BGS Submission Result Number SIXTEEN - 2014 Topps Tribute : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph (62/99) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

This Kershaw mint 9 card turned into . . .

. . . this red taped secured package which then was sent to BGS and came back as . . .

. . . another newly gem minted autograph of Clayton for the collection.

Today starts the run of gold banners for the rest of the batch from my most recent BGS submission and this Kershaw comes in first as I knew it would be gem mint as this was 1 of the 2 cards that I did a raw review to get a bump in grade and was actually successful. I had tried this technique before but this was the first time it was successful for me and what better way to pop my "bump cherry" than to add another Kershaw gem to my collection?

Kershaw

Gem mint

Perfect combination

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Draft : Julio Urias Base Chrome Silver Wave Parallel (2/25) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

This rainbow project for Urias and Seager has been getting harder and harder lately to add to as both player's card prices have gone up since the beginning of the calendar year so deals are far and few between.

With that said I look for graded cards 1st prior to raw cards so if I can bypass the grading process then all the better. There are two silver wave parallels of Urias with one coming in the main Bowman Chrome set and then this one that comes in the Bowman Draft set. Both are numbered to only 25 with the main one commanding just a little more than this one but both still highly sought after.

I have seen and lost out on a copy of this card before on eBay as the price skyrocketed over $50 and that was before he started dominating in AA ball. When this one popped up I crossed my fingers as the seller had this on a BIN auction with a high amount attached to it. If not for the best offer option attached to it I would have passed on it. I sent him an offer of almost 50% off of what he was asking for and expected a quick rejection. The offer was rejected but he sent over a pretty fair counter offer. I decided to try my luck one more time and sent him an offer between our two offers and thankfully he took it. I promptly sent over the necessary funds and had the card in hand a few short days later.

One more notch on the rainbow project and yet I still have so many more to acquire.

Yet another gold banner

2 of 25

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Draft : Jeff Brigham Base Chrome Blue Refractor Parallel (271/399)

Chipping away at what continues to be an endless checklist of cards I still need to acquire from the 2014 Bowman brand. Whether it's the Draft release or the flagship Chrome one I still have a lot to hunt down so anytime I can get my hands on one at a minimal cost it brings a smile to my face.

With this card in hand I now only need its black brother to finish off my Brigham collection. The problem for me when it came to this card (and the black for that matter) is that while the cost of the card was reasonable the shipping was not. A dollar or so for the card was fine with me but $3-$5 tacked on for shipping wasn't. Just had to wait it out till someone finally slashed or eliminated shipping on their auction and the wait finally ended as I was able pick this up for under $2 delivered.

It is amazing sometimes that these non stars or minor stars are so hard to acquire but that is the cost of collecting limited parallels. Blue down and black to go.

271

of

399

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FIFTEEN - 1999 SP : Adrian Beltre Base Autograph Now Graded Mint 9.0

1999 SP Adrian Beltre Autograph

I am actually submitting two copies of this Beltre card as I picked one up on trade (actually my card being reacquired) and one from eBay when I was void of Beltre autographs. This is the oldest (16 years) card I have ever submitted and while they both look exactly the same condition wise I don't know what years of being passed around does for my chances to have at least one of these if not both come back as gem mints. At the very least I think they come back as strong mint 9's.

No, you are not seeing double per se. Yesterday I showcased a 99 SP of Beltre and now we go back to back as this is my final BGS 9 from this batch.

I never expected either of the Beltres to earn a 9.5 but they both came so very close but I rank this one just a notch better than yesterdays and that is due to the sub grade that received an 8.5. Yesterday's 8.5 was for the corners and today's is for surface. My personal ranking always has corners more important than surface as corners are more visual right of the bat but surface can be on the reverse of a card which you will never see. Also, if I decide to resubmit either card for a regrade this one would be the one not the other.

Either way I am very happy with 2 Beltre 9's and now for the rest of the 18 cards left in this batch to blog about we shall only see gold banners. Woo hoo.

Oh so close to gem....AGAIN

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FOURTEEN - 1999 SP : Adrian Beltre Base Autograph Now Graded Mint 9.0

1999 SP Adrian Beltre Autograph

I am actually submitting two copies of this Beltre card as I picked one up on trade (actually my card being reacquired) and one from eBay when I was void of Beltre autographs. This is the oldest (16 years) card I have ever submitted and while they both look exactly the same condition wise I don't know what years of being passed around does for my chances to have at least one of these if not both come back as gem mints. At the very least I think they come back as strong mint 9's.

I hit this card right on the head. It did indeed come back a 9 and a strong one at that as it only needed corners to earn another half a point and it would have been a gem 9.5. I am not surprised that the corners received an 8.5 as being in and out of hands for 16 years can add wear and tear. I would have loved to have this come back as a gem as I think Adrian is a future HOF member and this great looking card shows in him Dodger blue. A real bonus. Oh well. As stated in the original paragraph I have 2 of this same card so maybe the other one did better? Maybe? We shall see.

Oh so close to a gem 9.5

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTEEN - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Corey Seager Base X-Refractor Parallel Now Graded Mint 9.0

2013 Bowman Chrome Corey Seager X-Fractor 

These next two are place holders for my collection and normally I wouldn't be sending either in to get slabbed but considering the amount of cards going it is too good a deal not to. I am getting ever so close to completing my rainbow project for Corey and I want all of them to be at least in certified mint condition. I know this card has no chance at gem mint as the centering is off enough that it will probably earn an 8.5 but even with that I believe the overall will still be a mint 9. I will gladly put that into my collection till I get my hands on a gem mint at some point down the road.

Literally the only difference between this card and yesterday's Seager card is that this one is the X-Fractor parallel and yesterdays was the plain ole refractor version.

Just like that one this is just a place holder in my rainbow of Seager till I can get my hands on a gem mint version. I submitted this expecting centering to get an 8.5 and what a shock, it did.

Centering strikes again.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWELVE - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Corey Seager Base Refractor Parallel Now Graded Mint 9.0

2013 Bowman Chrome Corey Seager Refractor

Just like the X-Fractor of this card I am only getting this slabbed due to discount on this batch. I also believe that do to the centering that this card will also earn an overall grade of a mint 9 just like its X-Fractor brother. And just like that one this one is a place holder till I get my hands on a gem mint copy at some point down the road.

Did I hit this on the mark or what?

I knew this card would not earn a gold banner but I was damn near certain it would earn a mint 9. I expected everything would be fine except centering as you can tell with the naked eye that the front is off centered and low and behold BGS agreed with me as they gave centering an 8.5 towards the overall grade of mint 9.

As stated in my original submission thoughts I only wanted/needed this to be a 9 as it is just a place holder for now until I can replace it with a gem mint version for my rainbow project that surprisingly is getting closer to being complete.

Oh centering, you kill me

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number ELEVEN - 2012 Topps Triple Threads : Clayton Kershaw / Matt Kemp / Dee Gordon Autographs w/Relics (16/18) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2012 Topps Tribute Clayton Kershaw / Matt Kemp / Dee Gordon Autograph /18

Yet another card that was going to go the raw review route till the discounts kept piling up. As many of you know I despise sticker autographs and the only reason I acquired this one was that I made a trade when Joc was hot and my rationale was that even though it's a sticker it's still a Kershaw autograph which trumps a Joc autograph any day of the week. The other reason that I was not going to do a full submission is that Clayton's autograph comes ever so close to the bottom of the sticker and if BGS deems it does then they will knock it down to a 9 instead of the desired 10. Also one of the corners is slightly frayed. So while I would love a 9.5 on this card if I was to get a 9 overall with a 10 autograph I would be content. Please surprise me Beckett and give me a gem mint.

Let's start of the 3rd week of BGS results with a Kershaw card with former friends Kemp and Dee along for the ride.

I had no (little) worries that this card would grade out to mint but I did have reservations on what grade Beckett would give for the autographs. While none are streaky the Kershaw one was dangerously close to the edge and I hoped they wouldn't mark it down because of that. Thankfully they didn't as it ended up with a 10 to go along with an almost gem mint card. An overall 9.5 was missed by just half a point as corners and surface both earned a 9. Going in I was going to be very happy if this card came back with an overall 9 and 10 autograph and that is exactly what happened. Now with it being so close to a gem I am feeling the greedy itch and will probably resubmit it when BGS is back in town to see if I can get a bump.

With Dee's career really starting to take off this card is becoming more important in my collection and would love it to have a gold banner. You have a MVP, a should have been MVP, a 3x Cy Young winner, a batting champ, a home run champ etc. Love all the accolades this card is collecting.

Oh so close to gem mint and earmarked for a bump submission

Perfect ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Draft : Jared Walker Base Chrome Black Refractor Parallel (51/75)

5 whole quarters.
No, not an overtime game in basketball but a grand total of $1.25 is all it took for me to complete my very small Jared Walker project.

Jared was included in the 2014 Bowman Draft set and he was not represented by an autograph so I only had to lock down two cards for the young man. One blue and one black chrome refractor. The blue with its 399 copy print run was easy to obtain and I only had to really hold out/search for the black since there are only 75 copies.

I only ever saw a couple of copies on eBay but every seller wanted an arm and a leg for this card. I just waited it out and finally a seller had it on a traditional auction with $1.25 as the starting asking price. Surprise, surprise I was the only one to bid on it at auction's end and now my 2 card project is done. Onto the next mini project

51 of 75

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Draft : John Richy Base Chrome Green Refractor Parallel (104/150)

So, yeah.
I only acquire black and blue parallels of Dodgers now other than rare occasions like the rainbow project that I am still doing for Urias and Seager or if I can score a deal on a Kershaw parallel. That basically is what I am collecting now so why do I have this green card of the same guy that I showcased last weekend in blue form? Price of course.

This card has a Beckett book value of $5 which I only looked after I picked this up as I was curious on how much of a deal I got it for. This is rarer than the blue by 144 copies and I won that one for 99 cents so you would think this would be slightly higher right? Nope. Seller had this up on eBay for a mere quarter. I almost felt like I was wasting money, and yeah I know it's only a quarter, as it doesn't fit into any part of my collection but for 25 cents I put a bid in.

Of course I won for that amount. Ha Ha. Anyways, I now own a green copy of pornstache Richy to compliment the blue copy. Now to find the black pornstache.

104

of

150

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TEN - 2013 Topps Museum : Adrian Gonzalez / Hanley Ramirez Archival Dual Autograph (5/15) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2013 Topps Musem Hanley Ramirez / Adrian Gonzalez Autograph /15

The return grade on this one will be surprise to me in some way as I have no idea since past returns on Topps Museum have not been kind to me. I have submitted a dual autograph in the past and came back a 9 when I thought it would get a 9.5. I submitted a Kershaw autograph expecting a 9 but it came back an 8.5. So while I see nothing wrong with this card as centering and surface looks good. Corners while not pointy sharp are still pretty good in my opinion. Almost any other card I would "expect" a 9.5 back but if it comes back a 9 I will be more than happy to take it. Considering I paid nothing for it all this is gravy anyways.

We close the second week of BGS results with a dual autograph of one former Dodger (Hanley) and one current (Adrian) who may go down as the greatest first baseman to ever play for the Dodgers.

I had no idea what to expect grade wise when I submitted this but I did know I wanted it to at least come back as a mint 9. It did and it was very close to actually earning an overall 9.5 which would have come to pass if either the corners or surface would have received an extra half a point. I am happy with the result as the main reason I wanted this graded was so I could file it away easier. I probably will never re submit this to try to get a bump as it probably would not do much for resale value. All said, this is not a bad result for a card that cost me nothing to acquire. Free mint card of two players? Yes please and thank you.

.5 from gold

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number NINE - 2015 Allen and Ginter : Clayton Kershaw Base Mini Parallel Flag Back Parallel (3/25) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2015 Allen Ginter Clayton Kershaw Mini Flag Back /25

Allen Ginter has always been boon or bust for me so I always submit them with a grain of salt and with this batch that means I have a lot of salt to send as I have plenty of Ginters. As per the norm nowadays I want all my limited/numbered Kershaws to be graded and slabbed and I believe this has a good chance for a gem mint return. Everything looks great except that on the lower right hand corner there is a slight speck that I don't know if it belongs there or not. We shall see but hopefully at worst surface comes back as a 9 and everything else is a 9.5.

This is the last solo Kershaw card that receives anything less than a 9.5 and while I had hoped that all my 2015 Ginter cards of Kershaw and Trout would come back as gems I am not too disappointed in this one as it still received a mint 9 which is my goal going into any submission and two I already had a feeling that this would not receive a gold banner and sadly that thought process did in fact come true. Unlike some of the other 9's I received in this batch this one will not be going back for a re grade as I would need the card to earn a full point to get that bump. The corners came back as 8.5 and even if I got that to bump I would still need centering to fix itself and get a bump as well.

This card is limited to just 25 copies so I will be just happy with this return but if I have a chance at another copy I might pull the trigger to see if I can replace this mint 9 with a gem mint 9.5. We shall see.

Could have been worse

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number EIGHT - 2015 Bowman Chrome : Alex Verdugo Base Chrome Twitter Parallel (10/10) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2015 Bowman Chrome Alex Verdugo Twitter Refractor /10

Going back to back on these Twitter parallels Alex here gets the 2nd spot (edit: I took out the other one as I sold it for a premium that I couldn't pass up) as he is further out from the big leagues but he did quite well in Rancho Cucamonga so he might make it sooner than I and others think. Condition wise this cards looks to be in fine form and say there is more than a 50/50 chance that it earns a 9.5. Only the centering on the front gives me a little concern but everything else should prop it up.

Going forward starting with this Verdugo entry the remaining cards of this batch either either met or exceeded my expectations. So this being card 8 of 33 that means 26 from the batch were met with a smile. Woo hoo.

While I had hoped this very limited (10 of 10) parallel of up and comer Alex would earn a gold banner I gave myself a 50/50 shot that it would and it came ever so close to getting that 9.5. Corners and surface both received a 9 which dropped the overall to a 9. It is only .5 from gem mint and I have put this card in my "we shall see" pile of cards that I might resubmit to BGS in March in hopes of getting a bump to gold banner status.

Oh so close to a gem mint.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number SEVEN - 2015 Gypsy Queen : Clayton Kershaw Mini Frame Autograph (4/25) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2015 Gypsy Queen Clayton Kershaw Mini Frame Autograph /25

Oh yeah. Time again for another potential gem mint Kershaw autograph to be added to the collection. This card really becomes a deal if/when it comes back with a gold banner as the original "purchase" was a steal and once it made to my grubby little hands I could see no flaws but from past history mini frames at times have cause me problems. The autograph is perfectly centered as well as the card itself and I don't see anything else to worry myself over but I am still crossing my fingers.

Damn
Damn
Damn...

While I love all my Kershaws to at least earn a mint 9 I really want my autographs of Clayton to earn a 9.5 so when one comes back like this I get slightly irked. I was right that the autograph was perfect and that it was centered nicely but I did not foresee the corners being dinged to an 8.5. But even if those received a 9 the card would still have been a mint 9 as surface and edges both earned a 9. It is what it is but in the end I add yet another certified mint Kershaw autograph to the collection and that is never a bad thing. Thankfully there are gem mints of Kershaw in this batch to be seen later on.

Never even really close to 9.5

=(

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number SIX - 2013 Topps Tribute : Buster Posey Base Autograph Orange Parallel (22/25) Now Graded Mint 9.0

2013 Topps Tribute Buster Posey Autograph /25

This is another border line card in my mind on whether it will receive a 9 or a 9.5. The autograph is crisp so I see no issue there but where I have pause on it earning a gem mint grade is the top left hand corner is slightly frayed. With the naked eye you can't see anything but under the loop you can see the "damage". My belief is if the corners hold to a sub grade of 9 then it earns a gem mint overall grade as I see nothing else wrong with the card.

While I was right about the corners as they did receive a less than mint grade the other 3 sub grades all received a 9. Not a single 9.5 to be seen on this card and I thought it had an outside chance of an overall 9.5. As with the Banks card I had already earmarked this card for an Instagram razz as I am moving on from most non Dodger players and Buster here definitely falls in that category. With that said this card has already been cracked open and is waiting its turn in the razz que line as I hope to recoup some funds and use it for other things such as Christmas gifts. So at least a Giant player is good for something. Ha Ha.

Solid 9 soon to be cracked and resold.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Chrome : Erisbel Arruebarrena Base Black Refractor Parallel (69/100)

eBay sellers must love buyers like me who are completest nuts.

Erisbel is in no way a player I would pursue on any given normal day but since he wears the blue and there is a black refractor numbered parallel I just had to add it to my collection. Even with that though I was not going to spend very much on it hence why I have not acquired it till today.

I have seen various copies for sale but not one was going for less than $5. That is way too much for my liking and I just stayed on the sidelines and waited for the price to drop, It took almost 8 months but finally one came in at a price I was comfortable with and I won this copy on a traditional auction for "just" $2.

That price happened to still be about 50 cents more than my set ceiling but considering I am close to completing the black parallel set I decided to pull the trigger. Just a few more to go.

69 of 100

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Draft : John Richy Base Chrome Blue Refractor Parallel (177/399)

I didn't know who Jeff Brigham was in the 2014 Bowman Draft set but I really didn't know who John Richy is. At least Brigham had an autograph to chase for so that "forced" me to figure out who that guy was. Richy on the other hand just had base and non autograph cards, to chase after.

The one thing I come away with after this purchase was, damn look at that pornstache !!! John is rocking the facial hair on this card and I love it.

I didn't expect much demand for John's card as he is not a "name" in the Dodger organization and even with a $4 value attached to this card in Beckett I was looking to spend no more than a $1 or so. Took a few days to find an auction that was suitable for me as sellers were still trying to make an extra buck or too on this card. Found this one with a starting price of 99 pennies and at the end of the day I was the only one to bid on it so all I had to part with was some loose change.

177

of

399

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Trade with Instagram Friend - Keegscards : 2014 Topps High Tek : Mike Trout Low Tek Diffractor Autograph (9/15) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Now this is the way to end a week with an acquisition of a card that I ended up following from a website to a social media site and didn't even know it until I decided to alter my collecting habits.

I first found this on eBay while doing one of my searches for graded Trout cards. The price was high but I put it on my watch list to see if the cost would go down. It did a couple of times but not enough for me to pull the trigger. I had already earmarked some cards to sell that would pay for this but the amounts didn't match up so I had to wait. Then one day the auction closed but I searched and saw that it went unsold. Left it on my list to see if it would pop back on but it never did. Though I am not the biggest fan of the High Tek brand I really love this Low Tek inserts. They have signed and unsigned versions and with this signed one being limited to only 15 I wanted to add it to my collection which is sorely lacking in Trout autographs. It being graded as gem mint was the cherry on top. But alas all that didn't matter now because the chance to pick it up had come and gone...or so I thought.

Almost a month passed and I saw an exact copy of this card on a razz site on Instagram and I joined in hoping I could win it at a much lower cost than the going rate was on eBay. The razz never filled so I never had the chance to win it. I contacted the razz runner aka Keegsrazzes to see if he would razz a couple of my own cards. I "sent" him a Urias card and a Jeter card which he promptly put the Jeter up on a razz and it received the expected traffic. While talking to him I found out this Trout card was his in fact his and not someone else's, Upon further back and forth I found out it was the exact same card that was on eBay that I missed out on. I still wanted the card and he approached me about a trade/purchase for it. I wanted to sell the the Urias by razz as that would save me some fees that would have been taken out if I put it up for sale on eBay. So I had a certain value I assigned to it. Of course since I picked it up for nothing as I used eBay bucks back in January to acquire it this was all "house" money in my eyes. We agreed instead of him sending me my share from the Jeter razz that he would keep that and I would send him the Urias and in turn he would send me the Trout. In my eyes this was a no brainer of a trade.

While Urias might turn out to be a stud I am moving away from collecting his cards which made the card I sent Keegs expendable and considering I didn't pay anything for it I really had no emotionally attachment to it. While I liked the Jeter card I was not in love with it and picking up another Trout gem mint autograph trumped both Jeter and Urias. After weeks of first seeing this card I can now finally call it mine with an extremely easy trade. Thank you again Keegs for the trade and may it be the first of many.

Nine of Fifteen

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin