Chavez Ravining Custom #6: Mike Piazza

Chavez Ravining Custom #6

I finally took the time to make a Chavez Ravining Custom card page for the blog. It is up top in my freshly renovated menu bar. Take a look. I added a checklist that will be updated as I make these cards. You may notice that there is a prospect checklist, as well as a blogger checklist. Those are just two of the insert sets I plan on messing around with.

Anyway. I decided it was time to capture Mr. Piazza on a piece of (virtual) cardboard. (Credit to Ernest over at Dodgers Blue Heaven for the sweet template.)

Trade with Nomo's Sushi Platter: PC Additions and a Sweet Piazza

I completed my first trade with Michael from Nomo's Sushi Platter. Looking back, I feel I owe Michael a lot more cardboard. I guess I'll have to take another look through some of my boxes. I'm slowly getting more organized, which hopefully means I'll be able to help many more bloggers out.

The package started out great, with this absolutely fantastic shot of the '93 Rookies of the Year. I am not quite sure what draws me into this card, but is a favorite of mine already. Maybe a Piazza binder is in the horizon?

Like so many of my recent trade packages have included, Michael sent over quite a few Shawn Green cards my way. If it wasn't for John's courteous package the day before, every Green card Michael sent me would have been brand new to me. Instead, I get to show of three cards that were not in the binder already. The Topps Gold Label seems like a pretty cool product, though whenever I see Green in a blue jersey, I feel like it is a Blue Jay card. 

Staying with the PC cards, Michael sent over 5 new Kemp cards. My favorite is probably the bright yellow Heritage card, though the '08 Topps Chrome card up top is giving it a run for its money. Either way, these are all sweet additions to my Matt Kemp PC. 

A large majority of this trade package was filled with cards for my various PC's. This was the lone Kershaw card in the package, but is much appreciated. The warping these cards have gone through sucks, but maybe sticking it in a top loader for a while will straighten things out. (Pun intended)

As some of you know, my newest collecting interest is Russell Martin. I have been a huge fan of his for awhile and am still pissed that he was non-tendered a few years back. I planned on discussing some of my new collecting habits awhile back, but that post is still unfinished sitting in my drafts. I guess I have something to work on this weekend.

As great as the 3 Martin cards were above, they don't hold a candle to this bad boy. Neither player is with the respective teams any more, but this is a sweet card. I'm pretty sure Greg said, "Martin doesn't take bad pictures" some time ago, and this card is evidence of that. It looks a little off-center to me the more I look at the scan, but maybe I just messed up the cropping. Either way, awesome addition. 

If I was a little less busy, I probably would have scanned some of the Hanley, David Ortiz, Andre Ethier, and mini collection cards. But, an essay I have to write is calling my name. 

Thanks again for the trade Michael. I hope to hook you up in the future and make our swaps a little more balanced.

Another Trip Down to my LCS

I made another trip to my LCS after work yesterday and was able to walk away with some awesome new PC additions. 

Matt, the owner, has been trying to convince me to buy a spot in a baseball box break this weekend at a card show type event at one of the mall's in town. I am always interested in new cards, but $40 for a spot is a price I wasn't willing to spend. He said he is opening up a few boxes of 2013 Triple Threads, as well as 10 other boxes. $40 bucks is probably more than worth it, but as a full-time college student money is hard to come by. 

He told me he was looking to beef up his cards for the show this weekend and asked if I could bring in commons/relics/autos for him. I don't buy that many cards, but I did have some stuff for him. I took him a 3 inch stack of Yankees, as well as a 3 inch stack of base cards from 2014 S1. I threw in about 15 NBA/NFL autos/relics, and about 150 basketball cards. I don't really have an interest in basketball cards, but they always end up in my hands after Dikran keeps the cards he is interested in after opening a box. Needless to say, I cleared out some space and helped my LCS owner for the show.

He told me over the phone that he would give me some store credit for anything I brought in but my expectations were low. I figured I would be lucky if I got $10 bucks. He took a look through the stuff when I got there last night and ended up giving me $35 bucks in store credit. He put me down for a spot in the break this weekend and told me to bring him some more base cards and Yankees and we'll call it even for the other $5 bucks. So, If you have Yankees from the past 2-3 years you don't want, I'll gladly take them off your hands. 

Anyways, I took a stroll around the shop and ended up digging through some dimeboxes and eventually walked out with a nice little stack of cards. 

Eight new cards for my A-Gon PC. He looks 100% in a Dodgers uni IMO. The card that stands out the most is the brand new 2014 Donruss card on the bottom left. It actually came out yesterday and I was already able to pick up a couple of Dodgers. 

Six new cards for my Big Papi PC. The diamond sparkle cards are pretty snazzy and the UD Masterpieces is wonderful as well.

I also snagged this 2012 Topps Chrome Refractor of Matt Kemp after realizing I did not have any of his 2012 TC cards.

Two new cards for my Andre Ethier PC. The more I look at these diamond sparkle cards, the more I want to chase them all down. They look pretty damn awesome.

I also picked up a new Beltre card to add to the binder. Am I the only one who thinks the card looks cutoff on the right? 

I will never pass up a Ryu card, as the Korean is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. This is the other 2014 Donruss I picked up BTW. 

Kind of a weird pairing for Topps to make here. That is until I realized they are both Jewish. It took me a minute to notice that on the back of the card. I guess I should take a closer look at the back sometimes. I should also get a move on uploading my Koufax PC to the blog. Maybe this weekend.....

I also grabbed these even though they don't really fit into any of my collections. The Piazza on the left doesn't actually come from 1994, it is a reprint from 2011 Topps. The Sellers card was calling my name for some reason. He isn't anything special on or off the field, but it is an aweome card nonetheless. 

In addition to the cards above I was able to grab nine new cards for my Topps TeamSet project. 

The best thing about the entire trip to my LCS is that I didn't spend a dime (except on gas). Matt was gracious enough to let me walk away with these fantabulous cards for nothing. I was also able to secure a spot in his box break this weekend, and I cleared up space in my room by doing so. I won't be able to make it to the break, but hopefully I will have some goodies to show off this weekend. 

Trade With Foul Bunt: A Handful of Dodger Goodies

I completed my third trade with William from Foul Bunt. If you haven't seen William's blog yet, be sure to check it out. I just sent out his card from our last trade, so some more cards will be packaged up for him soon.

There was a large variety of Dodgers this time around, but I'll just go over a few of the standouts.

I was extremely happy to see this card mixed in for a couple of reasons. This comes from 2005 Topps, my absolute favorite set from the 2000's. I started buying my first cards in '05, so these cards hold a special place with me. Secondly, who doesn't love Hideo Nomo? I never got to really experience The Tornado, but I have a a large stack of Nomo cards I have been through numerous times. 

Up next is a new card for the Sandy Koufax PC. Like all my PC guys, the first card goes into the player binder, and the second goes toward the set. Therefore, I will need another copy of this card. I will be posting my Sandy PC sometime this week, but it will come across as a post. Blogger won't allow me to make any new pages, so I am making all of my new pages as posts ans simply linking the new page to that post. 

Two new Hanley parallels. I am debating building the team set around these parallels. I am already already building the blue and red team sets, but it's not like these will be that hard to track down. I am leaning toward building them, so If you have any let me know. 

While we're on the subject of new cards, I was able to add a new Puig to my PC. This happens to be The Future is Now insert, surely a very unique name for a card, right?

Wrong. Upper Deck released their own "The Future is Now" cards back in '94. If the future was now, then, then what does that make today? I guess if the future is now, now, then these cards are the past is now, now? Inception!

I was also privileged enough to receive these three Shawn Green cards. I already have the top '94 UD Star Rookies, but the bottom Electric Diamond version is new to me. I don't know anything about the whole Electric Diamond thing, so feel free to spread some knowledge. The '95 Pinnacle is also a new addition to the Green PC, which now sits at 40 cards.

Thanks for the cards William. Expect some O's soon. 

Introduction to the RCD: 1995 Mike Piazza

I scanned a few cards I found while searching through some older stuff in my Dad's shed. I'll occasionally post a scan of these cards. I plan on calling this Random Card of the Day, or RCD. This will be the first post in the RCD series.

RCD Posts are opportunities for you to get Chavez Code Points!

Simply leave a comment with an interesting story you may have about this particular card, or a story that has something to do with the player. Just about anything you say about the featured  player can get you points. 

The comment system allows you to "vote up" a comment. The comment with the most upvotes will get the most points. Anybody with a cool story will get points, so don't hold back. This point system relies on you, the readers, to make this work. 

If anybody has any suggestions about this, let me know. 

The first card in this series is a 1995 Topps Mike Piazza #110

Greg Wins Again.....I Swear This Isn't Fixed!

Well, the Mystery Contest was up for approximately 33 hours until Greg from Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle correctly guessed the mystery player. Greg is a name that most readers of my blog should know, BECAUSE HE SEEMS TO WIN ALL THE CONTESTS. 

Only a few short hours before Greg submitted his winning guess, Matthew of Dodger Penguin, and I were discussing Greg's tendencies to win my contests. So naturally Greg won the freaking thing.

@DodgerPenguin @ArgyledPlaschke He seems to be a night person. I'm sure he'll find a way to win this contest haha
— Alex Markle (@ChavezRavining) December 10, 2013

The mystery card was this Mike Piazza relic from 2005 Donruss Prime Patches. It features Piazza as a member of both the Dodgers and the Mets. A team he should have never suited up for if it wasn't for poor ownership. (That seems to be a trend the Dodgers had for a short time) I never got to appreciate Piazza while he was with the Dodgers, though this homer he hit over the left field pavilion gives me chills. 

Enjoy the card Greg!