Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Inception : Corey Seager Base Autograph BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Third times a charm as I finally have my very own gem mint base autograph of Corey from the 2013 Inception release.

The first time I acquired this card I bought it in raw form and sent it in to BGS and it came back a disappointing 8.5. Cracked that bad boy open and sold it for what I paid for it so no harm no foul. Still wanted a graded version of this card in at least mint condition so after a few months of looking I found one (which I still have) to my liking and filed it away. Even with that though I still would have loved to add/replace it with a gem mint beauty but I hadn't been able to locate one till now.

I was in the process of readjusting my collection so funds weren't an issue at that moment but I wasn't going to overspend just to have a card. This one popped up on eBay on a BIN auction but thankfully had a best offer option. Sent an offer for more than 40% off his asking price which he promptly rejected but countered with an amount of about 30% off his asking price which in my mind was more than reasonable. I accepted it and had the card in my possession a week later and I now have two graded base autographs of this card and I'm happy as a clam.

Another gold banner for the collection

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2011 Bowman Draft : Mike Trout Base Chrome Refractor Parallel BGS Graded PRISTINE 10

My two primary players that I collect are Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout and I am sure I am not the only one that makes that claim. I was finally able to obtain my first and possibly only ever pristine 10 BGS graded card of Kershaw (edit: I've have "acquired"/earned 2 other since this write up). You can read about it HERE if you like. Well with Kershaw in the fold I had to have a Trout to pare it with. While the Kershaw was an autograph I knew there was no way I could get a pristine Trout autograph on any type of deal so I turned my attention to the only logical place in my mind to get the perfect pristine Trout card, his rookie card year aka 2011.

While Mike has cards in the 2009 Bowman Chrome release his "true" rookie cards are found in 2011 and with that there are actually 2 options to go after. To be honest I am still on the hunt for the other but this is the one I was able to get a deal on first. This is the draft version which sports a different picture than the base one. There are numerous colored parallels but I put my attention and efforts into this unnumbered refractor parallel. I had seen various others sell for a lot more than what I "paid" for this. My wallet was powered with funds from sales of cards that I sold in anticipation of acquiring a pristine Trout and when this popped up on eBay for less than what other refractors and non refractors sold for I was shocked. The only problem I had was that this seller also put a best offer option on it. To bargain and get a better deal and hope no one else swoops in and buy it or just click the buy it now button and be done with it? Option 1 for me.

I sent over an offer and the seller declined and countered. He and I went back and forth for a couple days doing that all the while I watched the watch list of the auction getting higher and higher. When the seller and I finally agreed to a price the watch list had grown to 10. Thankfully we came to a deal as I don't know how much longer it would have been available to me. I now own my first and hopefully not last pristine Trout card but if it is the last this is a good one to have.

Pristine goodness!

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Five : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Gold Parallel (20/50)

Out fishing on eBay one day for Kershaw cards in general and came across this one and even though I wasn't planning on acquiring any 2015 Topps Five Star cards I wasn't going to turn away a deal if one presented itself.

Don't get me wrong I think the 2015 version is much better than the 2014 and I already own the 2014 autograph version of Kershaw but I was going to totally bypass the 2015 as I wanted to focus on picking up a copy of the 2015 Allen Ginter mini frame autograph of Kershaw as I want to have one copy from each year he has one in that brand. Of course now that I have this one I might have to do the same thing for Five Star as I am doing for Allen Ginter.

When I acquired this card there was no book value assigned yet but when I did a closer inspection of the card (from the screenshots provided) I came away thinking that it would have a good chance of earning a 9.5 from BGS and at the very worst a 9 so I was going to put in a token bid just in case I could snag it at a bargain. Low and behold my "low" bid did in fact win the card and once I had it in hand I still hold the belief it could earn a 9.5 and now "certain" it will earn that minimum 9. We shall see in a few months but I am now thankful I took the time to put that bid in.

Twenty

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Finest : Mike Trout Base Gold Parallel (22/50) BGS Raw Graded Gem Mint 9.5

It is the baseball off season and now is the time to score deals on cards as collectors are focusing more on in season sports ala Hockey, Football and Basketball. I made it my goal this off season to acquire some Trout and Kershaw card that are either graded by BGS already or look to be a prime candidate condition wise to earn a 9.5 from BGS. This one falls in between those two categories and thanks again to an eBay seller mis-titling his auction I picked this up on a bargain.

This 2015 card is book valued from a low of $25 to a high of $60. Not the biggest fan of gold parallels but I wasn't going to turn a blind eye to a deal if I was presented one. The seller labeled this card as a 2014 which has a lower value book wise ($50 high) so I had that going for me. Also since it is "only" pre-graded as a gem mint some buyers shy away as it's an extra charge to get it sent in to get the full slab treatment. Thankfully I have many avenues for me get that process down on the cheap. The high for me would be an additional $7 which this card will be having done in the future.

For a Trout card there was the expected amount of bids but when I locked in the win with a cost of a little over what it books for on the low end (again, $25) I couldn't be more surprised as if you do an eBay search you will see the lowest raw one that sold was $28 and I only paid just a little more for a guaranteed gem mint copy. Also a further search reveals that his exact card sold in this form to the seller I acquired from and he paid more for it. Got to love off season bargain hunting.

Twenty-Two

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Purple Refractor Parallel (46/199) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Look... another Kershaw parallel card and it's encased in a spiffy BGS case with a nice 9.5 grade attached to it. Always a good day when I can add another card like this one to the collection. 

I have been slowly moving my collecting habits to just Dodgers (autographs and limited parallels) and Hall of Fame member autographs but with at the same time I want most of my cards to now be in BGS cases (edit: now it's just 4 players and vintage Dodger cards). One, for possible resale purposes if I ever need to move one (hopefully not) and two for storage purposes. That said I am not going to just take all my cards that I plan to keep and send them to BGS for grading as that would be an enormous amount of $$$. Now if I see an already graded card I like on eBay for a minimal cost then I'll be all over it which is what happened with this purple power beauty. 

Purple gem

This card in raw for has a modest book value of $6 but probably could be found for $3-4 ish if you searched hard enough for it. I actually had it at one time but I included it in some trade with a fellow collector but when I saw this one pop up on eBay for a modest starting price of 99 cents I was hoping to pick it up once again. It being graded as such does not add much if any value to the card but when I secured it for less than a typical lunch goes for it made me very happy.

Another fine (re)addition to the Kershaw collection and this time I hope to never trade it out again.

Forty-Six

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One Hundred and Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps : Mike Trout Base Gatorade Bath/Celebration Photo Variation BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

An acquisition of a card that I have searched for at a bargain and that has taken almost 2 years to get is finally done and the "forced" patience has paid off as I indeed scored a deal.

When this photo variation of Trout first came out the prices were ridiculously high so I decided to wait the market out but unlike any other player I collect Trout's card prices don't plummet like others. What to do, what to do. While there have been multiple copies of this card in raw form over the years I rarely saw it in BGS graded form and when I did the sellers usually were asking too much. Not the case when this specific one came up for sale on eBay.

While the asking price for this one was high it wasn't as high as others and the seller also included a best offer option so I decided to try my luck and sent him a pretty low offer with the expectation he would reject it which he did a day later but he did counter. A couple days of going back and forth until we came to a price we were both comfortable with. A week later and after years of wanting this card it was finally in hand.

Gold banner for a golden player

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Joc Pederson Base Blue Refractor Parallel (96/150)

Amazing what a few months can do to your cards prices in the hobby. You go back to late May and early June and you had to pay a premium for Joc cards. Even up to the home run derby where he placed second in the competition people were paying more than I thought Joc was worth. I felt he was going to plummet as the signs were there so I sold high on the one card that held tons of value and picked up two cards I really wanted. Now with all the prices of his cards going lower and lower it makes it easier to pick up parallels on the cheap.

With a print run of 150 this card is somewhat hard to come by per se but I sat on the sidelines till the price came down from its initial release high price to an amount that I was more comfortable with. This card was on a BIN auction on eBay with an asking price of $25 with no best offer option. It books for $10-25 but I was only going to "pay" an amount near the low end of that scale. Kept it on my watch list till one day I glanced at it and the seller had slashed the price to lower than the low end of book. I was much more than comfortable with that and promptly hit the button and had the card in hand a week later.

I think Joc will rebound in the hobby but not to the level it was when the season started but till then I will enjoy these bargain purchases.

Ninety-Six

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One Hundred Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

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Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Stadium Club : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Black Parallel (#/50)

One of Fifty

I have acquired redemption cards for the Topps program in the past and up to now (knock on wood) I have received each and every one of them but I have never had a Kershaw one to wait for till this year. I am unfamiliar with how long he usually takes to sign cards but I am hoping not too long.

A seller had this on eBay on BIN auction but every 7 days it went unsold and each time he relisted it for a couple of dollars lower than his previous asking price. I decided to wait it out and see how low it would go till I was comfortable with the price or if someone else snatched it up. It ended up being the former as he dropped the price $10 which made it just right for my liking. Week later the card was in hand, I scratched the back for the code and entered it into Topp's system and now I wait. For how long? Hopefully for minimal time as I would like to submit this to BGS when they come back into town.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 1955 Topps : Jim Gilliam Base BVG Graded Very Good/Excellent + 4.5

As I have stated in various other posts I am now only focusing on 4 baseball players for my collection (Kershaw, Koufax, Corey Seager and Mike Trout) BUT there is one big exception to that general rule. I have decided to venture into and picking up vintage cards of Dodger players from years past. For my collection I deem vintage as any card that is at least 50 years old which would mean 1966 or older. The only other requirement is that the card has to come in graded form as a lot of these would and could be in fragile condition so I don't want to store them in anything than nice hard and rigid cases like these BGS/BVG cards come in. With that this is my first of hopefully many.

Eventually I want/will get my hands on some bigger names aka Koufax, Drysdale, Pee Wee, et al but I wanted to scratch my vintage itch so I focused on a smaller target and this 1955 beauty was what caught my eye. Obviously the big name in the 1955 set is the Koufax rookie card and someday I will own a copy but today I picked up Jim Gilliam in 4.5 graded form.

I didn't really know what to expect cost wise but winning it for a mere $5 and some change was not my expectation but it was welcome result. It took 6 separate bids to get to that end total but all that mattered was mine which was the top one and with that I have my first graded vintage card.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Corey Seager Major League Debut Ticket

Before this year I never thought of getting tickets autographed but now I have gone from zero to three that I want/need to be signed. Kershaw and Puig debut tickets are already in hand and waiting to be signed at some time in the future but with Corey Seager being my favorite new player to chase after I decided I needed to get his debut ticket signed as well. Thankfully he debuted on the road and not at Dodger Stadium since the Dodger no longer print out hard tickets for season ticket holders. Thank you again for that miscue blue.

It was announced that Corey would debut in San Diego the same day he got called up and I quickly searched out for a hard ticket for me to acquire after the game was played. They were going for higher than I wanted to "pay" on eBay but I thought what about Instagram or Twitter? Maybe someone would be selling/trading them there. I found a trusted IG person that I have never done business with before but other people that I know have worked with him said he was trustworthy. He had multiples so I chose which version I wanted and soon enough we completed the transaction. It was promptly sent and now sits in my book waiting for the day that I can hopefully get Corey to adorn it with his John Hancock.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Topps Museum : Clayton Kershaw Archival Autograph Photo B (46/100)

Hopefully the second go around will result with a more satisfactory ending when I eventually get this card graded by Beckett the next time they are in town.

Back in 2012 Topps released two different photo Archival autographs of Kershaw in that year's Museum release and I landed photo "A" as a BGS mint 9.0 way back in September of 2014 in a steal of a deal on eBay. Being the completest I have been on the hunt for photo "B" for some time and I actually did land a copy late last year but when I sent it in to Beckett to get it graded with the hope to pare it up with its "brother" I was disappointed when it came back with a grade of NM 8.5. I couldn't have that in my collection so I promptly cracked it out of its case and sold it raw and recouped my costs. Since then I have been on the look out for a replacement and finally over a year later I landed another copy.

The eBay seller promised sharp corners which they do have though the centering is a tad off I have a good feeling that I finally found the right card to pare with the other and hopefully will see that come true when I send it to Beckett for grading. Either way though as with the first one I did not keep I picked this up on a slow day on my favorite auction site for a deal and if worse comes to worse I will sell it back and try again but I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't come to that.

46

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100

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Inception : Corey Seager Base Autograph BGS Graded Mint 9.0

While I am fully invested in finishing off my Bowman Chrome rainbow project for Seager I have had another rainbow project going on as well but it has not been as pressing as the BC one. This is due to the fact that it is from the Bowman Inception brand and for those that don't know that is an all autograph set AND notoriously has condition issues. That makes it a pricier and riskier project to invest time in but I continue to look for cards and I came up with this one on a steal.

I owned a blue version but was not satisfied with an 8.5 from BGS (we all know my quirks on at least getting a mint 9) and I have the gold and orange parallels that both scored 9's but even though I have owned this base card before in raw form I never had it in a BGS case till now (mine had semi rounded corners). The card books from $25-50 in ungraded form but I rarely see them on BGS encased so when this one popped up I kept an eye on it. The trend that I see is that people want gem mint or nothing at all so if you look hard enough you can pick up a deal way below book which is what happened here.

Minty Nine

Since I only want/need mint 9's of this card in my collection (and to be honest a 9.5 is an achievement if you can get it as these have all sorts of chipping problems) I had no issue with this card's silver banner. At the end of the auction I won this for below high book and even some raw versions that sold a couple days before and after this card. I am perfectly happy with a mint 9 in hand instead of acquiring another raw one and crossing my fingers for a good return.

Auto Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Adrian Gonzalez Base Mini Parallel Black Border Variant

Another addition to my favorite variant/parallel from this year's Allen and Ginter release and it only cost me a crisp $2 bill. Yes people, those still exist. = )

Of all the parallels I am searching for I expected these to be the easiest aka cheapest to acquire as they are plentiful for the most part. Other than the big names I don't expect these to be too much of a hassle but of course I probably jinxed myself when I typed that.

Seller had this on eBay on a BIN auction with an asking price of $5 which was too rich for my blood. That's Trout price territory. So I sent him an offer for $2 and if he countered I would have passed, he didn't so I won. A week later in a PWE my newest addition for my AGon collection arrived with no hiccup whatsoever.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Joc Pederson Base Photo Variation

Just like when Matt Kemp got injured and all his card prices dropped like a rock and you could pick up hard to find and/or limited autographs and the like, Joc while not hurt has seen the same thing happen to him in the hobby.

From April to give or take mid June Joc's presence in the card market was scorching hot and anything new that came around went for a pretty penny. I for one did not jump on that wagon. I actually sold stuff at the time as I had a funny feeling that not only could he not sustain the demand but probably would fall mightily which is another reason I hitched my wagon to Seager and Urias. Well I like others were right but the good thing is when this happens you can pick up great cards at great prices and this limited photo variation is one of the 1st I was able to pick up at a discount.

The Beckett price guide has/had this pegged from a high of $60 to a low of $25. Ha Ha Ha. No way was I touching it at the those prices even with extra comic books funds in hand. I waited a good 3 months after the card's release to seriously go after it and it only took one auction to lock down a copy for myself. No hassle and the final price was lower than Beckett's low book.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Merry Christmas And A Gift From Fellow Blogger Frankie

First off I want to say Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you that has taken the time to visit my little corner in the internet world to read my blog or just look at the pictures. It is appreciated and as I have met many of you in person and have developed friendships from there and then there are those that I have never met and probably never will but we have great internet relationships. Again, Merry Christmas to you all and your loved ones and may this holiday season bring you much happiness and joy. Enjoy it, love it and be safe.

Now for the card(s) of the day. I went to my post office looking for Christmas gifts I had ordered for the family and noticed that there was a package from Frankie aka My Life in the Sports Card Hobby sitting in the box. Hmm.. we hadn't set up a trade recently so I wondered what was in the envelope. Low and behold it was a stack of cards. Frankie had sent me a Christmas care package out of the kindness of his heart. Now I feel bad as I did not send out any packages to any of my good trade partners which he was/is and continues to be a part of.

Obviously with me being a Dodger fan it was all Dodgers which meant all goodies for the collection. Here are the highlights with the final card being a biggie.

Kershaw
Koufax
Yeah, can't go wrong when you get the chance to add more cards of these 2 great southpaws to your collection. Great looking examples of a past great and a current great who is on a Hall of Fame path.

2015 was a bust for Mr. Ryu but I am looking and hoping for a bounce back year in 2016 for our favorite Korean. I love me some chrome and refractors and this card falls in both categories.

... and now the big card of the stack

Yup, Frankie sent me an autograph card of Corey Seager which under the loop looks to be in almost perfect condition other than the auto having a slight streak. Yeah, you know where I am going with this card, straight to BGS and hoping I can add another one of these blue beauties to my gem mint stack.

Once again, thank you to Frankie for being so kind and sending me some great cards.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Low Tek Diffractor Autograph (#/25)

Another day.
Another Kershaw autograph
Limited to just 25 in the world.
Ho hum nothing special.

Yeah right, it's always a good day when I get to acquire yet another Kershaw autograph for my collection even though it may be months till I ever see the "real" card as this was an in pack redemption. Sigh. This makes the 2nd autograph as of today I am waiting for of Clayton's through Topps redemption program. Maybe I'll get them together in a package which would be an awesome mail day.

Most of the High Tek cards I am not a fan of but these low diffractors are an exception as to me they are the best in the set but that is just my humble opinion. I am still on the look out for the none auto of this card of Clayton's but when this one popped up on the bay on a slow week I was all over it. Let me rephrase, slow week overall on eBay for me but this card's auction had 24 separate bids but the only one that mattered was mine as I was top man.

With only 25 copies of this card I feel I won this on a steal and I hope to receive the actual card by March as I would love to submit it to BGS when they are back in town and add yet another gem mint to my Kershaw collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-THREE - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Photo Variation Now Graded Pristine 10

2015 Topps Chrome Mike Trout Photo Variation

The Trouts keep on coming for this batch and after 3 years of tracking down a photo variation of Mr. AL MVP I have high hopes that it will come back as a gem mint beauty. Chrome is usually good to me in these submission but the last one I had a 2014 Chrome of Mike and it came back as a disappointing mint 9. The only thing I see that could possibly give this card a problem is that one of the corners is not the sharpest but you can only see that under a loop so we shall see what Beckett thinks.

... and we reach the pinnacle of the BGS submission mountain and I am doing what Mr. Trout it doing in the this Topps Chrome photo variation, celebrating.

This batch bore 2 pristine results for my collection but even though I favor Dodger players over most others Mike gets the nod over yesterday's Kershaw pristine return as Clayton's card has a metal border which in my eyes is "easier" to earn a pristine grade than a more traditional one aka card stock variety.

The only thing that is missing from this card result is that it is not a black label pristine which has all 4 sub grades earning a 10. I have more than a handful of 10's in my collection now but I have yet to get my hands on a black label. I know someday I will get one and when that comes I hope it is on an already valuable card which would see its value go up even more with a black label.

I technically hit this one right on the mark as well as I stated in the original write up that the corners were the only thing "wrong" with the card and that indeed is the only grade that did not earn a 10. This is my first pristine return for my Trout collection and hopefully not my last. I picked this card up on a bargain and I am confident if I decided to flip it I could probably at least double what I "paid" for it.

.5 from perfection

And with this post we have reached the end of my most recent and biggest BGS submission which when taken as a whole came out quite well. Would have I liked some better results on some cards? Of course I would have but when most of the cards come back as 9.5's with a sprinkling of a couple of 10's then it is a successful submission in my eyes.

I hope you enjoyed reading about all of the cards and with this being December now we are only a couple months away from my next submission which at present "only" has 10 cards in the stack. = )

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-TWO - 2015 Topps : Clayton Kershaw Series 2 Base (MVP Award) Framed Parallel (17/20) Now Graded Pristine 10

2015 Topps Series 2 Clayton Kershaw Framed MVP /20

Is it wrong for me to expect a pristine return? Well if it is I then say I expect a solid gem mint then as I see nothing wrong with this card. With the Trout framed card there is the smallest of surface issue that I saw but with this Kershaw one I see absolutely nothing. Half way expect a pristine but will be happy with a 9.5 to pare with my other Kershaw framed cards.

Well, well, well... As stated in the above paragraph is it wrong to expect a 10 on a card that has a metal frame which should eliminate any issues with corners and edges? No it is not and look what I got back from BGS? Yup, another pristine for the Kershaw collection. The only "problem" is that I still have not received a black label 10 (all sub grades being a 10) from Beckett so the wait continues on that front.

While most of my framed parallels (all 9.5's) probably do not get that big of a bump in value from being certified as gem mint this Kershaw might be an exception as pristines tend to garner bigger bucks on auction sites. Don't get me wrong, this card is going nowhere anytime soon but it is always nice to know what I can get for it if I have to part ways with it.

Of all the framed parallels of Kershaw (4) I am glad that if I was to have 1 as a pristine this is the one as it celebrates his 1 and probably only MVP season. It was the perfect storm when he won the award and I just can't see him winning another no matter how well he does in a future season as there are too many good young hitters. But you never know.

Mmm... Pristine return

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-ONE - 2014 Topps Five Star : Miguel Cabrera Base Autograph (1/50) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Topps Five Star Miguel Cabrera Autograph /50

Miguel here was another one of the cards I was going to do a raw review and if it came back as a 9 or God forbid a 8.5 I would not submit it for full slabbing but with the massive discount the group is getting I decided to send it in for a full slabbing treatment. The issue I know that this card will have are the corners. As most Five Star cards are subject to that this one has not the sharpest corners. As long as they come back with a 8.5 on that sub grade I am confident everything else will grade out to at least a 9 if not 9.5 for an overall 9 return, If the corners come back as an 8 then I will be irritated and probably will crack it open and try again with another Cabrera card.

We have reached the final week of BGS submission results and even though it is not a full week as there are only 3 left they are biggies (or at least in my eyes they are) and with that we reach the last of the gem mint 9.5's. Yup, guess what the next 2 will be? = ) More on that in the next 2 days but for now we come to a future Hall of Fame inductee, one Miguel Cabrera.

Even though I had the mini metal Puig card pegged one more slot below Cabrera here, Miguel's result is the biggest surprise considering the brand that the card comes from, Topps Five Star. I like many people love the thickness of these (and other brands) but conditioning can and is always an issue and even though I have had my fair share of great returns from BGS when it comes to Five Star I have also have had my disappointments and I was all prepared to not have a smile when the results came back for this card. To my great surprise though this beauty of a former Triple Crown winner actually came back as a gem mint 9.5.

I was correct in my thinking that the corners were going to be the issue and they indeed earned a 9 but that was actually higher than what I thought they would earn. I prepared myself that they would come back with an 8.5 but the other subs would garner 9.5's which would make it a solid 9. Well instead of a solid 9 I now own a "weak" 9.5. I'll take that any day of the week.

It might be "weak" but it's still a gem mint card

A perfect 10 on autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Tribute : David Wright Base Autograph Blue Parallel (2/50) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

With me changing my collection wants, AGAIN, I was in the market to acquire another David autograph. I had one already which happen to be a Five Star card but with me wanting to have my cards in BGS cases and more for storing purposes I moved that one on eBay with the intention of getting a replacement fairly quickly and thankfully that came to pass.

The only non Dodger players I am going after now are players that are in the Hall of Fame or have a very good chance to get there. David falls into that category as at the end of 2015 he will "only" be 33 and has already amassed over 1700 hits and has an average near 300. If he has a healthy 5 more years in him he has a good chance to be near 3000 hits and probably close to 400 home runs to boot. In my opinion that makes him a future member of the Hall of Fame. Probably not fist ballet but eventually.

Gold Standard

The Five Star that I had of David's was a limited (#/20) silver signature and sold promptly. Now to find an encased copy to replace it and the same day the Five Star sold this Tribute card went for sale on eBay. Starting price of 99 cents with a traditional 7 day auction so I was primed and ready to pick this up. Final day and the high bid was still $15 less than what I sold the Five Star for. Put my bid in with a few seconds to spare and was declared the winner a few seconds after that. Final cost was $7 less than the Five Star sale. Nice swap in my opinion as this card fits nicely in my BGS case.

Two

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Trade with a Friend - Franz : 2013 Bowman Inception Corey Seager Base Autograph Red Parallel (9/10)

The handshake

I look at this picture and by no means am I "big" but that Dodger hoodie sure makes me look like I am bigger than I really am. It was a cold December morning when I arrived at Dodger Stadium for a signing event so I decided to wear my thick hoodie. So yeah, that is my explanation on why I look like I have a big ass belly. Now onto the reason of this post, a baseball card of course.

While the Bowman Chrome rainbow project is my main priority when it comes to Corey Seager I am still slowly trying to do the same thing with the Bowman Inception brand but it is a little harder to accomplish as Inceptions are autographs only which means a higher cost to acquire them.

Franz and I have been friends for years but this is our 1st trade for us as our collecting habits are different as I focus more on cards now and he focuses more on IP autographs. One day I noticed that he commented to a IG post and referenced this card which I was still looking to acquire at a good deal. This is the red parallel which has a print run of just 10. A low number like that means a higher dollar amount attached to it. I had only seen 2 on eBay and the 1 that is still active is way too much for my liking but when Franz mentioned he had one I inquired to see of its availability. He wanted to hold onto it but was willing to move it for the "right" price. Woo hoo.

We agreed to a trade/purchase value but I told him if there was anything in my collection that could knock down the out of pocket costs for me please inform me. That started a week of back and forth IG texts as the cards he picked I had already gotten rid of as I changed the direction of my collecting habits. We finally agreed on a Bowman Sterling Seager autograph that he was happy to acquire and with that the trade was final. A Seager autograph and some cash for him and a spiffy red parallel autograph for me.

This red beauty is now ear marked for grading and while I think there is a 50/50 shot it comes back as a 9.5/9 I will be happy with a mint return since the print run is so small and it was a good deal for the both of us. Thank you again to Franz for letting this bad boy go. It's in good hands.

Nine

of

Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY - 2014 Allen Ginter : Yasiel Puig Base Mini Parallel Metal Variant Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Allen Ginter Yasiel Puig Mini Metal /10?

Here is another card that could go either way and one that was going to go the raw review route first before I changed my mind. Metal cards have a history of having surface issues which obviously affect grades from BGS and since I haven't seen any of these Ginter cards in person other than this one I have none to reference when it comes to the surface. I think there is nothing wrong with it nor anything else on the card for that matter but I am not going to hold my breath. I think it could and should be a gem mint card but at the same time BGS can come back and say no and slap an 8.5 on it. Well here's hoping for the former and not the latter.

The biggest jump of the batch comes from yet another Ginter for the week which also closes the 6th and final "full" week of BGS results as next week there are only 3 to show off.

I had this Puig card pegged 2nd to last in the hopes of earning a gem mint grade but this mini did just that and I have added yet another great looking card of the Dodger who's career is at a crossroads. I really thought this card would come back as a 9 at most with my thoughts already looking downwards to a near mint 8.5. Metal cards have a history of having surface issues and with a brushstroke looking design on this card I had no idea if that would affect the grade. Well in the end surface did indeed have the lowest grade of the 4 but thankfully it was a 9 and coupled with 3 9.5's it earned on overall 9.5 grade. Not too shabby for a card I had little hopes of doing well.

I have moved on from Puig cards as of this write up so if this card is not gone by the time this post goes live it is available for purchase if anyone is interested.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin