The Top CF's and The Chavez Code

I grabbed this card off of eBay for just a few cents plus shipping. I'm not a big fan of the Pinnacle look, though the scan piqued my interest and I bought it. I'm still unsure what is going on with this card. Kemp is featured on the front, which is slightly different from the back. You can see the difference in scans between the two sides. I don't know enough about Pinnacle to understand what is going on in the front. (5 points to the first person that comments with what it is). 2013 NL MVP, Andrew McCutchen, is thrown onto the back of the card. Both Kemp and Cutch have the same pose which is sort of cool. It's another Kemp added to my PC.

The Chavez Code is getting a little harder to keep track of then I thought. People have different names on Twitter than they do on Disqus which makes it tricky for me to keep track of. Please take a look at the the Chavez Code leader board to see if you are on it. If you follow the blog or follow me on Twitter and are not listed, then leave a comment and let me know. If you would like to change the name I have for you, please leave a comment and let me know. You can find more info on the Chavez Code here.

Happy Birthday Steve Garvey!

This is the only Garvey I own at the moment, but more are planned for the future. Check out the fantastic Dodger blog Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes. It is another great Dodger blog and he is currently running a  Steve Garvey Contest.

Happy Birthday Steve!

Yasiel Puig SP Refractor + Collector Questions

Like a lot of stupid people, I tried to finish up my Christmas shopping last night. It seems like the holiday creeped up on me this year, and I still have a few stores to visit before I am done with my gift giving. While at Target I was looking to buy some Parks and Rec packs that I've seen before. They didn't have any so I settled with a rack pack of Bowman Chrome. I didn't get anything to exciting, though I did get this.

2013 Bowman Chrome Yasiel Puig Refractor #78

It is the SP Refractor, which holds a decent value. I absolutely love the overall look of this card. The card screams Dodger baseball to me. The beautiful Dodger jersey really shines on the refractor finish, and the yellow seats in the background bring back some wonderful memories from last season. I cannot wait for the season to get started again, and I'm sure you can't either.

On to another subject now, I have been slowly uploading my inserts to my trade bait page. In addition to those inserts and the hits on my trade bait link, any card I feature on here is always available. Just like the Dodgers outfielder situation, I will always be listening to offers, though I am in no rush to trade them. Feel free to contact me if your interested in anything I post.

For those that are still reading, I have a few questions. How do you store your PC cards? How do you store other cards that are not necessarily your primary collections? How do you store your sets? I have heard numerous suggestions on how to store my stuff, but I thought I would directly ask those that have to do it. Let's hear how you do it. 

Trade With My Cardboard Habit: Saturday Night Goodies

I worked out my second trade with Judson from My Cardboard Habit. Judson is one of the nicest guys I've talked to since starting this blog, and he runs a fantastic blog of his own. He contacted me about the Darin Ruf Auto I pulled from a Topps Chrome box last week, and we quickly hammered out a deal. You can see what I sent him here.

First up is a fine Dodger auto, compliments of the young Cuban Onelki Garcia. Garcia has worked his way up the minor league system for the Dodgers, finally getting some major league action at the end of this season. I had yet to acquire his auto, but thanks to Judson, there is one less thing on my to do list. 

Secondly, I grabbed this sweet Evan Longoria Relic. I am not a Longoria collector, but adding one of the finest young third baseman to my collection is something I could not pass on. I am not too big on the black border with a green card, though it is still pleasing to look at. I'll add this card to my trade bait for those interested, but am not actively trying to move it. 

Judson also threw in a sweet Matt Kemp refractor from 2013 Topps Chrome. Although I already have the card, I will still throw some points in Judson's direction. You can never have to many Kemp cards, so feed my Kemp hunger and send me some more! 

Thanks Judson. I hope to pull some more trades off in the future!

Topps Chrome Rainbow: 5 New Dodger Additions

After declaring my desire to complete the rainbow for every Dodgers player from 2013 Topps Chrome, I went on a mini eBay bender. The first of several packages arrived today and it will take a big chuck out of Orange Parallel needs. 

This leaves me with 6 Orange Parallels left to acquire. The contrast between the Blue and the Orange looks great, though I am not fond of featuring the Giants primary color on a Dodger card. Adding the Orange Kemp puts me at 5 out of 12 of the parallels for him. The hardest and most expensive ones remain in the wild, and I have yet to see one on eBay since the dawn of my quest. I would definitely appreciate a heads up if anybody runs into one. 

I didn't just come away with Orange Parallels with this purchase though, I also picked up this sweet Purple of Dodgers Co-Ace, Zack Greinke. 

I spent seven and a half bucks to get these to my door, a price I'd be happy to pay again. You can't go wrong spending a little over a buck per card shipped, for some beautiful parallels of my boys in blue. I have updated my Topps Chrome Rainbow tab to include these. 

Didi Gregorius Auto Contest

This contest is for a 2013 Topps Chrome Didi Gregorius Base Auto. The winner will receive the card pictured. Contest ends 12/26/13 at 9pm PST. The rules will be explained below. Good luck!

To enter this contest, perform one of the two things below. You may perform both for a maximum of two entries per day.

• Comment on this post.
• Retweet one of my contest tweets on Twitter

You can comment on the post once a day, and everyday you comment will add an additional entry into the contest. I will occasionally tweet about the contest, and you can retweet those to enter as well. However, only one retweet per day will count towards the contest. The winner will be selected using Random.org, and will be notified via email and/or twitter. The winner will have one week to send me their mailing address. I will ship the card to the winner for free!

David Price Refactor Winner

Congratulations to Matthew Wilson! You are this week's lucky winner. In addition to the card you will also receive 4 points. The Top 4 is shown below.

Another Matthew, the Dodger Penguin one, finished with both 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Instead of awarding multiple points for both spots, Matthew will receive 3 points for 2nd and two extra entries into the next contest for his 3rd place finish. Nate rounds out the list with 1 point. 

Matthew you may choose to pass on the card in exchange for 4 additional points. If you choose to do so the David Price Refractor will be added into next weeks contest. Let me know what you'd like to do. 

A new contest will be up shortly. Good luck!

Contest Winnings From Dodger Penguin

I recently won a contest over at the fantastic Dodger Penguin blog run by Matthew. Matthew features some great cards of all things Dodgers, and sent me some awesome things. 

The Seager's were the main prize, and something I have been trying to get my hands on for awhile now. I don't like spending more on shipping than I do on the actual card, which is why I have not added these to my PC yet. Luckily, school taught me something and I was able to correctly guess some of the questions Matthew asked in his contest. 

Next up is a fantastic Purple Refractor of Matt Kemp. I wouldn't normally associate purple and the Dodgers, but the card looks great. Matthew also gets 20 points for sending this my way. This purple refractor marks the 4th card out of 12 for the Mattycakes rainbow. 

Thanks again Matthew! I look forward to your next contest.

Trade With Big 44 Sports Cards: Camo Beltre, Set Needs and More

2013 Topps Chrome #122, #'d 3/15

I was targeting the above card when I contacted Nate who runs another great card blog, Big 44 Sports Cards. Nate is a big Pirates fan and I had quite a few Pirates laying around. You can see what I sent him here. We worked out a deal through email and my end of the deal arrived today. 

As I have mentioned before I am a big fan of Beltre. Although he hasn't done time with the boys in blue since '04, he is one of the best players to come through their system in the past 20 years. Beltre plays for the Rangers now and seems to have a pretty cool relationship with Elvis Andrus. I was pretty psyched when I saw this in Nate's trade bait and I made sure we got the deal done. It is the camo parallel #'d 3/15. I am currently deciding whether or not to pursue the Beltre rainbow, especially considering my rather zealous attempt creating a 2013 Topps Chrome Dodgers Rainbow. 

Nate also threw in a few awesome Dodgers. Both are new additions to my respective PC's, and are greatly appreciated. 

2012 Topps Finest X-Fractor #40

2013 Bowman Chrome Refractor #220

Nate also helped out a ton with some of my set needs from Series 2 and Chrome. Both are very close to being completed, and I have some more sorting and more set needs that will be posted eventually. 

Thanks again Nate. I have updated the point totals and your on your way to catching Greg at the top of the list.

Another Cracked Ice Matt Kemp

2012 Panini Prizm Cracked Ice #3

I added another Kemp to my PC today with this Panini Cracked Ice from 2012 Panini Prizm. This card is limited to 25 copies and only set me back 5 bucks. Scans of cracked ice cards usually look 100 times better than they do in person for some reason, and this is no exception. 

I have also added 3 new cards to my TradeBait/PrizeList. Scans of two of them are below.