in mind (none of this is NEEDED, after all).