The 2014 Topps cards haven't arrived at our Walmart yet. The closest Target is about 40 miles away. So I'm waiting for my first pack of cards.
But that doesn't mean I'm totally shut out. While Brentandbecca sorts through 60 cases of cards to put my main order together, I've been hitting ebay to pick up some others.
My buy pattern for the past couple years is this:
The main set, Cubs team set, and basic inserts come from Brentandbecca.
The tougher inserts and parallel cards come from other sources, mainly Ebay and Sportlots. Though I could probably pick up some of these from Brent, even with 60 cases he may not pull these cards. Rather than waiting to see what he pulls, I hit Ebay right when the set is released. I can usually find some good deals early on.
This card is a Sportlot special. It's the Target Red parallel of Darwin Barney's base card.
As for the card itself, I knew what it would look like back in December when Topps released a picture of a full sheet of cards.
This is the best look that I could get from the sheet.
The picture is from June 29 when the Cubs played the Mariners in Seattle. The Mariners had a Turn Back the Clock game, returning to 1909. Barney is wearing the 1909 Cubs road uni. That is what defending world champion Chicago Cubs look like.
This is the first of eleven series one Barney cards that I'm hunting....base, Red Hot, gold (/2014), Camo (/99), Green (/99), Black (/63), Pink (/50), Yellow, Walmart Blue, Target Red, and Toys R Us Purple.
Of the two that are left, the Platinum (1/1) isn't on my radar. I would love to get the Clear (/10), but I'm not sure just how much it will go for.
At this point, I've seen a little more than half of the cards and I've been able to snag eight of them. Yet to surface are the pink, clear, and platinum I will wait patiently.
I've usually chased Chris Denorfia's cards for "rainbow" type stuff, but the last three years he's been relegated to the Update release, which has less parallels (not complaining there). This year, he's not in Series 1 again, and I decided to go after the parallels for former Cub Andrew Cashner. I've been scouring eBay as well and have a bunch of them paid for or am just waiting for the auction to end, but a clear one just popped up for $20. It'd be the most I've ever spent on a card, so I'm not sure that I want to pull the trigger, but I'm also not sure if I'll ever find one again. I'd be interested to see what they look like in hand.
ReplyDeletePull the trigger! $20 for a /10 is a bargain. I've also heard that the clear cards look very cool. If a Barney pops up, I'm hitting the BIN right away!
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