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. 

Building a Best of the Decade Team from Flagship

It's admittedly been pretty quiet here on the blog for most of the year. Typical life stuff like work and moving (again!!!) have gotten in the way of blogging and collecting, but with COVID-19 forcing me to work from home and stay inside, I've once again found some time to devote to the blog. (For those wondering, I'm holed up in my apartment in Jersey City, NJ, and staying heathy. I hope you all are as well.) Let's hope I get back on a more regular schedule moving forward. 

2020 has been pretty light in terms of new cards for the collection, so I thought I'd revisit my binders and put together a different kind of post today--a best of the decades post. But rather than simply give a list of the best Dodgers cards of the decade, I decided to make things difficult and give myself a few rules:

1. Select one player for each position (just one starting pitcher and one reliever);
2. Each player has to represent a different year between 2010-2019; and
3. I have to have each player's flagship card in my collection. 

There were a few easy choices here, including a pair of MVP seasons and a Rookie of the Year. Other choices were a bit more difficult. Second base was a revolving door of incompetence for the Dodgers, especially earlier in the decade, which made it difficult to fit into the rest of the puzzle. Without further ado, here's the squad I constructed. 

Catcher - Yasmani Grandal (2017)
Key Stats: 22 HR, .459 SLG%, 2.4 WAR

Grandal was the Dodgers' best catcher of the decade and one of their best players since he joined the team in 2015. His 2017 season was actually his worst for the Dodgers, but I had to get him into this list somehow. 2017 didn't have the best Flagship design, but this is a great photo of Yaz in his catcher's gear. 

1st Base - Adrian Gonzalez (2015)
Key Stats: 28 HR, .275/.350/.480, 4.6 WAR

Vin Scully provided A-Gon with one of my favorite monikers of the decade, often calling him the "butter-and-egg man". Gonzalez drove in 448 runners in his 5+ years with the Dodgers, including 90 RBIs in the 2015 season. I assume he's watching a ball go over the fence in this card from 2015. 

2nd Base - Mark Ellis (2012)
Key Stats: 2.6 WAR

The Dodgers have had a number of guys man second over the years, but there wasn't a constant guy manning the position. Mark Ellis had a fairly productive tenure with the team for a couple of seasons, his value largely provided by his glove. 

3rd Base - Justin Turner (2018)
Key Stats: .312/.406/.518, 4.9 WAR

Turner came to the Dodgers as a non-roster invitee back in 2014 and has since cemented his place as one of the best third baseman in Dodgers' history. 2017 was his best season with the club. If there is no season in 2020, there's a chance he's already played his last game for the Dodgers. 

Shortstop - Corey Seager (2016)
Key Stats: 26 HR, .308/.365/.512, 5.2 WAR, NL Rookie of the Year, Silver Slugger

Seager hit the scene in an impressive fashion, smashing 26 homers in route to the Rookie of the Year award. He's been consistently productive since his debut, though a lost 2018 season due to Tommy John surgery has led many to overlook Seager. Should the 2020 season ever be played, he'll play an integral role in the club's success. 

Left Field - Yasiel Puig (2013)
Key Stats: 19 HR, .319/.391/.534, 4.7 WAR

The decade was one of the most succcessful in team history, and Puig's arrival is a big reason why. His first week in the majors is probably my favorite event of the decade, and his 2013 rookie card is still one of my favorite pieces of cardboard ever. 

Center Field - Matt Kemp (2011)
Key Stats: .324/.399/.586, 39 HR, 40 SB, 8.0 WAR, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger

My pursuit of Matt Kemp carboard was the reason I started this blog in the first place back in 2013. His 2011 season was the best of his career, and he just missed garnering MVP honors, losing to Ryan Bruan. I didn't start collecting on a regular basis unti 2012, so I missed the boat on the great 2011 set, but I managed to get this card into my collection pretty quickly. I'm just 4 cards away from completing the 2011 set, including Kemp's card from Update Series. 

Right Field - Cody Bellinger (2019)
Key Stats: 47 HR, 115 RBI, .305/.406/.629, 9.1 WAR, NL MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger

Bellinger's 2019 was absolutely bonkers, though there's a chance he wouldn't have been the MVP if Christian Yelich didn't go down to injury in the last month of the season. Also of note, the 2019 Flagship design is one of my favorite designs from the decade (and perhaps one of my favorite sets ever).  

Starting Pitcher - Clayton Kershaw (2014)
Key Stats: 1.77 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 7.7 WAR, NL MVP, NL Cy Young

Honestly, any of Kershaw's seasons over the last decade would have been appropriate to include in this position. His production has certainly dropped off over the last few seasons, but he's still an incredible talent and one of the best pitchers in the game. His run of dominance--topped with an MVP award in 2014--from 2010-2015 is one of the best peaks for a pitcher in history, and I'm glad I've been able to see him pitch in person nearly a half-dozen times (including a 2008 game where he faced Max Scherzer of the D-Backs. It was Kershaw's 17th career start and Scherzer's 13th. The game was initially supposed to be a matchup between Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson, but both eventual Hall of Famers were scratched prior to the game.). 

Relief Pitcher - Hong-Chih Kuo (2010)
Key Stats: 1.20 ERA, 12 SV, 3.2 WAR

Kuo had a pair of successful seasons with the Dodgers but was otherwise ineffective during his time in the Majors. His 2010 seasons stands out as one of the best years for a reliever this decade. 

Just for fun, here's what a potential lineup might look like.  
Yasiel Puig - LF
Corey Seager - SS
Cody Bellinger - RF
Matt Kemp - CF
Adrian Gonzalez - 1B
Justin Turner - 3B
Yasmani Grandal - C
Mark Ellis - 2B
Clayton Kershaw - P

Something Old, Something New: Cards from Nick at Dime Boxes

I recently received a wonderful 'Welcome Back' package from my pal Nick over at Dime Boxes. It's been a couple of few years since I last received a bubble mailer of cards (February of 2015, to be exact), so I was ecstatic when I got home late last week to see a loaded bubble mailer sticking out of my mail slot.

The bubble mailer was nice, but the cards within were spectacular. I mean, take a look at this beat up 1966 Walt Alston manager card. I've largely dabbled with the modern stuff over the past few years, so finding this well-loved piece of vintage cardboard is certainly fun. It also inches me a card closer to completing the 1966 Dodgers Team Set--three down, twenty-five to go.

That beautiful Alston wasn't the only throwback card in the mailer. Nick also included this fun Dodgers team card from the 1964 set. It's too bad the Dodgers don't have a celebratory card in this year's set...

Finding cards from the 60s was certainly a welcome surprise, and coming across this Kellogg's 3-D card was also a bit unexpected. Despite spending the first half of this decade collecting, I never actually had one of these in my collection. Super fun.

Nick also passed along some modern cards, this Turner from perhaps the best product of the past few years: Stadium Club. I'm a huge fan of Justin Turner, both for his wonderful play in a Dodgers uni and for his magnificent red mane. I'm a redhead myself (though balding far too quickly), so redheaded players in the majors is a fun time. My exit from collecting coincided with Turner's rise in Los Angeles, so I was never able to collect many of his cards. I'm hoping that changes moving forward.

I don't have a whole lot to say here. You've just got to appreciate the wonderful photography in Stadium Club. Beautiful card.

More fun photography, this time from Flagship. Nick sent me a ton of Flagship, knocking out a ton needs from the past few years. While there were certainly some awesome cards, I definitely needed to comment on this wonderful Rob Segedin. First, it's a card for freaking Rob Segedin--not a household name by any means. Rob hasn't seen the majors since last season and probably won't find his way back onto the Dodgers roster this year, but this RC is fun. Second, how often do we see horizontal cards of outfielders throwing from the outfield? It stood out to me, so I'm guessing it's not all that common.

A Cody Bellinger card! The market was flooded with Bellinger (and Judge) cards last year after a strong rookie campaign, though a Belli card had yet to enter my collection until now. 

Thanks again for the cards. Nick! 

A Wild Horse Sketch Appears! Or Not...

I spent quite a bit of money on cards in December. Looking back, I probably spent more than I should have, but I am happy with what I got. I'm definitely glad that I'm spending money on single cards on eBay, rather than blaster boxes from Target that provide me with little value. Though, sometimes I am able to add a card to my collection without having to spend anything. 

My buddy Dikran probably had the same expression on his face when he opened up a package and saw this pop out. He bought this card for around ten bucks back in October, but was disappointed to see he spent his hard earned cash on a print, not an actual sketch. 

As you can see from the scan of the back, this is actually a limited edition print, though it is signed by the artist. 

The card itself is pretty cool. I started getting into sketch cards after viewing all of the phenomenal ones here, so I quickly got Dikran to join in on the fun. His first "sketch card" purchase didn't go so well, but it seemed to work out for me. Dikran offered this card up to me if I took him out to Panda Express (double win!), and Puig came home to me. 

While a Wild Horse Sketch would have been cool, I'm happy to add this limited edition print into my Puig PC.

Stadium Club, Some Dodgers, and My Greatest Pull Ever

I decided to take a break from Matt Kemp week (only after two days) and post about something that happened yesterday. I was still able to pick up a new Kemp (which is in this post), so I guess we can say Matt Kemp week is still technically going. 

Anyway. I had to make an unexpected stop to my LCS yesterday in search for a Christmas gift for a friend. I haven't been to my LCS in months, and I felt a little guilty for not keeping in touch with the owner. I went in with the intention of just asking about an item, but I ended up dropping 25 bucks on a mini box of Stadium Club. The cards are freaking gorgeous, and I knew I was guaranteed an auto which gave me an opportunity to make my money back. 

That didn't happen. I had a pretty lackluster box in terms of hits, but that wasn't a big deal. I bought the box for the sweet base cards within. I am a bit disappointed that Kershaw didn't get a more creative shot, but I'm not complaining. Any day I can add a new Kershaw is a good one. 

I pulled some sweet cards from the box, including the fantastic Beltre celebration card you see above. Doesn't look like he upset that his head is being touched...yet.

I have discovered that I am pretty darn good at pulling inserts of the games brightest young stars. I nabbed these sweet diecuts from my box, and they will immediately be heading to their respective binders. Also, that Puig card is pretty electric. That blue is phenomenal in person. 

Here is the auto I pulled. Needless to say, it could have been much better. I am not a big fan of Kelly (2013 playoffs were not a fun time), so I am looking to trade this card as soon as possible. I know there are tons of Cardinals fans out there, so hit me up if you are interested. 

I also dug through some dime boxes and pulled these three beauties. I have not had the chance to buy any Finest yet, so finding the ones that interested me for cheap was awesome. That is card number 189 of Matt Kemp by the way. 

The fun was going to end there, but I picked up a bag of team bags to buy. The owner and I were chatting and started to toss the bags back and forth. After a short time of doing this it turned into a sort of game. In fact, we made a bet over this little game of ours. The first one to drop the bags was the loser. If I lost, I would buy three packs of update. If he lost, I would get three packs of update for free. Innocent enough. Of course, my hands decided to stop working and I dropped the bags on the first toss. There goes another five bucks, I was stuck buying more cards.

The first two packs were pretty uneventful. Just the standard update cards, with a decent mixture of rookies and All-Star cards. However, the third pack caught me (and the owner) by surprise. 

That is a freaking Oscar Taveras clear parallel #'d 2/10. I have no real tie to Taveras or the Cardinals, however his tragic death just a couple of months ago was incredibly saddening. So pulling this card evoked feelings of joy and sadness. But those sad feelings soon left after I found that the only other copy of this card on eBay sold for 185 bucks. 

So that is where this one will be shortly. I'm hoping to get at least a 150 bucks for it, but we'll see. I've never pulled such an expensive card before, so this is sort of exciting. Of course, I will take offers for it here on the blog, but chances are it will sell on eBay. 

EDIT: Here is the listing. Reserve is $100.00 for any of those interested in bidding. You may want to just contact me directly. 

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.

A Chavez Ravining Custom

A few of my recent trade partners may have noticed a custom sketch card made specifically for them. They were crudely drawn, sometimes featured on a 3X5 card or decoy card. I have just about zero artistic ability, but I am able to draw some boorish characters similar to The Simpsons. 

I have always wanted to make my own baseball card, and those terrible sketches were just about my only way to do that. That changed when I reached out to Ernest of Dodgers Blue Heaven. 

I recently noticed a post in which he immortalized new Dodger, Kevin Correia, on a 1959 Topps baseball card. I reached out to him to get some info on how he makes those cards. He did me one better and sent me some of the templates he uses to make those cards.

After a couple of days of messing around with the templates in Photoshop, I proudly present to you my first creation. 

1962 Yasiel Puig CR Custom #1

Based on the 1962 Topps design, I opted to create a card of the Wild Horse for my first Chavez Ravining Custom. I was debating on wheteher or not I should used a posed photo, but went with this shot of a grumpy Yasiel Puig. Although I couldn't find the direct source for this photo, I pulled it from this Bleacher Report (blegh!) article. 

I plan on releasing a new card at least once a week, and creating my very own set. I am still working out the details on how I want to go about this exactly, but I will have a page for these custom cards very soon. 

I also need to purchase Photoshop. I downloaded the 30-day trial to try this out, but I am now searching for a cheap way to get my hands on this technology. I looked into getting the student edition, but everything seems to be on a monthly membership that I could do without. Any suggestions? 

If you are interested in having me make a card for you, just leave a comment or shoot me an email. I can create these pretty quickly, so long as the chosen photo doesn't give me problems. I have different templates to choose from, but my Photoshop skill is limited. 

Following up my 21st with a 1st

I celebrated my 21st birthday on Saturday (thanks to all those who wished me a happy birthday btw), and I decided to take some of my birthday money over to my LCS. I was debating on spending the money on a Kershaw auto, but I decided to buy my very first hobby box. 

Nothing was really jumping out at me, but I decided to go with a box of 2014 Donruss. In hindsight, I probably would have enjoyed ripping something else, but the box turned out fine. 

Each box supposedly comes with two autos and one relic. Every box also comes with a box topper, which I find pretty gnarly. 

Especially, since this is the very first thing I pulled. 

.

I cropped it to save some room, but I managed to pull a David Wright autographed box topper. That's a pretty damn good way to start off a box. This was immediately listed on eBay, as it should sell for about the same price as the box. 

I'll get to my other three hits (the boxtopper was a bonus) shortly, but let's first take a look at some of the #'d cards from within. 

There is a pretty good mix of teams, with some solid players to boot. The Gordon refractor will probably be heading over to Greg, but the others are up for grabs.

This may be the best #'d card to come out of the box. It is limited to just 99 copies, so I threw it on eBay for a little more than it should sell for to see if anyone bites. It does not appear like any have sold yet, so that may benefit me. 

The Mariano card may have been the "best" card in a general sense, but this Zack Greinke card was my favorite. Limited to just 263 copies, I somehow managed with card number 1. Definitely a first for me, so it was just an added bonus at the end of an awesome box.

The base cards in Donruss aren't anything special, but I certainly dig the inserts. The "Power Plus" cards may just be on my list for Top Insert of the Year, if there was such a thing. Coupled with a sweet looking card of Puig exploding out of a brick wall, I have some sweet new additions to my Puig binder. 

We finally move into the autos with two guys on the opposite ends of the spectrum. 

Miguel Sano is a promising young prospect, actually ranked #3 overall by MLB, but recently underwent Tommy John surgery. The procedure is rare for position players, but the time it takes to recover is much shorther than that of a pitcher. I doubt San returns in 2014, but he should rake in the Twins system come 2015. 

Horton, on the other hand, retired in 1980 after an illustrious career with 6 different organizations, primarily the Detroit Tigers. Horton was a 4x All-Star, World Series Champion, 1979 AL Comback Player of the Year, and had his number 23 retired by the Tigers in 2000. 

Pretty solid autos if you ask me. 

To top it all off, I pulled a nice relic of the reigning NL MVP. I was hoping for a multi-colored patch, as my LCS owner had a few laying around his shop. However, I ended up with just a plain gray swatch, but I'm not complaining. 

At the end of the day, the David Wright Box Topper basically made me my money back on the box. I managed to pull quite a few cards that I enjoyed, and even more that other will appreciate. Most everything shown above has been added to my Trade Bait page, so be sure to head over if you are looking to deal. 

It was a happy birthday indeed.

Fearless

Fearless does not really emulate my mindset heading into my Calculus final tomorrow. 

However, it does mimic the style of play Yasiel Puig plays with every night. 

Fearless could also describe my feelings when purchasing this card. For $6.00 shipped, I feel I got a pretty good deal. The only thing I was really fearful of was the USPS losing or damaging the card during the shipping process. 

You may be wondering, "Why did he pay $6.00" for that?" I believe that question is fair. I mean it is a cool and all, but six bucks for a single card? Well, this happens to be a purple refractor (looks more pink to me) that is limited to just 99 copies. My copy just so happens to be #'d 2/99. 

I mentioned this in a post a couple of days ago, but I have generally been priced out of Yasiel Puig cardboard. As soon as I saw this while browsing eBay in class (Yes, I'm that guy), I knew I had to win. I was feeling like purchasing some Puig cards anyways, so good timing.  I spaced out of the lecture for about 15 minutes while the auction was winding down to ensure I would win, and I did. Well worth it by the way. 

Anyways, back to studying for tomorrow's final. It is gonna be a doozy.