Trade with S.Mack Talk: 2013 Set Needs & PC Awesomeness

EDIT: I mistakenly credited this trade to Ethan of Playing With My Cards. I have edited the posting, and now credited Jimmy for the awesome trade. I apologize for the mix-up guys. 


I completed my first trade with Jimmy of the new S.mack Talk card blog. 

Jimmy almost wiped out my 2013 Bowman Platinum needs. Below are the only cards I am missing.

19 Justin Upton
52 Kris Medlen
78 Robinson Cano
90 Jedd Gyorko RC
99 Dylan Bundy RC

This is probably my favorite card come from the trade, but not because it is a great looking card. It's because it puts me one step closer to finishing off the refractors for my Topps Chome Rainbow quest. In fact, I now have 9/10 of the refractors needed, leaving me with just the Ethier refractor to finish them off. Of course, I still have a ton I need to before I'm anywhere close to finishing, but taking one parallel out of the equation will simplify a few things. 

I was also to get my hands on these two great looking my cards. These cards are my favorite thing about 2014 so far, and I sincerely hope they carry it over to S2. 

This was one of the cooler cards that Jimmy included. I actually didn't even realize that this was floating out there so I'm happy to add it. It features ex-Dodgers OF Jerry Sands, who unfortunately wasn't able to make anything out of his career after a big season in AAA a few years back. That's what Albuquerque does to you I guess. 

I love receiving cards of my favorite two ex-Dodgers, Green and Beltre. Green is actually my favorite player of all-time, so anytime I add something new to my Green binder I am happy. The Beltre card also proves my theory that Beltre is featured in nothing but road Seattle grays on cardboard. I have yet to add a Mariner card of Beltre featuring him in the home whites. I'm sure there are some out there, but my collection stays gray for now. 

Thanks for the wonderful trade Jimmy! And I apologize again for making an error in the initial posting. 

Trade with Cards on Cards: Helping Out With Set Needs

I completed my first trade with Kerry of the blog Cards on Cards. We agreed on a deal last week, and my cards came in a few days ago.

Kerry helped me out with set needs from 2013 and 2014. Included was this great looking Harper. Harper is primed to have a big year in for his fantasy owners, myself included, in fact Harper may help me win big over at FanDuel this season.

I was also able to get a little closer to completing my 2013 Topps Heritage set, and this card grabbed my attention. 

This would be a great addition to my Pimping Dingers binder, but it is going into the set instead. 

Thanks for the trade Kerry! I hope we can do it again sometime. 

Trade Bait Thursday

I missed my weekly Trade Bait Tuesday post, but luckily for me there are two days that start with 'T' during the week. If you are interested in anything below, leave a comment or shoot me an email. 

Expanding on my Mini Collections: Dodgers in the Background

Most of my mini collections are self explanatory from here on out. You can check out my previous posts in this series here, here, and here. 

I'm definitely excited for this mini collection because it means I get to do some research. As you can see, number 15 is sliding into home at Wrigley, but who is the man behind the number. This card was produced in 1991, so I checked out the history of Dodgers uniform numbers and found out that the mystery player is Chris Gwynn. Gwynn played for the Dodgers from 1987-1991, but switched his number from 45 to 15 during the '89 season. 

Fun Fact: Chris is the brother of HOF'er Tony Gwynn and uncle of Tony Gwynn Jr. 

Ucckkk, a Giants card! As much as I dislike the Giants, I do dig this card. Theriot is an ex-Dodger (thank god), and Dee Gordon night not have a spot in LA with the recent infield acquisitions Dodger management has made. Dee Gordon does look to be out at 2nd by the way. 

Another horizontal card, this time featuring Dodgers backstop A.J Ellis. It looks like the D-Backs were winners on this play, but I cannot find any info on this game. Players don't normally run onto the field in celebration if it is a close play at the plate, so I'm chalking this up as a D-Backs win. It's pretty cool to see two A.J's on one card as well. 

A.J Ellis also makes an appearance on this card from 2013 Flagship. Even though we can't see A.J's number, it is fairly obvious who it is. Props to Topps on this card showing Hanigan diving for the ball just before it drops. 

As you can see, this is a fairly simple mini collection. I will show of these cards in groups of 18, one full binder page. These are the only 4 I have now, but I haven't searched for these much yet. If you have some you'd like to donate to the cause I'd love to hear from you. 

Contest Winnings From My Cardboard Habit

I won a contest run by Judson over at My Cardboard Habit last week. 

My prize? This fantastic Bryce Harper card from 2013 Panini Black Friday. 

Thanks for the contest Judson!

I Glove You

I picked this sweet A&G relic of Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez awhile back, but figured it was time to finally take it out of the drafts folder.

It's been so long that I've forgotten the story behind how I acquired this card. I am pretty sure I sniped it on eBay for a couple of bucks, but who knows for sure. This is the second relic I have of Hanleys but I have a few more in the works. Now if the Dodgers could just lock him up for another 5 years......

Expanding on my Mini Collections: Blue Bordered Dodgers

Well this mini collection is rather self explanatory. I love me some Dodger cards, but they generally look even better with blue borders. Most every card these days come with the standard white border, and blue parallels either come from Walmart or they are numbered. 

Here are some great examples of blue bordered Dodgers from back in the day. I suppose I will need to complete the team sets for 1990 Score and 1991 Donruss. I am pretty sure the Karros UD Collectors Choice is normally blue bordered, and I am assuming that is why it is special edition. I really enjoy the look of that card though. 

I still have a few more mini collections to discuss, including one that I forgot to mention in my initial post. That may come tomorrow if I have enough time to get some scans done and write about it. For now, I'll be writing an essay for my English class. 

2014 Topps Series One Andrew Lambo Auto Contest

This contest is for an Andrew Lambo Trajectory Auto from 2014 Topps Series One. The winner will receive the card pictured below. The contest ends 2/24/14 at 9:00pm PST. The rules will be explained below. Good luck!

To enter this contest just leave a comment below. You can comment once a day, and each comment is worth 1 entry. You can also email me the answer or DM me on Twitter to the question below for 5 entries:

What is my only Bryce Harper Autograph numbered to?

You may also earn one additional entry for the contest by posting about the contest on your blog. Only one entry per contest per this method though. No need to post about the contest all week. 

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!

Ben Zobrist Relic Winner

I had a record 137 entries in this week's contest, yet familiar names came out on top. Matthew Wilson is the winner of his second straight contest. Congrats to him. 

There is your Top 5, shown as a Top 7 because Matthew will only get credit for first place. Because I had so many entries, I will not be showing the remainder of the list. 

Matthew Wilson - Ben Zobrist Relic and 5 CC Points
Mr. Dodger Blue - 4 CC Points
Greg (ArgyledPlaschke) - 3 CC Points
cpuJesse - 2 CC Points
APetrelak - 1 CC Point

A new contest will be up tonight, though the rules will be slightly different. Twitter has been an effective tool for contests so far, but I am phasing that out for future contests. It is becoming harder to keep track of the entries through that avenue, so make sure you double check how to get entries in the next contest. 

Trade with Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle: PC Madness Pt. 2

If you missed Part 1 of this wonderful trade, check it out here. Today I will continue to show of the goodies Greg sent me. 

First up is this Andre Ethier base card from 2013 Topps Chrome. This leaves me with two base cards to acquire to complete the team set, Ryu and Paco. I am slowly moving along on my Topps Chrome Rainbow quest, but lower number cards are becoming harder to find.  I'll get there eventually. 

Vintage! I have been addicted to adding vintage cardboard recently. I have picked up a few cards from eBay, for minimal cost of course. I have had a lot of fun with my Topps Team Set Project so far, and hope to get some more deals done soon. I will try to take out a majority of each team set, then go for the bigger and more expensive cards. This whole ordeal will probably take a lifetime. 

Oh! I ranted about vintage Dodger cards and forgot to mention this 1978 Topps Tommy John. I'm not big on the design, but it is a much need piece for my team set.

This was completely unexpected. Delonte Carter was drafted out of Syracuse in 2011 by the Colts, though he is no longer with the organization. I will add this to my small box of Colts. 

Topps has been pushing these silk patch cards for a couple years now. I'm not the biggest fan of these things, but I am a fan of adding new cards to my PC. I do like the whole rookie card in silk idea though, and adding an Gonzo "rookie" has been on my want list for a bit. 

When you are done laughing at this sketch card you may notice that it is autographed by Ethier himself. Greg told me that DodgerBobble, a former blogger that I haven't had the pleasure of meeting, had this autographed in person. This marks the first autograph I have of the Dodger outfielder, so expect a few extra CC points Greg.

This was actually the first card I saw when opening up the bubble mailer full of cards. I did not have this one yet, though I've almost pulled the trigger on it a few times at my LCS. He wants 10 bucks for it though, so good luck to him. I love the A&G relics, so this is a much appreciated piece of cardboard...er.....plastic? 

Last but least is this beauty. This is undoubtedly my favorite card to come from the trade, and my first vintage Koufax. The fact that Don Drysdale is on there too makes it all the better. I don't know what else to say about this card, so just enjoy the scan of this vintage greatness.

Greg also sent a ton of cards for my mini collections, but those will be shared at a later time. Thanks again Greg! This was an awesome trade, and I hope we can do it again soon.