Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Hyun-Jin Ryu Base Framed Parallel (3/20)

Sometimes it is patience that nets you that one card you have been searching high and low for and sometimes it's an injury to said player but sometimes it's a little bit of both and that is what happened when I finally landed this long sought out card.

I was finally down to 3 (Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier are the others) framed parallels to complete my want list from this year's Topps releases and with all my series 2 wants completed I only had 3 leftovers from series 1 that I needed/wanted. With 20 copies they only come up so often on the bay and if you are not a top tier player it is even more rare between appearances. I had seen 2 Ryu's earlier in the year and one went for $20 and the other for a little over $30. Since then I hadn't seen another copy. Sadly his year was over before it even started as he got injured so I am sure those people that paid the higher prices were not too happy with what they paid for it.

Finally another popped up on eBay with a starting price of 99 cents and considering the demand for Ryu is probably at his lowest I thought I had a great chance to finally land this bad boy and at a discount at that. My ceiling was $15 which I still think is/was an overpay at this moment in time but I really wanted to finish this project so I was willing to spend a tad more. With that mentally it was a pleasant surprise when I won it for a few pennies over $10.

With only 2 left I might actually finish this project. Considering there were only 20 copies of each and 4 separate Kershaw's and 2 Trout's to hunt down this would be no small feat.

Three

of

Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Five Start : Robinson Cano Base Autograph (38/50) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I know I know... I stated a couple of months ago in a previous post that I only needed one Cano autograph in my collection and since I associate him with the Yankees the card had to have him in pinstripes and that's exactly what I accomplished when I acquired his Allen Ginter mini frame autograph. I was finished with Cano or so I thought.

When it comes to non rookies the Five Star brand is my favorite go to place for autographs and I am constantly looking on eBay to see what can be had at a decent price. One day this beauty came up for sale. Though I already had a Cano autograph I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to pick this up if I could get it for a steal. Yes, I know it shows him in a Mariners uniform but look at those chops! Seriously though, this being numbered and a Five Star card trumped the Yankee need and it being already certified as gem mint my decision to pursue it. I had already ear marked the Ginter to be submitted to BGS for grading so if I could acquire this then I would save on the cost of grading and eliminate the possibility of it coming back as a non 9.5.

This card actually has a higher book value than the Ginter so I gave myself a little more wiggle room on cost. I also knew if I would win this one I would be selling the Ginter to offset some of the cost. As expected there was a fair amount of action on this card and even though I had the high bid with a little more than a minute left there were 3 different "snipe" bids with seconds left but thankfully my bid held and I won the card. Woo Hoo.

With that transaction completed I put the Ginter up for sale and with those funds and some comic codes funds added in the out of pocket cost of this baby was less than a lunch. Not too shabby. Now seriously, I am done hunting for Cano autographs.

Solid gem

38 of 50

The all important 10 grade on the autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card(s) of the Day - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke Base Mini Parallel Black Border Variants plus Friends

Black Kershaw...

Of the five cards in this post I was only looking to acquire 2 of them. The Cy Young tag team duo of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Sooner or later I knew I would pick up both of them but when the opportunity came up for such a great deal for 5 total cards with the 2 I was after included I couldn't pass it up.

... black Greinke

Combined Zack and Clayton book for a high of $13 and a low of $7 with Kershaw obviously commanding the highest of the two. I already had Adrian so I didn't need another of him and I wasn't after Ryu nor Jansen this year but this 5 card lot came up for sale on eBay for a starting asking price of $5.

I would have considered that a bargain for just the 2 I was really after and if I was lucky enough to win the auction I could use the other 3 as trade bait or throw ins in some trade I would do. Last day of the auction and I was surprised not a single person had placed on a bid on them. With a minute left I put in my $5 bid in and a minute later I was declared the winner. Not too shabby of a deal if I so say myself.

and friends

Kershaw and Greinke are for the pc but the other 3 are available for trade if anyone wants them

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Chrome : Julio Urias Base Refractor Parallel (337/500) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

When thinking about rainbows I am sure you think what I think, colors. Well as most of you know I am doing the rainbow for Julio's cards in the 2014 Bowman Chrome brand but I don't really consider the base nor the base refractor cards as part of the rainbow, but when I can get a great deal on a card that is already graded gem mint I can't pass it up.

This card in raw form books at $12 and I already have a couple that I call my own as I got them on a group break last year but I never had any intention to send them out to BGS for grading as the book value is so low and it would be cost prohibitive with the price of grading.

When this popped up on eBay with a starting bid of just 99 cents I put it on my watch list just to see how much it would go for. As the last day approached the price was still in the single digits and on the last day it had barely crossed the $10 mark. Last hour and the price had not changed so I decided to put in a token bid and surprisingly enough I had the high bid with room to spare. More surprisingly was that a hour later I had won it with my one and only bid which wasn't much more than the raw price of this card.

Didn't expect to but now I feel I have to find the base one in a gem mint form to get a complete "rainbow" of Urias.

9.5's everywhere I look

337/500

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Yasiel Puig Base Mini Parallel A/G Back Variant

Nothing major today but an important card nonetheless as my want list from this year's Allen and Ginter release subtracts by one with this card's acquisition.

In what was probably on overpay per se as this card has a book from $1.50-3 I ended up wining this card for the grand total of $2.83. If I searched harder I'm sure I could have found it in the $2 ballpark but I am not going to squabble over cents as I just wanted this in hand now so I could move on to bigger and better things.

Considering all the variants that A/G pumps out every year this one is the least appeasing as it's not numbered nor limited but I wanted it nonetheless and now I can claim my own copy. One Puig down many more to go,

A and G Back

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2011/14 Bowman : Corey Seager All-American Classic AFLAC Autograph (137/235) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I went and did something that most of you probably would have not done especially if you already had a copy of an autograph card and decided to pick another one. I ended up selling an autograph of a "proven" star for an autograph of an "unproven" prospect. Puig for Seager and yet I am happy I did it and would do it again.

The 9.5 I was chasing after.

This card might look at a tad familiar to long time readers as I already have one in my collection. I picked it up in raw form and sent in to BGS for grading and it came back as an unsatisfactory mint 9 grade. Yup, it came back as "just" mint. You can read about it HERE . Most of you would probably be happy with that return but on certain cards and certain players I demand to have a gem mint copy and when I received that 9 back I was determined to still add a gem mint of this card to my collection. Yes I know, I'm picky but I think this and his Bowman Chrome card from 2012 are going to be key pieces to have and wanted to get them before Seager gets called up to the big league team. (edit: at time of this write he had not been called up but as of today we know he was and did quite well)

137 / 235

I still had a ball featuring Yasiel Puig. For some reason I didn't sell it during the ball purge of last year but I still knew it held value and I guess in the back of mind I was just waiting for the right time to sell it and pick up something I really wanted. That time was now.

I saw this Seager pop up on eBay and knew I wanted it but the seller was asking too much for it but every 7 days it would go unsold and he would drop the price ever so slightly till one week the amount was in my wheelhouse and it was time for me to win it. I put the Puig ball up on eBay and as expected it sold for what I needed for this card and after 7 days I was officially declared the winner of this gem mint beauty and couldn't be happier. I finally had a copy of this card in 9.5 form to call my own.

The all important 10 on autograph

Some of you probably wonder why I didn't just sell my mint Seager and pay the slight difference to acquire this one. I can see that point of view but there were a few things that made me decide against that. Puig is a very good player but I don't know if he will ever achieve much more and since I got out of collecting balls it wasn't that big of a loss to me considering I have a few autographs of Puig on card which I value more and they are graded gem mint as well. Seager on the other hand looks to be a beast when he gets the call and IF he doesn't pan out like I and a lot of people think he will I can sell that mint 9 at another time and pick up something else up. Hell, maybe another Puig autograph. For the time being though I rather have 2 of these to play with than 1 ball that doesn't hold my interest hence the swap.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Zack Greinke Base Mini Parallel Flag Back Variant (6/25)

Nothing like a low ball offer on eBay being accepted within minutes of submission with no counter and no hassle. Add yet another smooth and easy transaction to my eBay purchase history.

Putting my head down and trying to get through what seems to be an endless want list from this year's A/G set I came up with this numbered beauty of Mr. Greinke. With only 25 in existence there would only be so many chances I could pick this up. Book has it valued from $6-15 and the seller had an asking price of $14 with no shipping charge. Well since he put option of best offer I sent over a nice low amount at just a tad over low book. To my surprise he accepted with no counter. I'll take that thank you very much.

Week later the card was in my hands and I promptly put into my every growing Greinke portion of my collection. A minor but important pickup.

Six

of

Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman : Jose Abreu Oversized Purple Ice Autograph (13/25) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Card serialized number 13 is in my collection now and I count myself lucky as I picked this up on a slow day on the bay and thankfully I did as there are only 25 copies so there are only so many chances to big up this "big" card.

This is now my 3rd oversized autographed Bowman card and the highest valued one Beckett book wise. The above picture is being "coined" to show the actual size compared to a traditional sized baseball card and sometimes bigger is better as I love these cards.

When I acquired the Urias version of this card I thought I was done acquiring these big cards but once in hand I had to have them all. With 10 in the set it was a reasonably small project but it being limited to 25 makes it a tad harder to get as they don't show up for sale much. This Jose card is the biggest of the batch so it was a priority right off the bat and thankfully since it is the most popular one more than one copy was available at any given time on eBay. Problem was though I want all these purple cards to be graded for easier storage which meant they cost a little more on the auctions. Thankfully when I zeroed in on this one there was 2 to choose from so I hoped that I could snake this one while others put their attention on the other one. That was the plan and that is what happened to a point.

Quad 9.5's makes it a strong gem mint

The card was on a traditional auction and I expected I would be in some type of small bidding war and to an extent I was as there were 13 bids in total but only 3 people bidding. With literally my last second bid I came out on top and secured this bad boy. This now sits nicely next to my gem mint Urias. 3 down and 7 to go.

10 autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

A great deal or at least in my opinion it was when I picked this up on a best offer auction that was accepted by the seller of a card he originally wanted $9 for.

Prior to this card I had seen copies of this card sell for $10-13 so when it popped up for $9 that would have been a deal by itself but since it had a best offer option you knew I wasn't not going to send in one. I thought $4 was too low but I sent it to him anyways and as expected he counted but only up to $5 and some change which I found acceptable. Sent over the payment and had my newest Joc card for my collection.

I tend to see how good of deals I get on cards that have multiple copies especially ones that do not have book value assigned to them at time of my purchase. After I won this card I saw 3 separate black border Jocs go for $9-13 which made me appreciate this win all the more. Another win for the Penguin.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

State of the Dodgers : Social Rewards Update . . . Still Atop The Blue Mountain

13 weeks have passed since I last passed a 10K threshold in the Dodgers Social Rewards program. It has taken longer this go around as they fixed an "issue" that allowed participants to earn extra points that a lot of people took advantage of once they found out about it. I myself did partake in some of it and widened my lead a tad to 55K from the second place player. Once that opportunity was closed I assumed that my lead would pretty much stay the same for the foreseeable future. I was wrong.

I just shot past 1.4 million this morning and now lead the pack by over 80K. That is a big jump of 25K since the last update. Why is that since the loophole is gone? Easy, the second place person seems to have slacked off during the past 13 weeks and especially the past week as he hasn't submitted any points. Maybe he has given up or like me realizes that it seems that the Dodgers have dropped support for the most part of the program. They rarely give away anything and the only "rewards" to be had for the tokens we earn are wallpaper pictures for our cell phones. I would not be surprised if this program is dropped all together by the time the 2016 season rolls around. At the very least though it needs to be revamped.

Even with that possibility I will continue to plug away and put in my points on a daily basis with the hope that the Dodgers will giveaway some more stuff for us diehards that have supported the team and this program since the beginning.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman : Oscar Taveras Oversized (Jumbo) Purple Ice Autograph (22/25)

With this card now in hand I can officially say I have started yet ANOTHER project but thankfully it is only has 10 cards in it. Of course there are only 25 copies of each so that can hamper me of completing it anytime soon but I won't be discouraged and hope to finish it in the next couple of years.

When I did a trade with Frankie a couple months back I picked up my first ever oversized card in the form of Dodgers super prospect Julio Urias. I wanted it more for him and not the uniqueness of the card's size. I also luckily got a gem mint return on it when I submitted it to BGS for grading. You can read about that HERE .

Once I got it back and the wife saw it she said those we "hers". Ha Ha. She loves all things purple and thinks they are the best looking cards out there. I didn't know how many players were featured in the set but once I found out that total was only 10 I thought this would a nice little project I could do. Of course going forward I knew each and everyone would be submitted to BGS for grading as in the case it makes it so much easier to file away since they don't fit in any "conventional" box for storage. With that thinking I want to get the best copies possible as I do love me some gem mints.

The good thing with these cards it seems that on the aftermarket the closing sale prices are no way near what they book for. For example this Oscar card books for $60-120. I would never touch it for that amount but with this copy's starting asking price of $25 I was all in on it. At auction's end I was the only one to bid on it so with that I won my 2nd oversized purple ice autograph. With it in hand I would say it has a very good chance at gem mint but 50/50 on the autograph earning a 9 instead of a 10 as it is a tad streaky.

2 down of the planned 10 to acquire.

Twenty-Two

of

Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

State of Economics : My Taxes Dollars Are Now Paying For Sex Changes . . . FOR CRIMINALS !!! What The Fu...?

So...... this happened.

Criminals Get FREE Sex Changes

Are you kidding me? This world and more specifically this once great country of ours is just losing whatever intelligence we once had. How can the majority of a group of politicians pass let alone come up with a bill that has my and your hard earned tax dollars being earmarked to help criminals ease their time in prison by having them get "sex reassignment" surgeries?

Let me say that slowly if you didn't catch that. You, the law abiding citizen, and your tax dollars are now paying for people that have committed crimes and are behind bars (living at times a cushy life, but that is another argument) but since they consider themselves as being a woman trapped in a man's body (or vice versa) they can't live "comfortably" and safely behind bars. Are you fucking kidding me?

I am not going to judge a person who believes they should be a woman or man when they are not as that is their choice and if they want to use their own money to make a change then more power to them BUT now it's OK to help CRIMINALS live easier by being more accommodating to them than the everyday Joe or Jane?  So the government will undoubtedly raise taxes or take our tax dollar from something we actually need (how about fixing those potholes or more security at schools, etc) and pass it along to people that couldn't even take care of themselves in the outside world. All the while our day to day expenses for you and I go up and up but we have to tighten our belt and watch where and what we spend our money on,

I can go on and on but I will cut it short as I have other topics I will be posting about in the coming weeks. I have a simple analogy for this and anything that costs money. I work for Ford (which by the way didn't take any government bailout money aka as none of your taxes dollars) and there are multiple cars that we offer. A Fusion can cost up to $38,000 while a Fiesta can be had at around $17,000. While you might want a Fusion but you can only afford the Fiesta would it be right if there was some government program that you could enroll in that would subsidize the cost difference so you can have something you normally couldn't afford? If you say yes I would LOVE to hear your explanation and reasoning on why that is. If can't afford something you just have to go without or work your ass off till you can afford it. Remember working hard? It was what this nation once was all about.

Just my two cents.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Zack Greinke Base Mini Parallel Red Border Variant (6/40)

I picked up my 3rd red mini variant from my checklist with the easiest of transactions as it was a BIN auction at a reasonable price so all it took was a click of the button and it was mine.

These red border variants have a print run of just 40 but unlike the no number variants these have the print run stamped on the back which I like. I expect these to cost me a little more than the no numbers in the long run but this one seemed to be a steal for me as it was almost $10 less than a previous one sold for so I jumped all over this one when it showed up.

Not sure if this card warrants grading as it is not a super star but it is limited. It will come down to what book value is once it comes out. Even if I don't go that route its still a beauty and a welcome addition to my collection.

Six

of

Forty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2003 Bowman Chrome : Willie Mays Autograph (#/150) BGS Graded Mint 9.0

... and for the 2nd time (and probable last) since I reentered the baseball card hobby I have pursued and acquired an autograph card of a New York/San Francisco Giant. The horror !!! Though I "hate" the Giants and will never be fan of theirs. I am not blind to the talent that the have amassed through the years. With that said there are still only two Giants that I wanted to ever an on card autograph of and Willie Mays here is the 2nd of the 2 to finally be obtained.

Of the 2 players Willie here was the priority due to his age. Not wishing any bad to come Mr. Mays but he is getting up there in age and I wanted to get his on card autograph before all there is are sticker autographs left. While there were plenty of cards to choose from I wanted one that had a nice clean signature and in the end I decided I wanted one that was graded even though that probably would not raise the value of the card as it was mainly wanted for easier to file purposes. The other good thing was that I just wanted one that was in mint form as gem mint was not a need though if I did come across one on a discount I wouldn't hesitate to try to grab it. I never found a 9.5 so a 9 was what is was going to be.

Minty nine

I would have loved to have gotten my hands on a Topps Five Star but those were too pricey as I was holding funds over from comic sales so I had a cap that I was not going to go over. I finally settled in on this oldie but goody from 2003. A nice graded copy from the Bowman Chrome issue. It is a mint 9 with a book value of $150-300 in raw form and past eBay sales of this same conditioned (graded) card were around $200 so I knew what to expect or so I thought.

When all was said and done I ended up with this graded beauty for a little more than what the raw was booking for on the low end. Not too shabby. And with that I "welcome" another Giant into my collection. All kidding aside, Willie was a great player and deserves all the accolades that he receives and I am happy to once again have a Mays autograph in my collection as I had it in ball form but that has long been gone.

Gem autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps Archives : Clayton Kershaw Mini Tall Boys Autograph (2/25) BGS Graded PRISTINE 10 and eBay Bucks Quarterly Purchase

Sadly this post is being written up a day after the Dodgers were eliminated from this year's playoffs and would have been perfect for my #kershawday card post for yesterday as he would have pitched game 2 in the NLCS but it wasn't meant to be. Instead it will just start off a new week with a bang.

The past 3 months went by like a blur which meant another quarter of eBay bucks had been earned by me. Thank yous go out again to my friends and family that have me buy them their stuff on the bay so I can earn even more bucks for me to use every 3 months. The last quarter saw me acquire 2 cards with one being another Clayton Kershaw graded autograph so this time around I wasn't really looking to add yet another Kid K John Hancock to the collection but as the quarter was ending (late September) I wasn't seeing anything I really wanted that was non Trout or Kershaw so I circled back around to my favorite pitcher to see if there was something really unique that would perk my interest. After a couple of days of searching I found this bad boy on a BIN auction with best offer :

A perfect 10. Pristine baby!

A pristine graded Kershaw autograph which also happens to be limited to just 25 copies. With all my graded Kershaw cards, autograph or not, I had yet to acquire a pristine 10 for my collection whether it was one I submitted to BGS myself or one like this that was already graded. Now with this card being my focus for the bucks I wanted to see how low I could get it for. With that I sent over what became multiple offers and when I exhausted that route the seller and I communicated in emails. Back and forth it went for almost a week until we finally agreed on a price to both our liking. With the agreed amount settled between us we also agreed that I would send payment payment once the bucks became available.

Finally 3 weeks after I first discovered this card I had it in hands and even though it doesn't sparkle or it being a 1 of 1 it is a beautiful "mini" of the best pitcher in baseball. Nothing out of pocket and I finally have my first pristine Kershaw card in my collection. Maybe I will acquire another in the future or maybe I won't and even if the latter is the case this is a fine one to be the only 10 in my collection. Another quarter done and the next one is already being worked on and with it being the Christmas quarter that means I will have some gift cards to add to the eBay bucks total. Can't wait to see what I "win" in January.

Two

of

Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Draft : Julio Urias Base Chrome Refractor Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Other than the base card this refractor is the least costly card for the the rainbow project I am doing for Julio but I didn't expect to pick one up in graded form but glad that I was given the chance to do just that.

I have this card in ungraded form and that was going to be it for the rainbow project as I was not going to spend a submission cost to BGS for a $4 card. Doesn't make since but someone thought it did and this bad boy was on eBay and I came across it during one of my searches. Surprisingly the end cost was more than I thought it would be but still within reason for my tastes and with that I secured it for my collection/project.

With 2 different Urias rainbows (Base and Draft) to be completed I have to do a count but I believe I am getting close to finishing off the Draft portion of it. Just need to secure some of the more limited ones and I'll be golden.

Solid Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Yasiel Puig Base Mini Black Border Parallel

Not as limited as the no numbered varieties but still a beauty and in fact visually I like these black "border" minis better than the no numbered ones.

Most releases nowadays have a black border and its usually just the same card just dipped in black. Don't get me wrong as I chase those everyday and are one of my favorites but this black border is not your typical one as it has a design on it rather than just a splash of black.

Puig (while not as bad) is doing the Kemp when it comes to the hobby. His card values have decreased quite a bit in the last year or so which sucks when you have some of the higher priced once in your collection but a good thing when you go hunting for his newer stuff as you know you don't have to overspend to get them. The black parallels come 1 per 10 packs so they are not overly rare but they are not common either. With no book value to assist me I put my offer in on this BIN auction and for less than a burger I had my 1st 2015 black parallel win.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Inception : Julio Urias "Inceptioned" Autograph (#/35)

Another example of a forgotten pursuit of card being finally acquired due to the fact that I saw something similar online while I was doing a search for something that was totally unrelated to this card.

When 2014 Bowman Inception came out last year this cad was on my want list as it is only numbered to 35 which makes it one of the more limited autographs of the future Dodger pitcher. I am always looking to add more Urias autographs to my collection and I wanted to call one of these my own but they were price prohibitive out the gate. I saw a few sell which meant less and less would be available so I turned my attention to other cards. Months later I came across another auction that reminded me of this card and I wondered if there were anymore out there to be had. There was one and this was it.

This card (to be redeemed) was on a BIN auction but for me was still too much for my liking. Beckett has this valued at a high of $150 and a low of $60. Even though the seller had an asking price of just a little more than half of book I just put it on my watch list and sat on the sidelines to see what would happen. I was 1 of 7 watchers when I found this card.

I received 2 emails one morning when I woke. One informing that this card's asking price had dropped and was now in my ballpark price and I was now ready to acquire it but two that eBay was running an eBay bucks promotion that was to start at 8 in the morning. That was still a hour and half away. So do I buy it now at the lower price or hold out till the program started so I could earn more bucks for future purchases? I waited it out and thankfully it was still there at 8 and I promptly purchased the card and had it in hand a few days later. Code has been redeemed and now I wait for my next Urias autograph.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Los Angeles Dodgers Team Base Card Framed Parallel (13/20)

A major score with this card's acquisition gets me a couple steps closer to completing my 2015 Topps series 2 wish list.

These framed, limited parallels are beautiful and hard to come by. The print run is just 20 so there are only so many chances to pick one up. I lost out on a couple of auction as they went for a little north of $40. Now this was before book values came out on them and I assumed this card would be somewhere in the $25-30 ballpark. I was wrong as it clocked in at a meager $20. Thankfully I didn't win one of those other copies as I would have felt like an ass.

Few days later this one popped up on eBay with a 99 cent starting bid and I was determined to win it. Only a few bids prior to mine at the last minute which won it for me. Total? $6.50. Now that is a good deal. A few more showed up after I won my copy and one sold for a little more than $12 and another for over $40. Right price at the right time for me.

Thirteen

of

Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Joc Pederson Base Mini Parallel No Number Variant (#/50)

I didn't expect to pick up another no number variant as quickly as I did and especially not of rookie of the year candidate Joc Pederson at a bargain price or what I think is a bargain.

Still acquiring these 2015 Ginters with no guide (at the time of write up) to go by I ended up winning this bad boy on a traditional auction for less than I what I expected and what I paid for the Greinke. When book does come out on these I can almost guarantee that Joc's price will be higher than Zack's.

I like the fact that these are limited to just 50 as stated by Topps but I would have liked to see that designated print run on the back but I think that is part of the charm with this brand and I am okay with that.

One of Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Trade with Fellow Blogger : Andrew of Everyday Holliday (2014 Topps Finest Lou Brock Base Autograph X-Fractor Parallel 142/149 BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5 and 2009 Topps 206 Clayton Kershaw Mini Frame Autograph)

I recently finished up a trade with a new trading partner. It's always nice to start up new internet "relationships" and it looks like I "found" another trustworthy person.

Andrew of Everyday Holliday , who I became blogger and Instagram followers due to the fact that we have a mutual friend in the form of Frankie, posted this Lou Brock gem on his IG feed as he was looking to move it. This card actually was originally Frankie's but he traded it to Andrew sometime ago but since I have always wanted to add a Brock autograph to my collection I was interested in it again once Andrew put it up for "sale". He was looking for some funds to acquire another card and we had agreed on a price but at the last moment he decided to ask if I was interested in another card for the trade. More on that below.

I am more of a fan of the black parallels of Finest but I couldn't pass on finally getting a Lou copy for my collection. Has only been in hand for a week or so and Frankie is already inquiring about it so I might not have it for long. We shall see.

Quad 9.5's and a perfect 10 on auto.

One Forty Two

of

One Forty Nine

. . . so then Andrew asked if I was interested in a Kershaw autograph. Yeah, don't have to ask me twice as long as its at a reasonable price which it was. I actually have this card as this was one of my 1st autographs of Kershaw I was able to obtain back in 2013. To give you an idea how the market has changed I picked that copy up for a mere $13.75. Try to find one at that price now. You can read about that transaction HERE . To make that bargain even better I sent it in to BGS for grading and low and behold it came back as a 9.5 gem. Woo hoo. That recap can be seen HERE .

So do I "need" another one of these? No but I can't have enough Kershaw autographs even if they are duplicates. I ended up sending Andrew a Ozzie Smith autograph to help along the trade and added a little more to the money till. With this card in hand I think it has about a 50/50 chance of earning a gem mint grade from BGS but a mint 9 seems to be a lock. The centering is off a tad. We shall see when they are back in town.

Either way I am happy with the trade and I want to say thank you again to Andrew for making it happen. Hopefully we can do more in the future.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin