Matt Kemp was a Rookie Sensation + New Trade Bait

I recently completed a trade with Kyle of Beware the Hockey Card Closet. He had some Chavez Code points remaining and decided to cash them in. 

In return for some cards I sent his way, Kyle sent me this sweet rookie card of Matty Ice. It is a new addition to my Matt Kemp PC, which now sits at 166 cards. That sounds pretty good, but hopefully I can reach 200 by the end of the year. 

Kyle and I actually swapped some hits. He took a few of my relic, #'d, and auto cards and I received a few back to reload on my trade bait. Included was this relic of ex-Dodger, Brad Penny. Penny pitched pretty well for the Dodger  for a few years ago, but I never really became a big fan of his. I know it's a Dodger, but it is headed to my trade bait.

I decided not to scan every card that Kyle sent my way, primarily to force you to check out my Trade Bait page. I did decide to scan this card though, mainly because I forgot that Soriano ever played for the Rangers. This probably would have been quite the hot ticket item ten years ago, but not so much anymore. 

Thanks again for the awesome cards Kyle! 

Topps BUNT

A few weeks ago I came across a this great post by Mark of Mark's Ephemera. Because I am just soooo creative, I reused the same simple title as his post. 

Simple or not, it does a good job indicating what this post is about: Topps BUNT.

For those with iPhones or Android smartphones, you can download this app for free and create your own digital collection of cards.

To be honest, the idea is kind of cheesy. I mean who wants to have a digital collection if we could just have the real things in person? 

Well, apparently I liked the cheesy idea, because I am pretty hooked on it now. It gives me something to do when it is slow at work, when I am standing in line at Six Flags, or if I am simply laying in bed but not ready to go to sleep. Cards, even the digital ones, seems to have a grasp on my soul. 

The app is primarily filled with base cards, but it does offer some parallels. You may notice the four squares on the far left of the card; this happens to be the silver parallel which happens to have three of the four squares filled. Like in real life, pulling cards like this have tougher odds.

Of course, you may get lucky and pull a gold parallel every once in a while. I was lucky enough to pick up this sweet gold parallel of Dodgers All-Star, Dee Gordon. I have since traded it for the Kemp Gold parallel, which means I have the Kemp rainbow in the app!

This card also reminded me that there are no horizontal shots in the set. It also reminded me that there are ton of those damn up close shots, even in the app. 

But enough of those, the real prizes in the game are the inserts. 

This is the Men of Action insert of Dodgers ace, Clayton Kershaw. Although it is technically an insert, these Men of Action cards are widespread. They seem to pop up every other pack for new users, and the initial packs they come in are very cheap. I found this out after I traded pretty heavily for it, but I don't think it is a big deal. This subset only has three players: Kershaw, Strasburg, and Hernandez and I now have all three cards. 

Remember how I mentioned there were no horizontal cards in the app? Well, you end up with cards like this because of it. Frankly, I don't really want to talk about Joe Kelly right now, but this card is hideous and should be burned. Too bad it is digital.....wait, maybe that's a good thing. 

I found out a ton of useful information about this app after doing some research for this post. I was even able to pick up this sweet piece of #ManBearPuig along the way. Although the app may be kind pointless, it can be fun and addicting at times. I have not spent a dime on any cards, yet, and it isn't really necessary to play the app. You are given free coins everyday, and you can complete team sets for more coin rewards.

If you do decide to download it, be sure to add me as a friend. My username is Chavez_Ravining. Apparently somebody already took my blog's name, which is why I had to throw that underscore in there.

Ya Heard? With Perd!

Let me begin this post by starting it.

The thing this blogger bought on eBay, is a card. That amount it set this blogger back, was a small one.

But enough Perd talk. This card cost just a few bucks shipped, and is a great addition to my Parks and Rec autograph subset. With the addition of this card, I now sit at about the halfway marker toward my goal of obtaining all 13 autos. Check out my progress below.

My Progress (6/13)

Amy Poehler (Leslie Knope)

Rob Lowe (Chris Traeger)

Aziz Ansari (Tom Haverford)

Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson)

Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate)

Jim O’Heir (Jerry Gergich)

Retta (Donna Meagle)

Jay Jackson (Perd Hapley)

Mo Collins (Joan Callmezzo)

Megan Mullally (Tammy Swanson)

Paul Rudd (Bobby Newport)

Fred Armisen (Raul)

Parker Posey (Lindsay Carlisle Shay)

Contest Winners Announced!

I finally had the opportunity to get all of the entries into the randomizer and I just randomized them 21 times. Before I announce the winner, lets take a look at the list of people who entered, and how many entries each person had. 

Now that we took card of that, let's announce the winners! 

Actually, before we do that, let me reiterate one of the primary rules that I have for all of my contests: You cannot win more than once. That basically means there will be 9 unique winners, because there are 9 different prizes. That being said, we can finally get on to those winners!

There was no nice looking way to organize those images, so I apologize for the unkempt look. 

Congratulations to Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown for winning first prize this time around! Becuase Skroeker appeared twice in the Top 9, I removed their second entry and moved up the 10th place entrant. 

EDIT: Apparently cpuJesse also appeared twice in the Top 9, but I missed it in my initial read through. The image is a bit off, but Ruben Lipsyzc moved into the Top 9. 

Here is a list of the winners that is a little easier to read.

1. Gavin (Baseball Card Breakdown)

2. Greg (Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle)

3. Caitlin Jennings

4. cpuJesse (Section 117)

5. Skroeker

6. Weston (Fantastic Catch)

7. Bo Rosny 

8. Matthew Wilson (Tenets of Wilson)

9. Ruben Lipsyzc

If you are a winner, please email me (chavezravining@hotmail.com) a list of which prizes you would like, in order, by the 25th of July. You can visit this link to revisit the prizes I am giving away. 

Thanks again to everyone who entered! I plan on holding another contest (albeit a little smaller) as soon as school starts. 

Contest Update

I just wanted to drop in and give you all an update on the contest. 

There were 91 total entries, hooray!

I will input the entries into the randomizer either tonight or tomorrow evening. I will then randomize the list 21 times in honor of my birthday. 

Good luck to everyone!

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!

Happy Birthday, Greg!

No, not that Greg who also celebrated his birthday yesterday. Greg of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle gets to celebrate his birth today. What better way to celebrate a fellow blogger's birthday, than by showing off some awesome cards he passed along my way earlier this week at the Dodger game. Of course, you can celebrate by harassing Greg on Twitter or just visiting his awesome blog.

Although Greg and I have been in contact since the inception of my blog almost a year ago, this is only our second trade. And boy, the first one (so good it required two posts) was just a sign of things to come when dealing with Greg. 

The centerpiece of this deal was a swap of autographs from the Parks and Recreation set by Press Pass. Both Greg and I are attempting to put the entire autographed set, and we were able to help each other out by flipping some of our excess autographs. This time around I was able to pick up the hilarious Joan Callamezzo portrayed by Mo Collins. I now have 5 out of the 13 autos in the set, still needing the big ones like Amy Poehler and Rob Lowe. With the prices those seem to be sitting at, it may be beneficial to just buy a hobby box and hope for the best. 

Greg also tossed in my very first autograph of former Dodger, Blake DeWitt. Although he was traded for Ted Lilly back in 2010, DeWitt remained one of my favorite players. From the looks of it, DeWitt is a free agent. Ahem....you know what to do Dodgers.

Moving from a former Dodger, to a soon to be former Dodger, Greg threw in this sweet relic of Andre Ethier. Look, I love Ethier, but his production has dropped off immensely the past two seasons. With Joc Pederson knocking on the door in Triple-A, one of Ethier or Carl Crawford will most likely be moved before the start of 2015. The Dodgers will either have to give away one of the players for some mediocre prospects, or take on another albatross contract in return. Jonathan Papelbon's name was thrown around yesterday, and even though I dislike Papelbon, it would probably benefit the team in the long run. 

Hell, the Dodgers could trade either of their overpriced outfielders for dirt and sign Shawn Green and I'd be happy. We know that would never happen, but a man can dream right? Greg threw in two Green relics into this trade package, though I decided to just scan the one. This one is #'d 226/250 and joins its brothers in my box box of Greens.

Speaking of former Dodgers I'd like to see make a return to LA, here is a sweet swatch of Russell Martin. Considering it is a fairly low numbered relic of one of Greg's favorite players, I am assuming he had a spare. If so, I don't blame him for having more than one of these spectacular cards. 

It seems like this post has turned into me clamoring for former Dodgers to make their return to the magic castle that is Dodger Stadium. However, I don't only want former Dodgers to return. It would be nice to have Withrow at the back of the Dodgers bullpen, but he is just one of many Tommy John victims this year. 

Of course, relievers tend to be expendable and with the Dodgers depth, they aren't horribly effected by Withrow's loss. The Dodgers showed off how expendable relievers can be by shipping off Josh Lindblom to Philly in the deal for Shane Victorino in 2012. In a strange sequence of events, the Phillies then traded Lindblom to the Rangers for Michael Young after the 2012 season. The Dodgers then traded for Young in August of last season to bring the trade full circle. 

Moving away from the hits that Greg exchanged with me, we have three new Matt Kemp cards for my #BEASTMODE PC. There is just something about those Triple Play cards that grabs my attention. They are wonderful. 

Triple Play is one of the low-end products, so Greg made sure to include a new Matty Ice card from one of the high-end sets. This Kemp marks four new cards Greg added to my collection, which now sits at 165 unique cards. 

Greg was also kind enough to toss in a couple of Shawn Green cards, one better than the other. I'll let you guess which one don't like. 

Though I tend to hate cards of Shawn Green featured as a D-Back, I'll take any card of Jonathan Broxton. I have always been a big fan of the big man, even after Joe Torre killed him back in the Yankees series in 2010. Broxton was one of the most dominant relievers in the game during a four year stretch from 2006-2009. After that ill-fated series against the Yankees, in which Broxton pitched in 4 out of 5 games, and warmed up in the other one, Broxton was never the same. By the way, Broxton (a closer mind you) threw 99 pitches in a span of five days. As Mike Petriello, then of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness pointed out, Jonathan Broxton is a starting pitcher now, I guess. I need to get all of my Broxton cards together and officially add him to my tertiary PC's, but that means I actually have to do something when I'm not at work.

A vertical card next to a horizontal one is not very pleasing to the eyes, but this is my blog and I can do whatever I want. All joking aside, Greg managed to throw in a pair of sweet Bryce Harper cards that I did not have somehow. 

Greg also threw in a ton of other great cards, including a ton of mini collection hits, other hits, and some Dodgers. Unfortunately, I forgot Greg's side of the deal when I took my trip to LA over the weekend, but Greg will be happy to know that his cards are en route. He probably won't get them today, but a belated birthday gift tomorrow should be expected.

Thanks again for all of the wonderful cards Greg! Be sure to enjoy your birthday amigo!

Matt Kemp is Still an All-Star in My Eyes

Thanks to everyone who entered in my contest that ended last night. It will be a few days before I have the chance to tally up the entries and run them in the randomizer, so you will all have to wait for the results. 

Until then, enjoy this beautiful bat slice relic from 2012 Panini Prime Cuts of Matt Kemp. 

I picked this bad boy up a few weeks ago for just a couple of bucks shipped. Being that is is #'d 142/199, that's a good deal any day of the week. 

Kemp did not make the All-Star team in 2014, and probably won't ever be an All-Star caliber player again. After Kemp's crazy good 2011 season in which he narrowly missed the 40-40 mark, Kemp started out 2012 on fire. After a month of being the best player in baseball, Kemp went down with a bad hammy, forcing him to miss the next few months. Upon his return, Kemp destroyed his shoulder in Colorado, effectively ending his season. Kemp, determined to come back strong in 2013, may have rushed back as he never quite got it going. A month into the season, Kemp aggravated his ailing shoulder and required a lengthy trip to the DL. He came back for a single game, only to completely destroy his ankle in Washington. He came back again at the end of 2013 for a handful of games, but his season was over shortly after with more ankle problems. Kemp came into 2014 one-hundred percent ready to go, but with 4 full-time outfielders, playing time was hard to come by. Kemp became a regular fixture in the lineup after a few injuries and overcame his slow start by batting .317/.375/.525 in the month of June. He has been in a bit of a slump in July, but should put up numbers near his career averages by the end of the year.

Unfortunately, home team fans tend to dislike Matt Kemp for some reason. Kemp does strike out fairly often, shown by his 25.9 K%. Perhaps fans want to see him get the bat on the ball more? I tend to think that fans have unfair expectations for Kemp. After a couple of monster seasons, fans are expecting Matt Kemp to put up similar numbers, but are left disappointed because Matt has put up numbers close to his career norms. Primarily because of a major shoulder surgery that sapped his power, Kemp will never be the same. Sadly, fans will probably continue to boo him at games like the one I was at on Saturday. 

Whether or not Matt Kemp can ever produce like he did in 2011, he will always be an All-Star in my eyes. 

Last Chance to Enter the Contest!

I did not have the time to get cards scanned and get a post up today. However, being that it is the last day to enter my contest, I figured a last second heads up was in order. So here it is:

It is your last chance to enter the contest!

The contest closes tonight around midnight PST. Feel free to click anywhere on this fancy blue text to be taken to the contest page to obtain your entries. 

Remember, there are 9 total prizes including a spot in my 2014 Topps Chrome 4x Box Break, a set of 1982 K-Mart 20th Anniversary cards, numerous refractors, and a quite a few relics and autos. 

-------------------------------------------------

On a side note, I still have 9 spots open in my 2014 Topps Chrome Box break. I will be busting 4 hobby boxes of the product, and each spot you buy will include the team of your choice and a random team after all spots have been filled. Each spot $25 bucks, which includes shipping. The sooner I can fill up the spots, the sooner I can preorder the boxes. If you are interested, just leave a comment on this post, or the post I linked to at the beginning of this block of text. 

Dodger Game in Review: Autographs, a Bobble Head, and a Win!

I'm finally back from my trip, and I can honestly say I had a great time. Dikran and I took the 4 hour trip to Los Angeles, leaving around 9am on Saturday morning. After a quick pit stop at Denny's, we finished our drive and arrived at our hotel. We got checked in, checked out the local Target to see if we could unearth some cheap cards to bust, but nothing was to be found.

We then took off to Dodger Stadium and met up with Matthew (Dodger Penguin) and his wife around 4pm, then drove in to the stadium together. This was the first time Matthew and I have met in person, and I have nothing but nice things to say about him. We then walked into the stadium and headed straight for the baseline. Most fans were unable to enter the stadium until five, but thanks to Matthew we were able to get in early for batting practice and autographs.

Matthew got a couple of Drew Butera autos earlier in the day, and added to his loot with a J.P Howell auto. Unfortunately, getting autos is hit and miss, and me and Dikran came up empty. However, even without autos, it was a surreal experience getting that close to the field and the players.

You can see where we were posted up. Dan Haren and Hyun-Jin Ryu decided to come and toss directly in front of us. Thankfully Haren was able to catch everything thrown at him, or I may have taken one to the face. I was hoping he would turn around and sign after tossing, but he took off in the opposite direction.

Here is a bearded Chris Perez. Kenley Jansen is to the left of him and one of them is tossing with J.P Howell. I cannot remember which one.

 Dikran was able to snap this pic of Matt Kemp warming up. I really wish he came over to sign.

Fortunately, two former Dodgers were signing behind the left and right field pavilions, so I was able to head over there and get some guaranteed autos.

I visited Lee Lacy first. Lacy was a fantastic guy, and very chatty. I approached him with his 1973 Topps rookie card, which I was lucky to have, and he was more than happy to sign it. I think I may have caught him off guard with it, as he surprisingly exclaimed, "You got my rookie card!"

He also signed, and personalized, a postcard of himself. 

After a brief conversation about the first-place Dodgers, I started off only to find Dikran was following without stopping to get an autograph. Fortunately, Lacy also noticed this and called out for Dikran to come back. We both headed back to the booth and Lacy signed a postcard for Dikran and joked with him for a minute. Dikran later told me he didn't realize that we were both able to get autographs, but I suspect he was a little intimidated by the former Dodger.

We then took the trek around the stadium to the left field pavilion in search of Derrel Thomas, the other signer. After finding it, we noticed the line was about the same length as Lacy's was. Lacy's line took about 30 mins to get through, but we were out of Thomas' line in 10 mins. Thomas spoke very little and did not look to really be enjoying himself. I approached him with a copy of his 1984 Topps card and he signed it, but didn't even respond when I asked how he was doing. I was hoping he would also sign one of the several hundred postcards he had stacked up, but he didn't. Dikran was standing right next to me, but Thomas never even acknowledged him and signaled for the next person in line to come up after signing my card. Long story short, Dikran did not get an autograph of Mr. Thomas. 

It had been a long day up to that point, so we grabbed a couple of Dodger Dogs and headed back to our seats without any further exploration.

Here is the beautiful view from our seats. Dikran snapped both of these pics, one prior to the game, and the other in the middle innings. The stadium filled up quite nicely.

Shorty after the game started, Greg of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle and I met up for our first in person meeting. Like Matthew, Greg is an awesome guy and we ended up talking about the Dodgers, Archer, and life for about 2 innings. We didn't miss much, as the bats were quiet for both teams throughout most of the game.

Both Matthew and Greg brought cards for trades we made, but I mistakenly forgot the bag with their cards in it at home. I didn't realize it until we were headed to the game, so I was disappointed with myself. In the same bag was an 8X10 of Matt Kemp that I was hoping to get signed, so that obviously did not come to the game with me either. I packed that bag a few days in advance so I would not forget to do so before we left, yet I forgot it anyways. Arghhh.

It was bobble head night at the stadium, featuring this magnificent bobble head of Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella. Campanella was famously paralyzed from the shoulders down after an auto accident in 1958. On May 7th, 1959, the Dodgers hosted Roy Campanella night in which Campy was pushed onto the field by former teammate, Pee Wee Reese. The bobble head perfectly encapsulates that fantastic moment in Dodger history. 

The Dodgers ended up winning the game on a walk-off sacrifice fly by A.J Ellis, after a double from Adrian Gonzalez and a pair of walks in the inning. It was the first time I've ever attended a night game at Dodger Stadium, and the first time I've ever attended a walk-off win. The walk-off perfectly capped off the wonderful night. 

Because we parked outside of the stadium, Dikran and I had a nice stroll around the stadium before we took off. We visited the retired numbers at the Top of the Stadium. 

I am posted up next to Jackie's infamous number, but I don't look too happy. This was taken about 30 mins after the game, but there was still a decent sized crown roaming around. We asked the same group of people to move three times so we could get a picture, but they made it seem like a big inconvenience. We took five other photos that didn't come out, so I was a bit annoyed. Rather than try and capture another one with a happier expression, we moved on to other numbers, but those pictures did not come out either. So I was left with one photo off me at the stadium to show off. 

I'll finish off this post with some other various pictures from our day. Enjoy!