March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number SEVEN of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps High Tek Corey Seager Base Gold Rainbow Parallel (41/60) Now BGS Graded Mint 9

I hate non color coordinated graded cards and this becomes another one in my collection. For how long I am unsure.

 I thought this card would gem but it missed that mark by half a point as the surface category only earned an 8.5 while everything else held up their end with 9.5's. With that 8.5 I now have a gold card with a silver banner. I could crack and resell or I can try for a bump when BGS is back in town. Not sure what this card's future holds but till then I guess I can't be overly upset as all cards can't be 9.5's.

So close to gold for this gold card

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number SIX of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Five Star Corey Seager Base Autograph Rainbow Parallel (16/25) Now BGS Graded Near Mint Mint Plus 8.5

Post 6 of 42 and thankfully the final non mint/gem mint of the batch but even with that comment still an irritating return on this card.

With 5 Star notoriously known for condition issues I guess it shouldn't be all that big of surprise that the corners were the culprit here as everything else had at least a 9 in their category. If this would have earned an overall 9 I would have kept it but instead it became another member of the crack and resell group as it left my hands and went onto eBay and into another person's collection.

The reason I do this with Corey and not Kershaw is just like on the field Clayton is an exception to the rule as he is going to go down as an all time great and possibly the best ever in some categories while Corey is still starting his young career. Years down the road my practice my change when it comes to Seager autographs but today it's crack and resell.

Oh look, corners with a crappy grade

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number FIVE of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Corey Seager Team Glove Leather Autograph (16/25) Now BGS Graded Near Mint Mint Plus 8.5

Maybe it's because I am not the biggest fan of the look of this card that I am not overly mad about this low grade. Or maybe it's because I cracked it open and already resold it for $20 more than I "paid" for it. And lastly maybe it's because I picked up another Seager autograph that is already in a BGS 9.5 case with those funds that this 8.5 is just an unfortunate casualty in this batch.

Corners once again were the main issue with this card as they came back with an 8. Again, I can see a thick card earning an 8.5 maybe but anything lower is either my fault for not seeing something or something happened in Dallas with the card. With all that said I am happy that I was able to recoup my funds and then some with this card and snagged a replacement for my collection. Bye Bye 8.5. It was ice having you for a moment.

Again with the corners

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number FOUR of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Corey Seager Triangles Parallel Now BGS Graded Near Mint Mint Plus 8.5

We are at card 4 of the batch and the first where I might have missed something as the surface sub grade garnered an 8. Everything else was fine even though edges received a 9. All cards can't be perfect but I am wondering what I did miss on the surface of this card. I looked at it again and didn't really see anything but maybe there is a scratch that I am just not seeing.

I was hoping to get this rare (ish) rookie card of Corey into the gold banner club as most of my High Tek cards usually earn at least a 9.5 but this is now the second one from that brand in this batch to  not earn said gold banner. If this had earned a 9 overall I would have kept it but I have cracked it and have resold it on eBay to cover another purchase that I made right after this batch made it to my house.

Hmm...did I miss a surface issue?

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number THREE of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Clayton Kershaw Future Game Pins Autograph (4/25) Now BGS Graded Near Mint Plus 7.5

Oh look, another lovely return from Beckett where I swear they dropped and damaged my card. Just like yesterday's Kershaw autograph this one also earned a beautiful 7.5 grade. Looks like this bad boy was treated even worse than the other as the edges here were docked down to a 7. I can live with the surface as I knew with it having a plastic ish coat on it it could earn less than a gem mint 9.5 sub and it did.

This like the blue dots from yesterday I have to decide what to do with it. At the end of the day it is a Kershaw autograph and that is nothing to sneeze at but I hate seeing both in cases that have a 7 in it's grade. Even though these 2 are bothersome at least I have a lot of gem autos to show off in the coming months.

Got to be kidding.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number TWO of FORTY-TWO - 2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Blue Dots Parallel (3/5) Now BGS Graded Near Mint Plus 7.5

Are...you...kidding.... me ????

9.5, 9.5, 9.5 to be topped off with a 7 on corners. When I picked up this card I "knew" this card would gem when I sent in it to Beckett for grading. Under a scope I saw no problems except 1 corner had slight fuzziness but nothing too bad that sub grade shouldn't get at least a 9. Well other than that sub grade earned a 9.5 but it looks like some grading expert at the lab dropped another one of my cards as corners earned a lovely 7 which is not a lucky number here.

I might miss something from time to time but corners is not one of them as that is where I put extra focus on as if they are damaged either I know that going in or I just don't submit the card. Now I have to figure out what to do with this card. I am not going to leave it in this case with an ugly 7.5 attached to it but I don't want to pay for it to be encased in a certified holder. I'll decide in the future but for now I am just irritated.

Dropping my cards AGAIN !!!

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number ONE of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Update Corey Seager HRD Black Parallel (3/65) Now BGS Graded Very Good-Excellent Plus 4.5

Well the results are in and overall I was/am pleased with the 42 card batch that I submitted but there are a handful of b.s. results that irk me beyond belief but thankfully I have eBay as an outlet to fix said issues.

9.5, 9.5, 8.5 (expected) and . . . 3.5? What the hell? I know I might miss something here or there but no way would I miss something like this. I also put this under the magnifying glass once again and I still see no issues on the surface that the "experts" at BGS think are there. The corners I knew were going to be iffy and I was holding out hope for a 9 on that sub grade but expected an 8.5 and that is what they earned. Well no way am I keeping this in my collection and I already cracked it open and sold it back on eBay for the cost of the grading process and the original acquisition cost of this card. This was an odd batch for many reasons and this is just the tip of the iceberg but thankfully out of the 42 cards 31 of them received a gem mint grade. So only 11 that were non gold banners and not all were terrible... but this one was.

4.5 my ass

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2017 Topps Heritage : Corey Seager Base Chrome Blue Refractor Parallel (28/68)

I am making fast work of my want list from this year's Topps Heritage set. Granted it was(n't) that long considering it only consists of 3 players but the cards are not the easy to come by. That said here is another one that I welcome with open arms.

I am not really a fan of this year's "Blue" chrome parallel as I prefer the black that they have always done but since that color is no longer an option I must continue my projects for Kershaw and Trout and pick up this year's Blues of them. Starting this year I can add Seager to that list and I was able to acquire this one without much of a hassle. Of course I hope that all my colored chromes can earn a 9.5 from BGS and this one is borderline in my opinion. Centering, surface and edges all look good. The issue is that 3 of the corners on the back side have a little whitening going on. It's very minimal and can only be seen under a loop so as long as they can hold to a 9 I should be golden.

Twenty-Eight

of

Sixty-Eight

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome Mini : Corey Seager Base BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

As I am winding down and really focusing on just a few projects it is easier to just go after the couple cards I want than everything I feel I need. This one though falls into both categories.

I have a couple rainbow projects of Seager I am still trying to complete and this mini is 1 of them but also 1 of the hardest ones to complete since they do not come up for "sale" that often. This base I have only seen in graded form I believe once before and I wasn't able to land it. This time though I had a feeling it wouldn't cost that much and considering I am tightening my belt on card purchases I am glad I was right. End of the day this barely got into the double digits but thankfully I was able to win it and add it to the project. Still many more to go but happy to add another piece.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2011 Topps Update : Mike Trout Base Cognac Diamond Anniversary Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

During the 2015 off season I made it a goal of mine to pick up as many graded Trout rookie cards I could get and I ended up with a lot. The 2016 off season was reserved for Corey Seager but there was 1 last colored parallel of Trout I was unable to snag in 2015 that bugged me. I fixed that during this past off season.

The Topps Update is THE rookie card to get for Trout and I ended up getting the base, diamond, gold, blue and red during the 2015 off season but I could never land the Cognac parallel at a decent price. I had a feeling if I didn't get now it might be very hard to come by in the upcoming seasons so I kept my eye out for a copy and I missed out on quite a few but I finally was able to lock this particular one down at no hassle.

Now that I am not spending much out of pocket I had to figure out what to unload to acquire this for my project and after much thought I ended up selling off some non rookie parallels of Trout which were easy to get top dollar for and I ended up with this one for my collection. No regrets in this decision as my rainbow is complete (minus the impossible black one) and I am a happy camper.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Julio Urias Base Autograph Purple Refractor (216/250) BGS Raw Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I am a patient man. Because of that I was able to acquire this way below what similar ones had/have been going for and even cheaper than some that were not even graded.

I have noticed that people tend to shy away from international sellers (with some exceptions) and raw grade review cards. I think the reasoning is that "most" people do not have an outlet to get them fully slabbed when they are ready to do so and if so maybe not at the discount that luckily I receive since BGS visits my local shop at least 2 times a year.

Most other people want their cards in the sturdy BGS cases and not these semi rigid ones like this copy but if you are patient and know you will get it slabbed in the future at a discount then these RCR cards can be had a nice discount and that is what I received. The seller of this copy had an asking price at the amount that was roughly what slabbed copies had been going for. With a best offer option though attached to it I sent him a low ball offer at almost 50% his asking price. He countered though at roughly 38% of his price which I promptly took. Next stop for this Urias is Dallas to get the full slab treatment.

Two Hundred and Sixteen

of

Two Hundred and Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2017 Topps Heritage : Clayton Kershaw Base Chrome Blue Refractor Parallel (36/68)

Other than the autographs in the Heritage brand my other quest are to acquire players I collect in the limited black chrome refractor parallels they release every year. Of course this year Topps threw everyone a curve and instead of Black they went with Blue. I love Blue and all but now the set wont be color coordinated through the years as everything is Black but the 2017 ones. Of course that didn't and won't stop me from acquiring them.

Of the 3 players (Seager and Trout being the others) Kershaw is the "cheapest" to snag when it comes to these parallels and this year was no different. Also not surprisingly one of my favorite eBayer sellers is a case breaker of the Heritage brand and like the last 2 years he had one of these Blue (Black in previous years) up for sale and I was able to pick it up with no hassle and no money out of pocket which always makes it sweeter. Now hopefully like in previous years this will grade out to a 9.5 like all the others. More chance than not it will but I am a tad concerned with one corner that is chipping but it's not too bad so there is hope for a gold banner.

Thirty-Six

of

Sixty-Eight

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph Green Refractor Parallel (61/99) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I was going to be patient but when this graded Seager autograph showed up I turned my attention to it and gave it my all to acquire it and acquire I did.

I had my own green copy of this card but it was in raw form and I was holding onto it till I did my next submission to BGS but since it was the off season (when I picked this graded card up) I wondered if I could unload the raw card and use those funds to snag the graded one. I was confident my card was going to gem but you just never know what could happen in a grader's hands. I wanted to get the sure thing than the probable thing so off to the races I went.

Even though it wasn't baseball season I knew there would be decent action for this card and I was right. I believe there were close to 20 different bids on this card but the only thing that matter was that mine was the high one at the end of the day. I didn't want my raw card up for sale while this one was active as I wanted to be the only game in town. So once I won this 1 I threw mine up and since it was the only on eBay at the time there were a lot of bids right out the gate. I ended up selling it for the majority of the cost that it took for me to win this graded one. Obviously once again comic book sales offset the difference and now the only colored parallel I need to complete the rainbow is the red one with it's print run of just 5. Yeah, probably not going to happen but I can hold out hope.

Sixty-One

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Bowman Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph (Fielding) Blue Refractor Parallel (2/150) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

With this being a blue parallel and Corey in his home Dodger uniform this card looks even better in its gem mint BGS case. Wasn't planning on getting this card as I was focusing on Topps Chrome instead of Bowman but with me restructuring my collection (yes, yet again) I snagged this on a slow online day.

By the time this post goes live we will be into the 2017 baseball season but when I acquired this it was in the cold, wet winter of 2016 and that meant demand was lower. If and when Corey has another great season these off season deals will soon cease to exist so it's a good idea on my part to pick up any rookie card autographs when I have the chance and that is what I did here.

Though this is not a "strong" 9.5 it is a 9.5 and that is all that matters to me at the end of the day. These rookie card autographs are going to be key pieces to any Seager collection if he has the career everyone thinks he is going to have and I am glad to say that I now own a blue and gold. Now to find the batting version to pare with this fielding one.

Deuce

of

One Hundred and Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Bobblehead of the Day - Corey Seager Oklahoma City Version (#/2000)

Look at what I went and acquired. Yup, it's a bobblehead and even though I swore to myself that I would not collect these again I could not escape the itch to own this and another one. More on that tomorrow. (edit: the Kershaw one from Friday was what I was alluding to)

I got out of the bobblehead game a couple years ago and was content and happy with my decision but when I saw a particular one (Friday's post) I had to snag that it and decided to get this one as well for the purpose of hopefully having Corey sign it and hopefully in short time if all plans work as I hope they will.

With the intention of getting a bobble signed by the young star I wanted one that was not your "typical" one and this OKC one fits that description to a "T". The Seager one given away at Dodger Stadium is nice and all but does not have a good base for Corey to sign. Also the production run on that one is 50K. That is a lot of bobbles. Well I remembered that Oklahoma City distributed a limited edition one and found out it only had a production run of just 2000 even though were not individually numbered. On top of that the actual bobble stands atop a great base for an autograph. Decision was made and off I went looking for one and snagged this for a deal. Now the plan is to hopefully have Seager attend DodgerFest this year (obviously didn't happen) and if so have him sign it at that time. If not I might be heading out to Arizona and will try there. Either way the reason I snagged this is because of the itch I had to scratch for Kershaw bobble.

Corey's backside

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Refractor Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Another acquisition because I wanted a sure thing rather than a shot in the dark and cross my fingers option.

I have/had a few of these refractors in raw form and I was going to send at least 2 into Beckett to get graded so I could add to my rainbow project but of course when this one popped up I had to chase after it and with little effort I won it for less than a lunch. With no need for multiple copies of this card I sold off the others to pay for it.

I might actually get this rainbow done considering I have most of the colors now except for impossibly hard to find red one which only has a print run of 5. So there's that big hurdle to get over. We shall see if I can do it.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Bobblehead of the Day - Clayton Kershaw 2016 MVP/Cy Young Awards Signed Bobblehead (#/22)

As many of you know I set out to own 100 autographs of Clayton and I have climbed over the 70 barrier and this is one of the few that are not on a Topps licensed card. I got out of the bobble game awhile ago and had no intention of ever getting back into it but then my friend Greg of Plaschkethysweaterisargyle fame showed off his signed bobble of Mr. Kershaw and I instantly got jealous and decided I wanted one to call my own. Problem was is that Greg was lucky enough to get his in person and I have zero luck in meeting Clayton face to face so I knew that would be an almost impossibility of happening for me. Now here is where the fun comes in and stubbornness from a seller landed me this for a lot less than I know the seller wanted to let it go for.

A local card shop has a contract with Clayton and had him sign various bobbles for them to sell but I knew this was the one I really wanted as it shows Clayton with the MVP and Cy Young awards he won in 2015. A rare feat for a pitcher and something that might not happen again for a generation. The seller had another one of these on a traditional auction on eBay and I ended up losing out on it as the selling price exceeded my set ceiling. Though I had more than enough funds from sales I didn't want to pay over a certain amount. After the sale I contacted the seller as he had other copies of this same bobble on BIN OBO auctions and I stated the previous price of an auction (months prior to me wanting one) that it sold for but he rebuffed me with the statement that he couldn't let one go again for that low amount. Oh well. Couple weeks passed and he put this one up on another traditional auction. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. To keep the story short I ended up winning this not only for less than the 1st one I lost out on BUT also less than the other one sold for months ago at the price I was willing to pay. A lot less too. Stubborn eBayer seller lost out on some moola. His loss is my gain.

So with the Seager and Kershaw bobblehead acquisitions will I be collecting bobbles full time once again? No. I had an itch for this one and picked up Seager just because but I do not foresee me acquiring any more bobbles anytime soon but I do cherish these two.

Another beautiful autograph for the Kershaw collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Tribute : Mike Trout Ageless Accolades Autograph (48/50) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5 and eBay eBucks Quarterly Purchase

With this card's acquisition this becomes Mike Trout autograph #10 in my collection (though #9 has yet to be posted/showed off) but the only reason I picked this up now is because of a major life event that rocked my world so this card is kind of bittersweet.

Any day a Trout autograph is picked up should be a good day but even though I am happy I now have this in my collection it is only because I had a massive amount of eBucks earned from this past quarter due to the fact that my life being turned upside down and with me having to acquire stuff to move forward I turned to eBay to purchase items which earned me all the eBucks. Some of you know what has transpired and some that don't but those sending well wishes at the time they were and are still appreciated as it has been a hard transition period for me. That said I guess I can consider this a present to myself for what has been happening in my life.

This cards books for $200-$400 in raw form but what is becoming the norm for me each eBay quarter is that I want a BGS 9.5 with the eBucks that I earn and when I saw this card and the auction end date being just 4 days prior to eBucks being available to be used I knew this was the card I wanted. Being sold by a seller I have used multiple times made the transaction easier as they trusted me not to pay them right away as they knew I was good for it. Lots of action on this card's auction and I ended up using all of my eBucks on this card as the final bid literally was a few cents less than my high bid but I was the winner at the end of the day so that is all that matter. With that Trout autograph #10 is now in my collection.

.5 from Pristine

Forty-Eight

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Corey Seager Base Red Orbit Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

A San Francisco Giants fan did this Dodger fan a solid and worked with me on price. I guess he was a happy new daddy and I picked the right time to approach him on it.

This card had been online for awhile with a high price attached to it and I wasn't going to touch it at any cost. Weeks passed and soon it was somewhat near my ballpark of an acceptable price but he added a best offer option which I used. Guess looking back it was kind of low ball but I wasn't going to budge as he "declined" the offer (not officially but in a separate email he did) and said he would accept a different amount. I said thanks but no thanks.

With 2 minutes left till my offer expired he accepted it. After he did we talked and he said he just watched the birth of his son and was in a jolly mood (who wouldn't be) and said being a Giants fan he had no real attachment to this card and let it go. While not numbered this is a hard card to find and acquire so this is a nice addition to my collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Sepia Refractor Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Its like pulling teeth sometimes trying to acquire a card and this one falls into that category for a couple of reasons.

I have been trying to pick up a copy of this Sepia parallel for quite a time now. I have had a couple in raw form but each one was not up to snuff condition wise to my liking. Ended up selling those and picking up other cards. I have seen a few of these graded versions and each one I lost out on as I refused to go above my price ceiling. Months passed and this one popped up on the bay on a BIN auction but thankfully the best offer option was available but that also became an "issue". It took me 4 days to talk the seller down to an acceptable price for the both of us. Neither of us won but nor did either of us lose so I guess that means it came out to be a "fair" auction for the both of us. Hmm... I rather win. Lol. Anyways, it is nice to finally own this parallel now on to the next one.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Sapphire Parallel Edition (#/250)

Greg, Daniel and various other friends have gotten their hands on a copy of this beautiful Seager Sapphire parallel and I was jealous. I wanted one to call my own but too many other things were on my plate to put my full attention on this one. What made it worse was that my friends scored immense deals on their copies and I was afraid I wouldn't get the same deal. While I didn't get it for free (you know who you are amigo) I felt that in the end I did pretty good for myself.

I was going to be content on landing a raw version of this and submitting it to Beckett for grading but held out hope that possibly a graded version would pop up at some time. At the time of this showing up their was a raw version but I decided to try my luck on the graded one. It originally was on a BIN auction but I contacted the seller to see what his best price was. He responded a day later at 33% less that his asking price. Fair but I didn't have the funds for it and felt that I could score a better deal for the raw one. Couple weeks go by and I notice this fell off my live watch list and relisted as a traditional auction. Guess his asking price was too much for people. Typical 7 day auction and I was all over it. Couldn't believe that on the final day that its high bid was miles away from his asking price. I put my bid in at the last moment and snagged this bad boy for a little over 60% less than his BIN auction price and almost 50% off his "best" price he gave me. He must have been pissed considering that on top "losing" it for that amount he still had to pay eBay costs. What even made this sweeter was a couple days later another raw version sold on eBay for $10 more than this one. I scored one hell of a deal if I do say so myself.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Mike Trout Base Diamonds Parallel

According to odds and pull rates from various websites these "diamond" parallels from the 2016 High Tek set are the hardest to come by that are not numbered. Estimated odds are 1 in every 24 boxes or 1 in every other case of the product. Not an easy pull by any means.

Once it was figured out that this pattern was the hardest to get this Trout version went on my to acquire list. I have/had no intention of getting any of the other lesser parallels (still going after the numbered ones though) so I could concentrate all my energy on tracking one of these down. Beckett book has this with a range of $20-50 and was very pleasantly and happily surprised that I snagged it near the lower end of book. Like most High Tek cards I half way expect all of them to gem if and when I send them to BGS and this one is no different. Another "rare" card for the Trout collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Red Orbit Parallel

The "hardest" or presumed rarest of the all parallels is now officially in hand for Clayton from the 2016 High Tek set. Of course it cost me a little more than it should have as I dragged my feet and had to acquire this one instead of a cheaper one a few days earlier.

The Red Orbit parallel is the rarest parallel each year High Tek has come out but unlike in previous years the 2016 ones are not numbered. The rumour is that they are seeded 1 per case which means it would take you over 110 cases to land a specific player. Needing Seager, Trout and Kershaw I knew that Clayton would probably be the easiest as his demand would be the lowest of the 3 and of course I was right.

With this one in hand now I will now have to hunt down a 2015 red orbit to complete the trifecta as I have the 2014 already. This one is also earmarked for a grading treatment as I do not see anything majorly wrong with and expect it to gem. Now back to the hunt for a Seager and Trout for the collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Bowman Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph Refractor Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

A card I already had in my collection and 1 I did not expect to get a duplicate of but situations change as the world can throw curve balls and you just have to roll and adjust to it. We all have our own issues to deal with and while me acquiring this card is not because of a situation going on with me I had empathy with the seller of this card as I could relate to his situation.

An Instagram friend reached out to me one evening asking if I would be interested in this card and the moment I saw it I mentally was already passing on it as I had my own copy. Following the initial contact of the IG friend he told me about his hard luck at the present moment and was looking to gather up some funds to help him along and it got me to thinking about what I am dealing with. Thankfully I don't need to sell off my collection (knock on wood) but knowing we all need help at various times in our lives I wanted to help out my friend. We came to an amount that we were both comfortable with and shortly after I had this card in hand and now have 2 of them to call my own.

To fund this transaction I sold off my Seager Perfect Game/AFLAC autograph card. Normally I do not swap out a card that I only have 1 of to pick up another copy of 1 I do have but knowing I was helping someone and that this card is key piece in anyone's Seager collection it was the smart and helpful thing to do. It doesn't hurt to have 2 of these as maybe somewhere down the road I can swap 1 out for something I really want but for now I will hold on to both.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Heritage : Corey Seager Base Autograph BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

It sat and sat and sat some more. This gem mint graded autograph of the Dodgers young superstar Corey Seager stayed on my watch list for months as it's auction kept recycling every month as no one acquired it. I already own the red ink version of this card which is numbered to a mere 67 but I always wanted this base version to pare it up with its red brother. The problem was every time I was ready to buckle down and get it something else popped up that had to get my attention so this card kept going on being unpurchased.

There was/are always a fair amount of raw versions of this card to be had but I wanted a "sure" thing and knew when I did pick this up I wanted it in 9.5 condition. That is why I wanted this particular one and surprised it went unclaimed all this time. I finally had funds in hand from other trades/sales and was ready to finally pick this up as the BIN price was reasonable and a lot of people agreed with me as the watch list was over 15 at the time. Of course I then decided to get greedy and thankfully it paid off.

eBay had not run an eBucks promotion for a few weeks and I had an odd feeling that they would be in a day or so and sure enough I received an email a day after I decided to pick this up and with that I promptly went to the auction to lock in down. A week later I received my card that I had long wanted and now sits next to the red ink variant.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin