15 Cards Submitted to Beckett For Raw Grade Review (RGR) at South Bay Sportscards on March 7, 2015

It's been a few months since I did a BGS submission and even though I knew I was going to do another batch sometime this year it is a bit earlier than I thought I would do it. I'm doing this one a tad differently though as I am only going to get raw grades at this time as I am still holding off some that I will be forgoing the raw grade and just doing the full submission in a few months. When I send those in I will also include those here I want encased depending on their grade but I expect all but one or two will make it into that order.

With that said here are the cards that I have submitted including the one I posted about earlier today. Starting sometime next week and every other day after I will post the results. For long time readers of the blog you know that has become my usual routine. Like in the past I will go from my least confident card to most confident of earning a gem mint grade. Obviously not all we grade out to a 9.5 but in some cases I will be happy with a mint 9.0.

2013 Bowman Chrome Purple Parallel

I am 1000% sure this will not earn a gem mint grade. You can tell just from the picture it is not centered but that seems to be the only flaw I notice. I am trying to acquire the rainbow set for Corey and all I want/need is for them to be mint 9's. 9.5 is a plus but at present the lower grade is fine so using raw grade review is better here than the full submission just in case this comes in at a 8.5. 

2014 Topps Chrome Photo Variation

Another card that I am positive won't earn a 9.5. Like Seager I am still hoping it holds enough to get a mint 9. Just like his I only see one flaw with the card but I don't want to risk a full submission hence the raw review route instead. The lower right corner has a surface "smear" which I know will garner at least a 9 if not 8.5. If all the other sub grades get at least a 9 then that is fine by me. 

2011 Gypsy Queen

Now we get the 6 cards that could go either way. I expect each of them to have at least 2 9.5 sub grades if not 3 but there is one thing or another that might drop that last sub grade to an 8.5. First up is this sweet pick up I showed off earlier in the week. At 1st glance when you look at this card there is hardly a flaw you can see with the naked eye but if you slant it a certain way you can see some surface blemishes on the plastic coating. The question isn't if that sub grade doesn't earn a 9.5 but whether it can hold and earn a 9 so the other 3 can get 9.5's so the overall grade is a 9.5.  

2014 Topps Five Star

Second of the two Kershaw autos in the submission and just like the other I am hoping for the best here. The "issue" with this one is that I can tell one corner is slightly not razor sharp. Question is will that at least earn a 9 so the other sub grades hopefully earn a 9.5 so I can yet have another gem mint Kershaw autograph in my collection? Hope so.

2014 Topps Strata

A beautiful card from an ugly transaction. This was my 1st ever Strata card for my collection and I would love to have it come back in a gold banner case but as with all thick cards it really is the luck of the draw on what the final grade will be. As with the Five Star card the only real thing I see holding this card back from gem mint is a corner so as with that one I am crossing my fingers and hope lady luck is on my side.

2014 Topps Strata

Same story as the Griffey Strata with the added bonus of seeing how BGS treats Pee Wee's autograph. Do they dock it since you can see a little of the "Reese" part of it or do they realize that is how the card was supposed to be made? Hoping I get a reasonable grader for this transaction that will realize that.

2014 Bowman Chrome

The one of the six that I think are border line but the one most likely to pull out a 9.5 overall grade. I picked this up on a trade/purchase with my good friend Jesse with the intention to submitting it and getting a gem mint card of the supposed next Cub's superstar. As I told Jesse there is only one "issue" that I saw with the card but unlike the Five Star and Stratas the one corner in question is not as blatant. Thinking here is that it grades out to a 9.5 but keeping my expectations tempered.

2011 Allen and Ginter Bazooka Mini

Now for the six cards that I just "know" will grade out to a gem mint 9.5. Of course I've said that before and some have come back lower but on the other hand I have thought some cards would crap out on me but they received a 9.5 instead so you just never know.

This Bazooka card is numbered out of 25 and I so love these low numbered cards to earn 9.5's as if you have one chances are they can't all be perfect so you could have one of only a handful. This being Kershaw just wants me to have gold banner even more. 

2011 Gypsy Queen

My new favorite mini in my collection and what would complete my happiness? Why a gem mint grade of course. Only 10 of these cards are in existence and not one has been graded yet by BGS. I would love to have the only one to be a gem mint and I think it has a tremendous chance at that. I see no flaws so we shall see what BGS thinks.

2014 Bowman Chrome Draft Black Parallel

As with Seager I have taken on the project of acquiring the 1st year Bowman Chrome cards of Urias in rainbow form and hopefully have them all in gem mint form. Realistically that probably won't happen and 9's will be fine but with that said I see no flaws on this card other than maybe it is slightly off centered but that shouldn't stop it from a 9.5. 

2014 Bowman Chrome Draft Blue Parallel

Same card, different color. The reason I have more confidence in this blue one than the black one is that this one does not look off centered to me. I still believe both will gem mint but this one I am more sure of. 

2014 Topps Dynasty

With a card being uncirculated it would seem to me that it should get a gem mint grade as it has not been handled but I have seen plenty of uncirculated cards earn lower grades. Hopefully that does not happen to mine but when I acquired this I did my research and from the pictures and with card in hand I do not see any problems here. Nice crisp signature on what seems to a perfect card. Here's hoping my one and only Dynasty card in my collection will be gem minty. 

We come to the last of card of the "traditional" raw grade review cards for this submission. Traditional? More on that in a minute. 

2013 Bowman Chrome Black Parallel

We started this batch with a Seager card and now we end it with a Seager card. 

Unlike the purple parallel I think this black parallel has a decent chance at a pristine grade. Centering is almost 50/50, surface looks clean, corners are extra sharp and the edges look problem free. I have only had one card come back in pristine condition and this would be a great second one but if not I can not see this getting anything less than a strong 9.5. Either way me going this route for a gem mint grade of this card is better (cheaper) than the one I missed out on earlier on eBay. 

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Now for a couple of cards that I will be submitting once again and hoping for a different (higher) grade. I have heard and seen stories of cards that were only .5 from a higher grade getting resubmitted and getting bumped that extra .5. This is where the perfectionist in me comes into play. Some things are subjective and some are not when grading cards. I have a few that only need a .5 bump to get a higher grade but that sub grade happens to be on centering which is not really subjective. Centering is a numbers game and you can't change numbers to get a better grade on that. With these cards it comes down to the other three sub grades. Some people might ask why I would do this and I say because I want that gold banner. At worst if it grades out the same as the 1st time I now have it out of its case and I can sell the card and get a similar one with the funds from that sale to pay for the new one and try again to get another card of the player. Here are the cards that I am resubmitting. Knock on wood and hopefully I get a better result.

First up is Yu Darvish 

Card ungraded back in the day

The problem I have with this card is not the overall grade which can't be improved but the autograph grade. The reasons that BGS normally downgrades an auto is if it streaks, smears, is faded or runs to the edge of the card. None of that is happening here and I think the grader made a mistake. I am cracking this open and expecting/hoping to bump up the auto grade with someone other than the original grader. A 10 holds a much better value than a 9 (obviously) so if I ever wanted to resell it help. If I don't get my desired grade then I will hold onto it in ungraded form.

And the other card is Miguel Cabrera 

Ungraded form.

Unlike the Yu card there is nothing wrong with Miguel's autograph but his card here is only .5 from earning a gem mint grade. Now common knowledge is that corners are hard to bump up to another grade on a resubmission but I am going to take that risk. The good thing about this card is if it comes back as a 9 again I will end up selling it and using those funds to buy another Cabrera autograph in gem mint form at no extra charge. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin