Re-evalutaing My Collection

I have been putting this post of for a while. I guess I have been trying to hide from the madness that cards have been causing me.

A a full-time student, a part-time worker, a blogger, and the manager/editor of the MLB Section at Pro Sports Extra, I have been overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed at some point in your life is completely normal, but eventually it becomes too much to handle. Things start to get pushed back, other things start to slip the mind, and there is a constant feeling of being behind. 

That is why I am re-evaluating my collection and my goals. 

Let's take a look at some of the things I plan on continuing first.

1. My Main PC Guys

Of course I wasn't going to stop collecting my main guys. I will still be on the hunt for anything from Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Beltre, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Shawn Green.

2. Dodger Autos and Relics

I am a Dodger fan first, and a card collector second. It has always been that way and the Dodgers play a large role in my collection. I plan on acquiring more hits from my boys in blue as time passes by.

3. Secondary PC's

I will take advantage of every opportunity I get to post a scan of this fabulous card.  The Secondary PC guys will still be a part of my collection. That means anything from David Ortiz, Bryce Harper, Yasiel Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Corey Seager, and Andre Ethier will still be welcome here. 

4. Tertiary PC's

This is new to most of you. I have decided to actually expand my collection in one particular area. I will not actively be on the hunt for these players, but I will attempt to add their cards through trades.

• Russell Martin
• Paco Rodriguez
• Kerry Wood
• Jose Fernandez
• Zack Greinke
• Manny Ramirez 

5. Topps Team Set Project/Topps Chrome Rainbow

I will continue these two "lifetime" goals until the dawn of time. You can check the progress of these in the title bar up top. 

6. Parks and Rec Auto Quest

No way I'm stopping this. I haven't been able to watch this show lately because they haven't uploaded the newest season to Netflix yet, but as soon as they do I am looking at an all day marathon. 

7. Topps Flagship/Topps Heritage/Topps Chrome

Finally we get to the end of the list.  I was previously collecting nearly every set that was realized for Topps/Bowman  in 2013 but that is just too stupid and expensive for my taste. I decided to cut back to just my favorite 3 sets of the year. Topps Flagship, Topps Heritage, and Topps Chrome. I will look to complete the master set for 2014 Flagship, but that will change to the base set only next year. As far as the other two sets go, I am just going to complete the base sets, including the SP's on Heritage. Otherwise, I will only be looking for Dodgers/PC people with the other sets. 

As far as everything else goes, its out the window for the time being. That includes my mini collections like Pimping Dingers, Celebrating on the Mound, and the rest. I will keep the cards I already have with the intention of starting those up again when I am out of college with a real job and an apartment of my own, but as of now they don't fit. 

Hopefully this will relieve some of the stress associated with the hobby and it will allow me to get things under a bit more control. I will be contacting a few people with some cards that I no longer have interest in and there will be a mega Trade Bait Tuesday next week. If there is anything you are interested in let me know,  and we can work something out. This will also allow me to continue with contests again. In fact, expect a new contest tonight!

The Jackie Robinson PC

There is no doubt that Jackie Robinson is one of baseball's best players, as well as a Dodgers great. (In fact, I recently included him on my Mt. Rushmore of Dodgers which you can see here)  

A few weeks back I showed off my small Sandy Koufax collection, and introduced him as a Primary PC guy. I still haven't gotten around to posting a list of the cards I own, but eventually that will be up. 

Today, I am introducing Jackie Robinson to my PC binders, as a secondary collecting interest. Because Blogger won't allow me create anymore pages, I will post a list of my Robinson cards and post it sometime late tonight.  

I am making this a secondary PC for the time being because Robinson will probably take a back door to my other collecting interests. There isn't a whole lot of cards released for him now days, so picking those up won't be too tough. But like my Koufax PC, I worry about vintage and autographed cards. 

I've noticed that my collections lacks "in-game shots", as all of these cards look posed. Not a big deal, but I'll be on the lookout.

Here we see a couple of in-game shots. These scanned a little dark, but not too bad. These cards were found in one of my dads old binders and are probably the reason I decided to finally go ahead with this PC. I cannot find any info on this set of cards, but they are from a 1996 UD product. I have cards 1-9, minus 2 & 3. If this is a 9 card set, then I will be looking to complete it with those two cards. I do have dupes of these, so if anybody is interested just let me know.  

What you see is what I have. If you have a card that isn't pictured here, chances are I'm interested. 

Trade with Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle: PC Madness Pt. 1

I recently completed my first trade with fellow Dodger fan and collector, Greg of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle. Hopefully not the last though because, Greg hooked a brother up. So much so, that I am splitting this into two separate posts. Check back for Part 2 tomorrow.

Greg decided to go straight after my PC's in this trade, hitting four of my Primary PC's in this post alone. Let's start with Matt Kemp.

Five new Kemp's, three of which I've never seen. The UD Icons card is pretty sweet, and it is a set I may put together one day.  Directly below that we see a 2009 UD SP Legendary Cuts #90. It has the appearance of a stamp, and is a fantastic card all around. Probably my favorite of the five above. With these five cards, my Matt Kemp PC sits at a modest 107 cards. Greg has nearly triple that amount, so I still have a ways to go before I catch him.

In addition to the Kemp cards, Greg sent over a heavy dose of Kershaw goodiness. Anytime I can add seven new Kid K cards to the PC, I'm having a good day. The gold Bowman on the top left is undoubtedly my favorite card of the bunch. The other are wonderful as well, but Kershaw is pitching in a USA jersey and you can't top that. 

Also included in this fantastic trade were four cards of the former Dodger/Mariner/Red Sox, Adrian Beltre. I now have six Beltre cards from his time in Seattle, and he is wearing the road jersey in every single one. No big deal, but it is a little strange.

Because Shawn Green is my favorite Dodger of all-time, I get giddy when I see new cards of his. The '91 Draft Classics card on the right is a new one for me and features Green in his high school jersey. How often do you see an aluminum bat on a baseball card? The card on the left will be mailed to Green in hope he returns it with his John Hancock. I guess I'll have to pick his address up from a fellow blogger. 

Russell Martin does not have a PC of his own in my collection, but he should. I may add him as a secondary PC in the next few days, though I'd have to go through all of my Dodger's again to pull his cardboard. These four cards are a good place to start a PC, but the Bowman Chrome on the top left may never be beat. It is instantly an all-time favorite Dodger card for me and if Greg wouldn't have sent it, I would bought it on eBay myself. WBC/Olympic jersey's are quickly becoming a favorite of mine, but we'll discuss that in a few days. 

I haven't even gotten to my favorite card of the trade, but this already rates as one of the best trade packages I've ever received. Thanks Greg!

"New" PC Additions and Some PC Changes

I started collecting baseball cards in 2005. In 2005 my dad was about 10 years removed from collecting himself. He collected for about 8 years, spanning from 1988 to 1995. Of course, he was not a blogger back in those days, therefore he still has every card he ever bought. While we were in the shed last night, we happened upon a large portion of his collection from back in the day. I also stumbled on a box I was very familiar with. 

Now as a 12 year old kid, with very little knowledge about collecting I did not make the best decisions. I only collected the Dodgers back in the day, and threw every thing else in this box. A box with various cards from the mid-2000's simply thrown into the box that stayed where they landed. 

As you can see there are a few football cards mixed in, along with some stuff from the late 90's as well.  AS you can probably guess, the cards inside are not in the best condition. 

Some cards survived this graveyard of cardboard with no damage at all. Others not so much....

I took the time to go through these cards last night, and I am currently in the process of organizing them into stacks that will be much easier to sort. I have cards from every team, with big names like Frank Thomas and Albert Pujols, and smaller names like Noah Lowry and Jeff Cirillo. 

I also managed to find some cards I needed for my various PC's and Topps Team Set Project. 

Two cards from 1982 Topps, albeit in less than perfect condition. Both have dinged corners and can probably be improved upon, but they are good enough for the time being.

I was also able to run across an Andre Ethier card I purchased 7 years ago. I don't know what the card is referring to about 7 triples. I have done some research and cannot find anything about Ethier and triples. I even found the game recap from the game in question, and there is no mention of any triples. Regardless, this is a great card and a welcome addition to my secondary PC binder.

I love adding Beltre cards to my PC. He has more cards out there than any other of my main PC's, yet my card total is lacking. This is a great shot of Beltre, though he is in the drab Mariners away jersey. He had an awful year for Seattle in 2005, only hitting 19 homers while putting up a paltry .303 OBP. He has improved on those numbers every year up until last season, though his defense has always been superb.

I also picked up three new cards of Dodger great, Shawn Green. It is unfortunate none of these cards show him in Dodger blue, but they are welcome additions nonetheless. 

If you haven't noticed, Corey Seager has been removed from the title bar up top. I have been thinking about changing up my main PC's for a little bit, and I think I've finally made up my mind. 

Primary PC's

Matt Kemp

Clayton Kershaw

Adrian Beltre

Shawn Green

Hyun-Jin Ryu

Secondary PC's

Yasiel Puig

Corey Seager

David Ortiz

Hanley Ramirez

Andre Ethier

Bryce Harper

Chad Billingsley

Adrian Gonzalez

Jose Fernandez

The lists are in no particular order, so don't think and I'll collect any card from the aforementioned players. I'd like to get my hands on the true rookie cards for each one of these players sometime in 2014, but with the amount of goals I've set for myself it may not happen. 

Going back to the box now, you may get some cards from the team you collect if we ever trade. The cards are not guaranteed to be in the best condition, but I can only hope you'll enjoy them as much as I enjoy my Dodger cards. 

It's Raining Dodgers

It has been a long week. I feel like I've sort of abandoned the blog this week, though I did manage to scrap together a few posts. School starts next week so I need to get back on track with daily posts. 

I did manage to pick up some awesome cards from my LCS again this week. I always take in my Yankee base cards in exchange for free Dodgers cards or supplies. The owner is a great guy and he gave me some awesome stuff this time around.

Before I dive into the cards, please check out my secondary player collections in the sidebar. I have recently been deciding on a few more players to collect that don't call Los Angeles home. I have finalized those players, and now I am on a mission to gather up their cards. If you have anything from those players I would be glad to take it off your hands. Just shoot me an email and hopefully we can work something out. 

I'll start out with a card from Scott Van Sly......err....Chris Withrow. Albeit, a mustache-less Withrow. I'm sure there is a Ron Swanson/mustache line I can throw in here, but I am just to tired to think of anything clever. This happens to be the refractor version of the card, meaning it is #'d 382/999. I have a shocking lack of Withrow cards, this being only my second, something that needs to be fixed in the immediate future. I'm thinking an auto may be next. 

Another Sandy Dandy, for him and me. I know I have this card already, but I think it is in the 2013 Heritage set I am still trying to put together. I don't know if the number 32 is intentionally blue, as I am obviously not old enough to have ever seen the lefty pitch. It seems like it may be an oversight by Topps, but what do I know. 

Moving on to one of my favorite Dodgers, Chad Billingsley. The overly criticized righty may soon be pushed out of Los Angeles if the Dodgers wind up with Tanaka. The Dodgers are loaded up with arms, and that is before you account for Billingsley and the young studs in the minors. I hope he sticks around for a while so I'll be able to pick up some more of his cardboard.

My favorite, yet still not resigned Dominican, Hanley Ramirez. I cannot fathom where the Dodgers would be without him. If the Ned Colletti and company are smart, he will be about $100 million dollars richer come Spring Training. I love the card on the right, though not because of the actual design of the card. I really like the shirt Hanley is wearing, and I  love when players are smiling as big as he is. 

Another A-Gon card, though in Padres gear this time. 2010 Topps Chrome is the warpiest (is that even a word?) set of cards I have ever laid my hands on.I have a few more to show in this post, so more on that later. 

The final Dodger/Secondary PC card of this post belongs to Andre Either. I think Andre looks especially good in the Dodgers uni. I honestly cannot envision him in another teams colors. The orange border contrasts nicely with the card which is #'d 153/250. I may chase all the orange borders from this set, though I really hate chasing orange cards. I do my best trying to ignore the Giants here in Fresno, and the orange cards don't make it any easier. 

I talked the owner of the LCS into handing this card over. He can sell Ryu's for a pretty good price in town, but I told him I have a few dupes I can bring his way. I love getting my hands on Hyun-Jin's Ryu-kie cards, and the numbering is an added bonus. I plan on acquiring every rookie card Ryu has out there, so if you have one that isn't listed in my Ryu PC, let me know. I will make it worth your while if you do.

I always love it when I can add more cards to my Kershaw PC with spending a penny. In this case, I added both the 2010 and 2011 Bowman Platinum Kershaw's to my PC. I like the design of the left one a slightly more. The one on the right doesn't have a huge difference between the 2012 and 2013 versions of Bowman Platinum, both sets that I am not too big on. 

Another Kershaw, another warped card from 2010 Topps Chrome. You can see the obvious darkness on the top of the card, all due to the warping. It is a shame these cards are warped, though it seems like Topps has fixed the problem in recent years. 

Some more warped cards from 2010 Topps products. Another from Chrome and one from Topps 206. The 206 is an absolute beauty of a card. In fact it is my favorite card of the Bison so far, excluding the autos. This happens to be the refractor parallel #'d 116/499. I know there is a blue parallel of this card, but I can't seem to find any other parallels. I don't know if this is because I am half asleep writing this, or my research skills are simply lacking. Either way I will make it a point to add more of these beauties to my collection. 

Another successful trip to my LCS landed me some great cards. They merely cost me some lowly Yankee bases, so I am more than thrilled. If you have any Yankee's laying around I'd love to work them into a trade. I will probably be making many trips to the LCS with Yankees in the future. 

Adrian Beltre and Secondary PC's

2012 Bowman Platinum #149

I picked this beauty up off eBay a while ago for less than 2 bucks shipped. I thought I did a card of the day post on this a while back, but while going through my PC's today I could not find it. I usually put the card into my PC after I do a post about it, but couldn't even find the card. Turns out it was at the bottom of a stack of cards from 1990 stars that I haven't posted about yet. 

It is one of my favorite shots from 2012 Bowman Chrome, and one of my favorite Beltre cards. Nothing like a picture of a guy admiring a ball he just crushed. Pictures like this make this hobby great. 

I have updated a few more pages on the blog, most noticeably my "Who I Collect" page. I decided that I did not want to collect exclusively Dodgers a while back. You can see my new secondary player collections on the sidebar at the right. All of my secondary player collections should be up today. These cards are available for trade just like any other card I post on the blog, so if something catches your eye just let me know.

Non card rated topic. I recently downloaded Words with Friends and need some people to play with. Every time you beat me you'll get a Chavez Code point. Add me "Markle05".