Something Cool and Yellow

Night Owl said it best in his blog post yesterday: "Just about anything good that happens this month I consider a birthday gift."

Like Night Owl, my birthday was earlier this month, and I'm lumping together all of the good things that happen in July as a gift from the cosmos. I've received several card packages over the last few weeks from fellow bloggers and readers, and though I doubt many (if any) had my birthday in mind, I've decided to consider them all birthday gifts anyway.

Earlier this week a bubble mailer arrived, and I knew it to be an intentional birthday gift. After all, my dad is the one who sent it.

Whoooooooooooooo!

A 1959 Topps Sandy Koufax. It's the first Sandy Koufax card from his playing days in my collection (though he is featured on the 1966 NL K Leaders card #226 with Cloninger and Drysdale which I also have). Still, this is the first proper Koufax card I get to call my own. 

My dad and I had a conversation about possible birthday gifts a couple of weeks ago, and this card happened to make its way into our talk. Little did I know it'd be in my hands just a few days later.

The card is in pretty good shape, with the borders being the big knock against it. I'm not a condition snob, so it does not bug me at all. 

And the last thing I'll do is complain about owning a Sandy Koufax card. 

I'm not sure why the back scanned so dark, but here it is. 

It's strange to see Koufax's numbers so mediocre. This is still early in his career, but a 4.20 career ERA certainly doesn't seem right. Koufax was still a couple of years away from his first otherworldy season, and ended his career with a stellar 2.76 ERA. 

I absolutely love the cartoon here, though there are at least a few hitting coaches that might take exception with this guy's approach at the plate. Most glaring is his hand position--now I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure holding them together on the bat doesn't lead to much success. FWOOOSH. 

2020 has been a terrible year so far, though July has had it's moments. 

Baseball is back. I took some vacation. And now I added a Koufax to the collection. 

Not bad birthday gifts at all. 

Thanks, Dad!

A Pair of A&G Blasters

Several months back, my girlfriend and I were apartment hunting and found ourselves in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. We were a bit early for an apartment viewing, so we decided to take a stroll around the area to get a better sense of what the new neighborhood might be like. We passed by several pizza shops (all claiming "The Best Slice in NY"), a Dunkin', and far too many empty storefronts. 

We were about to turn around and head back for our appointment, when I happened to read the sign in front of an absurdly large collection of buildings: "EBBETS FIELD."

Wait a minute. Ebbets Field?!? Of course, I know the Dodgers spent the first half of their existence in Brooklyn, but I never thought about where in Brooklyn they used to play. 

We didn't end up taking that apartment, instead opting for a much spacier place in Kensington, but it was certainly quite the find on that pleasant Sunday evening. 

As was the above Pee Wee Reese card that slid out of a pack of A&G a couple of weeks back. I didn't look at the A&G checklist (and still haven't) before picking up a pair of blasters at Target, so it was cool to add another Pee Wee to my Dodgers Legends binder. 

Speaking of legends, The Left Arm of God. Koufax is probably in most Topps releases nowadays, and though the photos sometimes get repetitive, I won't ever compain about adding more Koufax to my collection. Plus, is there a better combination of colors on these cards than red, white, and Dodger blue? I don't think so. 

My girlfriend and I ended up doing a "blaster box war," if you will, taking turns opening packs one by one and comparing cards to see who had the better box. She has very little baseball knowledge and resists my attempts to convert her into a Dodgers fan--she's from just outside of Cleveland and roots for the Indians--so there were many discussions to be had about the who pulled better players, celebs, and eggs. Of course, she ended up pulling the doozy of a card above--a Casey Stangel Brooklyn-back mini #'d 16/25--surpassing my blaster by far. Not bad. This went to eBay shortly after pulling it, and it just about paid for the blaster it came from.

The real draw of Allen and Ginter for me this year is the Mares and Stallions set. The checklist contains only 15 cards, but I'm making a concerted effort to track them all down as quickly as possible. The "Horse in the Race" 25-card mini set from '17 A&G still haunts me--I only have 2 of the 25 cards. 

I think I've mentioned this before, but my girlfriend is a life-long equestrian (hence the horse card collection I'm working on), so chasing these cards together has been quite fun. Though Topps found a way to mess that up. I'll let her explain...

"I was so excited to have found a few horse cards in the packs I opened, but as soon as I saw the Appaloosa card, my excitement dwindled. The Appaloosa is a breed characterized by its spotted coat. While the card above does show a bicolored coat, it is most certainly a paint (or at least pinto)--it's cowlike markings are nothing like those that characterize an Appaloosa. Appaloosas come in a variety of patterns, but to see a bit of the spectrum of an Appaloosa coat, take a look at the images below:

from https://www.saddleupcolorado.net/blog/appaloosa-horses/

from http://www.appaloosamuseum.org/

That said, it was still great to see a few horse cards, the incorrect picture notwithstanding."

Yep, so a bit of a disappointment when all is said and done, but it's still nice to move closer to the complete set. 

The fun didn't stop with the Mares and Stallions, however. In an attempt to match the other blaster, I pulled a pretty cool relic of Yadier Molina. I'm not at all a Cardinals fan (I dislike their devil magic), but there are enough Cardinals bloggers out there that this should have no difficulty finding a new home. 

All in all, we had a great time breaking open some boxes and ripping packs. I've always enjoyed doing this solo, but it's great to have someone to crack some packs with, and even more fun to chase a set together. 

My Life on Bunt: The Autos

So I attempted to make a blogger comback in the summer, promising more posts about the digital world of cards, but that plan quickly broke down as soon as I set up camp in New York at the end of August (an update on that soon). Life got busy pretty quickly and the writing just never happened. I did, however, continue to collect on Topps Bunt, and today's post will feature some of the cooler cards I obtained over the past few months. I'll also have some posts in the coming week or so on some of the non-autos from my Bunt Collection, as well as some of the physical cards I've bought over the past three months. I'll probably put together a couple of care packages for some of my blogger buddies as well--stay tuned for that post and let me know if you are looking for anything in particular.

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Though Bunt has a ton of downsides ("fake" digital cards, limited app capabilities, pricey currency for high-end cards) it has been a boon these last few months. Making friends has been a bit difficult at my new college, and, with the exception of chilling with my girlfriend on the weekends, my social life has hit an all-time low. Anybody in the blogosphere live in New York City or Long Island? Needless to say, I've spent a good number of hours entertaining myself on Bunt, and I've managed to build quite the collection. Oh, and I've done it without spending a dime.

Like most freemium apps, Bunt reserves their high-end cards for users who spend money on the app. Being poor and unwilling to spend money on my fake card collection, I have refused to do so. Still, I have worked to swing some deals notching me high-end cards, though many of my better cards have derived from award chases, a component of the app where users who collect a certain selection of cards by a certain date are given award cards. Take the Clayton Kershaw Laces Auto/Relic below, for example. Bunt ran a 12 Days of Bunt promotion a few weeks ago and released four holiday themed cards a day for its duration. Users who managed to collect all 48 cards by December 26th were awarded the beauty below.

Despite Bunt's numerous flaws, the chase component of the app provides a fun and unique aspect to collecting that we don't have in physical card collecting. Still, Bunt does like to screw over its non-paying users, often including limited edition cards that can only be purchased with diamonds near the end of the chases. Yes, I am speaking from experience. Yes, I am still a bit upset.

I'm slightly less upset about this sweet Bellinger auto that was given out as an award card, and is limited to just 74 copies. Though I wasn't awarded the card, I managed to pick it up in a trade. Bellinger was certainly a highlight in the greatest season of Dodger baseball of my life, and I'm excited to see just how high he can climb next season (World Series MVP would be nice).

Though Bellinger was great all season for the Dodgers, the great play by Austin Barnes in the second-half, coupled with Yasmani Grandal's big slump, pushed Barnes into the starting role throughout the playoffs. I've been a fan of Barnes since the Dodgers acquired him in the Dee Gordon deal a few years back, so I'm glad his potential is finally being recognized at the big league level.

Barnes only has a few cards available on the app, one of them being this signature which I acquired via trade shortly after it was released. I don't think my physical collection has any of Barnes in it, so I think I'll have to fix that when 2018 Flagship is released. 

This triple-auto featuring Bellinger, Turner, and Maeda was the highlight of my collection for a few weeks and remains one of the coolest cards in my collection. I'm still a bit confused by the trio of Dodgers they selected for this card though (I would have opted for Seager instead of Maeda and created a triple-sig of Dodger pitchers). Anybody know if there are any physical cards that resemble this one?

All throughout the past four months I've had my eyes set on trading for a Sandy Koufax auto, though I never had anything enticing enough to swing a deal with other collectors. That said, I finally managed to get my hands on some Koufax digital ink recently.

It's too bad this is in my digital collection rather than my physical one, but I'm happy to be its owner nonetheless. This card was one of my favorites from Stadium Club a couple of years back, so it was certainly cool to nab a signature version.

Though Bunt's downsides often make it frustrating to play, it does provide users with a simple and easy way to trade cards and share their collections. I doubt I'd be able to afford any of the autos above, so being able to collect them on Bunt is a fun consolation prize.

Be sure to check out my full collection on Bunt. I'd be happy to swing a deal with you and hook you up with some cool cards. My username is Chavezravinin (note: there is no 'g' at the end).

A Quick Thanks

I've received quite a few generous packages from bloggers over the past month. I've had cards scanned for a while, but I just never got around to doing any trade posts. I figured I would take this time to catch up on a couple of trades I made before Christmas. 

But before we do that, I'd like to thank William of Foul Bunt for the terrific Christmas card he sent my way. It's been a while since we last chatted, but it's nice to know that William is still doing good. Hopefully, I'll be sending some Orioles your way soon. 

The first trade package, and second last of the year, came courtesy of Nick over at Dimeboxes. It was our third trade, so we are pretty familiar with each other's collecting habits. He sends me Dodgers, and I send him a random hand full of cards and let him decide which mini collection they fit into. Just joking, Nick. 

In all seriousness, Nick is a fantastic trade partner. If my word isn't enough, just check out the gem you see above should. I don't stumble upon a ton of Koufax cards, so anything I receive in trades is well appreciated, especially a masterpiece like that.

Nick also hit up one of my bigger PC's with these awesome new Shawn Green cards. The Generation E-X card on the left is your standard shiny/crazy piece of awesomeness produced way back at the turn of the century. The Cracker Jack card on your other left is actually a set I used to buy in my first card collecting binge back in '05. The odd Mars-like background is definitely an weird, but weird is good. 

Nick also sent a few new Beltre's my way. I am a big fan of Topps t-206, so that card is most welcome in my PC. But I'm not so sure about the other one. I'm joking of course, but check out the back of the card. 

I find it a bit funny that the card actually uses the word 'PHAT' when referring to Adrian's glove, and even more funny that Nick had the same reaction with a similar card in a blog post a few days ago. 

Card companies be crazy, dawg. 

My love of Beltre's phat glove must be well known, because Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown sent me a couple of new cards in our latest trade. It will actually go down as the last trade of 2014, and he made it count. 

I'm really not sure what to say about this card. It is fantastic all the way around, and I can assure you that it looks much better in person (as do most cards). 

Here are some things I like about this card (in no particular order):

- Shiny black border

- Old-school Topps logo

- Complete stats on the back

But, as much as I love this card, I got something even sweeter from Gavin.

A Clayton Kershaw 1/1 Glow-in-the-Dark Sketch Card. I couldn't get a picture of it glowing in the dark to save my life (though it glows just fine), so thank goodness for the GIF Gavin posted to his blog a while back. 

Here is the back of the card, which includes a signature from the artist himself. The artwork is phenomenal, and the fact that it glows in the dark just tops it all off. I'll probably be hitting up Gavin for some more awesome sketches in the near future. 

With that, 2014 is finally over. It was my first full year blogging, and I truly enjoyed it. After only completing five trades in 3 months in 2013, I completed 65 in 2014. Along the way I met some awesome people and made some cool new friends. I'd like to thank all of those with whom I traded this year, as well as all of the people that took time out of their day to check out this silly blog of mine. I'm looking forward to another great year. 

A Cheap Card and Some Free Cards

I've been selling a few odds and ends on my eBay and have had some extra funds to use on cards because of it. I've been doing my best to limit my spending (only snagging really good deals) and I was able to do it again.

I picked up this sweet Adrian Beltre relic from 2014 Panini Immaculate for less than four bucks shipped. It is actually an acetate card, but it is not transparent. The acetate does give the card a unique look, however. This particular copy is #'d 66/99 and looks great in hand. I am now up to 109 unique Adrian Beltre cards and that number will only increase. 

But wait, there's more!

The seller decided to surround the card with a few "protection cards". Lucky for me, this was done with the recently released, Topps Stadium Club. I have been oogling these cards on the blogosphere for quite some time now, but I was finally able to take a look at some in person. They were all slightly dinged up, but that didn't bug me too much. 

And why should it? I got this card for free! If only I had the money to go out and buy a box. If anybody is looking for a spare Joe Mauer, Eddie Murray, Bob Feller, Miguel Cabrera, or Nolan Ryan Field Access card, let me know. They are dinged up, but they're free!

Chavez Ravining Custom #4: Sandy Koufax

It was only a matter of time before I sat down to make a custom of one of the greatest Dodgers of all-time: Sandy Koufax. 

1962 Sandy Koufax CR Custom #4

I believe this card came out absolutely spectacular. It features a smiling Koufax on one of the better vintage designs. I adore this picture of Sandy. From the collar sticking out of the top of the jersey, to the green underside of the brim, this picture has it all. If I ever figure out a way to print these things, you bet this will be the first one I print. 

A Couple of Relics, One Auto, and Some Spectacular Base Cards

I recently completed my first trade with Dustin of Cool Veal and the Vealtones. Dustin is synonymous with trade bait, at least that is what his blog is filled with. Make sure you head over and see what he has to offer. 

His trade bait posts made this trade happen, as I saw a card I was interested in and contacted him about it. We discussed a few more cards, and a deal was made. 

And here is the card that sparked my interest. AJ Vanegas was the Dodgers 11th round pick (339th overall) out of Stanford this year. He projects to be a reliever, and should have a quick path to the majors. 

Turns out I missed an even better card in the same trade bait post. However, Dustin was quick to offer this card up to me. Hand numbered to just 99, this is my first autograph of the eventual Dodger (hopefully). 

The Vanegas cards weren't the only hits of the trade though. Dustin sent along this sweet relic of former Dodger, Shawn Green. I really miss those Dodger away uniforms from the mid 2000's. 

I love hits, but sometimes I love base cards even more. Case in point: this fantastic shot of Pee Wee Reese. It's not often I see Reese on cardboard, but Topps really hit it out of the park with this one. On top of a solid card design, we see Pee Wee making a helluva throw in what looks like a double play. Though the player sliding looks like he is also wearing a Brooklyn uniform. If the awesome shot wasn't good enough, it appears Jackie Robinson makes a cameo. Which makes me wonder: what other cards does Robinson make a cameo appearance in?

Since we are on the topic of Hall of Famers, let's talk some more about Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider. This may actually be the cardboard debut of The Duke, but I could be wrong. *EDIT: It's not* These cards come from 1989 Bowman, a set I couldn't care less about. I'm not a big fan of the oversized Bowman cards from that time, but I am happy to make an exception for two of the greatest players to don a Dodgers uni. 

Which brings us to possibly the best player to ever wear a Dodgers uni, Sandy Koufax. Dustin was nice enough to send over this card of the best lefty to play the game. I had yet to see this image of Koufax on cardboard, but he looks to be tossing in the bullpen prior to a game. I, for one, would love to see some bullpen shots on modern cards, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Clayton Kershaw is often compared to Koufax, if only because he pitches with his left arm. You can't deny his greatness however, as he is having one of the most dominant seasons by a pitcher in recent memory. I'm glad Dustin was able to find a Kershaw I needed. 

We finish of this trade post with an appearance from Scott Van Slyke. Van Slyke, the Dodgers 5th outfielder, debuted on cardboard with a wonderful shot of him spinning a batting helmet on his fingers. However, his epic beard was not yet in development. He has, however, worked on his signature a bit. 

The package was filled with a bunch of other goodies, so my thanks goes out to Dustin. Hope we can deal again soon!

The Chavez Ravining Hall of Fame

I have been collecting for slightly over a year now, and I've been blogging for just about 8 months. As much as I enjoy the hobby, I have a big problem that I have been trying to deal with for quite some time. 

How should I organize my cards?

Now, don't confuse that with "How should I store my cards?" I am simply talking about how to organize/categorize the cards I do have.

Obviously player collections are my main focus, with guys like Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu etc... getting a majority of the air time. Any time I pull a card from one of those guys, it gets inventoried and stuck in the player's respective binder. Of course, that is usually accompanied by a post here, but that isn't really important to this discussion. 

The problem I have been having is deciding how to store Dodger cards that don't belong to one of my numerous player collections. 

As of now, most non-Topps Flagship Dodgers (and non PC players) are sitting inside a couple of 1000 count boxes next to my desk. I don't value these cards less than any other piece of cardboard, hits aside, but I have been avoiding the prospect of sorting them. We all know that sorting isn't the most exciting activity out there. 

I decided I wanted to tackle this huge project piece by piece. So that is why I decided to create the Chavez Ravining Hall of Fame. I mean, if any cards deserve to be pried from their cardboard box tomb, it's the Hall of Famers. 

However, I am not talking about the Hall of Famers enshrined in Cooperstown. No, no, no. I am starting my own Hall of Fame, composed primarily of Dodgers.

I've longed wanted to have a binder full of Dodger legends, but it has taken me 8 months to get around to it. 

So here's the deal. We all know that Hall of Famers are voted into Cooperstown, so my version of the HOF will do the same. 

But I am not relying on ill-informed newspaper reporters to do the voting. That honor will be bequeathed to you, the readers. 

Now here is what you need to know.

• I will release a list consisting of about 5 players every month. 
• You will then vote on which player deserves to be enshrined into the Chavez Ravining Hall of Fame. 
• The top voter will then be forever enshrined in the CR HOF. 
• That player will then have a victory lap on my blog, in which I highlight all of their cards in my possession. 

Simple enough, right?

Now that you know what this is all about, let me introduce the inaugural class of Chavez Ravining Hall of Famers. I decided on the first two members on my own, but I guarantee that they would have been the first two voted in regardless.

 Voting on the next Hall of Famer will begin within the next few days. You can always check out the brand spanking new, Chavez Ravining HOF page at the top of the page. 

Jackie Robinson 2B/3B/OF (1947-1956) 
Career Stats: .311/.409/.474, 1518 Hits, 137 Home Runs, 734 RBI's, 197 Stolen Bases, 61.5 WAR
Career Achievements: 1947 Rookie of the Year, 1949 NL MVP, 1949 Batting Title, 6x All-Star

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Sandy Koufax P (1955-1966)
Career Stats: 165 Wins, 2.76 ERA, 137 Complete Games, 2396 Strikeouts, 9.3 K/9, 53.2 WAR

Career Achievements: 3x Cy Young Winner, 1963 NL MVP, 6x All-Star, 1963 and 1965 WS MVP 

Trade with Reader Brandon: A Couple of Relics and A Pair of Lefties

I completed my first trade with reader Brandon, who found me through Brad's Blog. After noticing some cards he wanted through my Mega Trade bait, we quickly came to a deal.

Unfortunately, I have yet to send his cards out. In fact, I have yet to send cards out to anybody in about a week and a half. I feel extremely bad, but I guess I have an excuse - today will be my first day back home since Monday. If I was smart, I would have shipped cards on Monday, but I did not think that far ahead. That said, I will be shipping off about 10 bubble mailers this Monday. 

The card I was most interested in, and the card that spearheaded this deal, is this awesome Shawn Green relic. For some reason I did not put the year of the card in the file name, therefore I am at work scrambling to find out. It's not a big deal right now however, and I will adjust my Shawn Green PC accordingly when I get home this evening. 

Brandon also threw in this Kevin Brown relic. I am not the biggest fan of Kevin Brown, though I never did really watch him pitch. I only started to get into the Dodgers and baseball when I was around 10 (2003), so I only caught the back-end of his career with the boys in blue. Adding a relic of a Dodger is always welcome whether it is Kevin Brown of *sigh* Andruw Jones. 

Finally, I will show off this sweet Koufax/Kershaw card Brandon sent over. I was surprised I did not have it yet, but there are thousands of cards I do not have, so it really shouldn't be a surprise. There aren't a ton of cards with the two best lefties in Dodger history, but I am glad to add this to the Kershaw PC. I will be on the hunt for another to add to the Koufax binder.

Thanks again for the trade Brandon!