Card of the Day - 2011 Topps Tier One : Albert Pujols Base Autograph (2/99) BGS Graded Mint 9.0

Pujols happened to be the biggest non Dodger on my to reacquire autograph list from the ball purge of last year and I ended up picking this up for a major discount as I stumbled upon it accidentally on one of many eBay searches.

A few requirements were attached to Pujols and his autograph. Obviously it had to be an on card autograph as it would probably be my only copy in my collection. Secondly I hoped to have it already pre-graded. A plus but not a need. The hardest part of it all though was that he had to be depicted in Cardinal red and not Angel red. That is where things got tricky. Obviously the past 3 years worth of Pujols autographs have him in Angel gear but he made his name as a Cardinal and will go in the Hall of Fame as one. Not because I am not a fan of the Angels but Pujols should have never left St. Louis. So with all that the market for me was a little pigeonholed as most "cheaper" autographs of Pujols were stickers and the on cards were from his rookie year in 2001 which had too high of a price tag attached to them.

I knew 2011 card issues had some on card autographs to chose from as I lost out on a few auctions over the past year plus but the day I found this card I was searching for something entirely different and as I hit enter on the computer keyboard this card came up instead of what I was really looking for. My mistake as the computer was pulling up my search history but a happy mistake for sure. This card had been "live" on eBay for a total of 12 minutes on a BIN auction and I was the first one to view it. The price the seller was asking for was so low that it was actually lower than some of the raw cards I lost out on. With no time to spare I hit the BIN button and finally reacquired my Pujols autograph. Week later it arrived and looks even better in person. A great deal indeed.

2 / 99

A 10 autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Yet ANOTHER Trade with Fellow Blogger, Alex of Chavez Ravining

With trade number 5 just recently completed with Alex I was already going through his trade bait list to see if I could acquire some more cards for another trade. I found a few to my liking and it was time to reach out once again to Alex to see if he would part with them.

With my focus back to black and blue parallels from chrome brands and autographs in general I have most of my cards that don't fall into those two categories on my trade bait list (take a gander and maybe we can do a trade) so I am looking to move those to acquire my other needs. Looked at Alex's stuff and though he denied me on a couple (actually expected that but I had to try anyways) I was able to secure 3 with no issue with a 4th one needing a little arm twisting.

I ended up sending him 7 cards that he would accept and a few other toss ins and these are the ones I received in return.

2008 Bowman Sterling autograph of former Dodger Josh Lindblom. Even though this is a sticker autograph it still has higher value to me rather than the non autograph cards I gave Alex. I liked Josh when he played for the Dodgers. He was a decent pitcher and even a better person off the field as he contributed to the community.

2013 Bowman Sterling autograph of Dodger prospect Chris Anderson. Even though I have a couple of autographs from Chris there is no harm in picking up another. This being an on card autograph makes all that much better. He may or may not make an impact in the majors but he has always denied me an autograph when I have attended games in Rancho Cucamonga so hopefully this is not a trend he will continue if and when he makes it to the majors.

943 of 999

2011 Tier One autograph of current Dodger second baseman Dee Gordon. Though I don't really "need" another autograph of Dee as I have a couple already, I wasn't going to pass up on an opportunity to add one if I could and this card has a great pose of Dee accompanied with an on card signature.

2009 Allen and Ginger Mini Frame autograph of former Dodger Blake DeWitt. There are a few reasons why I wanted this card and this was the one that Alex didn't want to let go of but in the end he did thankfully. Firstly I haven't been able to find an autograph of Blake since I sold the signed ball of his during the ball purge. While not at the top of the list to reacquire he was still a priority. Secondly, Blake was the first autograph I got when I started going back to in store appearances way back 2008 when he burst onto the scene. He was a class act that day and I remember that when players are like that. And thirdly its an Allen and Ginter mini frame which are just nice in general.

4 more cards from Alex and another trade is complete. Thank you as always and with number 6 done I'm already looking forward to number 7.