2014 eBay purchases: hip H-O-P hooray!

First of all, I'd like to say thanks to Jeff for his three posts in the last week or so (while I've been too lazy to post).

And now here's something new from me, finally--another eBay showoff post covering pickups from the last few weeks--er, months, now that I look over my purchase history!  So here's some new stuff of three of my favorite players from my Michigan Baseball PCs:

Rich Hill 2006 Topps Triple Threads Emerald dual jersey auto (#07/75)

It was a good productive few months for my Hill collection thanks to several eBay scores, that's for sure.  First up is this Triple Threads dual jersey/auto from 2006.  I actually got it from a friend of my brother's who was selling off most of his Cubs stuff.  Although I offered to buy it directly for a bit more than the minimum and shipping, he let the auction ride, and I got it for the bare minimum of $3.49 total.  Of the set's five variations I'm now short just the Sapphire (/25).

Rich Hill 2007 UD Black Illustrious Dual Autographs dual auto (with Sean Gallagher) (#02/25)

This shiny dual sticker auto hails from the high-end UD Black product of 2007 and was a reasonable buy at $8.  It's the more abundant version of two made as the Gold Spectrum variation has 10 fewer copies.  Hill was paired with fellow Cub prospect Gallagher on four other cards that year, all of which are found in Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection product;  I have two of them (base and Gold) so far.  Sean, by the way, was part of the deal with Oakland that brought Rich Harden to the Cubs back in 2008, and he's bounced around the minors since his last Major League appearance with the Pirates in 2010.  

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads 217B triple jersey auto

Lastly for Hill today I finally scored this version of his "base" 2008 Triple Threads triple jersey/auto.  I've owned the "A" card (featuring three stars instead of the team abbreviation) for a while, and plenty of other parallels, but I didn't find a price I liked on this one until recently, when a bit more than $7 worked for me.  Rich has 18 cards in the set, including eight where he's paired with one or more players, and I've scored 13 total, including all but one of his solo cards.

Today's trio gives me a total of 227 of Rich's 347 issues (about 65%), and an all-PC-dominating 108 hits.  His 239 overall cards give him a small edge over second-place SS Barry Larkin!

Michael O'Neill 2013 Elite Extra Edition Signature Green Ink auto (#01/10)

The "O" in today's title is Yankees prospect Michael O'Neill.  I probably could have posted this 2013 EEE Green Ink auto a BIT sooner--I grabbed it in late MAY for $10.50--but sometimes I just prefer to group my eBay pickups together.  Anyway, its extreme rarity makes it a big win to add it to O'Neill's PC as his second auto (here's the base) from that set, never mind that it's also #1 of the production.

Michael O'Neill 2013 Elite Extra Edition Status Gold (#3/5)

And along for the ride is this even RARER, non-autographed Gold Status insert.  I was surprised to pick it up for a measly $4 a few weeks ago, knocking off what should have been one of Michael's toughest cards to find.  The gold and die-cutting go very well with Panini's EEE design this year--as usual--and of course I'm thrilled to have landed this card now, which gets me 1/3 of the way done with his 15 cards in the product.

Speaking of the number five, these cards represent my fifth hit of O'Neill and a minor milestone of 10 out of his 40 issues to-date, crossing the double-digit mark.

Zach Putnam 2008 Playoff Contenders Draft Class Autographs dual auto (with Trey Haley) (#22/25)

Back in June I happily plunked down a reasonable $7.50 to get this dual autograph featuring the "P" of the title, Zach Putnam, because it closes the chapter on his 2008 Contenders cards:  Playoff Ticket, base auto, Draft Class insert, Gold Draft Class, and Black Draft Class.  I knew this auto would be the hardest one to find, but it still eluded me until June as I'd literally not seen ANY copies available previously.

I now have 41 of Zach's 52 issues, but I'm in an interesting position since an insane nine of those are numbered to 5!  I'm also very curious to see if he gets any newer cards since becoming a more important part of the White Sox's bullpen--he was one of their leading closer candidates before a recent injury.  For now I'll enjoy owning 32 of his hits, which are good for second best in the baseball PC, which by the way, is now at an almost-milestone total of 275.

With nothing else planned for now, stay tuned for what I previously promised will be an exciting series of pickups, at least for some of you!