September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-ONE - 2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Base Black and White Parallel (15/15) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Black and White Parallel (15/15)

Just like the black and white Tek card of Trout that is also in this batch I believe this card will gem as it is made or plastic which helps condition issues and under the loop I see nothing wrong with the card. If I could pare this and Trout as gem mints to the Koufax I already own that would be a nice little 3 card set considering the print run is just 15 for these parallels.

While the design is definitely not my favorite I do love these High Tek cards for the simple reason as since they are plastic and not the traditional paper they tend to grade well since conditioning issues are kept to a minimum.

I have submitted numerous High Tek cards and every single one has come back as a 9.5 or better with the exception of one. Obviously this is not the exception. Ha Ha. The sub grades were strong like usual with this brand with them checking in as 10,9.5,9.5 and another 9.5. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY - 2013 Bowman Chrome Corey Seager Base Purple Refractor Parallel (86/199) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2013 Bowman Chrome Corey Seager Purple Refractor Parallel (86/199)

Trying my luck once again with a purple parallel. This is the only numbered color from the 2013 BC set that I do not have in a gem mint grade. Will this be the one to finally earn that gold banner? We shall see as my other copy had terrible centering and earned an 8.5 for that sub grade. This one while not perfect is a lot better so I would say its safe to assume that centering earns at least a 9. With that and nothing else I can see wrong I am crossing my fingers for that gold banner. 

Litterly the last card to be added to the batch as I picked it up from the Post Office just 30 minutes prior to the grading event. Even though this is not an autograph or overly limited it is/was one of the most important cards in the group. Why you ask? This is the only colored and numbered parallel in my 2013 Bowman Chrome (main set) that I did not have a gem mint copy of. I have had multiple purples but each one came back as a mint 9 with each one having centering being the issue and holding it back from a 9.5. Well when I saw this on the computer screen I knew that it wasn't perfect centering but it was the best I had seen so I took a chance. 10, 9.5, 9.5 annnndddd 9. Hot damn. Finally got my purple gem for my collection and all it took was almost 2 years.

That 9 was for centering as expected and a thank you goes out to the seller again as he was honest with me with everything else and now I am down to just 2 (X-Fractor and Green) to get upgraded and I will have a full 9.5 rainbow.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-NINE - 2016 Stadium Club Clayton Kershaw Base Photo Variation Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2016 Stadium Club Clayton Kershaw Photo Variation

This Stadium Club Kershaw card is just like the other one in the batch as it also has a slight fraying issue on 2 corners BUT in this card's case it is very minimal and I think that sub grade will hold at a 9 and hopefully the other 3 subs will earn a 9.5. 

As expected this card came back as a gem mint 9.5 with the corners coming at a 9 which also was expected. 

I surprisingly have had decent luck in this batch with Stadium Club (Mike Trout withstanding) but I am/was very uneasy when submitting these cards. I might end up acquiring this brand from others once they are graded as I feel I am taking a risk. That said I am glad I know what to look for when I submit cards but wish Topps would make these in better quality to minimize condition issues.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Five Star : Julio Urias Base Autograph Gold Parallel (#/50)

As most of you know I love the Five Star brand and wait for it's release with baited breath every year and this go around is no different other than the fact that the first card I have acquired from this year's set is not Mr. Kershaw but of the young ace in training Julio Urias.

I decided to get back into the Julio game and this is my 2nd autograph and 2nd overall card since I made that decision and for some reason his cards are really cheap to acquire right now but I expect next year that won't be the case. 

Even though this is a redemption card I have a funny feeling that it won't be too long (i.e. over a year) till I have the real McCoy in my hands. I expect this will be the 1st of many Urias cards I pick up this off season as unlike Trout/Seager/Kershaw I don't think high prices will be on his cards other than the super limited which I won't be going after anyways. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 1956 Topps : Sandy Koufax Base BVG Graded Very Good-Excellent 4.0

And here it is. The final piece. Such a satisfying feeling when you finish a project that while doable seemed to destined to be a multi year pursuit but in the end took less than 12 months.

Sandy does not have that many numbered cards in the modern sets that are released by Topps and while I chase after them there just isn't that many. I decided that I wanted to do a vintage project and what better subject than Mr. Koufax. After debating on what I would go after I decided on a 12 card goal which would be a card from every year that Sandy played in the majors which was from 1955 to 1966. 1 year 1 card. No league leader subsets or anything else. Just the main card in each set. The kicker was that they had to be in BVG cases and while I knew I would come across my fair share I knew that a lot of times there would not be one for a specific year. Out of the 12 cards I ended up acquiring 2 raw and submitting it to BVG for encasing. Since I didn't really care what condition the cards were in (no major visual issues were to be accepted though) it freed up some choices.

While I thought his rookie card from 1955 would be the hardest it ended up being this 1956 to be the final piece of the Koufax puzzle. During all the time I was picking these up I only came across a few BVG graded ones and each had an ending price that I was not comfortable with. My timing was perfect when this came up on a simple BIN as I had just sold some books and with a click of the button my project was completed.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph Green Refractor Parallel (41/99)

I guess I really am going try to get the full rainbow of Corey Seager autographs from this year's Topps Chrome set.

Is this project feasible? If money wasn't an issue of course it would be but I live in the real world so I don't know if I will ever acquire each color but with this green one in hand now I do own 3 to my name now. I have the purple, blue and now green which has the lowest print run of the bunch at 99. I did not want to pick this up with any out of pocket money so I had to decide if I wanted this card or keep cards I already had. Bird in the hand or see if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence? Well I decided to try my luck as I unloaded a Koufax auto (the horror I know) and a graded and limited Trout card for this and "yet" another Kershaw autograph. I considered it helping two separate projects at the same time while not losing too much as I still have 2 gem mint Koufax autos in my collection and while the Trout is nice it wasn't a "need". Instead I added to my quest to 100 Kershaw project and picked up another Seager colored autograph.

Of course now I have added yet another card to my next BGS batch which will happen in March of next year. This looks to be a semi lock to gem so be nice to me Beckett.

Forty-One

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-EIGHT - 2013 Bowman Chrome Mini Corey Seager Base Green Refractor Parallel (73/75) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2013 Bowman Chrome Mini Corey Seager Green Refractor Parallel (73/75)  

One of the few cards in the batch that I think has a legit chance at coming back as a pristine 10 as everything checks out except for centering which is maybe 51,52/49,48 as it is almost perfectly centered. There are no corner issues, nor edge problems and surface is clean. Can it earn a 10? Sure but if it doesn't I see no way it doesn't earn at minimum a strong 9.5

While centering did not get a 10 as I thought it would this card did come back as a strong 9.5 as expected. There were 3 9.5's and a 10 when all was said and done and with it another fine addition to my THIRD (My God) Bowman Chrome rainbow project for Corey Seager. I barely got one done with upgrades still needed for it and I am taking on 2 more? What am I thinking? Ha ha. Fun stuff.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-SEVEN - 2016 Gypsy Queen Mike Trout Base Mini Parallel Gold Variant (1/50) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2016 Gypsy Queen Mike Trout Gold Mini Parallel (1/50)

While a gold banner on a gold parallel is the optimal result of said parallel I am really stretching it here and thinking this returns with a 9.5 attached to it.

While centering and surface looks good there are 2 corners that have issues. I have seen worse on other gem mint cards so it will come down to which grader I get for this card. Hoping for gold but halfway expecting silver. 

Once again I guess I was lucky to get the grader who was in a good mood the day this card hit his/her desk. I saw 2 corners with issues and as expected they did not receive a 9.5 but thankfully they did earn a 9 as the other 3 categories earned the needed 9.5's to make this an overall 9.5 card. Surprisingly I have had great luck with GQ in this batch while in previous batches they have never gone my way. Guess every Penguin has a good day once in awhile.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-SIX - 2016 Gypsy Queen Corey Seager Base Mini Parallel Gold Variant (46/50) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2016 Gypsy Queen Corey Seager Gold Mini Parallel (46/50)

Just like the Trout and Kershaw ones I am holding my breath in the hopes of this gold parallel earning a gold banner to make the case color coordinated. Unlike the Trout one though this Seager card only seems to have 1 bad corner so it has a chance at a gold return but still not banking on it.

A pleasant surprise awaited me for this card when I received its result from Beckett. During my inspection I suspected that 1 corner might be an issue when it came to get the card graded but BGS thought not and gave that and the other 3 sub categories 9.5's. Very happy with that considering I truly hate gold parallels with silver banners. They just look ugly to me with that color combination but thankfully this one is not be one of them.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-FIVE - 2016 Gypsy Queen Corey Seager Base Photo Variation Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2016 Gypsy Queen Corey Seager Photo Variation

Out of the 3 paper products I collect (Ginter, Heritage and GQ) the Gypsy Queen brand is a distant third in wanting and quality as unlike Ginter and Heritage I usually receive good returns. I am hoping this time I get a different result with the few GQ I have in the batch.

Out of all of them I would say this is in the best condition and that is with its 1 frayed corner. It's not terrible but it isn't minor so hopefully I get a grader in a good mood when this shows up on his desk.

Guess I indeed got the grader who was in a good mood when sat down with this card.

Frayed corner in my eyes meant nothing in his/her eyes as that sub along with all the other 3 scored at least a 9.5 and this card became yet another solid return from this batch. While there were some disappointments in the beginning a lot of these gems mints are not of the cheap variety aka no 9's among the sub grades. While this is not a big money card I do love the way it looks in its new BGS case. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Purple Refractor Parallel (98/275)

It's good to have friends and I and many others have one in Judson of My Cardboard Habit .

Judson wrote up a post one day on his blog stating he was "paying it forward" and was going to gift out some cards to some people and I was lucky enough to be one of them. I have dealt with Judson in the past on some trades and transactions and he is very easy to deal with. He informed me that he was sending me something PC and even though I told him he didn't have to I thanked him in advance for whatever it was. After almost 3 weeks in USPS limbo the mailer showed up at my post office and inside was this great looking purple parallel of Mike Trout from this year's Topps Chrome set. Judson knows I love my rainbows and sending cards to BGS for grading and that is exactly what this card does and will happen to it. Under my new 20x magnifier I see no issues with this card and see no reason why it won't gem when I send it in next March.

Thank you again to Judson for sending a card with no expectations of something being sent back and he has helped push me to do what I have dragged my feet on which is to send care packages out to other people as well. This hobby and the people in it have given me a lot and I have always wanted to pay it back somehow and what better time than now?

Ninety-Eight

of

Two Hundred and Seventy-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman Inception : Julio Urias Inceptioned Autograph (22/35) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Look who's back in the collection? Yup young pup Julio was once one of the players I chased after and even started a Bowman Chrome rainbow project ala Corey Seager but late last year and earlier this year I decided to move away from Urias cards. Well that lasted all of one baseball season.

After watching Julio grow up on the mound this year and with me finishing a few other projects I decided to start up on collecting Julio again but with a slight alteration on what I would be chasing. Gone are the colored parallels and everything numbered. So unlike the other 4 core players I collect (Kershaw, Seager, Trout and Koufax) I will ONLY be collecting autographs of Julio Urias and nothing else. While that might "cost" a little more per card acquisition it will cut down on the multitude of pieces I will be searching for. Of course when I made this decision I looked up autographs of Urias on eBay and this one had 28 minutes left on its auction.

I owned this card once before (redeemed from Topps) and once it came back from a BGS RCR event as a 9 I promptly sold it and made some decent change. Now that I was back in the Urias game I looked for this and some Bowman Chrome autos but knowing this has a low print one made this more of a priority. Lucky me that on my first eBay search in almost a year for Urias cards yielded this beauty and I made it a mental mandate that I was going to win this and win it I did.

For my first card in my reentry into Urias cards I am more than happy with this being in my hands once again. To top it off I did a population report on this after I won it and found out this is the only one in existence to earn the coveted gold banner. Yup, a great way to start up my Julio collection once more.

Twenty-Two

of

Thirty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-FOUR - 2015 Topps Tribute Sandy Koufax Base Black Parallel (33/50) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Tribute Sandy Koufax Black Parallel (33/50)

With a batch close to 60 cards this is the only one that is of the Dodger legend, Mr. Sandy Koufax. That is to be expected as he does not have that many numbered parallels to pick from in the modern area but this black one fits the bill but I say it has a 50/50 shot at a gem mint return. There are 2 corners with some fuzziness around it. Hoping that they can hold to a 9 and the rest of the subs gem as I am sorely lacking in Koufax gems or at least in my point of view when compared to Trout and Kershaw gems.

I'm batting 1000 when it comes to numbered Koufaxs for this batch and that number will not be getting any lower as this is the one and only limited Sandy in the batch.

While I had the 1957 card in this group as well this was the only one with a stated print run and with me snagging this $40 high book black parallel for less than $8 I really wanted to turn it into a great return. To do that I would need this to gem and with me seeing a couple corners with fuzziness I hoped they could hold to a 9 as I believed everything else looked at least 9.5 worthy. When results were released it all went according to plan. Corners received the 9 I expected and everything else gemmed. Slowly but surely getting my graded Koufax collection up to snuff.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-THREE - 2013 Bowman Chrome Mini Corey Seager Base X-Fractor Refractor Parallel (99/100) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2013 Bowman Chrome Mini Corey Seager X-Fractor Parallel (99/100)

Another Corey mini in the batch and another expectant gem mint 9.5 as well.

I have always had issues on measuring centering on a computer screen when it comes to X-Fractors and this one was no different but it looked good enough to take a chance on it. Once it came in and I placed it under a loop it looks to only be slightly off centered but not enough to hinder the overall grade. Of course that is my opinion so lets hope Beckett shares the same view.

Another solid return from the batch as with it's earned 9.5 sub grade on centering it wasn't off centered like I thought it was. Not only did centering receive that high mark but all the other 3 areas earned that as well as this is yet another quad 9.5 gem mint in the batch. I have been luckier with these minis from the 2013 Bowman Chrome brand than I have with the regular sized versions as every mini has at least earned a 9.5 while I still am trying to upgrade a couple of the regular sized brothers.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-TWO - 2015 Topps Heritage Clayton Kershaw Base Action Pose Variation Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Heritage Clayton Kershaw Action Pose Variation

As I go through my batch of cards to do these write ups I wonder why I put this card in the group as I think it is almost certain to earn a 9 instead of a 9.5.

There are 2 corners that have slight issues which might be overlooked and still earn an overall 9.5 but the centering on the front is not 50/50 and if Beckett decides its 56/44 or more than there is no way this card earns a 9.5. I get caught up sometimes in getting a batch going. Oh well.

Well it looks like the graders indeed did overlook the 2 corners with what I thought were very small issues. Of course I could have over estimated the "damage" but whoever did the grading I am happy with their thinking as the card ended up being a quad 9.5 gem. 

I have learned that I seem to be a harder grader than some of the professional graders as I have a lot of good "surprises" when I get my results. Remember kids, it's always better to have low expectations and great results than high expectations and massive disappointments. Ha Ha.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Five Star : Vin Scully Base Autograph Gold Parallel (#/50)

Let's see how many of you will call me crazy for doing this even though I have proven I will take risks to "better" my collection as I see fit. I know most of you probably wouldn't do this but it had to be done in my eyes and in the end I will be happier.

As most of you know I sold off my whole collection of signed balls when I decided to get back into card collecting. The toning of more than a handful of balls irritated me and using the funds from the sales made it easy to move back into the card hobby. Every single ball was sold/traded except for one, Mr. Vin Scully. I scored that ball years ago and was the only one to survive the ball purge but that changed back in Sept. I dragged it out of storage to take a picture to share it on Instagram and though still beautiful I saw the start of a toning spot and noticed that the auto was starting to bleed. UGH. Well I know that Vin had signed a Topps contract and was going to have on card signatures in 2016 products and even though I wasn't interested in Topps Mint when I heard he was going to be in the Five Star brand that made my mind up for me. Yup, I would sell the last signed ball I owned and would acquire an on card autograph in its place.

As expected the ball sold with ease and all I had to do is lock down one of these redemption cards for the Five Star card which was pretty easy as this was on a BIN auction and once I lost out on 2 other auctions I came back to this one and claimed it. Now I wait for Vin to have time to sign the cards. I am sure it will be one of my favorite pieces in my collection when it does arrive.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-ONE - 2016 Gypsy Queen Clayton Kershaw Base Mini Parallel Gold Variant (16/50) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2016 Gypsy Queen Clayton Kershaw Gold Mini Parallel (16/50)

Different player yet same parallel and issues.

Kershaw's card here is just like the Trout gold mini as I am expecting silver but holding out that it might squeak by and earn a gold return. Clayton's card just like Trout's has 2 corners with slight fraying issues so it all depends on the grader's mood that day.

Squeak goes a mouse just like this mini Kershaw has done by earning a gold banner to make sure it stays color coordinated with it being a gold parallel and all.

I knew that 2 corners had some fraying issues and hoped that they could hold and earn a 9 with everything else picking up a 9.5 and in the end that plan worked out to perfection. 3 9.5's and 1 expected 9 on corners earned me another gem mint Kershaw card. I really expected this to come back as a silver 9 but very happy I was wrong.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Allen Ginter : Mike Trout Base Mini Parallel Red Border Variant (32/33)

It's always nice to snag a card that you never thought you would get even though the demand isn't overly high for it.

I have the 2015 Ginter red version of Trout and wanted at some point to pare it up with the 2014 version. The 2015 has a print run of 40 which was hard enough to acquire (thankfully that gemmed by Beckett) but this 2014 only has a print run of 33. Even less copies to go after. I have only seen a few on eBay and one day I happened to see a different copy going for close to $50. Even with a book value of $30-60 I felt that was too high. Upon further review of my search I saw that this was on a BIN but not in my original search location. Go figure. This card's price was more up my alley and was a no brainer to acquire. Clicked the button and had it in hand a week later.

With my 2015 version as a 9.5 I hoped that this 2014 one would be in great condition as well and it looks like it is. It is now ear marked for the grading treatment in March when Beckett is back in town.

Thirty-Two

of

Thirty-Three

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Blue Refractor Parallel (78/150)

As I write this up it is the last week of September and this blue parallel is the final in season acquisition of a numbered Corey Seager card for me. I note that as purchases from Mar to Sept can be pricier so when this post sees the light of day we will be in the middle of off season and I bet getting this could have been cheaper but I wanted to get it out of the way.

I did make the decision to wait a month or so till the prices came down from the release day highs to snag this at almost low book which I think is a steal. I had hoped to win one of the few graded copies that hit the bay but I always lost out in the final seconds of their auctions. This card though looks to have a very good chance to earn it's own gem mint grade as only the corners seem to have an issue as they are not super sharp. Bent and rounded no, but not perfect so I think they earn a 9 while everything else checks in with a minimum of a 9.5. Here's hoping I am right when Beckett is back in town in March of next year.

Seventy-Eight

of

One Hundred and Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY - 2015 Topps Heritage Clayton Kershaw Base Color Swap Variant Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Heritage Clayton Kershaw Color Swap Variant

Another minor addition to my collection which I hope I can turn into a gem mint return from BGS. 

The cost was minimal for this card and I hope that the slight edge issue is minimal as well as that is the only thing I can see that might hold this back from earning a 9.5 from Beckett. 

Minimal purchase with minimal expectations resulted in maximum happiness. 

I remember bargaining down the eBay seller of this card to a price lower than low book and when it arrived I crossed my fingers that it would gem and in the end I didn't need to worry about that as it gemmed going away. The edge "problem" wasn't an issue and every sub grade earned at least a 9.5 and I have yet another strong gem Kershaw for the collection. Woo hoo.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin