BGS Submission Result Number Thirteen - 2015 Topps Heritage : Clayton Kershaw Base Chrome Black Refractor Parallel (31/66) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Heritage Black Refractor Kershaw

I'm done with autographs of Kershaw for the batch but not of his cards in general and here is the first. This is a great looking black bordered card that at first glance looks to be in tip top shape but I can see it's off centered which will probably cause that sub grade to drop to a 9. For some reason I have a bad feeling that it will earn an overall 9 even though my research says it should still be gem mint. Hopefully its just me and not the card. We shall see. Fingers crossed.

Sometimes I jink myself into a bad grade and then sometimes I jinx myself in reverse and this one happens to be the latter and not the former.

I could tell the centering was just a tad off and Beckett agreed as they gave it a 9. I thought the other 3 sub grades should earn 9.5's but for some reason when I submitted it I had a funny feeling that one of them would come back a 9. Well my worries were unjustified as each of the other 3 earned a 9.5 which made the card on overall gem mint 9.5. That makes it the 1st of its kind for this year as this is the only one that has been submitted.

Nothing like a limited, numbered and BGS graded gem mint Kershaw being added to the collection. Many more to come I hope.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Museum : Jackie Robinson Base Blue Parallel (35/99)

Ah.... the feeling of finally finishing off a project even if it was a small one compared to others is a great feeling and with Jackie's acquisition here my 2015 Topps Museum checklist has been fulfilled and on time as well.

When this post sees the light of day it will be way past April 29th but that was my self imposed deadline to complete this project as I wanted to shift my focus to the new Bowman release. I only had Jackie left and even with 99 copies there were not that many to chose from on the bay. This card's auction was due to end on the 28th and I zeroed in on it as it was going to be my last chance to beat my deadline. Traditional auction with a 99 cent starting bid with no BIN option. Had to wait it out but when I put my bid in at the very end it was the one and only and I had acquired my last piece of the Museum puzzle. Woo Hoo.

Card was in hand within a week and it looks great. Jackie is a Dodger great but more importantly a baseball great and even though he doesn't have many new cards each year when he does I seek them out. Now, onto Bowman.

35

of

99

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Twelve - 2014 Bowman Draft : Julio Urias Base Chrome Green Refractor Parallel (38/150) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects Green Refractor Urias

There are 3 cards that I feel are borderline and this is the second of the 3 and the second Urias overall. Just like the purple parallel this green one "suffers" from a slight centering problem. I do not believe it is enough to knock it down to a mint 9 but at the same time since I'm thinking it might I have to be ready that it might earn that "dreaded" 9. Come on Beckett, give it a gold as green looks good pared with it.

One of the few cards that I thought might not come back as a gem mint 9.5 thankfully did and unlike the other Urias that I thought was borderline (purple parallel) I didn't "miss" on the surface as that is what dragged the other one down.

Of all the refractors this is one of the few that does not have a big book value assigned to as this clocks in at a measly $12. I picked it up for pennies on the dollar so now having it slabbed in a case makes me feel like I did a job well done. There are now 3 of these cards that have been graded gem mint and mine is one of them.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Corey Seager Base Magenta Refractor Parallel (16/35) BGS Graded Mint 9.0

The Seager rainbow pursuit train keeps on chugging.

With only 35 copies of this Magenta (lets be real, pink) refractor I know there would only be so many chances to acquire my own copy. Not as limited as the black one (15) but not as plentiful as blue, green et al.

Though I would love (prefer) to have all the colors be in gem mint form and I could try to get a raw copy and submit it myself and hope for that 9.5 but if there is a mint copy of any of these low numbered parallels that could be had on a deal then I am going to go that route instead. Mint is better than not mint though not as good as gem mint. = )

This card books for $100 in raw form. Obviously if it was in gem mint grade then it would sell for more than that and there happens to be one such copy on eBay but after a week of trying to negotiate with the seller on a price I backed away as he was not willing to move much from his original asking price. Was planning to just go the ungraded route but this copy popped up on the bay with a more reasonable price (obviously considering it is a lower grade) and it also had a best offer option. I decided to send an offer at more than 50% off his asking price and what seems to be the norm nowadays there was no counter as he accepted the offer. Guess he just wanted to move it. 

Another notch off the rainbow checklist. 

16 / 35

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Eleven - 2014 Bowman Draft : Julio Urias Base Chrome Red Wave Parallel (16/25) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects Red Wave Refractor Urias

Alright, I am officially more than half way through the batch now and all I expected to see are gold banners on the rest of the cards from the batch starting off with yet another Urias parallel. This is a limited (#/25) red wave parallel that looks to me to be perfect all the way around but I don't want to be too confident so I'll say that centering is not perfect and cross my fingers. = )

When I submitted this card there were already 4 other cards that had been graded. 1 had earned a pristine 10 grade while the other 3 earned gem mint 9.5's. I sure didn't want to be the 1st to not earn a gold banner and thankfully I did not.

While I want my cards for the rainbow projects of Urias and Seager to be at least mint 9's there are a few for each player that I really want/need to at least earn a 9.5. Those of course are all the lower numbered parallels such as this red wave. Basically any of the parallels that have 25 or less I want as gems (unless I score a great deal on a 9) and I've done pretty well so far and this is another addition to that gold banner collection.

This card is hot as raw and being graded as a gem mint only makes it more desirable.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Heritage : Adrian Gonzalez Base Chrome Black Refractor Parallel (21/66)

Another irritating to acquire card has been finally been snatched up.

This Heritage Adrian card is to what the Ethier framed parallel is in the Topps brand. I have only seen a few of each and with the book value low comparable to other players (Trout, Kershaw) I expected to acquire both much sooner than now. While Ethier is still on out there for me to find Adrian is not.

Adrian is still quite popular in the L.A. area and the hobby in general but I didn't think it would take this long considering book as this valued at $25 but every time is has come up for sale I got out bid as I couldn't rationalize the selling price. At the time this card was due to end though I had sold some comics at a higher than expected price so I had a few more bucks to use towards this card and thankfully I did as my bid put the final sale price at that exact amount. Not the best of deals but considering what they have been going for on the bay it was reasonable enough.

Only Hanley and Trout left and both have been going for high dollars. Might be a long wait till I complete my checklist.

21 of 66

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Ten - 2015 Topps : Mike Trout Base Framed Parallel (2/20) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Framed Trout

And the final one of the framed parallels and this one features the reigning AL MVP, Mike Trout. Most times I would place Kershaw above Trout in my lists if I believe they are the same condition quality but this time Trout gets the nod as this card books for twice as much as Kershaw's. One other reason this time around is that Trout's photo looks better than Kershaw's as I do love me some horizontal cards. 3 framed cards and looking for 3 gem mints.

The final of the "framed" parallels and the 2nd one depicting a reigning MVP. 2 days ago it was Kershaw and now it's Trout's turn in the spotlight.

The sub grades on this one are even better than Kershaw's as it earned 2 10's but even with that it was close to earning an overall mint 9 as the surface received that grade but thankfully there was another 9.5 to go along and everything turned out just fine.

The return on this card makes up for the unsatisfactory mint 9 grade I received on my one other Trout in the batch but this is the one I really wanted to acquire the gold banner as the aftermarket for this card is strong and being the only one in the world (at this moment) certified as gem mint makes it all the more special.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Gypsy Queen : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5 AND eBay Bucks Quarterly Purchase Number Two

As stated in my post from 2 days ago showcasing the Adrian/Hanley duel autograph from Topps Museum there was one more acquisition to show off from my eBay bucks "purchase". While that Topps Museum is a nice little addition to the collection this was the bigger of the 2 from this past eBay quarter. Yup, yet another Kershaw autograph and in graded form to boot.

I can't get enough of Kershaw autographs and with hundreds to choose from there should never be a shortage for me to hunt after. While the Adrian/Hanley card was on a BIN auction this card was a traditional auction with a somewhat high starting asking price. The good thing though was even with that price it was exactly what I had left in my eBay bucks bank. Now to win this bad boy.

I was hoping with the high asking price that it would scare off people but as the last day approached there were 5 people that had the card on their watch list but no one had put a bid in as of yet. As the last minute approached I put in my bid and shortly later I received the email stating I had won the card. Send over my "payment" and a few days later my autograph collection of Mr. Kershaw had grown by 1 with this sweet addition.

Another eBay quarter with 2 great limited additions at zero cost to me is always music to my ears and this time is no different. Nearing 20 Kershaw autographs and I have no intention of stopping. Now it's time to start working on earning more bucks for the quarter that ends in September.

Another gem minty addition for the collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Movie Review : Southpaw

Another boxing (sports) drama with the lead being on top of the world yet sees it all come crashing down around him/her has hit the big screen once again. This time we see Jake's character Billy Hope in this all familiar position of life. This film has been getting pre Oscar buzz for Jake's performance so I wanted to see if it was worthy of the praise. Though I was going to watch this at some point I was sent an email earlier in the week saying that I could have free tickets to the show if I registered for them. You don't have to ask me twice if I want to not pay for a movie I had every intention of watching anyways.

Billy is the light heavyweight boxing champion of the world and he has a beautiful wife (Rachel McAdams Maureen) and a cute yet spunky daughter that both love him to death. It is nice to see Rachel back to the natural beauty that she is as in the current HBO series True Detective they have uglied her down. All Maureen wants from Billy is to take a break from the ring but an unfortunate accident happens when Billy's well known anger gets the best of him and the domino effect from it results in Maureen's death. Left with his daughter, guilt and despair Billy loses his championship in a fight he shouldn't have done and soon loses everything else as most of his friends leave him and his promoter played by 50 Cent (obviously based on Don King) who portrayed himself as family to the Hopes turns his back on him. Soon after Billy loses his mental stability and then his daughter to child protective services. He has hit rock bottom and his daughter hates him.

Determined to get his life and daughter back he enlists the help of Forrest Whitaker's character Titus who owns a rundown gym to help him get back on track. After some more self reflection and nose to the ground determination he eventually earns his daughter back and ends up in the ring opposite the boxer who was in the room on the fateful day his wife was killed.

Final Thoughts :

I love my sports films and I love my "overcoming" life stories and the cast for this flick are some of my favorites I like to see on the big screen. The fist half of the film I felt I got what I paid for (nothing) while the second half I felt was top notch with emotional connections. It is not a coincidence that Forrest Whitaker shows up basically at the half way mark of the movie. His character along with Rachel's and the little daughter are the heart and soul of this film and I fully enjoyed every moment when they were on screen. My problem lies with the fact they are not the main characters as Jake is the one in the spotlight and while he doesn't do a bad job he does a "one-note" job which is fine and all but for 2 hours it wears thin.

Jake has lifted up other movies with his acting which is above average overall but in this film he seems to drag it down a tad. His daughter had more emotional range than he did and she was only on the screen for a handful of scenes. Rachel was great for the time she was alive and Forrest always seems to bring his "A" game. The boxing scenes are top notch and realistic and I read that Jake trained to be in boxing shape for this role and it shows.

With my expectations slightly raised due to other reviews and previews I saw I left disappointed. Not a bad film mind you just less than what I expected. It is worth a rental at home for sure but not the $13+ for a date night. Thankfully I paid $0

Final Grade :

B-

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Nine - 2015 Topps : Clayton Kershaw Base Framed Parallel (18/20) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Framed Kershaw

As with the Pederson framed card the only difference between that one and this one is that this is Kershaw and Clayton will always trump Joc in my collection. I already have the "highlights" Kershaw framed parallel and I was lucky enough to have that one earn a gem mint grade and I would love to pare his "twin" here with the same grade.

The 2nd of 3 framed parallels makes its appearance and as stated in the original post the reason this gets a better billing is that it's Kershaw and Joc has a long way to even come close to what Kershaw has done on the field.

I noticed when I submitted this that there was actually another one graded and that one received a mint 9 grade. What? As you know I always assume these are virtually impossible to receive less than a gem mint 9.5 but that other one proves that it can happen. Unlike that other copy mine had no problem earning its gem mint grade with even one of the subs garnering a 10 to accompany the 3 9.5 subs in the other categories. 

I now have the two cards in 2015 Topps series 1 in gem mint form. The "brothers" look great together and this one is definitely the better looking of the 2.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Penguin Thoughts

I like this gun.
I've shot a similar one in a controlled environment and I had a kick doing it.
It is my American right to be able to that and I have no problem with anyone else that feels like doing the same thing as long they do not have a criminal past.

Howie Kendrick of the Dodgers is a gun enthusiast and he shows off his love for them on his Instagram account which is his right. He has received major flack for doing it and my question is why? This is the United States of America and we have the right to bear arms and have freedom of speech but since we now live in a world that wants to take away rights and not enforce laws he is taking heat for it. What a hypocritical world we live in.

The left aka Democrats aka Liberals are the majority now and they are in power to push their agenda which involves being tolerant. Transgender, gay marriage, abortion, etc. That is fine as they have that right but why do they or other people insist on wanting their beliefs respected but at the same time condemn someone else's if they don't agree with it? Where is the logic in that?

I may not agree with most Liberal agendas but I do agree/support some that would not be considered conservative. I believe in the right to abortion (not to be confused with it being used as birth control). I believe in types of global warming helping measures (not the extreme ones). At the same time I believe in smaller government, less taxes which are definitely not thier thinking. While I don't agree with them I respect their right to have that belief and support they continue to have that right even though I will vote against them and I expect them to respect my right to have my beliefs.

I am tired of beliefs being forced on me and I am told to accept them but if I have one ala gun control I am told that I am being insensitive. Remember people kill people not guns. Yes we need to redo our laws and get a handle on how people get their hands on guns. I am 100% behind that but I am also in support of me walking into a store putting down my hard earned money and purchasing a gun for protection and gun ranges and expecting no flack from my elected government.

While you might not agree with any or all of my thoughts here I would like you to respect that I have the right to have them as I support your right to agree or not to agree with them,

Once again, just my 2 cents.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps Museum : Adrian Gonzalez / Hanley Ramirez Dual Autograph (5/15) AND eBay Bucks Quarterly Purchase Number One

Like a broken record, it's that time of the year again, eBay bucks "purchases" aka FREE autograph cards. Woo hoo!!!

Just like the 1st quarter of this year I was able to earn enough bucks to acquire 2 great autograph cards. One was "purchased" on a traditional auction which I will showcase in 2 days and then this one that was on a BIN auction and had been on my watch list for over 16 months. Yes, 16.

I had wanted this card since I 1st saw it back in beginning of 2014 but the seller had turned down all my offers which meant I could no longer send another offer (you are allocated 3 per auction on eBay) but I noticed he/she kept changing the asking price every 2-3 weeks. At times the price went under what my offers were. Why didn't they take my offers prior I have no idea but even though I could pick it up at a price I was comfortable with I never pulled the trigger. I normally don't acquire dual autograph cards but I found this one unique.

• Hanley made his name as a Miami Marlin. Adrian started his career in Miami
• Hanley started his career as a Boston Red Sox. Adrian was traded to Boston.
• Hanley and Adrian were both traded to the Dodgers

Adrian I believe is going to make it to the Hall of Fame at some point and Hanley also has an outside chance. They also both should have 2000 hits at the end of their careers. The list goes on for similarities.

Hanley's autograph

As June was approaching its end there were no real stand out cards that I wanted to acquire (other than the one I also picked up that will be shown in 2 days) so I looked at my watch list and saw that this one was still available and the price was even lower now. The seller would only accept immediate payment so I had to wait till my bucks were available but when they did I finally acquired this card and after 16 months it didn't cost me anything.

I have had some issues with grades on these Museum cards but this looks to be in at least mint condition with an outside chance of gem mint. There is no book value due to its scarcity (15 copies) but I think I might just submit this bad boy and cross my fingers for a gold banner. No matter the outcome though I am more than happy to finally have this card in my collection. 1 free card down and 1 to go.

Adrian's autograph

and

Five of fifteen

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Eight - 2015 Topps : Joc Pederson Base Framed Parallel (2/20) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Silver Framed Pederson

Now to the top 4 and the next 3 are all the same per se with the exception of the player so it basically is just preference on my part to the order. Pederson is on his way to a ROY award the way he is swinging the bat and his play in the outfield and I picked up another limited parallel of his in the form of this silver frame. I still stand by the fact that unless the the actual picture is messed up I can't see these metal framed cards earning anything less than a gem mint grade. Corners, edge and centering are obviously perfect in my eyes with only surface being in question. Expect a gem mint but as always we shall see.

Let the gem mint posts commence. Gold banners from here on out with a total of 11 to show off and 1st off is the trifecta of cards that I always "expect" to come back as gems due to their metal frames.

As with the original post Joc shows up 1st due to the other 2 players being of higher stature. As expected this card came back a gem mint 9.5 and a strong one at that as all 4 sub grades earned a 9.5. I originally picked this up on a steal on eBay and if Joc continues his rise and eventually wins the rookie of the year award this card could and probably will skyrocket in price. The last raw card I saw sold at over $120 and that was in the beginning of the year so the ceiling of this card has not been reached yet or so I hope.

I don't have many Joc cards in my collection but having this come back a gem is a great start for me.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Movie Review : Ant-Man

The latest chapter in the Marvel/Avengers cinematic world is of one of the lesser known characters, Ant-Man. Well a household name to the general public to us comic book geeks we know that the original Ant-Man was a founding member of the Avengers team and also one of its most tragic members at well.

While I love all things Marvel when it comes to movies I like my wife will go in with lesser expectations (for her its zero as she thought it was a joke when she heard the title) but I feel that this movie will surprise a lot of people including myself. If you remember back in 2008 people were poo pooing Iron Man and look what happened. All that said I don't think this will be as good as a Captain America movie or the Guardians of the Galaxy flick but I hope it's better than the Hulk films.

Highlights :

• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man brings the same perfect casting as all the other Marvel heroes to have graced the screen,
• Michael Douglas as Hank Pym aka the original Ant-Man 
• Ant-Man and his little pocket of the Marvel Universe fits right in with everything else that is going on.
• Easter eggs for the comic and movie geeks alike.

Low Lights :

• Corey Stoll as the main villain Yellowjacket just didn't do it for me. Something seemed "missing" from his performance.
• This being an origin movie the 1st 45 minutes or so of set up dragged in places.

Final Thoughts :

Like all 1st appearance of Marvel characters in their cinematic universe Ant-Man had to have his origin story told with multiple people to dawn the mask in comic books they easily not just told one origin but two. One for Hank Pym and another for Scott Lang.

Like most of the actors to portray one of the Marvel characters Paul was the perfect choice for Ant-Man as he brought the perfect every man essence with a hint of trouble to the screen. He like all of us is not a perfect person but is trying to be a better man for his daughter who still sees him as a "superhero". His "entourage" are the perfect foils to his semi-seriousness with Michael Pena being the funniest. Even though Ant-Man is not yet an Avengers (he is one in the books) he tangles with one in this film and walks away leaving quite an impression

Yellowjacket is the big baddie and was always one of my favorite characters in the comic books. For those that don't know Hank Pym becomes Yellowjacket in the books but that is not the case here as Yellowjacket happens to be the successor to Hank's business once he was voted out years earlier. Obviously some grudges do not fade away and that is the case here as Yellowjacket is not Hank's pride and joy and must somehow avenge a wrongdoing in his eye.

Typical of the Marvel universe this is but one chapter in Ant-Man's storyline as this sets up his future appearances in the next Captain America movie along with the Avengers 3. I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to and when it comes to ranking all the singular films I would have Iron Man and Cap as the top dogs Ant-Man next with Thor and Hulk way back behind them.

Final Grade : Solid B+

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Yet Another Trade With Frankie Of My Life In The Sports Card Hobby (2013 Topps Five Star Bryce Harper Base Autograph Rainbow Parallel (22/25)

Another month and another trade with Frankie of My Life In The Sports Card Hobby fame has gotten me my second Bryce Harper autograph for my collection. A few months ago I put to vote on what I should trade my gem mint Kris Bryant card for. Do I go out and add another (would be my 2nd) Koufax to the collection or go the young stud route and pick up a 2nd Harper autograph for my collection or do I stand pat and just keep my one and only Bryant? While all were gem mints I ended up picking up my 2nd Koufax and I believe that it was the right decision. Even with that though I still wanted to add another Harper so I kept my eyes open and then one day Frankie popped up on my radar.

He and I have done a few trades now and then they're are some that we never completed as we couldn't figure out the right pieces for a particular trade. Frankie posted on his IG account about a recent razz win in which he was the lucky winner of a 2013 Topps Five Star autograph card of Bryce Harper. It hardly cost him anything. Lucky guy. He stated that it was available for trade/purchase which got my attention. I contacted Frankie to see what he would take in return but 1st we had to agree on the trade value of the card. He once again asked about my Five Star Miguel Cabrera autograph card which I knew he would but thankfully that card became a tad expendable in recent weeks. More on that in a post in the future.

I knew a 1 for 1 trade of Cabrera for Harper would not happen as the Harper holds more value so after we agreed on trade value for both I sent him over the Cabrera card (plus some extras) and some cash moola to cover the difference and the trade was done. Card quantity wise this is our smallest trade but like usual he and I always deal with higher value cards and this was no different.

As per the norm with cards like this I intended to submit this to BGS for grading and once Harper was in hand I can say that I confident that it will earn at least a mint 9 with a 50/50 chance at gem mint. Also per the norm Frankie threw in some bonus cards with most coming from 2015 Topps. Thank you for those as well.

Twenty-Two

of

Twenty-Five

And with that Frankie and I have completed our latest trade. Thank you again to him for helping me up my Harper autograph count by 1. He also earns another 2 points in my #walletcard contest for the trade.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Seven - 2013 Bowman Inception : Corey Seager Base Autograph Orange Parallel (7/50) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2013 Bowman Inception Orange Seager

And let's make it three of the same card and player but yet another different color. Of the three colors this orange one appears to be in the best shape. As with the other two there is a corner issues but thankfully it is only on one and it is minimal at that. Hard to see with the naked eye so that works in my favor as if Beckett has to see only if its under a magnifier there is a good chance it will receive a 9 sub grade and hopefully the other 3 sub grades get a 9.5. At worst though I expect this will be at least a mint 9.

The disappointing returns are done and that's even with this card earning a 9 which also thankfully is the last non gem mint of the batch.

I hit this one right on the button as I knew the corners would be the issue and they did indeed score an 8.5. I had hoped for a 9 which would have given me a chance at a gem mint card but I was being realistic and a'ok with this beauty coming back as a mint 9. There are only 50 copies of this card and this is the only to have been submitted to be graded so I stand alone in the mint arena.

I have had more bad luck with these Inception cards than I have with Five Star which I find funny. The thicker cards, which I would assume would be more susceptible to quality issues, tend to come back as at least 9's more often than not while my Inceptions come back as 8.5''s. Glad this is not one of them.

The all important 10 grade on the autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Chrome : Adrian Gonzalez Base Blue Refractor Parallel (166/250)

Time to make a bigger dent in my quest for all things blue in the 2014 Bowman Chrome issue.

While I expect(ed) Puig and Kershaw to be harder and more expensive to acquire, Adrian seemed to fall into the former category but I refused for him to be in the latter. I had looked high and low for this card and the cheapest I ever found on eBay was $2.50 delivered. Some might find that reasonable but for me it was not. I also looked at other outlets but the prices still trended upwards. I held out until one day it popped up on COMC at a major discounted price. After all this wait I was able to acquire it for a measly dollar.

I know I have mentioned this before but I really do love these shots where the ball is motion on the photo.

166 / 250

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Contest Over At Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits

Matt (great name by the way) is holding a contest centered around the upcoming 2015 Allen and Ginter release with multiple prizes.

You can enter and read about it HERE

Spread the word and good luck to all that enter

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

Movie Review : Inside Out

With my oldest niece in college now the built in excuse to watch a cartoon movie on opening its opening weekend has for the most part moved on (she goes to UCLA so she is close by) as school is more important than movies. While I wanted to see this movie it obviously was now destined for a home viewing but this past week I had all my nieces (3) in town and they wanted to see this flick and I am glad they did as this is a movie not to be missed.

The movie is about a young girl (Riley) that we see grow up as a baby to her early teenage years and as she matures she has these "emotions" develop in her head which we see in the form of the Anger, Fear, Joy, Disgust and Sadness. As she matures she has core values and endless memories stored in her mind which the emotions oversee. All is fine till one day Riley's mom and dad move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco and everything starts to crumble and in the end Joy and Sadness are cut off from Riley's mind and jettisoned to the far reaches of her brain. That obviously is bad for Riley in the real world as it leaves anger, disgust and fear in control which leads to conflicts and angst.

As Joy and Sadness try to get back and help Riley out they must maneuver through obstacle after obstacle as Riley decides what to do with her life as all the happiness as been drained from it. Riley comes to the conclusion she must do something extreme and as Joy and Sadness see Riley's whole foundation crash from the inside out as they realize it's no or never if they are to save Riley from making a decision that will cause her much strife going forward.

As with us Riley must learn how to accept life is not always what we want and we have to take everything in stride and all our emotions must be able to co exist. One can't live without the other.

Final Thoughts :

This is the best animated film of the year and is one of the best movies overall. The pacing was almost perfect with just a few slow spots but not enough to bother me. There are tender moments, laugh out loud scenes and its just a highly enjoyable film all around. Maybe it's because I had no expectations but I had no real qualms about about anything in it. If you don't catch it at the theater make sure to watch it at home. Not sure if this is my favorite Pixar film but it definitely is a top 3.

While this is the cake the cherry on top is the short film that proceeds it in the form of "Lava". Pixar doesn't just do feature films well they do shorts that are award worthy in their own right. A love story about a volcano out in the middle of an ocean with an angelic song that hits you right in the heart.

Final Grade :

Solid A and leaning upwards to an A+

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Museum : Joc Pederson Base Blue Parallel (96/99)

This card is one of the rare times that I believe Beckett has it undervalued and eBay sales can supported that thinking.

Beckett states this card has a high value of $15. (edit : it's now up to $30 as of today) Yeah, good luck trying to find one at the amount at the time of this writing. I missed the couple of BIN's where the price was in the single digits so I was forced to play the bidding game. I had only two cards left to acquire for the Museum issue and Joc was the big one and with him doing well on the field his card values have gone up. Wanting to finish now and move on from this brand I put in a higher than normal bid to hopefully secure Joc finally. Thankfully I did as a last minute bid drove up the end sale price to my limit but not over. I might not have scored a great deal but I did get a good one.

A day left in my personal deadline and I am now down to one last card from this year's Topps Museum issue.

96

of

99

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number Five - 2014 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Black Refractor Parallel (4/100) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2014 Topps Chrome Black Refractor Trout

It's a non Dodger appearance. Whaaa...? Other than Dodgers everyone knows I love me some Trout cards and once I finally picked this black beauty up I knew it was going to BGS for hopefully a gem mint grade, Card looks to be in great condition with no obvious issues other than one small blemish on the surface. We shall see what Beckett thinks but I will be disappointed if this anything less than a 9.5.

Done with the 8.5's from the batch we now move onto the few 9's that I earned and yet this card is a disappointment. Why you might ask. Well it's because I expected a 9.5 but it seems like in every batch I jinx myself at least one time and in this one Trout here happens to be the one.

I knew centering was 50/50 on whether it would grade 9 or 9.5 but even with that possible 9 I expected all the other subs to get at least a 9.5. Nope, didn't happen. Centering indeed earned that "bad" 9 but two other subs also earned a 9 with only surface coming in at a 9.5 and with that I have my 1st ever Trout submitted card from my collection to return as a non gem mint. There had to be a 1st at sometime I guess.
= (

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin