Happy Birthday, Justin Turner! Here's A Ticket From Your 1st HR You Signed!

Justin Turner's time with the Dodgers has been nothing short or phenomenal. From bench player to starter to multi-time All-Star to NLCS MVP to World Series Champion, he's done it all. JT has won multiple awards and holds team and franchise records. I wanted to add something cool to my collection as I've enjoyed watching him play and enjoyed meeting him once right after he came to LA.

A signed first homer ticket was an easy decision and I'm thrilled I was able to find one and add it to my collection of fulls and stubs. eBay came through and I sent it off to PSA for authentication and was pumped it came back my way as a 7 with a 10 for Justin's John Hancock. He inscribed "1st MLB HR" and according to my buddy who does DNA at PSA, it's a rookie signature to boot!

What would a signed copy be without an unsigned one to compliment it? I picked up a raw copy for fun and sent it in as well....a 6 is what it ended up as.

I would very much enjoy seeing Justin back for another run at DH in 2023. The team has a $16 million option on Red for the upcoming campaign.

Don't Call It A Collection

I helped my buddy who draws me those rad Simpsons' sketches get a gift for a friend of his on short notice and he brought me a thank you gift the next time he stopped by the store.

He provided me with my first ever Cody Bellinger card and is now responsible for numbers two and three in my extremely modest Bellinger grouping of cards. I won't call it a collection as I have no intention of collecting Cody but I will gladly take rookies of his when people simply want to give me them. Because of course.

The 2017 Update SP with three cameos is such a cool card.

Thanks dude!

Jay Johnstone is Awesome and Hilarious.

Working in a card shop brings new experiences with it each and every day. About two weeks ago we got a call from a guy looking to bring in some stuff he wanted to get rid of. The next day he called and asked if he could park his truck behind the store. He was almost backing up as he called so I wasn't going to say no. I let my boss know and he headed out to see what was what. My boss soon thereafter walks in with the gentleman and asks me if I know who he is. He tells me the guy hit a home run in the World Series, which of course narrows it down immensely.

As a look of bewilderment spread across my face the guy walked up to me, gave me a big hug, and informed me he was Ernie Banks. That humor should be expected considering the guy hugging me happened to be one of the game's all-time great pranksters, Jay Johnstone. A Dodger in the store! That alone made the day great. Jay proceeded to hang around for about an hour and tell us story after story. My bosses ended up buying everything he brought in, which included a couple of really cool and unique pieces as well as a boatload of 80s and 90s stuff sent to him directly from Sy Berger and Topps.

I had to grab something Dodgers-related for him to sign, and we happened to have the 1981 Topps O-Pee-Chee you see above in-stock. Jay kindly signed without any prompting and also was nice enough to sign the magazine you see above. Jay brought in a handful of those himself, handed them out, and told us it would make for some good bathroom material. Having him sign his John Hancock right across Steve Garvey's body seemed like the logical move.

Jay is actually the second Dodger to come in since I started working there, as Justin Turner came in a few months back. Many, many thanks to Jay for his kindness and willingness to autograph a couple of items for my collection!