Reinvigoration Part One: The Dodgers

I've been spending the past few days going through stacks and stacks of cards. I'm trying to tone down the collection and make some room, so I've been setting cards aside for a variety of people. 

Dimeboxes, Bob Walk the Plank, Plaschke, Johnny's Trading Spot, Tomahawk Empire, Andrew's Baseball Cards, A Swing and a Hit, Sportscards From The Dollar Store and others should be expecting cards from me pretty soon. I will also be getting out the rest of the contest winnings from my last contest soon as well. 

In the mean time, I will be "listing" cards on here that I am attempting to move. Feel free to comment if anything catches your eye. I am up for trading the cards, or in some cases, selling them. However, I will probably only sell the bigger lots of cards. More on that later. 

I'm Club Penguin

I recently completed my third trade with fellow Dodger fan, Dodger Penguin. Dodger Penguin, who goes by Matthew in the real world, and I met up for the Dodger game I attended last weekend. 

Matthew was smart enough to bring along his side of the deal, while forgetful Freddie here left his cards at home. I was able to ship them out as soon as I got home, but I still feel pretty bad. 

I received a grand total of five cards in my side of the deal, but it just might be the only non "hit" of the bunch that which really grabbed my attention. This is technically my first Clayton Kershaw rookie card, and it probably should have been a little higher on my "to buy" list. Not only is it a Kersh RC, it is the gold foil version, which apparently is a bit tougher to get. The ominous clouds back of Kershaw signal Kershaw's quick descent as king of the mound.

I have a post planned on Chad Billingsley slotted to go up within the next week or so, and I was initially going to hold this card back for that post. However, because this is the card that started the whole trade, I figured it wouldn't hurt showing it off twice. 

Talk about a bright card! This bad boy is #'d 27/99, so I guess it could be considered the Matt Kemp parallel. I was more than happy to add a new #'d addition to my growing Greinke collection. One of these days I will have to pick up an auto of every one of my PC's. Greinke is high on that list. 

Matthew rounded out this lush package with a pair of sweet Adrian Beltre relics. The first (above) is one of the thickest cards I have ever laid hands on, and happens to be #'d 34/99, the Fernando parallel if you will. It hails from 2009 Topps Unique, which is very uncommon for me to see. I guess the name of the set is appropriate. 

The final piece of the trade was this beautiful relic of the Dodgers former third baseman. I absolutely love blue swatches, so corralling a blue swatch relic for Adrian Beltre was pretty grand. The blue-ish border matches well with the card and the swatch, creating one of my favorite cards of the Dodgers former masher. 

I probably owe Matthew a bit more in our next trade, and I have a card or two in mind. 

Thanks again for all the great cards, and all of your help last Saturday. Hope we can do it again soon!

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!

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. 

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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.

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.

Showing Some Appreciation for Zack Greinke

Most of my readers know who I primarily collect: Kemp, Kershaw, Ryu, Beltre, and Green. They may also know who some of the secondary guys I collect are: Gonzalez, Ethier, Harper, Seager, Ortiz, Ramirez, and Puig. 

In fact, you can find out everything I collect by clicking on the "What I Collect" tab up top (I linked it mid-sentence because I am a swell guy). 

Many people are unfamiliar with my tertiary collection however. Frankly, I am a little unfamiliar with the guys of my tertiary collection as well. Most of them, with the exception of Jose Fernandez, have ties to the Dodgers. Though I doubt that is a surprise. Let me give a run down of the tertiary guys for those too lazy to click on the link.

Jose Fernandez

Zack Greinke

Russell Martin

Manny Ramirez

Paco Rodriguez

That list only consists of five guys at the moment, but the list will expand with time. I have already displayed my modest Paco Rodriguez collection, which has grown a bit since that post, but I am moving onto another player of interest today.

Zack Greinke has long been one of my favorite players in the game, but only recently become a member of the Dodgers. 

And thank goodness for that. The man has been absolutely dominant during his time in Los Angeles. Throwing to a 22-5 record (though wins don't really matter) with 249 strikeouts in 231 innings for the Dodgers. 

Of course, he hasn't been dominant in just Dodger Blue. 

He spent the back end of 2012 with the other LA team after they sent over a package headlined by Jean Segura to the Brewers. He pitched effectively with the Angels, though was slightly better with the Brew Crew.

Interestingly enough, Greinke never lost a game at Miller Park while with the Brewers. Of course, he lost in his first game back as a member of the Dodgers. Baseball.

He may have had his best season to date as a member of the Royals however. Greinke took home the AL Cy Young award in 2009 and put up crazy good numbers while doing so. He led the league in ERA, FIP, and WHIP (as well as a few other categories) while striking out 242. For those who prefer the more traditional stats, Greinke had a 16-8 record and a 2.16 ERA. 

I currently have 19 unique Zack Greinke cards, 25 if you include the 6 different parallels I own from 2013 Topps Chrome. Those belong in my Topps Chrome Rainbow though, so I wont officially include them in his card total. 

If you have any extra Greinke cards laying around, feel free to ship them to my house. I am pretty sure there is somebody inside that would appreciate them. 

Some Shiny New Cards From This Way to the Clubhouse

I completed my first trade with Mark of the superb blog, This Way to the Clubhouse. Like most trades, we had an email conversation and quickly came to a deal. 

The centerpiece of this deal was this fantastic piece of cardboard seen above. It comes from one of my favorite releases of the year, Topps Heritage. There were a few reasons why this card caught my eye other than the fact that it is a numbered Dodger card (#'d 899/999 to be exact). 

The first being the Getting a Grip pose. I stole that term from fellow blogging buddy Ethan of Playing with my Cards. If he wouldn't have highlighted awesome cards like this one, I probably would of glossed over the grip and just considered it another Dodger card. Thanks for that Ethan!

Secondly, Greinke has become a big favorite of mine recently, especially considering his performance lately. He has been great in 2014 so far, and his dominance dates back to 2013. In fact, the back of the card states, "Zack won all 5 of his August starts with a 1.23 ERA". If that isn't ace status, I don't know what is. 

Finally, this card grabbed my attention because I have decide to start a Zack Greinke PC. I have always been a fan of the Dodger righty, in fact I used to clamor for a trade to LA on Dodger threads late at night as far back as 2007. I will probably get to posting more about the PC this weekend or next week, but studying for finals is a priority at the moment.

Whew! I don't think I have ever devoted that much writing to one card before. That said, let's move onto another sweet card from Mark.

Oooohhhh, shiny! The scan didn't come out as awesome as I was expecting, but this is an awesome card nonetheless. It may be hard to tell, but this sweet Shawn Green card comes from 2000 Bowman's Best Franchise 2000. That is somewhat of a confusing considering the double use of 2000. I guess Topps really got into the turn of the century stuff that was going on at the time.

Thanks again for the trade Mark! I will be sure to let you know when I have some more cards set aside for you. 

Zack Attack

Lately I have been making a conscious effort to purchase less singles and inserts, and more relics and autos. For awhile it seemed like I would spend my weekly card budget on unneeded packs of cards or singles. I decided to let the base cards come to me, as most bloggers end up with extras anyways. Now I have been able to go after the "expensive" cards more frequently. 

Of course, expensive means different things to different people. As a college student, expensive can sometimes be 10 bucks depending on how many hours I worked on a given paycheck. But now that I am buying less singles, I am able to focus on some of the fun cards.

Take this sweet Zack Greinke relic from Triple Threads for example. It isn't too fancy or flashy, but neither is the Dodgers 1A pitcher. The semi-low numbering is a bonus too - this copy is #'d 12/36. Although multiple colors are always nice to see in relic cards, plain swatches like the one above work well with Triple Threads. 

This card cost me around 7 bucks shipped, not bad considering the former Cy Young's performance this season. In the past, that 7 dollars probably would have been spent on some late 2000's Matt Kemp or Clayton Kershaw base cards. I guess this is a classic case of quality over quantity. Something I plan on sticking to in my future card endeavors. 

Topps Chrome Rainbow: Zack Greinke Gold Refractor

I picked up another card in my quest for the complete Dodgers Topps Chrome Rainbow team set earlier this week. This time in the form of a Zack Greinke Gold Refractor /50.

This card marks the third gold refractor I have out of 12. Current members of the Gold Club are Matt Kemp, Matt Magill, and now Zack Greinke. The gold refractors look pretty crisp and are probably my third favorite refractor out of the set. I really like the orange refractors, and the black refractors look clean as well. 

This Greinke is #'d 15/50 and was had off the bay for $7.00 bucks shipped. These eBay sellers are uploading these cards hours after I get paid, which makes me want to spend. I picked up three other cards for the quest last night, however I got a pretty good bargain on those. The Atomic Matt Kemp is up on eBay right now, and I am closely watching. I will have to go over my budget for that one which sucks, but there are only 10 out there so I may not get another shot at one. 

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The Trade Bait Mega Post is scheduled for either Sunday or Monday, and is just waiting on me to scan the cards. I have a stack that is about 3 inches high ready to be dealt. I will also be selling off some of my near complete sets from 2013 for EXTREMELY CHEAP. If you see a set on my set needs that isn't Topps Chrome/Heritage/Flagship then it will be for sell. I will have more on that over the weekend, but I need to clear up some space and get a little extra card money. 

Shades of '93

I picked this card of the bay a few weeks back, and like the Matt Kemp I showed off yesterday, it ran me about two bucks and showed up about two weeks ago.

I really enjoy the design of these inserts, probably because they hail from 1993 Topps Finest. Because I was born in 1993, these things have a little added significance to me. 

I very rarely show the back of cards on here, but rarely are they this good. We get to see an awesome shot of Zack Greinke in Dodgers spring training garb, and that "Getting a Grip" shot (Thanks Ethan) is fantastic.

I will be on the lookout for the rest of this insert set. I'll probably ask Dodger Penguin who is in the set because I am too lazy to look it up and he already completed it. If you have any laying around let me know.

BTW: There will be no Trade Bait Tuesday today. I will be posting a larger Mega Trade Bait post later in the week.

Trade with Reader Douglas: Picking Up Some Prospect Autos

I completed my first trade with blog reader Douglas. He approached me after last week's trade bait post and we quickly agreed to a deal. 

Most appealing to me was this clean Joc Pederson auto. Pederson is the Dodgers top prospect but is stuck behind inferior talent.This is my only Pederson auto, but hopefully more will be in the future.

Sticking with Bowman Sterling, this auto comes from Dodgers 2013 2nd round draft pick, Tom Windle. Windle will probably be on the fast track to LA as a lefty-specialist, though with the stacked bullpen there is no reason to rush him.

Greinke is my newest binder guy, though more on that later. This card was more of a throw-in on our deal, but is still an awesome card. I dig these Pastime cards, licensing or not. This bad boy is #'d 122/125.

This card put the deal over the top and is my first auto of the 2013 1st round pick. IN fact, this is my first auto that is #'d 1 out of anything. This card hails from 2013 Leaf Memories, a set I am fairly indifferent on. The card isn't too shabby, though there is nothing exciting about it. Either way, I was able to pick up a seet John Hancock of one of the Dodgers top right handers on the farm. I now have my eyes set on Zach Lee.

In addition to the sweet ink above, Douglas sent over some set needs and miscellaneous Dodgers. Thanks for the trade Douglas.