Clayton Kershaw 2015 Topps Heritage '51 Collection Blue Back Autographs, #'d 05/25: BGS 9.5-10 Auto!

I couldn't be happier concerning the card I get to showcase today. I landed it back in late September of last year as the sole bidder. I got a steal on it (with free shipping to boot) and was able to pay for it entirely through the fruits of selling for the first time ever at a card show. I parted with a Jered Weaver patch as well as two mystery packs I created for the show that included 5 hits. So for the price of 11 hits I had no interest in I was able to land a brand new Clayton Kershaw John Hancock, limited to just 25 copies as the icing on the cardboard cake.

It's a trade I would make 101 times out of 100 opportunities. Fast forward to earlier this year and I sent it off to Beckett in the hopes of a good grade. My hopes were answered when this beauty, numbered 05/25, returned with a gorgeous gold banner as a 9.5-10 AU. I dig the 1951 Topps design as that set is great in and of itself. Thanks again to Penguin for submitting to BGS for me!

Trade With My Cardboard Habit: A Gorgeous Julio Urias Gold Label Auto!

I completed my fourth trade with Judson of the fantastic My Cardboard Habit. You can check out the first here, second here, and third here. Judson and I have been sending bubblers back and forth and this time around I knew I had to find a lot for him as he sent me a fantastic addition to my modest Julio Urias PC.

This beaut is the Black Frame parallel out of 2016 Topps Gold Label -- one of my top five products of the year -- and is numbered 28/50. It will eventually head to BGS for slabbing.

Judson wasn't done as he sent along a handful of really cool additions to various collections, starting with the Seagers you see above. Bowman's Best was easily my favorite release of 2016.

A pair of new Kershaw cards with the right being a refractor.

If only Kenta Maeda could find consistency on the mound. Even last year he struggled with that far too often. Although I guess technically that makes him consistently inconsistent.

Finally, a few more Julios as he's set to make his 2017 debut tonight. The middle is another refractor and I dig the Heritage (this is at least my second copy of it).

As always Judson, you've outdone yourself! Thanks again buddy!

Long Overdue Thanks To My BB4L!

Dennis from Too Many Verlanders fame sent along a great package of cardboard and non-cardboard during the holidays. Yes, I'm slow and well behind on things but I wanted to properly thank him for the awesome stuff he sent along.

Brand new additions to my Kemp, Kershaw, and Martin PCs kick things off.

Another new Mattycakes, who is matched with Martin and PTSIA favorite Chad Billingsley as well as old friend Hiroki Kuroda. Four Angels' swatches are on the back, but I wasn't wasting my time scanning in Halos. The most notable would be Long Beach State Dirtbag Jered Weaver and former Dodger Howie Kendrick. It's numbered 154/200.

A sweet quad relic, numbered 22/50, popped out next. Most notable among the Ducks are Hampus Lindholm and Emerson Etem, whom I saw drafted in-person and used to collect heavily.

The final card I scanned in features Dodger and Bruin Chase Utley. It's a gold parallel numbered 0297/2016 out of 2016 Topps Series 1 and I love that Chase is ending his career where it could have begun had he signed rather than choosing the collegiate route.

Thanks BB4L!!

Do You Need These Player Lots?

I've got many lots of hits/rookies/inserts/randomness of a number of guys I'm ready to move. If you see any names you're interested in, please let me know and I'll be in contact to see if we can work out a deal.

- Evan Longoria
- Troy Tulowitzki
- Ryan Braun
- Jered Weaver
- Jason Heyward
- Chad Billingsley
- Alex Gordon
- Jay Bruce
- Danny Espinosa

There are probably a few others so ask if you need anything.

Trade With My Cardboard Mistress: 38 Big Allen & Ginter Needs Are No More!

I completed my eighth trade with Adam of My Cardboard Mistress fame. You can check out our first trade here, second here, third here, fourth here, fifth here, sixth here, and seventh here. Adam has been one of my favorite trading partners and one of the best I've ever dealt with, but shockingly it's been almost two years since we've swapped cardboard.

I decided to change that after realizing I had a nice stack of cards set aside for him. I contacted Adam looking to see if he had any of my remaining Ginter set needs and thankfully he had a bunch he was willing to send my way. Adam was able to knock off 38 cards from my '13-'14 lists, including 5 subsets.

The three cards scanned in also found their way to me. That Tulo boxloader is a thing of beauty. I remain perhaps the only Dodgers' fan that loved Chad Billingsley, and the Kuroda 10th Anniversary parallel is pretty nifty.

Adam also tossed in a cool Dodgers' Hot Wheels truck. Thanks amigo!

Contest Winnings From Junior Junkie!

I recently won a fun contest from T.J. who runs The Junior Junkie. He was offering up a $5 credit to COMC and thankfully I ended up guessing well enough to emerge victorious. Along with the COMC gift card was a handful of live pieces of cardboard that T.J. was kind enough to include.

The Kemp and Kershaw are both new and needed additions to my PCs and the Dirtbags' alums are always welcome to join in on the fun. Plus Piazza! My childhood favorite is a guy I can never get enough of. Also, JJ sent along a pretty sweet Blue RC Parallel /399 of Alex Gordon, a guy I'm happy I nabbed a slew of autos of a few years back.

Many thanks T.J., appreciate it!

Longoria Triple Threads Unity Relic /18

A recent addition to my Long Beach State Dirtbags PC.

I'm always excited to pick up a Longo hit, and it's the Emerald parallel out of 2015 Topps Triple Threads (numbered 14/18).

2x3 Heroes, Yet Again.

Jeff of 2x3 Heroes sent a PWE with some fun additions to various collections. There was also a reference to something that concerned us both that I'll ignore. :o

A hand-numbered (51/99) relic of Long Beach State Dirtbag Danny Espinosa. I forgot Jeff pulled this but it's a welcome addition to one of my tertiary PCs.

A pair of new Bisons popped out of the envelope next. Needed and appreciated.

Finally, a quartet of random cards I enjoyed finding.

Thanks dude!

Austin Comes Through, As Always.

My good buddy Austin once again came through with a fantastic batch of cards he picked up for me with no expectation of anything in return. I hope to one day surprise him with something just insane. It'll happen. Austin dropped these off at the shop I work at, which just so happens to be the card shop he shops at. It's a small, small world people.

How entirely Bruins is this card in every way? This is just one of those cards you look at and say "hot damn, well damn done Press Pass!" It's numbered 10/50. I still need to land me a Mojo Drew John Hancock one of these days.

Tulo! A welcome addition to my Long Beach State Dirtbags PC. 2010 Allen & Ginter is easily my favorite year of A&G, as it got me back into collecting and I absolutely LOVE the border design on the autos and relics.

Finally, a Ginter relic of Ryan Braun.

As always, I appreciate your generosity Austin!

Trade With Cards On Cards: Cuban and Camouflaged and Checklisted, Yasiel.

I completed my first trade with Kerry from Cards On Cards. He pulled a card I had to have and thankfully he collects the Cardinals, of which I had much to trade.

I really can't scan sometimes. Numbered 52/99, this Camo Parallel of a Puig-filled checklist caught my eye when Kerry posted some pulls. We quickly struck up a deal and I'm happy to add a really swell card to my modest Puig PC. ManBearPuig is in full flight with a dirty jersey. This is such a #MERICA card.

A brand new Clayton Kershaw takes me one step closer to 250 Kid Ks. A great Tulo rookie from UD Masterpieces was a nice surprise, and here are two of a handful of Gerrit Cole RCs that came my way.

Here are the rest of those aforementioned Cole RCs, and they're joined by a pair of 2011 Gypsy Queen cards I needed; a sweet Koufax; and a slew of Kevin Love UCLA cards.

Kerry also sent along a nice chunk of my 2014 Allen & Ginter needs, which is always much appreciated. Thanks for the great trade Kerry, and I hope you enjoy the cards I sent in return!

Trade With DocHoloday: Kemp, Kershaw, ALL YOUR DODGERS, and A Custom Archer Sketch Card!

I completed my second trade with Matt from DocHoloday. It was quite the gigantic trade, and he sent me a ton of amazing pieces of cardboard. You can see what Matt received by following this here link.

This sweet addition to my Bison Collection is numbered out of a scant /25 (12/25, to be exact). It's the XFractor parallel out of 2007 Topps Finest.

Clayton! This new Kershaw is a mini black framed relic out of 2013 Gypsy Queen. It scanned crooked each time and I gave up after three attempts. But still. Kid K!

More adds to my Kemp/Kershaw PCs. 13 new Bisons takes my Kemp PC over the 350 unique card mark. 8 new Kershaws always makes for a swell collecting day and the Russell Martin is a sweet, sweet refractor of a great play at the plate.

My Long Beach State PC gets a boost with this sweet Troy Tulowitzki bat slice, numbered 272/399. Tier One is such a pretty set, but one I will only pick up cheap singles from because boxes are crazy expensive.

A fantastic dual relic featuring a pair of sweater swatches from Bobby Ryan and Cam Fowler. It's numbered 258/300 to boot.

A potpourri of fantastic cards is up next. There's a sweet Julio Urias RC right smack dab in the middle; a troika of awesome Hyun-Jin Ryu rookies; a miiiinnnniiii blue Joc Pederson /250; Puig and Seager, Bowman Platinum style; a tremendous die-cut of The Duke of Flatbush; and a brand new Ryan Getzlaf parallel that's serial-numbered 985/999.

Some pure random goodness. The Piazzas are tremendous, especially the Diamond Duos card (Hideo Nomo is on the reverse) and the Star Attractions die-cut. A page full of Piazza cards always makes for a good day. The Zack Greinke Heritage is easily one of the best cards of the year, and I had never seen that Pee Wee Reese card before (it's quite pretty). The red Nolasco is really a red Puig in my book, and I've always enjoyed the AJ Ellis card on the top left.

My first auto of future reliever -- if he remains in L.A. -- Matt Magill.

And finally, a true surprise as Matt included a custom sketch card of one Sterling Archer! Much like the custom Archer sketch Gavin sent me, this baby is headed straight for my Archer PC. Seriously, if anybody wants to ever sit down and sketch me a custom Archer sketch, I will more than happily add it to my collection. If you wanted to draw Krieger doing something exceptionally Krieger-ish, that would be totally cool as well. Not that I'm hinting or anything....

Thanks for a truly phenomenal trade Matt! It was well worth the wait!

Massive 4th Place Contest Winnings From The Legendary Fuji!

Fuji held a massive contest earlier this year and when the dust settled I found myself in fourth place, which in this case meant a prize package would head my way. Here's a handful of the cardboard that found its way to Southern California.

The hits, highlighted by a sweet Eric Gagne relic.

A new Kemp, a new Kershaw, and a new Russ Martin. The Martin serves as the 300th unique card in my PC of the former Blue Crew backstop.

Now here's an interesting card. Night Owl has written on many an occasion about people sending him Royals' cards because they thought they were Dodgers' cards, what with the Blue and all. Well, here's a case where it falls on the shoulders of the card company to have gotten the darn thing right. I pulled this out of the bubbler and said hmmm, I don't recall there being a prospect named Salvador Perez in the L.A. system. Because, you know, there isn't. It's Sal Perez, the Kansas City backstop who's a fantastic young player. Anyways, I quite like the card even though it erroneously says Dodgers on the front while the back does say Royals.

Some randomness to end things. Love the Billingsley rookie; lots and lots of Jered Weaver which just further emphasizes that Topps reuses the same photo over and over (Topps Chrome, top middle); Kirk and Orel are welcome sights; that Piazza is nails; and so many talented arms in recent years.

Thanks as always Fuji for your generosity!

Trade With It's like having my own Card Shop: Ginter Needs, Utley, Tulo, Weaver.

I completed my second trade with Daniel from It's like having my own Card Shop. Daniel accidentally bought a blaster of '13 Ginter when he was aiming for '14 Ginter, but thankfully for me he pulled five inserts I very much need as I continue to attempt to finish the last 3 years worth of A&G (help me out, dudes and dudettes).

The five additions to my Ginter Quest.

Floating head sticker Chase Utley! Daniel sent along some random cards of a couple of guys I collect in Chase Utley (UCLA, former Dodgers' 2nd round draft pick who didn't sign) and Troy Tulowitzki (Long Beach State).

Finally, this Jered Weaver jersey swatch (another Dirtbag!) fell out of the bubbler, and as I haven't focused much on my tertiary PCs in a long time, it's a much appreciated hit. I fortunately had a D-Backs' hit I could send back in return.

Thanks for the trade Daniel! Hope you enjoy the cards headed your way!

From The Cuban Missile to The Hebrew Hammer, Chavez Ravining Delivers.

Alex from Chavez Ravining fame let me know that a surprise package was on the way. He said I'd like its contents even more than an auto-relic I won in a contest from him, and boy was he spot on.

Puuuuuuiiiiiiiig! This Rookie Cup Target Red Parallel (I assume it's the Target variation) is a new addition to my #ManBearPuig PC, and it's a great action photo of The Wild Horse rounding third. Heck, I think I even see Clayton Kershaw lurking in the background!

I'll be putting together the Pastime's Pastimes subset once my quest for 2014 Allen & Ginter begins, so getting Evan Longoria's card is a nice start when I haven't even purchased any '14 Ginter as of yet. The former Long Beach State Dirtbag lists his pastime as animals.

Alex included a note which said the big card in the bubbler was a freebie from his LCS, something he thought would fit into my collection and heart perfectly. Okay, I added that last part, but he was right to believe I'd love anything Al Rosen, let alone a brand new Hebrew Hammer John Hancock my collection was previously without.

Thanks as always dude! As usual, I am greatly in your debt.

Clubhouse Collection: 99 Cent Tulo

I landed this sweet Troy Tulowitzki relic from 2014 Topps Heritage for a mere 99 cents. It's a great addition to my Long Beach State Dirtbags PC.

Free shipping was the kicker as I was able to pick up this, as well as a number of other 99 cent items, from my buddy who used to run my now-defunct LCS.

Longo Tier One Bat For Just 99 Cents.

I landed the below Evan Longoria bat slice out of 2013 Topps Tier One for the low, low price of just 99 cents delivered (free shipping because pickup was local FTW!).

It's numbered 227/399. My Long Beach State PC has taken a back seat as I have an autograph of each member, but anytime I can add a piece to it for such a great price, I'm more than happy to do so. It may be a tertiary collection but it is headlined by two future Hall of Famers (Evan and Troy Tulowitzki).

Cards From Reader Austin

My buddy Austin sent over another unexpected PWE filled with awesomeness. I've scanned in my favorites which are highlighted by a 2013 Ginter Heavy Hangs The Head need, a nice Gerrit Cole RC, and a sweet George Washington A&G mini.

USPS apparently ran into some issues while sorting the envelope, because it arrived in my mailbox like this:

Thankfully, the cards were not hurt due to Austin packaging them with actual care. Thanks as always for the cards amigo!