An MVP Bargain

Well, that was the longest break I've taken from the blog here in years.  A perfect storm of events all converged to take me away from the hobby completely for a couple of weeks there.  I'll spare you the details though, after all you stopped by for a dose of sports cards, right?

Today seems like the perfect day to show off a card I've been sitting on for well over a year now, and one that is turning out to be one of my better bargain buys in recent years.  Here it is:

Your 2017 AL MVP, and one of the game's top players for a few years running here, Jose Altuve.  I was happy to see Jose and the Astros win it all this year, they've been one of my favorite non-Red Sox franchises since moving into the AL a few years back.

I like Altuve enough that I tend to pick up a handful of his cards from time to time.  One that I'd always wanted to seek out but just never stumbled upon at a price I was happy with was this very Cognac Diamond Anniversary parallel of his Topps rookie card proper.  Like many collectors I just think these are some of the more visually attractive parallels that Topps has produced in the past ten years or so.  The scan doesn't really do it justice here, but at this point I'm sure you've almost all held one of these in hand and know what I mean.

One thing my scanner really struggles with is PSA-graded backs.  Oh well.

Here's a better look at the front.  Just a great card all around.  I finally nabbed it back in early April of 2016.  What has Jose done in the time since I picked up this copy alone?  Well, in 2016 he led the American League in both hits and batting average, was named an All-Star and a Silver Slugger, and finished 3rd in AL MVP voting behind Mike Trout and Mookie Betts.

This year he again topped the league in hits, again won a batting title, was again named an All-Star and Silver Slugger, and deservedly won his first AL MVP.  Oh, and brought a World Series title to Houston for the first time ever.  Next year will be Jose's age 28 season, and with 1,250 career hits already in the bag it's going to be fun to follow his career and see where he ends up if he remains healthy and even a fraction as productive as he has been his last few seasons.

So, how much did my PSA 9 copy of this card set me back?

How about an even $19 shipped!  Even at the time it seemed too good to be true, and now a couple of years in the rear view mirror it looks like one of my better buys since returning to the hobby.  There's another PSA 9 on eBay right now with a little over a day to go, that's going to get well up into the triple figures by the time it's wrapped up here.  I'll be watching that one to see where it finishes just out of curiosity, though I have no plans at all to part with mine.

How could I when it pairs so nicely with the base version of the card that I got in trade from Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown this past year?

For that matter, it goes even better with my Trout rookie from the same set!

I'm not in the hobby to make money, I don't care much about book value (I don't even have a recent Beckett), and I don't buy cards to flip for a profit or anything like that.  I sure am glad that I landed a copy of this one when when I did though!

Can you think of any instances like this where you picked up a card for a good price and then it immediately skyrocketed?  I'd love to hear about your examples in the comments if so.  Thanks for stopping by and hopefully it won't be another two weeks plus before you hear from me again!