Continued Contest Efforts

A while back I introduced a contest to help out  friend and fellow blogger, Matthew of Dodger Penguin. The goal was to get him to the 50 follower plateau, a goal that has not yet been reached. Matthew is currently sitting at 44 followers. I will now introduce a new prize to anybody that posts about this contest on their blog. 

I'd like to end this contest by Sunday so I can begin my regular contest posts on Monday, but I need a little help from you. Leave a comment with the link to your post about this contest and be entered to win this autographed card from Red Sox prospect Allen Webster. You will also receive two entries into the initial contest prize lot. 

To enter all you need to do is follow Dodger Penguin. 

Just let me know in the comments when you have done so. If you have already left a comment on the original contest post then there is no need to leave another comment. I have already tallied your entry. 

Prizes

1st Place: 25 Chavez Code Points + Your choice of any card from my Trade Bait + Cards from a team of your choice

2nd Place: 25 CC Points + Cards from a team of your choice

3rd Place: 10 CC Points + Cards from a team of your choice

4th Place: 5 CC Points + Cards from a team of your choice

If you are unfamiliar with the Chavez Code, please check it out here.

My Matt Kemp PC is Happy

I picked this beauty up from eBay last week for a lot less than I was expecting, $2.99 shipped. 

I still don't know how I got this for so cheap. It's limited to just 25 copies, which would usually warrant more than just one bid. I'm not complaining though, as it is another great addition to my Kemp PC. I am slowly approaching the century mark on that PC, and I have a few more Kemp's to post this week. Maybe I can hit 100 with an auto?

Topps Chrome Rainbow: Yasiel Puig Refractor

Not much of a story behind this one. Dikran bought a box of Topps Chrome yesterday, and this was one of the lucky pulls. It is my first Puig card for the rainbow, and probably my last for a bit. His cards a little too pricey for me, so I'll wait for the cards to cool off before looking to acquire them. For the sake of the Dodgers, I hope he doesn't cool off and his cards gain even more value. 

The Godfather of Skateboarding

Editors Note: This post comes from Dikran Samarjian. He will occasionally have posts here. If you would like to get in touch with him, you can give him a follow on Twitter @D_Samarjian. Any comments you leave will be forwarded to him as well. Enjoy!

Hey all! By now I’m sure you guys have heard my name here and there around this blog. Yes, at last you are hearing from the man himself, Dikran Samarjian. Alex and I have been best friends for quite some time now, about 7 years. Though I love the guy, at times I want to strangle him for introducing me to this addictive world of cards. I spend hundreds of dollars a month on cards, and within these past two years we have managed to collect enough cardboard to package and distribute as our own product. That, of course, was an exaggeration, but I hope it made you laugh. The bottom line is we have a lot of cards, and I can only imagine what the future has in store for us. I’m sure you’ve noticed how I use “we” and “us”. You see, Alex and I work as a team. He’s the brains of the operation and I, for the most part, am the supplier. Anyways enough of all this background, you guys came here for cards not a love story.

As far as Topps goes, I’m only a fan of their high-end products. I’m more of a Panini guy, only reason being that I’m a basketball fan. Though I do favor Topps' high-end products, I LOVE Allen & Ginter. It’s something about it that really grabs my attention. Besides the simple beauty of the cards, it’s probably the diverse collection they have to offer. From T.V. stars to extreme sports, the Allen & Ginter’s checklist is not something to breeze by. Lately at Target I’ve been seeing a product from Upper Deck called “Goodwin Champions”. I picked it up, took a look at it, and noticed that it was a product similar to Allen & Ginter. Me being the Allen and Ginter fan I am, bought a blaster of Goodwin to see how they compare. First thing I see when I open the box is a FAT pack just sitting there with the others. Of course something was in there, it was way too thick for a decoy. I saved that pack for last. Nothing special out of the other packs, just bases, and by the way the design for 2013 Goodwin is beautiful, they’re great cards. Anyways, I’m finally down to the last pack, I rip it open and slowly reveal the hit (It’s the first time I’m opening the product and I’ve got a hit in my hands, so of course I had to make it epic). As that card is slowly being revealed to my eyes I see a skateboard. I got all jumpy and excited because I am a huge skateboarding fan. So at this point I don’t even care anymore I throw the top card aside to see that I have a Tony Hawk relic card. The godfather of skateboarding. It was a great hit, definitely one to throw in a One Touch and add to the collection.

Topps Chrome Rainbow: Andre Ethier Sepia

I'm slowly but surely picking up the parallels needed to finish up this project. This is another eBay purchase, and was shipped for about five bucks. It was a best offer type of deal and I put an initial offer of $2.50. Considering he was asking $5.00 plus shipping, I figured this was a good start. The seller declined the next day, but didn't send a counter offer. I had best offered so many things during this time that I got confused with what my offers were. Not to mention I was using the eBay app on my phone when I made another offer.....of $1.50. I soon realized that I lowballed the guy even worse, and honestly thought the seller would block me. I've talked to some rude sellers before, but I held out hope he would at least send a counter offer. He did and I was quick to accept. I messaged him about my low offer and apologized, and luckily he said he figured it was a mistake. I'm glad his ego didn't get in the way, otherwise I would still be looking for this sweet card..

A Closer Look at 2014 Topps Series One

The time has come. Topps Series One has hit the shelves, and I am getting my first opportunity to take a stab at the set. I've been collecting for a short time, so this is pretty exciting for me. Fresh packs to open. A new design, though a little worse than last years. Just a new beginning.

I stopped off at Target yesterday and bought a blaster box. I posted the highlights of that box here, but I was left wanting more. So, me and my buddy Dikran decided to make a late night run to Target.

We came back with two more blaster boxes and two of the value boxes. These are in addition to the blaster box I bought, and the blaster box Dikran bought earlier in the day. That puts our 2014 Topps Series One total to 4 blaster boxes and 2 value boxes. We were not lucky enough to pull an auto or relic from any of the packs, but that was not the purpose. I'd like to put together the entire set from Series One, before Series Two comes out. Considering I am still working on my 2013 Flagship sets, I wanted to get a jump start on these.

I got a ton of base cards, and my need list for the base set is currently updated. I am already about two-thirds of the way done with the base set, which is pretty good considering the cards only came out yesterday.

Because I bought the cards from Target, there were two red parallels in every pack. I have a huge stack of red parallels which will all be uploaded to my Trade Bait tonight. Leave a comment and I can pull a specific teams cards for you.

Here are the Dodgers I have so far. The base design is okay with me. It is a little reminiscent of Bowman, but they are fine other than that. 2013 is still better, but these are definitely better than the cards from 2012. The thing I do hate is the checklist. The Dodgers got 11 cards in Series One, and the list of names is rather lackluster. I do not understand how Brandon League managed to get a card in here while guys like Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, A.J Ellis, Kenley Jansen didn't. Brandon League is probably the worst player on the Dodgers 25 man right now, so it is disappointing that he gets another card. 

I really dig the sideways Nolasco card which features Puig. I prefer vertical cards to the horizontal ones, but sometimes the horizontal cards feature some awesome pictures. The Michael Young card is also another one of my favorites, though he's definitely not one of my favorite players. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I don't want him coming back to my Dodgers. I've tried talking myself into the inevitable over the past few weeks, but he has yet to sign. Hopefully this is his last card in Dodger blue. 

8 out of 11

6 Josh Beckett

40 Hyun-Jin Ryu
72 Michael Young
111 Mark Ellis
142 Zack Greinke
173 Brandon League 
193 Ricky Nolasco
197 Onelki Garcia
204 Adrian Gonzalez
314 Hanley Ramirez
331 Yasiel Puig

Here are the red parallels I pulled. I plan on collecting the red and blue parallels for the Dodgers this year, though I have been constantly adding things to my to-do list, so I may want every parallel by the time 2015 comes out. I'll be adding a new page to the blog soon, designed for some of my goals and such but more on that later.

I was also able to pull these lovely pieces of cardboard. Ryu would probably be my favorite pitcher on the staff if not for Kershaw. These are going straight to the PC binder, so I will need to add one more of each for my Topps set. That's if I don't decide to just scrape that and collect the base set beforehand.

Topps went crazy with the foil this year, and this card is a perfect example. The card looks great in person, and it is a decent looking insert set. I do wish the cards were all the same color however. This happens to be purple, but there is a plethora of colors these Upper Class cards in. Topps seems to have gone color crazy, with some of the insert sets, but I'll still be buying. I'll still be looking for another one of these as well. This one is going straight to the PC binder. 

Puig cards are fun. There is just something about cards that feature him that excites me. The Future is Now insert looks to have some sort of filter on the image, similar to the pictures on Gypsy Queen. This doesn't bug me for the insert sets. I actually enjoy it. I will need another one of these cards, because just like the Ryu's, this is headed for the PC binder. 

One thing I absolutely love this year is the minis. As you can see from the scan, they are diecut, which is something new to me. I don;t know if Topps has done this before, but I like the idea. Lucky me, I was able to grab a Puig. Puig's cards usually go for a fortune on eBay, so being able to pull one is always nice. Like with the previous Puig's and Ryu's, I will need another one for the mini set. 

The best addition yesterday was this Hanley variation. Usually variations fetch between 10 and 40 bucks on eBay when the product is new, but I won't be selling this. In fact, my buddy Dikran pulled this in his box so I ended up trading for it. I do enjoy the SP cards Topps puts out, though they usually fall out of the price range early on. Topps seems to have gone #TeamSparkle this year with the SP's, which is already driving me crazy. I will have to go back through all the bases I have and double check for that annoying sparkle. I will probably wait a few days until the checklist sites can get the cards confirmed so I know who to look for. 

Another Harper card for my PC. I traded a few of my Harper's to Judson of My Cardboard Habit a few months ago, something I regret a bit. I'm sure I could add those cards to my PC rather cheaply, but they would have looked nice in the binder. 

Beltre is my favorite non-Dodger in the game today, and my favorite ex-Dodger still active today. I love this photo of him in the dugout. Reminds me of this video of Elvis Andrus messing with him. I have been trying to find some cheap Beltre cards on eBay, though I haven't walked away as the winner lately. 

This was one of the manu-patches in the blasters I opened. I'm not generally a fan of these, but I love adding a new card of one of my PC guys to the binder. Though this will probably be placed in a top loader and put with the other thicker cards. 

Here are the rest of the mini's that were pulled. The Darvish is probably my favorite of the six here. Though they are all great. I am becoming a bigger fan of the Topps minis recently, though I still need to complete the mini sets from 2013. Guess I need to find some trade partners.

Overall, Series One isn't that bad. The design is worse than last year, but it is still a pretty good looking set. The Dodgers checklist is lame, but hopefully Series Two will improve on that. The Minis are definitely my favorite thing to come from Series One, though the other insert sets didn't disappoint. I probably won;t be buying any more packs for a couple more weeks, but hopefully I can pull of some trades to supplement my collection. 

Topps Chrome Rainbow: Hyun-Jin Ryu Refractor

As excited as I am to show off some more awesome 2014 Topps cards, I won't be doing that today. Maybe tonight, but I'm going back to my Topps Chrome Rainbow pursuit for now.

I picked this baby up from eBay for about a buck shipped. It is the refractor version of the card, another much needed piece of cardboard. It pushes my total to 7 out of 10 Dodger refractors. I really enjoy this card, and was surprised I don't have more of his parallels. Guess that's another goal. I'm starting to have a hard time keeping track of all of these goals I set for myself. Maybe a new page is in the future.

My First Look at 2014 Topps Series One

I stopped off at my local Target today and has elated to see a fresh box of 2014 Series One. It is not slated to be released until tomorrow, but I was lucky enough to pick it up a day early. I don't have time to go over every card in I pulled from the blaster, but I'll show off the inserts and the Dodgers. 

As you can see, I only pulled three Dodgers, but my buddy Dikran managed to pull a Hanley SP in his blaster box. Guess we'll be making a trade. The Red Hot Ice parallel is awesome, but Topps didn't stop there. The Super Veteran inserts are some of the coolest cards I've laid eyes on in my short time collecting. I definitely cannot wait to complete that set. The mini is sort of diecut. I can only assume they will all be diecut because I only got one. 

My 2014 Series One checklist will be live soon. I'll also edit this post shortly with a link directly under this. Let's see if I can complete Series One before Series Two comes out. 

2014 Topps Series One Need List

If you are interested in any particular teams dupes, just leave a comment. I'm going to need to double up the Dodgers, one for my Topps set, and and for my team set project. I'll also require additional cards from Hanley, A-Gon, Clayton, Kemp and Ethier. Pretty much all of my primary and secondary PC's.

Trade Bait Tuesday

I've been going through my cards and need to get more organized. I have a ton of cards I'd love to trade, but keeping track of them is difficult sometimes. So, I have decided to create Trade Bait Tuesday. I will post a scan with a page full of cards for trade. If you are interested in any of the cards just let me know in the comment section. Expect this every Tuesday and some Thursdays. 

Best Kemp Card Ever?

I added this beauty to my collection over the weekend. It is #'d 188/199 and is one of the best Kemp cards in creation. The blue border just takes this already beautiful card to another level. There are 199 copies of this card, so I guess I'll be on the hunt for the other 198.

I'll be moving back to smaller posts during the weekdays. School is really starting to take a toll on me. Combine that with work and running the blog, and you can see why I've decided to take it easy.

I also landed a gig over at Pro Sports Extra as the head Dodgers writer. As if I didn't have enough to handle already, I've added this into the mix. My debut article appeared yesterday which you can check out here. Although this isn't a big time gig, it gives me enough flexibility to write at my own pace and improve my overall writing. I hope to move onto bigger things in the future, but this is a start. 

Because of my loaded schedule I feel like I've forgotten about some of those I've been trading with. If I haven't responded to an email, or if you haven't gotten a trade package just let me know. I'm not intentionally forgetting you, my mind was probably just elsewhere.