Actual Prizes For The #kershawwalletcardcontest

I have been running my #walletcard contest here on the blog and on Instagram for the past couple of months but held off on showing what you are all playing for. On the blog I ran a poll on what Kershaw autograph you would prefer. An 8x10 signed photo or a team ball that includes his autograph but has smudges on some of the other signatures. The ball won out in a 2 to 1 difference so finally here are the prizes you have your choice from at the end of the contest. For reference on how these will be dolled out and "rules" on the contest feel free to read about it HERE . I might add an autograph or two as the contest continues but no guarantees. I will say that every 5 follows that the blog adds I will FOR SURE add an autograph. Pimp it !!!

Pedro Baez signed card.

Acquired by Austin at the 2015 Dodger Fest and generously donated.

Thank you again Aus.

Topps Ricky Nolasco

I'm kind of curious which will be the last taken. This or the Baez card.

Topps Paco Rodriguez

Topps Finest orange parallel Jerry Sands

Bowman Chrome refractor parall Chris Withrow

Topps mini Hanley Ramirez

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and now the ball

Matt Kemp underneath the logo

Smeared Shane Victorino

Luis Cruz

A.J. Ellis on the sweet spot

Chris Capuano

Andre Ethier

Mark Ellis

Josh Lindblom

Tony Gwynn Jr.

Aarong Haran

Kenley Jansen

and the man himself

Clayton Kershaw

So there you go. I hope everyone likes the prizes and as always good luck to you all and thank you for playing. Remember, pimping out the contest on your blog earns you points and the more followers the blog receives the more autographs I will add.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Finally Redeemed Paco Rodriguez Base Autographs Blue Refractor Parallels (3 and 15/199)

If you were color blind you would swear that I am posting the same thing as I did yesterday as here we are again with twin Paco redeemed autographs from the 2013 Topps Chrome release. The only difference is the color.

As with yesterday's pair, these twins also were purchased together as it was cheaper than going the single route. All cards look better in blue and these are no exception. Dodger blue, blue border and blue ink make for a very pretty card.

Just like yesterday's post I do not need two of these in my collection so one is available for trade if anyone would like it. If not then it might be pared with one of the none refractors from yesterday and will be included in the #walletcard contest.  Good luck to those already in the contest and for those who are not why aren't you?

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.
-Penguin

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Finally Redeemed Paco Rodriguez Base Autographs

It's been a  long time coming for these twins as I finally received them after what seems like forever. I think it was close to a year if I am correct but I'm too lazy to verify that statement.

I understand certain players have a lot on their plate but damn Paco, what held you up on fulfilling all these orders? It's all good as I wasn't all that in a hurry to get them back but it is nice to finally have them in hand. Bought them as a two pack as it was cheaper that way than just acquiring one.

Hopefully Paco can reclaim his 2013 form and apply it to 2015. Our bullpen was depressing last year but the revamped one with him it looks to be much improved.

I don't need two of these so unless someone claims it on a future trade in the next day or two it will be  may or may not be going into my #kershawwalletcardcontest that I am running.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day
-Penguin

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Paco Rodriguez 2 Base Autographs and Base Blue Parallel Autograph

But wait, there's more.

Awhile back I showed off my black parallel Paco acquisition, but the auction contained more than just that card which made the purchase even better. Along with the limited black card came 3 autograph (though in redemption form) cards. I won't need all three as I have a few other Paco's coming in from Topps (knock on wood) but I couldn't pass on a lot that included some cards I could use to trade out to acquire other cards that I really want. When all was said and done I won all 4 cards for a little over $12. Not a bad per card average considering that one of them is a limited parallel and the others are autograph cards. 

Now like all my other redemptions that are in the system, I sit and wait for the "real" card to arrive. Why can't Paco and Seager be more like Puig and Ryu? I have one Paco and one Seager card that I have been waiting over 3 months for yet Puig can get me his autograph within a few weeks in between?

= )

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Paco Rodriguez Base Black Refractor Parallel ( 21 / 100 )

The endless pursuit of black and blue parallels never ceases. Even though we are in the tail end of 2014 I am still trying to complete this parallel set of the Dodgers. I am not kidding myself and know I will probably never have the Puig one due to the price putting it out of reach but everyone else is fair game.

Only 100 of each exist and I hardly see Paco up for sale but one day a seller has this one on a BIN auction for the very small amount of just $1.50. Considering it books for $10 that is a hell of a discount. Another black card checked off this list. Love the black and blue contrast. Hopefully Paco is not overused again next year. I'm talking to you Mattingly.

Blackjack of 100

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Paco Rodriguez Base Black Refractor Parallel ( 34 / 100 )

The only thing I like better than blue parallel of cards are black parallel of cards. The only problem with that is the black versions are usually more limited which means the price is usually out of my range. With that said I know I will probably never acquire Puig or Ryu in black form in either Bowman Chrome or Topps Chrome due to the high price. I can though concentrate on the other Dodgers and I have been able to put together a nifty little set so far. I finally was able to pick up Paco at a reasonable price.

With the black versions being numbered to 100 I have not seen many of the Dodgers up for sale and Paco only here and there. Another search brought this beauty to my attention. A traditional 7 day auction was in store and at the end of the week I happily added this to my collection. Now I am down to just Crawford and Magill in the affordable category.

34 of only 100

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Paco Rodriguez Base Blue Refractor Parallel ( 204 / 250 )

3 Dodgers left on my Bowman Chrome blue parallel set. Still looking to complete the whole set of 440 so each card helps but finishing the Dodger part of it was/is at the top of my list.

Paco is one I have lost out on a few times on eBay as there seems to be a premium on his card due to it being a rookie card. I have my set limits on cost and his auctions always exceeded it. That is until I came across this seller that had it on a buy it now auction but also included a best offer option. Sent him an offer and he accepted the $1.50 bid.

Check one more off the list and now I was/am down to two Dodgers left.

204 of 250

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps : Paco Rodriguez Chasing History Autograph Insert

In the "it's about time" category I finally get to show off some cards that have been in the Topps redemption pipeline for a long time. I checked the Topps redemption website early last week and noticed that I was finally going to acquire four autographs that I have been waiting for. This Paco one for example has been on my wait list for close to 7 months as seen from this original post of when I acquired the redemption card. Well for today and the next 3 days I will show the four cards I received from least to best in my opinion.

Paco has had an up and down year so far. When on the major league club he has struggled (but to be fair everyone in the bullpen has) and that doesn't count his time in AAA when he was sent down for a bench player.

I have a few more Paco autograph cards due to me from Topps and they will be of the more desirable on card versions. I knew this was going to be a sticker but when I purchased the card for a measly $3 I didn't care. With all the other Paco cards coming in I might just throw this one in as the autograph card for my contest. Either way for the cost of the card I didn't mind the 7 month wait.

Contest #7 Results : Paco Rodriguez In Person Autograph Bowman Card

The results are in and we have a winner.

Jesse wins another Penguin contest. He had the 3rd most entries but came out on top. He actually rolled 5x into the top stop and was 1st on the 11th roll and I thought that he would be knocked out. He was not to be denied though. Thank you all once again for entering. I will have the next contest up tomorrow and like Alex over at Chavez Ravining  it will be from the same set. Good luck to all.

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Cory Seager, Paco Rodriguez and Hyun-Jin Ryu Base Refractor Parallels and 2013 Finest : Adrian Gonzalez and Hyun-Jin Ryu Base X-Fractor Parallels

5 for 5

Can't beat that amount for cards that you need to complete a couple of sets. Went back to one of my favorite sellers on eBay to see what he up for sale pertaining to sets I still need to complete. He usually has the cards I need for a buck ( 99 cents to be exact ) a piece and he happened to have these 5 on this particular day.

Nothing too special about any of the cards but getting parallels of rookie Ryu, Seager, Paco and Gonzalez was just too good a bargain to pass up. A small dent in my ever growing collection needs.

Contest # 7 - Paco Rodriguez Signed 2013 Bowman Home and State Parallel

With contest #6 behind us I move onto the second of four autograph giveways in a row. This one is for a 2013 Bowman Base Home and State Parallel that I got signed last week at the Dodgers Fan Fest.

I already had a ball signed by Paco and didn't really have anything else for him to sign so I thought I would pass on some love to my readers. Paco as always was cordial and I said thank you for the autograph but right when he handed it back to me his thumb was on the autograph part of the card and he smeared his name a little. Not on me guys but I am sure someone will still want this card. Right? Anyways, the next contest I will be bringing back some questions but for this one it will go with the traditional entries of you can earn on per day for each comment left on this post and one entry for each RT on twitter.

As a bonus for this and any future blog contests if you share aka pimp this contest on your own blog I will appoint at least 2 extra entries and up to 5. It will all depend on the item. I will give you a heads up and say that contest #9 you can earn 5 extra for a blog post. This one though will be just two. Good luck to all.

Paco signing

Finished product with a little smear

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Paco Rodriguez Base Refractor and 2013 Bowman Chrome : Hyun-Jin Ryu Base

2 dollars for 2 rookies.

When you can get a rookie card of a player on your favorite team for a dollar it's a good day. When you can double the fun and get 2 for 2 then the day just got better. Seller had both of these cards on buy it now options with the price of just a buck on both. Couldn't and wouldn't pass up on that deal. 2 more cards added to the collection at a minimal cost. If only all cards could be acquired at such a low cost.

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps Chrome : Paco Rodriguez Blue Refractor Parallel Autograph ( # / 199 )

The redemption beast pops its head up once again. And again the featured player is Paco Rodriguez. I already have 2 redemptions in the system for Paco and neither have shipped yet and now I have gone and tossed another one onto the pile and have made it 3 and counting.

I never expected to acquire so many Paco cards but they always seem to be such a great deal when I win them each time and this one is no exception. The future card has all the wants on my checklist. Dodger, rookie card, autograph, blue variant and limited. The perfect combination. The only thing irritating is that it is in redemption card form. I think that is one reason why I have been able to pick these up so cheap as I've read a lot of people just hate the waiting game and just move on to something else. They need that instant gratification. Not me. It's all good. Won this card for less than $7 and now just wait for its arrival. Could be awhile but I am a patient man. Until then I added this lovely piece of paper promising me an autograph card.

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Topps : Full Dodgers Team Set From Retail Factory Box

Day 2 and entry 2 of my Christmas gift from the wife.

Yesterday as seen HERE the main prize for me was the Ryu photo variation that is only found in the retail factory set. The rest of the non-Dodgers will be used for trade to bring in more Dodgers. One way or another the wife is going to be getting me Dodger stuff whether its direct or I have to hustle for it.
= )

Anyways, instead of me hunting for the individual cards of all the Dodgers I was able just to pull them out of the box and be done with looking for them on the bay. Though I have some of them already its always nice to have dups to be used for trades, contests, etc. Though there is nothing specifically "special" about the cards I wanted them all. So everyone into the pool.

Dee, Andre and Kid K

Joe " I cant believe his was a Dodger " Blanton, LL Kershaw and Jansen

Paco, Get well soon Chad and underrated Choate

Nice guy Chris, Why are you still here Josh and Mickey Mouse Adrian

2014 Comeback Player of the Year Kemp, Thank God you retired Lilly and the bane of our bullpen League

Nice blurry Pic Matthew. WTF ??

Harriston, HanRam and Part time wrestler Greinke

Ellis, Cruz and Crawford

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Bowman : Silver Ice, State and Hometown Haul

It was time to head back to the 2013 Bowman set and fill out some holes in my silver ice and state and hometown parallel set that I still needed to complete. Found my seller that I have been buying a lot of this year's cards from and he once again had a lot that I could chose from so I busted out my list and just picked what I still needed. They were all buy it now's with a best offer option and since I have bought from him before he always seems to accept my offers so I ended up with these 8 cards that I needed for a little over a dollar a card delivered to the door. Still have work to finish the set but getting these at this price is just a great deal consider the Silver Ice Ryu alone books for $9. A good day on eBay indeed.

State and Hometown of Hanley Ramirez, Josh Beckett, Paco Rodriguez, Zach Bird and Jeremy Moore

Silver Ice of Paco Rodriguez, Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier and Hyun-Jin Ryu

Card of the Day - 2013 Topps : Paco Rodriguez Chasing History Insert Autograph . . . Redemption Card

For someone that hates redemptions I seem to be really doing my best in acquiring more and more of them. This is my fourth one in the past few months but this was bought due to it being a deal in comparison to the other option.

I wanted another Paco autograph and saw that he had an entry in this year's series two from Topps. I have seem them pop up on eBay and selling for over $5 as I have lost on a few of those auctions. Didn't feel that this autograph warranted that much but always kept an eye out for a bargain. Well this card came up but it is a redemption of the same card that was inserted into packs. Guess Topps couldn't get all of them out in time for the release.

I guess people didn't want to wait for their card when they could get the actual card from other sellers at a faster pace. I am in no hurry to get the card and with the auction nearing it's end there was no action on it so I put my bid in and won the "card" for a total of just $3. Granted that is only $2 or so less than the other auctions that I lost out on but that is $2 I can use on another card. So that is now four redeemed cards I am waiting for. I am a patient man so it's all good.

Paco . . . Redeemed and waiting.

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Bowman Platinum : Kemp, Kershaw, Paco, Joc, Ryu, Clayton and Seager Bounty

And with this second day of Platinum I show off the group of cards that only cost me a measly $18 or $1.50 a card bought and delivered.

When the book value comes out on these I am sure that some might not even book that much but for an average of just $1.50 and for what is included I couldn't pass up on these once I was able to secure the first two auctions. If I won a auction or two it wouldn't have been a good value but with me winning a total of 10 auctions and a couple with more than one card in them it became a good deal.

To start off there were 3 different Paco auctions and once I won those 3 I went all in on the others as shipping was no longer a factor. Picked up two base Paco rookie cards and then the gold and blue variants of the same card. With all the media attention on Puig and Ryu, Paco has flown under the radar nationally but here in Los Angeles he is well regarded.

I'll take a gold and blue please with my two base. Thank you.

Speaking of Ryu, he comes to work everyday and just keeps putting up above average numbers. For a "rookie" he is doing quite well adjusting to American baseball after spending years in Korea. Well the auction that had his card happen to have a twin so I won two cards of Mr. Ryu. His auction was the highest at $2.75. No way those cards don't book for under $5 each once prices come out. One is available for trade if anyone wants/needs it. As Ryu is our number 3, Clayton is our number 1 and I was able to pick up the die cut card of the cutting edge insert set for a couple of dollars. To top that off we have the red base variant of Matt Kemp which slides in nicely with the blue one I picked up.

Dual Ryu with a cutting Kershaw mixed in with a Red Bison.

To finish off the bounty purchase I looked to the potential future of the team in the form of Joc Pederson and Corey Seager. While Joc might never play for the Dodgers as at the present moment there is a log jam in the outfield on the big league club, Corey seems destined to appear within a few years in the infield. In the mean time I was able to pick up a few Joc cards in the form of the base chrome and a numbered green variant of the chrome card in addition to a copy from the top prospects insert set. All of that topped off with a Corey Bowman Chrome base card.

So in the end all of these cards came with the damage of just $18. A great haul. Although I was not able to pick up the Puig cards from this particular seller I have at least started off well in the pursuit of completing this set. 



Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Bowman : Silver Ice / Gold and Blue Bordered Variants / Chrome / State and Home

Took a day off from really roaming eBay so I thought I visit one of new favorite seller's store on eBay to fill out some holes in my 2013 Bowman set. Still looking to finish off all the variant sets and he usually has new ones put up week in and week out.

Nothing spectacular but was able to cross off some needs on the sets while getting them in my mind a good deal. A total of 8 cards for a total of 8 dollars. I think when you get any card for a dollar or less that is a decent deal and more so when it is part of variant and/or insert sets. So in the end a nice small haul to help finish off some sets which I think I'm about half way through.

Jeremy Moore Prospect Chrome

Adrian Gonzalez State and Home Variant

Adrian Gonzalez Gold Bordered Variant

Hanley Ramirez Gold Bordered Variant

Paco Rodriguez Gold Bordered Variant

Clayton Kershaw Gold Bordered Variant

Hanley Ramirez Silver Ice Variant

Josh Beckett Blue Bordered Variant 290 / 500

Card(s) of the Day - 2013 Bowman : Blue Bordered / Silver Ice / Home State Variants

Of I went shopping once again on eBay to finish off my variant sets of the Dodgers from this year's Bowman set. I am not really interested in the orange bordered cards as one, it's the hated Giants colors, two, it's punk ass orange and three, refer to the first two comments. I prefer the blue ones as the Dodgers just look better on them and I still do love the silver ice ones as well.

If I can help it I don't like buying one by one and rather by the bulk if at all possible. Well I found a seller that had a lot of the cards I was looking for and one special one. That gets a post tomorrow. The seller had these nine up for buy it now or best offer and considering I was already buying a "high-priced" piece I thought I could bargain with the seller and I sent offers for a dollar for each card. He accepted for each one. Woo Hoo. Granted I might have been able to pick this up at some card show for 50 or 75 cents a pop but I didn't have to leave my house to get these. So for a grand total of just nine dollars I got these nine to fill out my set.

Blue Bordered Variants of Matt Kemp, Paco Rodriguez, Clayton Kershaw, Andre Ethier, Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez

Silver Ice Variant of Clayton Kershaw

Home State Variants of Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman : Paco Rodriguez Autographed Printing Plate Rookie Card 1 of 1

Back in 2001 when I quit the hobby there was no such thing as a printing plate insert in packs. Now that I am back in I wanted to acquire one but since I am only going to collect sets from 2013 forward that left me with few choices. Well I found one on eBay and the hunt was on.

I just met Paco this last week and already got his autographed blue refractor rookie card from this same set a couple days ago, this one was the one I really wanted as the blue one was a back up if I didn't acquire this one. I ended up with both. This is my very first 1 or 1 in my career of card collecting. While he is not a "big" star and probably maybe never will be one this still is an autographed, rookie "card" of a young Dodger.

Cost to me was technically $28 but since I had made a profit on some comics in the prior weeks out of pocket cost to me was zilch. Free in my mind and a great looking plate to boot.

Autograph nice and centered.

Since the plate is not centered does that mean all the cards are not as well?

Curious minds need to know.

1 of 1.

Music to my ears.