Collecting Matt Szczur

Matt Szczur is one of my favorite under dogs on the Cubs (Kyle Hendricks is #1) and for an under dog he actually has quite a few auto and relic cards.  As the 4th or 5th outfielder Szczur has been able to really come into his own and become a valuable asset to the team.

I believe he's ranked as the 2nd best pinch hitter in the league.  He's also had a few big games including his first grand slam that happened to be at Wrigley and a game I attended in April!

When he first got injured in Spring Training I thought he was a goner but I think he's worked his way up to at least the 23rd man on on the roster.

This is the first card that I picked up for Matt and it was actually by accident.  I didn't realize it was an actual on card autograph obtained in person!  No matter I still like it a lot!

Since I didn't have a non-auto rookie card for him I went ahead and picked up this Black Refractor of his Topps card.  I like the Black Refractors they look really slick!  

I also have his 2012 Bowman Card.  I know this one has quite a few refractors but I haven't pulled the trigger on buying any just yet.  

The Panini Immaculate Collection cards are my favorite of the non MLB licensed cards.  Even though the players are usually in some sort of generic uniform they are usually still recognizable and the relics and/or autos are always pretty sweet.  I just realized that last year Szczur was 41 and now he's #20!  I'm gonna have to hunt down a card of his featuring #20!!

The National Treasures cards always look super classy.  I'm constantly chasing these cards on eBay and they almost always get out of my price range.  I like this one a lot.  It's an added bonus that it's numbered of out 49!

This Donruss rookie auto card is my absolute favorite of Matt Szczur's cards.  I don't think this pic does it justice at all but it's shiny and bright and it reminds me of the cards I used to stare out in the early 90's at the baseball card shop.  You know the ones you didn't just happen upon in a pack and cost more than anything else?  They made some fancy cards in the early 90s!

An auto card of Szczur from the Minors.  Not a huge fan of the generic background.  

These cut out cards are kind of goofy.  I'm not sure what it means but I only own 2 of them, one of Matt and one of Tommy La Stella!

Another shiny and nice auto card!!  By the way as hard as it is to pronounce Szczur it sure as heck seems harder to read his signature!  

I haven't been able to find any cards of him from 2016, but hopefully one of the sets rectifies that situation soon!  I don't get why Topps has to release the same old set in 20 different variations when they could easily just add new cards with these fringe players!