Trade with The Bucs Stop Here: A Legend, A Phenom, and Some Rookies

This week's second installment of very belated trade posts features some cardboard sent from my buddy Nate over at The Bucs Stop Here. This was another trade that happened last Fall, and it's unfortunate it's taken me this long to writer about it here on the blog--it was a doozy. 

Nate reached out to me when he returned to blogging last year and we quickly decided on a swap. back when i was pumping out blog posts daily in 2014-15, Nate and I were frequent traders, so I was glad to hear he was coming back to the blogosphere. I have no recollection of what I sent his way, so please let me know if you're waitng on cards from me, Nate, and I will hook you up.

When I first seriously started collecting six or seven years ago, my focus was largely on modern cards, modern players, and big hits. I had a good sense of the Dodgers' history, but I wasn't actively chasing down the organization's legends. Guys like Pee Wee Reese, Don Drysdale, Roy Campanella, and Don Newcombe were important but they never really had a designated spot in my collection. 

Flash forward to 2020, those legends are slowly becoming a bigger part of my PC, especially as I begin to pick up cards from their playing days. Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, and Duke Snider are now "official" player collections for me. Adding to those binders has been a slow process, so I was happy to see the Duke Snider mini above fall out of the pakage Nate sent my way. I'm up to a whopping 7 cards in my Duke Snider PC. 

While Duke is already cemented in Dodgers' history, another center fielder is on his way to doing the same. Cody Bellinger has quickly become one of the best players in the game, and I've made it a point to add as many of his cards to the collection as I can. If he continues to mash like he did in 2019, I might be priced out pretty soon. 

Speaking of expensive cards, it wasn't that long ago that Yasiel Puig's RCs demanded an absurd amount of money. I managed to pick up most of Yasiel's base cards from 2013, but this one from Update Series managed to evade capture for far too long. It was a delight to cross this one of my 2013 Flagship needs. Now, does anyone have an extra Hyun-Jin Ryu (US-192) hanging around? 

Ryu's rookie from 2013 Update Series might be missing from my binder, but his rookie from Topps Archive based on the 1990 set is not. Ryu has been one of my favorite players since he came to the Majors from the KBO, so it was a bummer to see him ditch Dodger blue for Blue Jay blue this offseason. 

Nate also included a number of new cards for some of my PCs, including the following Chrome cards for Corey Seager and Clayton Kershaw. I'm not big on the 2017 design, but I'm a sucker for chrome. 

Nate and I may have gone 5 years between trades, but now that we're both back and blogging, I feel our next swap won't take so long. 

Mini Kemp and Ryu Relics For The Win

In search of more Matt Kemp cards, I rummaged through eBay recently. What did I find? 

MINIS!!!!!!!

Woohoo! I love me some minis, even more so when they feature Matt Kemp and/or there is some type of autograph or memorabilia attached. This one happens to feature a sweet bat slice of Matty Ice, a great card for number 199 in the PC. 

But the seller didn't just have the Kemp listed, he had this sweet relic of Hyun-Jin Ryu. Both cards had a best offer option available, so for a few bucks they were both mine. 

I'm not too familiar with the 2014 Topps Baseball Minis set, but I am a big fan of the relics they put out. They do still have that wavy nameplate thing on the bottom, but the annoying tab on the right side of the card is gone. 

These cards may also be a bit of a preview of 2015. At least, that is what I am comparing the background of these cards to. 

Speaking of 2015, I hope every one has a fantastic New Years Eve and New Years Day. I have my final post of the year tomorrow, and although it will contain my 200th Matt Kemp card, it will not contain the card I was hoping to show off. Eh, it will show up in the mail one of these days. Until then, I can always look back at my other 199 Matt Kemp cards. Maybe a Matt Kemp countdown is in order...

A Blogger's Ransom in Cardboard Goods!

I completed my 6th trade with Dodger Penguin recently, and I got back a ton of awesome cards. I ended up sending some Dodger autos his way, but the price was worth it in my eyes. 

*Before I show off the cards, I am offering up a small prize to anyone that can figure out what the title of this post is in reference to. (Bonus if you can tell me what episode.)

I figured I would start off with my favorite card of the bunch and what is now possible one of my favorite cards in general. The card hails from 2013 Topps Heritage and, quite obviously, is the black bordered parallel. Black borders are simply the best. The 1964 design itself is great, but the intimidating scowl and the combo of black/blue/red/white make this card and instant favorite. I can't imagine how psyched I would be to find an auto'd version of this card. Maybe I will get the chance to meet Matty one of these days, so long as he doesn't get traded to the Orioles for a bag of baseballs and an injured top prospect. 

Of course, the fun didn't stop with just the sweet Kemp from Heritage. I was able to land this shiny card from 2007 Topps Finest. It is #'d 15/299, making it one of my oldest #'d Kemp cards. A finest moment indeed. 

By the way, those are cards 183 and 184 of my Matt Kemp PC. I pushing for 16 more by the end of the year. 

I've been trying to add to my moderately sized Clayton Kershaw PC. The PC is still lacking an auto, but I will eventually pony up the moola to get one. In the mean time, I was able to secure another awesome black bordered card from 2013 Topps Heritage. 

I couldn't just acquire the black bordered version of the card though. I asked Matthew to include this in the deal, which he did, and now the beauty has a new home. Although I love the blue border, it is not quite as slick looking as the black borders from this set. 

Additionally, I was able to land this awesome X-Fractor of the reigning Cy Young and MVP winner. These never turn out well in scans, but I can assure you that it looks fantastic in person. 

Speaking of left-handed pitchers that are awesome, Matthew also tossed in this refractor-y Hyun-Jin Ryu RC. The card is #'d 82/199, and it appears to have an interesting backdrop. It almost looks like someones backyard (a really big one), but is more than likely to be a side field at the Dodger sprint training complex in Arizona. I could get all forensic-y and research it, but it is 1am and I don't feel like it. 

I'll finish this post off with a sweet new addition to my small Corey Seager PC. Believe it or not, I've had this PC going since the start of the blog, but this is only my 10th card of the young stud. This is in large part due to the limited amounts of cards Seager has but also due to my thrifty spending habits.  At least I have his auto...right?

Matthew generously tosses in a few other goodies, including 2014 Bowman Chrome base cards of Ryu and Greinke. along with a 2014 Topps Museum Collection base of Sandy Koufax. 

Thanks again, Matthew! Here's to another excellent trade in the books and many more to come! 

Breaking Down the Box Break

I meant to get to this post out on Thursday, and then again yesterday, but here we are. I have everyone's cards packed up, they just need to be loaded into mailers and sent out. That will happen sometime early next week. Please send me your address if it has changed or if you don't think I have it.

The break was a success in the sense that I pulled quite a few good cards for myself. Of course, I had the Dodgers, but I also picked up the Nationals and received the Padres as my random team. My other random team went to Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, who chose the Angels. Unfortunately for him, there was no Trout auto. Next time.

Anyway, let's take a look at some some of the Dodgers I pulled.

I'll start with my favorite card I ended up with. I believe this was pulled from the second box we opened, but I am not positive. We pulled another Topps Shelf insert in the first box and I mentioned that I really wanted to pull a Kershaw one. A short time later my wish was granted and here it is. I really enjoy this card for a multitude of reasons: mainly the slick design and great choice of colors. I am really considering saving up for one of the auto versions of this card, but a few things have to go my way for that to happen. We'll see.

My good fortune continued on as we pulled a couple of sweet diecuts from the boxes. I am not a huge fan of these cards, but I can't deny shiny new Kershaw and Puig cards for my collection.

As if I didn't pull my fair share of cards already, this beauty dropped into my hands. I am a big fan of the 1989 Topps design, and it looks soooo much better on these chrome cards. Seriously, I love chrome. 

This man has 40 saves, and now I have his refractor card.

This man has a long name, and now I have his refractor card. 

Here are some of the better base cards from the Dodgers. I did get the entire base set, and a couple of dupes are headed out to fellow Dodger bloggers sometime next week.

I also pulled a Yasiel Puig Blue Refractor #'d/199, and an Onelki Garcia base auto. However, I pulled off a quick trade with Dodger Penguin and now they are his. In return I picked up his Braves cards from the break.

In addition to the Dodgers cards, I pulled some sweet Nationals cards. Specifically great Bryce Harper cards.

I really, really like these 89 inserts from Chrome. I considered myself lucky when I pulled the Kershaw insert, but I guess luck was on my side that day. 

Especially since I pulled another Harper insert, this time of the diecut variety. I like the shot they used for this card. Though I don't think there is a bad Bryce Harper card. Please let me know if you can find one. 

I finally pulled this shiny Bryce Harper refractor to go along with his base card. My Harper binder got some serious play the other night. 

My luck didn't stop with the cards above. I also received a few x-fractors of National players, as well as a Stephen Strasburg diecut. I don't know any Nationals collectors, so those may head to eBay unless someone wants to trade. 

Thanks again to those who participated for the opportunity to do the break. Although there were a few problems on my end, and apparently commercials in the middle, it was pretty successful. Some people were lucky enough to get some autos, inserts, and #'d cards, whereas a few of you seemed to get the short end of the stick. I tried to toss in a few cards to make up for the lack of cards for a few of you, but I didn't have cards that fit everyone's collections. Hopefully you all enjoyed it, and we can bust some more Chrome next year.

I'm at the Dodgers Game Right Now...Be Jealous

I made yet another trip to my LCS late last week in search for some cards to take to a Dodgers game I am probably arriving to at this very moment. Thanks to Dodger Penguin for selling me his tickets and getting me close to the action for autographs. I have always wanted to attend a night game, so this is a bit of a dream come true for me. I am sure there will be a post on the game sometime in the next few days. I'm headed off to Six Flags tomorrow morning to top off the weekend. I didn't do much for my 21st birthday last weekend, but I am definitely making up for it now. 

Although I didn't find too many cards that I wanted to get autographed, I did find a few quality cards to add to my collection.

The first being this fantastic USA Baseball insert of the best pitcher on the planet. I haven't discussed my love for USA cards in a while, but I love 'em. Especially the Dodgers. 

I also picked up this sweet piece, another new addition. Topps did a decent job at making these cards look vintage, well enough that I wish they would switch to these for the Gypsy Queen base set. I think another blogger may have mentioned that not to long ago, but I cannot pinpoint the blogger or the post. I guess I forgot earlier, but my Clayton Kershaw PC quietly crossed the century mark this past week. 

I made a move for some of the other aces in the Dodgers rotation and came away with these two awesome cards. Both come from the cocaine riddled 2014 Panini Prizm, and the Greinke happens to be the refractor version of the card. I am not generally a big fan on the Prizm base cards, but I enjoy the inserts quite a bit. 

I picked this up just because, but found out I did not yet have a copy when I got home. Now that I have it, I am pretty sure I have tracked down most of Ryu's rookies.

I also grabbed this out of a 5000-count box of Sox my LCS owner had sitting on the counter. Like the Ryu above, I thought I already had it, but I guess not. Maybe it's just me, but Ortiz does not rock the high socks all too well.

To finish off my trip, I grabbed this wonderful card of Russell Martin. It has a confusing cartoon in the background that I can't seem to grasp. Is the runner sliding into 1st base? Feet first? Why is the catcher waiting for a throw if the runner is going to first? I'll let it slide becuase Ken Griffey Jr. said so. 

Thanks again for taking the time to check out my ramblings on cards. Hopefully I'll show you awesome pictures and new autographed cards soon. Let's go Dodgers!

Cracking Some Allen and Ginter's

To be honest, I wasn't planning on buying any A&G this year. Don't get me wrong, I love A&G, but I ran into some car problems this past weekend and I am still waiting on a verdict on the damages. As of now, it looks like I may be getting a new car, but I am hoping I won't have to go that route. My dad's mechanic friend and I are going to check the bendix in the ring gear of the starter sometime in the next few days. If that is the problem it only sets me back 120 bucks. If not, I am going new car shopping! This means that most all of my money over the next few months will be going toward the purchase of a new car, so yea, please be the starter. Damn Fresno and it's lack of public transportation! Oh yea, damn that empty saving account of mine!

That in mind, I made a few extra bucks on eBay yesterday, so I figured I would enjoy what might be my final major card purchase of the year. My buddy Dikran and I ran into a couple of blaster boxes at Target and that money was spent. Let's get to cracking.

*Spoilers* I pulled two hits from my blaster (Dikran didn't pull any), yet this was my favorite card. Apparently this is one of the insert sets, but I would eat it up if it was sold by itself. I am a huge fan of black bordered/primarily black cards, though they are a little harder to keep in mint condition with chipping and whatnot. I love the decision to use the Rangers red jerseys on this card, rather than the white or grey. It really makes it pop.

Together, we pulled eight of these beauties. I'm headed off to a Dodger game tomorrow (courtesy of Dodger Penguin), but you can read up on that tomorrow. This beauty will probably be accompanying me on my trek to track down some IP autos. A silver or gold signature on this would look pretty damn good.

Before we get into the base cards, let me show off the two hits I pulled. The first being a nice bat slice from Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies. The card is up for trade, but I'll probably be looking to get another Dodger relic from 2014 for it. With the uncertainty of my card budget, I want to make the most of what I have now.

I'm glad I look at the backs! This was in the SAME PACK as the CarGo above. Probably the best pack I'll ever pull. I'm not sure what these will sell for, but I have high hopes. It is now listed on eBay for those that are interested. 

We only pulled two regular sized Dodgers, but quality Dodgers they are. Ryu seems to be pretty photogenic, as I can't recall a bad card of him. Shots like these are the reason why I love Allen and Ginter's by the way. Sometimes you can only deal with so many faces in Flagship.  You can't go wrong with a new Jackie either. Topps appears to be using a new image for number 42. That, or, they cropped it to the point that I cannot recognize it coming from another card.

We also pulled a mini Duke, who I am glad to see return to the Topps lineup this year. Bo Jackson, the original Yasiel Puig, also made an appearance in one of those weird black border variation things. Seriously, I have no idea what the border variation is. Feel free to fill me in.

JEETS! Pretty cool shot of the captain, but I'm sure other blogs will give you a better analysis of that card, so I'll shut up now. I also managed to recognize (!) one of the non-baseball playing persons on featured on A&G. Gar Ryness (an 80 name by the way) is better known as the Batting Stance Guy. If you are unfamiliar with his work, just check out this video. 

I could probably go on and on about these awesome cards, but I'll finish off the post with another cool insert. Fields of Yore is a 10-card set with the Dodgers old stomping grounds, Ebbets Field, in the checklist. There are some awesome stadiums on the checklist, but Wrigley is one that I would really like to go see. Like a ton of baseball fans, visiting every major league stadium is on my bucket list. Wrigley is probably #1 on that list. 

Depending on what happens with my car, I may or may not be purchasing more of this soon. I will be throwing up what I need to finish the base set on my Set Needs page sometime next week, but that may expand into the master set depending on the car (again). We pulled eight short prints (out of 50), so that is a good sign to go for the set. 

A Surprise From Foul Bunt

William of Foul Bunt and I have swapped cards so many times now that I have lost count of how many trades we've completed. We are in the game of dropping surprise packages on each other from time to time (I think I owe him some cards!), and another package hit me earlier this week.

In a package of nothing but Dodgers, this 1969 Willie Davis stood above the rest. The scan does no justice to this beauty (as usual), and the card looks a little less faded in person. I'm not too worried on the condition of these vintage cards, so feel free to send your jacked up vintage my way.

This actually marks my 4th Dodger card from '69, and it seems my stack of vintage is slowly growing. I am hesitant to stick these old cards in a binder along with my other team sets. Maybe top loaders for all of my vintage? 

How do you store your vintage team sets?

We now move to the more present day stuff with a couple of blood rain parallels of my favorite LA pitchers. Unfortunately, Chad Billingsley may have already thrown his last pitch as a member of the Dodgers. 

As I have mentioned in the past, I know very little about Topps Archives. However, I do know two things: Topps is very lazy with the product and there is some type of autograph or insert set for fan favorites. If that is correct, then we may be seeing A.J Ellis doing some signing for Topps in about 15 years. 

Finally, William sent over two awesome minis from S2. I am a HUGE fan of these minis, but they are hard to come by. I was tempted to add these to my player binders, but I am instead adding them to my stack of minis from 2014 Flagship. I still have a page long list of cards I need to complete the mini set, so feel free to throw any extras my way.

Thanks again for the cards William. I have a stack of O's getting ready to head your way.  

A Surprise from Arizona

A while back I sent off some of my unwanted D-Backs cards to fellow blogger, Daniel of It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. Early last week, Daniel returned the favor with some Dodger goodies for me.

One of the cards Daniel sent over was this beauty out of 2013 Allen and Ginter's. I almost pulled the trigger on an eBay auction for this card a few weeks ago, but thankfully I didn't. This is the second relic in my Zack Greinke PC, though I am still on the hunt for an affordable auto that is to my liking. 

Daniel also threw in this sweet relic of Hanley Ramirez. I still don't understand why there is a color difference between the "frames" of this relic and the Greinke above.

As nice as this card is, I already have a copy of it. I would be more than happy keeping it, but I am planning on flipping it at View From the Skybox for a Dodger relic that I have had my eyes on for a bit. 

Also included in this package were rookie cards of 2/3 of my favorite Dodger lefties. (Kershaw is obviously far above them both). The Ryu RC may be my favorite card from 2013, though I know a few that may challenge it. Either way, I am glad to have another one for my collection.

Anther Ryu managed to find its way into the package in the form of this sweet shot from 2014 Bowman. I am a bigger fan of Bowman Chrome than Bowman, strictly because SHINY, but I will be keeping an eye out for cheap parallels of this card.

Thanks again for the awesome cards Daniel. I hope my Dodgers can continue to beat up on your D-Backs.