Card of the Day - 2011/14 Bowman : Corey Seager All-American Classic AFLAC Autograph (137/235) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I went and did something that most of you probably would have not done especially if you already had a copy of an autograph card and decided to pick another one. I ended up selling an autograph of a "proven" star for an autograph of an "unproven" prospect. Puig for Seager and yet I am happy I did it and would do it again.

The 9.5 I was chasing after.

This card might look at a tad familiar to long time readers as I already have one in my collection. I picked it up in raw form and sent in to BGS for grading and it came back as an unsatisfactory mint 9 grade. Yup, it came back as "just" mint. You can read about it HERE . Most of you would probably be happy with that return but on certain cards and certain players I demand to have a gem mint copy and when I received that 9 back I was determined to still add a gem mint of this card to my collection. Yes I know, I'm picky but I think this and his Bowman Chrome card from 2012 are going to be key pieces to have and wanted to get them before Seager gets called up to the big league team. (edit: at time of this write he had not been called up but as of today we know he was and did quite well)

137 / 235

I still had a ball featuring Yasiel Puig. For some reason I didn't sell it during the ball purge of last year but I still knew it held value and I guess in the back of mind I was just waiting for the right time to sell it and pick up something I really wanted. That time was now.

I saw this Seager pop up on eBay and knew I wanted it but the seller was asking too much for it but every 7 days it would go unsold and he would drop the price ever so slightly till one week the amount was in my wheelhouse and it was time for me to win it. I put the Puig ball up on eBay and as expected it sold for what I needed for this card and after 7 days I was officially declared the winner of this gem mint beauty and couldn't be happier. I finally had a copy of this card in 9.5 form to call my own.

The all important 10 on autograph

Some of you probably wonder why I didn't just sell my mint Seager and pay the slight difference to acquire this one. I can see that point of view but there were a few things that made me decide against that. Puig is a very good player but I don't know if he will ever achieve much more and since I got out of collecting balls it wasn't that big of a loss to me considering I have a few autographs of Puig on card which I value more and they are graded gem mint as well. Seager on the other hand looks to be a beast when he gets the call and IF he doesn't pan out like I and a lot of people think he will I can sell that mint 9 at another time and pick up something else up. Hell, maybe another Puig autograph. For the time being though I rather have 2 of these to play with than 1 ball that doesn't hold my interest hence the swap.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Six - 2011/14 Bowman : Corey Seager All-American Classic AFLAC Autograph (105/235) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2011 Bowman Seager

And now, yet another Corey Seager autograph and the one I really want to grade out to gem mint 9.5. The other 3 (Inception) are nice and all but this 2011/2014 (2011 Bowman but released in 2014 Bowman) is the one that has major upside in the future and I would love to pare it with my gem mint Bowman Chromes of Seager. What holds me back is the centering. I can tell its not perfect but I hope it still earns a 9 as I think the other 3 sub grades will get a 9.5. I have seen these in graded form and they are going for top dollar and will only go up in the near future. My hope is that I can own one as well.

Submission number six and the last of the disappointing returns and sad to say this happens to be one of them.

I had 4 cards in the batch that I really needed/wanted to grade out to at least gem mints and since this is the last "disappointment" at least the other 3 received what I wanted. Of course more on those later. With the naked eye I knew centering was going to be an issue and it was as it earned a 9. I was hoping the other 3 subs would bump up the card to on overall 9.5 but only 1 other sub received a 9.5 while the other two received 9's.

The card is a pretty strong nine and unlike the Inception Seagers I will not be cracking this open but will keep it in it's case but I am on the look out for another copy of this card as I want to try my luck again in the hope of getting a gem mint. I think this will be a very important card in the future and want a gold banner beauty in my collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2011 Bowman : Corey Seager Perfect Game All-American Classic Autograph (105/235)

Continuing my hunt to add to my Corey Seager autograph collection and I finally was able to acquire one that I have always had my eye on but could never pull the trigger on due to a number of reasons.

This is a unique card as it is a 2011 card but was not issued until 2014 in that year's Bowman release. The other trick is to make sure you pick one up that is serialized as Bowman also gave away unsigned and non serialized ones that people then had Corey sign and try to sell them at a premium to unsuspecting buyers.

Other than just wanting another Seager I had this on watch list as technically this is his "1st" autograph from a major card brand. The 2012 Bowman Chrome gets most of the headlines but since this is a 2011 if proceeds that one in my mind even though it wasn't released till 2014 which is after the 2012 Bowman Chrome. Confused yet? Another reason for the wanting of this card is that it is a low numbered card. Lower the production the higher the demand. Not saying it will get there but Kris Bryant of the Cubs also has one of these types of Bowman cards and they book for $700 in raw form. Seager is nowhere near that but if he produces this might be a nice card to have.

The particular copy was on a BIN auction with a best offer and after a few days of going back and forth we finally agreed on a price that was good for the both of us. I knew whenever I acquired a copy of this autograph I would turnaround and send it to BGS for grading and hopefully get a 9.5 in return. When acquiring this card I knew that centering was not perfect on the front but if can hold a 9 sub grade I think the other 3 sub grades should get at least a 9.5 if not a 10 as I see no defects whatsoever. The autograph is crisp and clean too. Knock on wood but either way this is a beautiful card and glad I finally got my hands on one.

One Hundred and Five

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Two Hundred and Thirty Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin