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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Corey Seager Major League Debut Ticket

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

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

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

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

46

of

100

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

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

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

Minty Nine

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

Auto Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Merry Christmas And A Gift From Fellow Blogger Frankie

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

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

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

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

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

... and now the big card of the stack

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

2015 Topps Chrome Mike Trout Photo Variation

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

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

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

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

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

.5 from perfection

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

2015 Topps Series 2 Clayton Kershaw Framed MVP /20

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

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

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

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

Mmm... Pristine return

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

2014 Topps Five Star Miguel Cabrera Autograph /50

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

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

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

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

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

A perfect 10 on autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

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

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

Gold Standard

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

Two

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

The handshake

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

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

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

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

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

Nine

of

Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

2014 Allen Ginter Yasiel Puig Mini Metal /10?

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-NINE - 2015 Allen Ginter : Mike Trout Base Mini Parallel Red Border Variant (38/40) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Allen Ginter Mike Trout Mini Red Border /40

Another Ginter but one that I have just a little higher hope that it will grade to gem mint compared to the flag back Kershaw. The only issue I see that might arise is that it is not perfectly centered but its not too bad. Corners look good and surface seems fine other than the fact that there seems to be some blotches but I have seen that on a lot of these so I'm thinking it's part of the process. Here's hoping I am right.

Yesterday it was Kershaw and his red A/G mini and now today it's Trout's turn in red A/G mini form. On the original post I had this Trout one position lower than the Kershaw as I believed it was in lesser quality than Clayton's. BGS agreed with me as Trout "only" earned quad 9.5's while Kershaw scored 2 10's to go along with 2 9.5's. If all my BGS returns were like this one when I consider it a "downgrade" from another card I would be ecstatic. 

Even though Kershaw's has 2 10's on his card compared to none on Trout's here, on the aftermarket the gem mint grading most likely helps the Trout card more than the Kershaw even though Clayton's is in "better" condition. That's just food for thought but neither card is leaving my collection anytime soon as both players are 2 of my 4 primary collections.

9.5 all around

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-EIGHT - 2015 Allen Ginter : Clayton Kershaw Base Mini Parallel Red Border Variant (25/40) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Allen Ginter Clayton Kershaw Mini Red Border /40

Just like the Trout I see nothing wrong with this Kershaw red border mini and I am looking to score yet another gem mint limited Kershaw for my collection. Corners even look better on this one that they do on Trout but I still believe they should both earn 9.5's but at the very worst it should be a strong mint 9 but to be honest if it does receive that I will be disappointed. Don't disappoint me BGS.

Oh. So. Close.

I was only .5 from from adding another pristine Kershaw to my collection but corners and centering both came in at 9.5 which held the card back from a glorious overall 10. I love these mini Ginters that are numbered and limited and with this one only having 40 copies it was important that it received a 9.5. I wasn't greedy in the beginning in expecting a 10 but now with it being that close I am going to have another grader look at it when BGS comes out for their next raw grade review event to see if I can get this bad boy bumped up to a pristine.

Even if it doesn't get the bump this was a beautiful card before grading and it got better with a 9.5 attached to it.

.5 from pristine

Yeah, going back for a regrade

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-SEVEN - 2013 Allen Ginter : Sandy Koufax Base Mini Parallel EXT Variant Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2013 Allen Ginter Sandy Koufax EXT Mini

My one and only Koufax of the batch as I still don't have a lot of the man in my collection but the ones I do have are all limited in some way or another. This is the EXT mini parallel that could only be found in rip cards and I picked this up in a trade that was in my favor or at least I believe it was. As now just like then I believe this is a solid candidate for gem mint status as everything seems to check out. Corners are sharp, no surface issues and centering looks spot on. Hoping and semi expecting another gold banner here.

I believed this would grade out to a 9.5 and BGS agreed with me as each and every sub grade was a 9.5. With this being the only Koufax in the batch I would have been disappointed if it came back as anything less than a 9.5 but thankfully that is not the case. As I am refocusing my collecting habits to just a handful of players with Koufax being one of them I want to up my collection of graded cards of the former great and this is a nice start.

With this being a $15-40 card the actual slabbing of it does not really raise the resale value of it but if I ever needed to sell it I bet I could get closer to $40 if I did indeed decided to let it go.

Gems all around for all time gem of a player

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day,

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-SIX - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Corey Seager Base Chrome Gold Refractor Parallel (32/50) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2013 Bowman Chrome Corey Seager Gold Refractor /50

When I first acquired this card I thought it had a great chance to earn a 9.5 grade and once I took it out of it's plastic holder to clean up the surface (dust, fingerprints, etc) I still come away with that thinking. The card might be ever so slightly off centered but not enough to knock it down. Corners are crisp so I hope to add yet another gem mint card to my Seager rainbow project.

Ha ha. In my original post I stated that the card might be ever so "slightly" off centered and that would be the only sub grade that might be an "issue". Nope, instead it is the only sub grade that BGS deemed to be perfect as it scored a 10. The other 3 sub grades all earned a 9.5 which makes this a strong gem mint and a very welcome addition to my rainbow Seager collection/project that is more than half way done. While I would have been "satisfied" with merely a mint 9 grade as that is my bare minimums on this Seager project it would have annoyed me on this card because gold parallels just look better with gold banners. Silver 9's just look odd with a gold card.

This is the last Seager from this batch and a great final one at that but the next batch already has another one ready to hopefully earn another gold 9.5.

Gold card

Gold banner

Gold sub grades

A golden day indeed

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Chrome : Julio Urias Base Chrome Gold Refractor Parallel (49/50) BGS Graded Mint 9

I recently picked up the draft prospects gold parallel of Urias but I was still on the look out for the base chrome version which is also numbered out of only 50. The base chrome is sought out more than the draft prospects version so for the 1st time in my pursuit of the rainbow for Urias I picked up a non gem mint card.

I have been lucky so far as the Urias cards in my collection have graded out to a 9.5 (and in one case a 10) and I've been able to pick up other colors at a minimal hassle but I finally had to bite the bullet and get a silver banner which is OK as my main goal was to get these in mint condition with gem mint being a bonus. Thankfully with most people shying away from this card (or so it seemed) because it was not a gem mint there was not that much of a bidding war for it.

I didn't feel like waiting till the last moment to put my bid in and I had a set amount I was comfortably with so with more than 20 minutes left in the auction I put my high bid in and I was in the lead. Surprisingly 20 minutes later no one else placed a bid and I ended up with the card. I'm really making inroads on this project and all these colors looked great next to each other.

Gold on gold so much better but silver is OK

49

of

50

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Hyun-Jin Ryu Base Autograph

.... Zzzzzz.... Oh what? It's here? Holy crap really?

I have submitted multiple cards through Topps redemption program but none of them took as long as this one did to get to me. I originally picked up the redemption card for this Ryu autograph way back at the end of 2013! Yes almost two years ago I entered the code into Topps website and waited patiently for it. I have heard stories of long wait periods but till now it has never happened to me. Well I can now join that club.

Ryu had been injured all year and wondered why he couldn't just sit down and knock these out for the fans but I guess he had other priorities. I thought of calling Topps to see what I could get in replace of Ryu but I decided to stick it out and my patience paid off.

I logged onto the website to see what the status was for my Kershaw and Urias redemptions (still pending) and was surprised to see this card was recently shipped to me. Woo hoo. A few days later it arrived in what I believe to be gem mint condition. I am happy to finally have this card in hand and to add to my Ryu autograph collection and can't wait for 2016 and hope he has a rebound year.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin