Card of the Day - 2007 Bowman Chrome : Chris Withrow Base Autograph Refractor Parallel (373/500) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Even though Chris is a Dodger (edit: this was written up before he was traded to the Braves) and I can't get enough autographs of Dodgers why would I go out of my way and acquire the same exact card of Chris if I already have one considering he is not the biggest of names on the team? For two simple reasons, one I can't resist BGS gem mints and two I am now including the non graded one in my #kershawwalletcard contest. I am paying it forward to you, the readers.

While I was content with my Bowman Chrome rainbow collection of Withrow autographs that includes a raw refractor like this one I am always looking into ways to "improve" my collection, During a general search for Dodger autographs I came across this gem with a measly starting asking price of just $5. Whaaaa? Certified gems for that price can't be passed up and then me being able to take the one in my collection to contest out made it the perfect auction to win.

Final day of the auction came and what a surprise there was not a single bid on it yet. In Los Angeles Withrow is appreciated and valued but outside our bubble he is basically an unknown. At the end of the auction there ended up being two bids but mine was still the high one at pennies over $6. Would do that deal any day of the week.

So that adds another gem mint autograph to my ever growing graded card collection and officially puts Withrow into my contest. Everybody wins.

373 / 500

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

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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

2015 Dodgers Fan Fest Recap

The yearly Dodger extravaganza known as Fan Fest was this past Saturday and once again I attended and couldn't be happier to be back among my "friends" in blue. Official baseball season is just around the corner and this event starts the countdown to it in earnest.

While there are other things to do and see the main reason I and a lot of people attend Fan Fest is to acquire autographs of current and retired players along with some coaches. As a season ticket holder I had the opportunity to purchase tickets prior to the general public and also the chance to buy during that time as well. My main focus was to get Mark McGwire and to hopefully get more than one ticket as I had a photo and a black ball I wanted signed by big Mac. After all was said and done from the two sale times I ended up with 9 autograph vouchers with each one getting you autographs from two separate players. Unlike last year they were not spread out as I was double dipping in a couple sessions and I was scheduled to be done around 1:30.

I decided to arrive early as I did not want to deal with the massive onslaught of cars entering the parking area. Mark was in the 1st session so I wanted to be near the front of the line. I also had another person that I bought a voucher for but more on that tomorrow as that changed mid last week. Even with me being in the stadium parking area early I still ended up being around 40th in Mark's line. No biggie. First up in the Dodger pairing though was Zach Lee

Zach was probably the nicest and most engaging Dodger of the day. Hopefully he can help the big league club this year as I am sure he will get called up at some point even if it is just in September. He has a "quick" signature which made the autograph streak a little. Little disappointed in that.

... but since I had two vouchers I switched to blue sharpie for the second auto. Came out a tad better but his pen stroke causes streaks either way. Still came out good though.

Big Mac hitting dingers. I couldn't find a good enough picture of Mark in Dodger blue to my likely so I went with one during his glory days with St. Louis. Love this pic as the bat is just "floating" in the air and with his hand gesture it looks like he is commanding it. My favorite picture of the day. No streaking here.

And with the second voucher I got this black ball signed. This was the main focus of the whole event as I wanted Mark on the sweet spot of a black ball. I knew that he signed slow so the odds of streaking would be minimized and the result did not disappointed. Don't have many signed  balls left but this one is a keeper.

While I was acquiring those four autographs my friend Jimmy was in line for Orel Hershiser's autograph who was paired with Chris Withrow. He didn't really want or need Chris's autograph so he was willing to trade it off. Again, I had a ticket for that line but more on that in tomorrow's post. I handed him a photo and a pen and he got this 8x10 for me. Great signature with no issues. Thank you again Jimmy for the autograph.

I had a hour till kill before my next autograph session so I decided to roam around and saw that there were camera lights on near the 1st base dugout. I decided to see what was going on and I'm glad I did. Jerry Hariston was setting up for an interview and he started to engage with the fans and sign autographs. I did not buy a voucher for his session so this was a nice little bonus for the day. Great signature and placement.

Resting time was over and it was time to double dip again as I had two vouchers for Joc Pederson and Mickey Hatcher. Found this great photo of Mickey from an Old Timer's game but when I approached the table I found out that my silver decos (all of them) had run dry. Ugh. Hence why his autograph is on his leg. I only had blue pens left to use for the remainder of the day and a blue autograph on a blue background doesn't look good. Asked him to sign on his leg which was no problem. Odd placement but Mickey was accommodating.

Now for the odd signature of the day. When I approached Joc's part of the table he asked me my name which I found odd and knew right then what he was planning to and did do. He personalized the photo. What? Why did he do that? Didn't notice him do that to anyone else. Why me? You notice though that he also added his old number to the autograph as that is the number he is wearing in the photo. So since I had two vouchers what would he do on the ball?

Well he knew my name but thankfully he did not personalize the ball as well. You notice on this though he put his new number on it. So I ended up with a 65 and a 31. Nice. This was a replacement for a black ball I got signed by Joc last year at Frank and Sons where the signature streaked a little. This time it's much better with minimal "issues"

Down to the last two (4 autographs) sessions of the day. I needed to reacquire Tim's autograph as I sold the signed ball that I had of his but I couldn't find a decent picture of him playing as a Dodger. I decided to go back to his roots and printed out one of him as an Expo. The only issue I have here is the placement of the autograph as he put it right on his uniform which would be fine if the pen wasn't blue !!! Still a nice autograph though.

I acquired Howie's autograph last year when he was an Angel but I wanted to get one of him as a Dodger but since he hasn't played on the field yet there are no photos of him in that situation. So why not print one of him in a Dodger hat and jersey during his press conference? Good enough for me. As always, Howie is one of the nicer players and his signature is one of the best.

Last session and I finally got get Kenley's autograph in person. To me it is still one of the odder ones out there as is looks like a seven but hey, we all have different signatures and this just happens to be his.

What better way to end the week and Fan Fest than to get the Penguin's autograph one more time. I started off the week getting Ron's signature on a photo at Select a Seat and now he was last on my to do list for Fan Fest. Once again, Ron as always was cordial and pleasant.

That finishes up my day at Fan Fest. 13 signatures in under 4 hours. Not too shabby. Thank you again to Jimmy for the trade and it was great seeing friends such as Luis, Bill, Eddie of Harry's Dugout Fame, Franz among others. Thank you again to the Dodgers for hosting another smooth running Fan Fest event and I look forward to next year's when we celebrate the 2015 World Series Championship team.

= )

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.
-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2007 Bowman Chrome : Chris Withrow Base Autograph

Working backwards in acquiring all the variants of Chris Withrow's rookies cards from the Bowman Chrome set I have finally been able to get the base version.

Having the blue, xfractor and refractor versions in hand all I needed was the base, unnumbered one to complete my set and it has been an irritating journey. I kept losing out on auctions left and right as I was only willing to pay a few bucks but kept getting out bid on it. Here comes another auction and I turn my attention to it like all the others. Unlike those though there was no action on them and with a minute or so left I put my bid in for 99 cents and actually won it at that price. With shipping included it was a tad over $3 delivered to me. Reasonable price for any autograph card as it was under $5. So with this I now have all "easier" parallels to acquire and basically done with Withrow's cards.

Card of the Day - 2007 Bowman Chrome : Chris Withrow Autograph Refractor ( 448 / 500 )

I am going backwards on acquiring the set of Chris Withrow's cards from the 2007 Bowman Chrome set. I picked up the blue version ( hardest ), then the xfractor ( second hardest ) and now the plain refractor with just the base to acquire. Funny how some projects take odd turns towards completion. In theory based on scarcity it should have been the reverse but I haven't been able to get my hands on the base one just yet. The refractor one has been a point of frustration for me as I kept losing on multiple auctions. I finally was able to lock in on this one at a cost of $4 and with shipping added a little under $6. Considering all the auctions I kept losing out on with the winning bid being over $7-$8 and one even touching $9 this one came in at a bargain. Glad to cross off another one on the Withrow checklist and look forward to acquiring the last card to complete the set.

3 down and 1 to go

448 of 500

Card of the Day - 2007 Bowman Chrome : Chris Withrow Autograph Blue Refractor Variant ( 7 / 150 )

Chris became a very important part of the bullpen this year and I am still trying to lock up the four different versions ( base, refractor, xfractor and blue ) of autographs from the Bowman Chrome set. I already got my hands on the xfractor version and now I was able to secure the blue version at way below book but I think book is too high even with its perceived rarity.

Book has this great looking card at $30 which to me is high for a relief pitcher but with only 150 in existence there would only be so many chances I could get this card. Most of the sales have closed in the $10 range so that was basically my limit unless I could couple it with some other cards from the same seller. No go on that front as this seller only had this one card I was interested in and he had the starting bid at $5. No action on the auction up until the end when someone put a bid in with about 10 minutes left. Hoping his limit wasn't too high and when I put my bid in it only raised the total to $5.50 which I won it at. So for a little over $7 delivered I picked up another hit on my list for well under book. It is numbered 7 out of 150 and with 7 being one of my 2 lucky numbers maybe I was meant to own this card. Love the blue border.

7 of 150.

Card of the Day - 2007 Bowman Chrome : Chris Withrow X-Fractor Refractor Autograph ( 112 / 225 )

Chris finally made his debut this year to the big league club and it was finally time for me to acquire some cards with his signature on it. I forgot how long he has been in our system and that I had to go back 6 years to find his rookie card. A great deal awaited me.

I have always been a fan of Bowman Chrome but never a fan of the X-Fractor versions of cards. But like the Jerry Sands and Dee Gordon project I have going I thought maybe I will do the same for other players as well. This card was the first that I was able to get my hands on of our new reliever.

Shipping for the card was just $2 and with the starting bid at just .99 cents it gave me a little wiggle room on what I was willing to spend. As the auction was nearing its end there was still no action on the card so I put in my bid and won it for just .99 cents. A nice little pickup. Will take any autograph card for a click under $3 delivered. Fan of the pitcher not of the card but welcome to the collection nonetheless.

Those damn sparkly squares again. 112 of 225.