Cardboard roulette (h/t BWTP)

Matt over at Bob Walk The Plank recently showed a few cards from higher-end products he's picked up for well below the cost of that pack or box. In this case, he was talking about Archives Signature.

It's basically cardboard roulette, Matt says. And I agree. Most of the time, collectors pay top dollar for these higher end products, and then the non-mojo SiCk hItZ end up on eBay for a fraction of the cost of the product.

A small portion of collectors certainly must pull great cards, but the others? Well they list Dellin Betances cards like this for dirt cheap:

This set me back a whole $2, including shipping. It's from Topps Tier One, a product that costs $100 per pack for 3 cards - 2 autographs and a relic.

So like Matt, I'm happy to let other people pay premium prices, and then reap the (cheap) benefits when the cards they don't want hit eBay.

Big Mike Big Relics

I still collect Michael Pineda cards, even though he stinks. He's been pitching significantly better over the last six starts, but prior to that he was one of the worst starters in baseball. He's frustrating because the ability is there, he just isn't consistent.

However, I wouldn't be a very good fan if I only collected him during the good times.

In fact, with his struggles, his cards are once again cheap as hell. I snagged these two 2016 Topps Tier One relics for the minimum bid. The first is the standard relic, and the second is the dual, numbered to 50.

These cards aren't that memorable, but still, Tier One is a product I'll never buy, so it's nice to pick up a few cards to see what it's all about. The pill-shape relic reminds me of the Doctor Mario video game from back in the day. Either way, I'm sure the box breaker didn't make his money back on these relics!