Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Andre Ethier Base Framed Parallel (13/20)

Sometimes losing for months on end is a win in the end as I finally was able to get my hands on this very elusive card of Andre.

I had been trying to pick this up since Series 1 from Topps came out in the Spring of 2015. I was able to pick up higher demand players aka Trout, Kershaw, Puig with minimal problems and within reason price wise. Andre though did not fall into either of those categories. This books between $10-25. Every auction and I mean every auction (about 7) that I tried to win prior to this one I lost out on as the card went anywhere from $35 to $45. Really? What was the draw for Mr. Ethier? I had no idea then and I still have no idea today. With at least 7 copies sold on eBay and at least a handful I am sure that will stay in personal collections I assumed it might be a long while till I had a chance at another copy. Months did pass until one day this one popped up on eBay.

There it was, Ethier staring back at me on the screen once again with a starting asking price of 99 cents. I assumed after 7 days it would go for at least $30-35 which once again I wasn't gonna have any part of. Last day of the auction and the price sat at $3. Interesting to say the least so at the last moment I put in my bid at pennies over $15 with the expectation of me losing out once again. Well the end price was higher than the $3 I saw. What was it? A nice round total of $5. Are you kidding me? After multiple losses at over $35 I end up winning the card for a mere $5. Go figure. Card came in a week later and I see nothing wrong with it.

After months on the losing column I checked in on the winning side with a bullet with this bargain purchase.

Thirteen

of

Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Actual Prizes For The #kershawwalletcardcontest

I have been running my #walletcard contest here on the blog and on Instagram for the past couple of months but held off on showing what you are all playing for. On the blog I ran a poll on what Kershaw autograph you would prefer. An 8x10 signed photo or a team ball that includes his autograph but has smudges on some of the other signatures. The ball won out in a 2 to 1 difference so finally here are the prizes you have your choice from at the end of the contest. For reference on how these will be dolled out and "rules" on the contest feel free to read about it HERE . I might add an autograph or two as the contest continues but no guarantees. I will say that every 5 follows that the blog adds I will FOR SURE add an autograph. Pimp it !!!

Pedro Baez signed card.

Acquired by Austin at the 2015 Dodger Fest and generously donated.

Thank you again Aus.

Topps Ricky Nolasco

I'm kind of curious which will be the last taken. This or the Baez card.

Topps Paco Rodriguez

Topps Finest orange parallel Jerry Sands

Bowman Chrome refractor parall Chris Withrow

Topps mini Hanley Ramirez

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

and now the ball

Matt Kemp underneath the logo

Smeared Shane Victorino

Luis Cruz

A.J. Ellis on the sweet spot

Chris Capuano

Andre Ethier

Mark Ellis

Josh Lindblom

Tony Gwynn Jr.

Aarong Haran

Kenley Jansen

and the man himself

Clayton Kershaw

So there you go. I hope everyone likes the prizes and as always good luck to you all and thank you for playing. Remember, pimping out the contest on your blog earns you points and the more followers the blog receives the more autographs I will add.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Lucky Trade Number 7 with Alex of Chavez Ravining

Another month and another trade completed with Alex of Chavez Ravining

Second to last post of the year and with it my final trade of the year as well. Alex and I have stepped it up this year with multiple trades and this is the seventh overall between us. May it not be the last.

Awhile back Alex posted about some of his 2014 Stadium Club hits and had an autograph of Joe Kelly from it available for trade.

I don't go out of my way to purchase autographs of non Dodgers or non stars but if I can get my hands on one without any money out of pocket I'll do it as autographs are the main focus of my collection.

The trade was going to be a simple one with a couple cards for Joe's autograph but then we ended up expanding it to include a Kemp autograph that Alex had his eyes on. In return I ended up with some more autograph cards for the collection.

2014 Bowman Inception of Eddie Butler

2014 Triple Threads of Mike Olt 

Love the fact that both of these are on card autographs as I loathe sticker ones which I am sure everyone knows by now.

To top it off Alex also included a Dodger to the batch.

2013 Topps Tribute of Andre Ethier

Though I have many Ethier autographs why not add another?

As with all past trades with Alex this one also went about without a hitch. To see what I sent him you can take a gander HERE .

Thank you again to Alex for the great cards and I look forward to more trades with you in the new year.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day

- Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Andre Ethier Base Blue Refractor Parallel ( 209 / 250 )

Inching closer to completing the blue parallel set for the Dodgers and Ethier here was one of the last to finally find a home. Need just a few more.

With the demand for Ethier cards being low for the most part I do not see many copies of this card up for sale on eBay very often and when I do they are asking way to much for my taste. I might have to start looking at other venues to finish my set needs.

Finally saw this card for a reasonable price and snatched it up at that moment not knowing if I will ever see one at that low of a price again ($1). Only 4 more cards to go to complete the Dodger set. I am ever so close.

209 of 250

Another Great Trade With Alex Of Chavez Ravining

Alex was in town a couple of weeks ago to attend his first ever nighttime game with his buddy Dikran. Alex and I had been coming up with a trade for quite some time as I posted on my blog of cards I had that were available if anyone wanted them and he claimed a majority of them. You can see what he received in this trade on his blog post seen HERE .

Also stated in his recap post of the attended game he forgot to bring down my cards but promised to ship them to me when he got back home. No biggie. Knew he was good for it.

I really didn't ask him for anything specific so it was a batch of cards that would be unknown to me except for the last one which he did ask if I wanted and I said yes. The only thing in general I stated I needed were the base Dodgers from Topps series 2. He sent a few and then some. There were too many cards for me to post pictures of each as that would take up the whole blog post. Ha Ha. There was also another packet of cards that I will go over tomorrow as they were not part of the trade but from something else. Here are the highlights for me from the trade.

Like Alex has stated in his own posts it seems Topps does horizontal cards better than verticals. Love the Dee one with the ball about to be put into play. And look at Uribear doing something offensive and producing. The terrible 2011 and 12 seasons seem so long ago for Juan. Then you have Puig doing Puig things.

3 horizontals and now 3 verticals. They just seem blah to me. Even with that said I still wanted and needed these for my set needs. That's 6 base cards now I don't need to go hunting for at Frank and Sons.

Love me some Trout cards.
Other than Dodgers, Trout is the only specific player I collect. Needed his base card which Alex added to the pile and I needed the Saber insert and thankfully Alex had that as well. Also included is the red (Target) parallel from series 1 which I did not have. Not to be confused with the red sparkle parallel which I do have. And to top it off Trout's 2014 Heritage card was included as well. Wasn't collecting Heritage and still won't but I gladly will add this Trout card to my collection.

Kershaw gets his own group picture. The left card is the Saber insert which complements the Trout Saber card nicely. Though I love the Dodgers I do not actively pursue any Donruss cards as they are non licensed cards. What is funny though is that Alex has thrown in a few Dodgers in each our past couple of trades and I might have the whole collection now thanks to him. Lol. I'll have to double check on that later.

The "final" card of the batch is this gold parallel of the greatest Dodger lefty prior to Kershaw. One Mr. Koufax.

I already own the base, non numbered version from a case break I was involved in and wasn't looking to acquire this one as I had other cards that held priority. Didn't know Alex had this card but he asked if I was interested in it. How could I say no? Some people are not biggest fans of these manufactured relic cards but for the most part I like them a lot more than the "real" relics. This Koufax is a great addition to my collection.

64 of 99

And that is it for yet another great trade with Alex. He included a lot more cards that included Vladimir Guerrero, Trout and others but these were the big gets for me. Thank you again for the great trade Alex.

Card(s) of the Day - 2014 Topps : Dodgers Team Set In Red Foil Parallel Form From Series 2

Haren, Billingsley, Jansen and Guerreo

Series two of Topps flagship set for 2014 was recently released and as with the first series most cards are just a continuation. Whether that be inserts, subsets or just the base cards. I collect two parallels from the main Topps set and those happen to be the blue border cards and these red foil parallels.

Ellis, Crawford, Uribe and Kershaw 

I decided my plan of attack had to change for this go around. Series one I went and tried to acquire one card here, one card there and it took forever to acquire them all. The Puig alone took a good month plus to track down for an acceptable price. I am sure that they could have all been had from one seller but for some reason I didn't think of that. Duh...

Ethier, Kemp, Puig and Dee

So a week prior to the series release I went looking for someone that might have all of the red foils together as a pre-sale. Found two separate sellers that had them grouped together as a team set. One had it on a BIN auction for $12.99 with a best offer attached to it. The other seller had it on a traditional auction with a starting asking price of $4.99. Options.

Kershaw and the Beard

I went with the traditional auction to see if I could get all 14 cards for 35 cents each. That would be a bargain. Week passed and at the end of the auction I was the only one to bid on the set. With one felt swoop I acquired all my red foil needs for my set needs. Why didn't I think about doing this for series 1? Would have saved me a lot of time and suffering. Another lesson learned.

Attended Game Recap : Padres 0 @ DODGERS 1 On July 12th, 2014

It's been awhile since I have been to baseball game and even longer to Dodger Stadium. Life happens sometimes. It was finally time to head back to blue heaven on Earth. I decided this would be our one game this year were we would sit in the all you can eat buffet in the baseline section. Since I haven't been to the stadium I obviously haven't gone autograph hunting as well. Getting this seats also served that purpose.

The game went by fairly fast till the late innings but was void of any really action or drama other than Yasiel Puig getting ejected early in the contest for arguing balls and strikes. The Dodgers finally broke a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the ninth with a sacrifice fly by A.J. Ellis. With the walk off win it gave the Dodgers the best record in the National League. Go figure. With all the drama and issues the team has the best record in their league and the fourth overall in baseball. They need to pull away from the pack when the second half begins. The Giants are still only a game back and even with their problems are not going away anytime soon. Pick it up Dodgers.

With decent food in my belly it was time for me to go pre-game autograph hunting. Alex of Chavez Ravining and his buddy Dikran came down from Fresno to take in their first night time game. We met up prior to the game so I could get them in 3 hours prior so they could take in some up close batting practice. Dikran ended up going home with a ball as he got one that bounced into the seats. Congrats. Josh aka Dodgerbobble was also in the house as he was looking for more autographs to add to his massive collection. I had my big pile of pictures in hand as I was looking to add more to my modest collection.

During actual batting practice there was not much signing going on by the players. As I only saw two and only one that I wanted/needed. J.P. Howell tossed a ball into the stands and was asked over by other fans to sign. He decided to come over and then proceeded to sign for fans along the 3rd base wall. I rushed over and was able to get a 8x10 of him signed.

Went back to my seat as batting practice finished up for the Dodgers and everyone went back into the dugout. Most players did not sign as they went by. Miguel Rojas did but I was not prepared with a photo of him. My loss. Former Dodger player and current coach Davey Lopes did stop and sign for fans and I was lucky enough to be the last one he signed for. He looked at the photo and started saying that isn't him. Look at that fro. No way is that me. Ha Ha. Thank you for signing Davey.

Next up was the SportsNet broadcast team but I only saw Nomar in attendance. No Orel or Jerry. Nomar did sign for fans but was very business like and not overly friendly. He asked everyone what's your name as I knew he was going to personalize each autograph. I have no problem with that as I have no intention of trading or selling the autograph. Did ask him to spell my name right though with two "T's". Thank you for the autograph Nomar even though you weren't really personable.

That pretty much ended my dugout autographs so I headed back to my area and had some more food and waited for the beginning of the game when Kemp, Puig, Andre and others have and might sign. During that time Luis of the blog LgCollectibles got my attention as I still owed him a Ken Landreaux autographed 8x10 that he won from one of my contests. This was the first time I met Luis and we chatted awhile till I noticed a few balls being hit into the stands so I had to head back to the wife to "protect" her. Congrats on the win again Luis and great to finally meet you.

Game time was upon us and the only two players out to sign were Dee Gordon and Andre Ethier. Dee was further down the line and I noticed he only signed for a few people and walked away so I stayed in the Andre area and even though he signed earlier in the day at a paid signing he accommodated each fan and signed for a good 10 minutes and took pictures with multiple people. I know some people have issues with Andre but I am not one of them. He has always be a great guy to get an autograph from and today was no different as I picked up a 8x10 of him. Thank you once again Andre.

Now Kemp and Puig were the only two left that I hoped to acquire before the game but Puig never came out on the field to do his pre-game stretches and even though Kemp did he did not sign for anyone. Oh well, next time.

4 autographs at the stadium and another 2 earlier in the day at the Butera signing. Not a bad day.

Great to finally meet Alex, Dikran and Luis. It's nice to put a face and voice to internet friends. Always a fun time with Josh. Till next time guys. Go Blue !!!

Card(s) of the Day - 2014 Bowman : Whole Lot of Blue, Silver Ice, Home/State and Chrome of Multiple Dodgers

Silver Ice of Ryu, Greinke, Coyle and Crawford

The latest and probably last big purchase (volume wise) of 2014 Bowman has hit my mailbox. Wanted to put a big dent in my need list so I went back to one of my most reliable sellers on eBay to see what he might have in stock for me purchase. Still needing over 30 cards I was hoping to comply a big buy from him.

Silver Ice of Yimi and Ethier

At the same time I wanted to keep costs at a minimum. One reason I always go back to this seller is that he has most of his cards up on BIN auctions but if you are a past customer and you don't try to low ball him on offers he is receptive to working with you.

Blue parallels of Trinkwon, Crawford and Yimi

302 of 500

427 of 500

209 of 500

Needing all different types of parallels with the blue ones being a priority I searched his store and came up with a nice sized list of what I wanted. Every single one was a BIN auction with prices ranging from $1.50 to $2.25. Started shooting him the offers as fast as I could so he saw that I was intending to buy more than one.

Mini chromes of Yimi and Coyle

402 of 500

204 of 500

After about the 5th offer ( not even half way done ) I started to receive emails stated he was accepting my offers which gave me the go ahead in my head to keep going as I assumed he would accept them all. 

Mini chrome blue parallels of Zach and Corey

129 of 250

235 of 250

In the end I sent him 13 offers for 13 cards and he accepted every single one of them. The grand total would have been an average of a $1 a card but Corey's blue mini was "pricey" which bumped up the average to a little over $1.40. 

Reasonable I thought. As always I promptly paid him and he promptly shipped out the cards the next day and I had them in hand within a few days. Another smooth and painless transaction with a trusted eBay seller. The end is in sight for the 2014 Bowman set.