Featured autograph - Mitch Moreland

I got this card originally signed in 2010 but the card didn't take the Sharpie very well and I ended up cleaning off the autograph - I had to wait about a year later before I was able to run into Moreland again and get him to sign a couple of cards before an Angels game on Sept. 27.

2010 Bowman Chrome redemption pack recap

My lone redemption pack of 2010 Bowman black border cards came in the mail after I'd finally sent my 18 Bowman Chrome wrappers in the mail about three weeks ago - I think the cards would have 'popped out' more if they'd been the Chrome variety instead of basic Bowman prospect cards slapped with a black border.

#BP 40 Domingo Santana
#BP 34 Scott Shaw
#BP 26 Cody Satterwhite
#BP 10 Aroldis Chapman
#BP 3 Cole McCurry
#BP 48 Simon Castro
#BP 91 Nolan Arenado
#BP 82 Jacob Elmore
#BP 67 Evan Anundsen
#BP 61 Josh Donaldson

Looking on eBay, the basic black border cards are worth about as much as their regular Bowman Prospect counterparts - of course the real money in these redemption packs is when someone pulls the Bryce Harper 'buyback' 2010 Bowman Chrome USA card.

My purchase - a 2010 Bowman Prospects set

I wanted to see what the 2010 Bowman cards looked like, but obviously it has been an overhyped product since its release - with the lottery / rat race mentality of speculators and collectors alike chasing Stephen Strasburg's first-year [non-USA team, not unlicensed Tristar] parallels / autographed cards. 

I ended up getting a hand collated base set of the prospects [around $30 shipped from a seller on eBay] - so at least I can have a basic Stephen Strasburg first-year card for my personal collection and also get a complete set of 109 other prospect cards featuring such up-and-comers like Jose Iglesias [Boston Red Sox], Starlin Castro [Chicago Cubs], Aroldis Chapman [Cincinnati Reds], Dustin Ackley [Seattle Mariners; card looks too dark for an autograph], Donavan Tate [San Diego Padres; card looks too dark for an autograph], Hak-Ju Lee [Chicago Cubs], Wilmer Font [Texas Rangers], Brett Jackson [Chicago Cubs], Thomas Neal [San Francisco Giants], Grant Green [Oakland Athletics], et al.  

The Strasburg card should be a $10-$15 card by itself, though by the end of the year - Topps will have likely rolled the presses on releasing various basic, non-autograph MLBPA rookie cards [~Actual rookie cards people! Not just these silly 'first year' cards printed of guys who haven't thrown one pitch or had one at-bat in the Major Leagues~] of Strasburg, along with more valuable parallels/ autograph cards.