Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Stumbling onto the Accidental Trifecta

So, I love the concept of the trifecta, which, as I'm sure you all know, consists of a player's rookie card, an auto, and a GU. I've completed a few trifectas of players I love, like Sweet Lou:
And his partner, Alan Trammell:

I'm only an auto shy of completing trifectas of my player collections of Fisk, I-Rod, Cabrera, and Verlander, and I'm hard at work tracking down those.

But then there's the trifecta that you just kind of stumble upon. I have a few of those, and I don't really know what to do with them. Since I completed the trifectas, albeit accidentally, I feel like they have a place in my collection. But then I have no real affinity for the player, so I also consider trading them. But then to think the trifecta would be broken would be like imagining breaking up an orphan family into separate homes. So, if anyone wants to adopt an accidental trifecta and trade me, I don't know, just a little Pudge auto or a Cabrera auto, I suppose I'd be okay with that.

Anyway, here is my first of what I call the Accidental Trifecta:

Chris Coghlan is the subject of my first accidental trifecta. The first part of this set that I acquired was the auto. I've always liked the design of these Tristar autos. And then the rest of the cards just kind of fell into my lap.

Coghlan had an amazing rookie year in 2009, as you likely remember. But since, he's been a bit of a mess, which is really too bad. When he's playing well, he's a lot of fun to watch. So, he might end up being a ROY flop, an Angel Berroa-type, but it's still kind of neat to have a ROY trifecta. Oh wait, I already had one. Sweet Lou, who was certainly no Angel Berroa.

My next accidental trifecta:

It's the Greinke-killer himself, Carlos Quentin. I always liked Quentin, though his claiming to have a legitimate beef with Greinke made me lose a little respect for him. Dude, you got beaned a couple times. It happens. I was always waiting for a breakout season from this guy, and I kind of think he might still have one in him, but maybe he's past his prime.

My trifecta consists of 2004 true rookie cards. I love the Topps Chrome auto, and this was a great year for Heritage. It makes this year's '64 design look like garbage. 

So, another nice little accidental trifecta here. And it could be up for trade if you could help me complete one of my player collection trifectas. 

Do you have some accidental trifectas? Does it make you care more about a player's cards you usually wouldn't collect? Or who gives a crap? 

4 comments:

  1. Since I'm not really into the whole autograph/jersey area of the hobby, trifectas aren't a huge concern for me. Still, I'm sure I have a few of them. My dream is to get Hoyt Wilhelm's '52 Topps rookie for my "trifecta" one day.

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  2. Same goes for me. I don't chase GU or auto's, and I rarely get them in packs, so to me it just raises the cost of what I actually do want. That said, I probably don't have any trifectas.

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  3. Funny to see another post with Sweet Lou today. I put up a new post on my 1979 Topps blog and it was all about Lou!!

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  4. I've built over twenty sports card trifectas... but I don't think any of them were on accident. I'm sure if I dug through my tradebait, I'd be able to put together a few more. However... I'm not prepared mentally for the dilemma that would ensue.

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