Gypsy Corey and Gypsy Kenley

A quick post on a couple cards I snagged as leftovers from work. I'm totally blanking on exactly who gave these to me/left them. It's appreciated all the same!

Two great shots of two great players.

Get well Corey!

The Best of Bowman's Best

My good buddy Mike recently passed along some singles from his 2017 Bowman's Best box breaks. Bowman's Best is a favorite product for both of us and Mike always knows just what fits best in my collection.

A new Kershaw, Seager, and Jansen makes for a wonderful day.

Thanks amigo!

BWTP's Secret Santa Goodies

I participated for the second year in Bob Walk's Secret Santa shenanigans. I recently received a bubbler from Captain Kirk which hit on a number of my current collecting interests. There was more than what I scanned but, short on time, I focused on the best stuff.

Kirk knocked off the remaining two needs from the Dodgers' portion of 2001 Topps American Pie. This appealed to me back in the day because it's such a nice looking set and I'm glad I'm finally done with it after all of these years.

Four more Want List needs followed with these additions to my 1975 Fleer Pioneers of Baseball Set. It's still one of my favorite sets and is full of so many interesting players.

Captain sent along four brand new additions to my Clayton Kershaw Collection.

Somehow this Matt Kemp didn't already reside in my Bison PC, which honestly stuns me as I feel like I had numerous copies of this at various times.

Finally, three of my all-time favorite Dodgers.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

When Andrew McCutchen Hit Number 200, I Won A Bunch of Cool Stuff

Brian of Collecting Cutch fame held a contest a while back to predict when Andrew McCutchen would hit his 200th career dinger. I managed to somehow guess the exact day and found a bunch of goodies in my mailbox shortly thereafter as my contest winnings.

The main draw of Brian's contest with this slick-looking autograph of Hall of Fame hurler Bob Gibson. It is my first John Hancock of Gibson and is numbered 96/100. I was not and am not at all familiar with these Historic Autograph Originals but I do like that it came pre-slabbed.

Here's a fantastic Matt Kemp 1/1 Yellow Plate from his 2006 Updates & Highlights rookie card. I'm always happy to add another sweet hit to my Bison Collection.

Three new additions to the Minotaur PC.

Two more Mattycakes cards I was previously without.

ManBearSeag! Hope the elbow heals up fully over the offseason.

Finally, random goodness and three of my favorite Dodgers ever.

Brian, as always, you are too generous! Thank you my friend!

Posting A Beautiful Kershaw Auto NOW

I do not collect Topps Now and have no intention of ever doing so. I didn't think I'd ever pursue any of the cards or add one to my collection but the pull was just too strong when Topps released the below stunner to commemorate Clayton Kershaw's first career MLB save in Game 5 of the 2016 NLDS against the Nationals. I patiently waited over a year and eventually found one right in my wheelhouse and in my price range when I had eBay Bucks to play with.

This newest addition to my Kersh Collection cost me very little out of pocket. Those sub-grades are superb with two 10s and a pair of 9.5s. It tempts me to see if I can't get a bump into a 10 holder. The card is numbered 060/199 and while I don't collect Topps Now the design is quite nice and pretty simple.

Here's the back which details the save and the irony of Kershaw relieving Kenley Jansen in the game when his last save came a decade earlier in the minors when he was part of a battery that featured Jansen as his catcher.

I could be tempted in the future by another Clayton autograph or something similar of Seager, Puig, or Jansen, but only time will tell.

Collecting Cutch & My 1st SuperFractor!

A while back I got a really great bubbler full of cardboard from Brian, formerly of Pirates Treasure Room and now the proprietor of Collecting Cutch. He sent a ton of great stuff and I've highlighted my favorites below.

My first SuperFractor! This beaut is the Super for Russell's 2009 Bowman Chrome offering, which just so happens to be one of the best Russ cards out there in terms of the photo they chose. Play At The Plate would be proud. Here's the full shot of that play between Martin and Nyjer Morgan, commemorated on Russ' 2009 regular Bowman card and seen on this 1/1 Black Plate I picked up eons ago. I might get this graded just for giggles.

Gorgeous! This sweet logo patch-auto, numbered 3/5, hails from 2011 Topps Marquee and the Acclaimed Impressions subset. I'm always thrilled to add a high-end Bison John Hancock to the collection. If it also brings with it a sweet piece of the "Los Angeles" from a Blue Crew uniform, it's icing on the already sweet cake.

Here's a triple auto, numbered 19/25, out of the sticker dumpster fire that was 2012 UD SP Signature Edition. It also features Andrew McCutchen and Shane Victorino; I don't think I'd ever use the word "superstar" to describe Victorino. Really good to great for stretches, yes. But superstar, nope.

Three more new additions to the Mattycakes' PC.

Brian added a cool 10 cards to my Kid K PC. The above jumbo is my favorite.

The Sega CardGen with the old-school Brooklyn throwback is just nails.

ManBearSeag! I dig the 1967 Topps set so the Heritage is right up my alley.

Vintage Koufax! There is literally little better. Drysdale came along for the ride too!

A Gerrit Cole auto appeared. (Go Bruins!)

As did a cool Gil Hodges numbered out of 99.

And some miscellaneous Koufax cards, with the silver GQ mini #'d /199.

A pair of less super-fractor-y Russ cards. That Martin Konami Mini is awesome.

And finally, a lot of random goodness. Look, that famous Campy pose again.

Red-themed Kenley and Duke Gypsy mini are the highlights.

An endless amount of thanks Brian!

Trade With Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits: A Yasiel Puig Ginter Relic and Mad Set Needs

I completed my second trade with Matt from Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits. I sent him a pair of prospect Braves' autos and a random assortment of cards for the below Yasiel Puig '15 Ginter relic which caught my eye when Matt pulled it.

The real treat was a huge chunk of my remaining Ginter needs, with most hailing from the 2015 iteration of A&G. Matt sent the final three cards I needed to complete the Base Set + SPs for 2015, and I'll randomly assign the final base card need as Kenley Jansen, so that will feel good once those three are in the binder. I will finish all of my Ginter sets by year's end.

All told, Matt knocked off 44 cards I needed with most being of the insert variety.

Thanks for another great deal Matt!

Trade With Chavez Ravining: A Mini A.J. Ellis and a Grip o' Ginter (2014 Edition)

I completed my third trade with my good friend Alex over at Chavez Ravining. You can check out our first foray here and second swap here. Alex has sent me a couple of card-filled packages over the last few months and I've been a bad and super-slow blogger. Apologies. Away we go....

A.J.! This brilliant mini relic was a card that caught my eye when Alex posted it and thankfully he was willing to move it even though it fits into his collection. A.J. will have a lessened role with newcomer Yasmani Grandal now wearing Blue but I think it will suit the future voice of the Dodgers well.

Let's wrap up the scanned portion of the show with some random goodness. Shiny Greinke, Kenley, and Ryu cards for those modest PCs; it was real Hanley; a pair of Gerrit Coles for my collection of the former UCLA standout; and minis of Cole Hamels and one-time Dodger draft pick Chase Utley.

Alex was also purging a ton of cards from his collection and I decided to take the plunge and go after the 2014 Allen & Ginter Base Set (including SPs) as well as a number of the inserts, all of which he was able to help me out with. And when I say help me out, I mean he sent me a tremendous amount of cards which I need to go through as I slowly put together my Want List for '14 A&G.

As always, the cards are much appreciated Alex!

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!

My 2013 IBWAA MLB Awards + Updated Ryan Getzlaf 2013-2014 Season Tracker

	AL MVP	AL CY YOUNG	AL ROY	AL MANAGER	AL RELIEVER
1	Mike Trout	Chris Sale	Wil Myers	Joe Maddon	Greg Holland
2	Josh Donaldson	Max Scherzer	Jose Iglesias	Bob Melvin	Koji Uehara
3	Miguel Cabrera	Yu Darvish	Danny Farquhar	Terry Francona	Joe Nathan
4	Chris Davis	Hisashi Iwakuma
5	Evan Longoria	Felix Hernandez
6	Robinson Cano
7	Jacoby Ellsbury
8	Manny Machado
9	Yu Darvish
10	Max Scherzer

	NL MVP	NL CY YOUNG	NL ROY	NL MANAGER	NL RELIEVER
1	Andrew McCutchen	Clayton Kershaw	Jose Fernandez	Clint Hurdle	Kenley Jansen
2	Clayton Kershaw	Adam Wainwright	Yasiel Puig	Mike Matheny	Craig Kimbrel
3	Matt Carpenter	Jose Fernandez	Hyun-Jin Ryu	Fredi Gonzalez	Mark Melancon
4	Carlos Gomez	Matt Harvey
5	Joey Votto	Cliff Lee
6	Paul Goldschmidt
7	Troy Tulowitzki
8	Jose Fernandez
9	Yasiel Puig
10	Yadier Molina

In retrospect the only changes I would make would be moving Scherzer ahead of Sale for AL Cy; moving Max ahead of Darvish for AL MVP; moving Goldschmidt up some in NL MVP voting; and moving Molina up as well.

That's not to say Sale was unworthy, as I believe Scherzer, Sale, Iwakuma, Darvish, and King Felix all had great cases to be made. I've just changed my mind ever so slightly after some further examination and thought.

The AL Cy Young and NL MVP votes were by far the toughest, as each race had at least 5 excellent candidates you could make a case for.

Oh, and Mike Trout is by far the best and most valuable player in baseball, and he didn't win a major award. There's something fundamentally wrong with that. Unless you truly believe he "didn't do enough to get his team into the postseason," in which case you need help unrelated to baseball.

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In other news, I've updated the Ryan Getzlaf Season Tracker on the right sidebar so that it's aligned with the current 2013-2014 season.

Some Sweet Kenley Jansen Additions.

I recently made a pair of impulse Kenley Jansen additions. Both cards had caught my eye and I finally took the plunge on one of my favorite Dodgers. Here are the newest additions to my very modest collection of the second coming of Mo Rivera.

First up is a very unique card I've only seen once. It's Kenley as a catcher and member of the West Oahu CaneFires, a Winter League team in Hawaii. It was just a few bucks and some pocket change, and I was instantly drawn to the card when I saw it. I'm a big fan of minor league issues and quirky cards, and this certainly fits into both of those categories.

Next up, I landed a Gold Parallel - numbered 12/62 - from 2013 Topps Mini. I quite like the design of 2013 Topps; minis are awesome; and low-numbered parallels of elite players had for under $5 can't be beat.

My Pitch To Be A General Manager.

My Fantasy Baseball Home League held its annual draft this past Wednesday. Below are my selections for our 8-team head-to-head league which features a $20 buy-in, lots of roster spots, and good times had by all. As the title of this here post alludes to, I'm saying I could do a better job than Ned Colletti. Hire me, any baseball team, pro or minor league.

1. (8) Joey Votto 1B
2. (9) Clayton Kershaw SP
3. (24) Evan Longoria 3B
4. (25) Jason Heyward RF
5. (40) Yoenis Cespedes LF, CF
6. (41) Yu Darvish SP
7. (56) Craig Kimbrel RP
8. (57) Zack Greinke SP
9. (72) Madison Bumgarner SP
10. (73) Brett Lawrie 3B
11. (88) Michael Bourn CF
12. (89) Chase Utley 2B
13. (104) Carlos Gomez CF
14. (105) Ike Davis 1B
15. (120) Kenley Jansen RP
16. (121) Greg Holland RP
17. (136) Mike Moustakas 3B
18. (137) Brian McCann C
19. (152) Tom Wilhelmsen RP
20. (153) Josh Reddick CF, RF
21. (168) Andrelton Simmons SS
22. (169) Pedro Alvarez 3B
23. (184) Jesus Montero C
24. (185) Brandon Belt 1B
25. (200) Marco Estrada SP, RP
26. (201) Oscar Taveras RF
27. (216) Alex Rodriguez 3B

So there's my team for this season. Happy with it, wished I had been able to draft a couple of guys I always get, and overall looking forward to another enjoyable fantasy season and baseball starting back up.

I'm off for a day/night filled with kickball and Tri-Bond.

Happy Sunday everyone.

2013 Dodgers' FanFest Recap: Some Autos and Some Terrible Lines (HADOUKEN!)

I made the trip to Dodger Stadium for the 2013 edition of FanFest, the club's second such event. My recap of last year can be found here. I wasn't as prepared for this year's event but wasn't going to miss it. I spent the day with my good buddies Spiegel and Arno which made the long wait bearable. Shout-outs to DodgerBobble, Jesse, Alex, Teresa, and Oscar, whom I met in-person for the first time. Dodger Bloggers, Unite! My goal was to grab autos of some of the new Dodgers. I didn't think last year's line situation could get any worse. I. Was. Wrong.

The line this year began outside of the actual event. You waited with thousands and then were asked to pick one player. If that player was still available you were given a wristband for that player only. As the above sweet-spotted ball shows, the player I chose - the best option left by the time I reached the selection station - was Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Korean newcomer who inked a 6-year, $36 million deal this offseason. He sweet-spotted automatically which is really cool and inscribed his number as well without me asking. Matt Kemp was one line over. Anyhoo, I clumsily dropped the cube holding the ball shortly after meeting Ryu but thankfully the case took all of the damage. Many thanks to Spiegel for the baseball. I owe you Broseph Goebbels.

There was almost no line for Shawn Tolleson, a righty reliever I have high hopes for. He has tremendous stuff and will help anchor the pen for years. I asked Shawn to sign under Kenley Jansen on what I've begun referring to as my "ball for Dodgers I like." Tolleson inscribed his number without me asking and requested that I let Kenley - who was at the next table - know that his signature was too large. Noted.

Matt Guerrier also had a short line and I was in possession of a picture I needed signatures on. He's in the picture so I decided to grab him while I could. He was a really nice guy and stayed until everyone who wanted his signature got it. Javy Guerra, also in the picture, was in the station to Matt's right but I couldn't grab his signature, unfortunately. Blue pen was a bad idea; should have used silver. Oh well. Photobomb away, Dee.

The final Dodger I met was Brandon League. The line was reasonable and even though I didn't have anything to get signed I decided I shouldn't turn down a free John Hancock when given the chance. He signed the above postcard for me and inscribed "Party Hard Greg!", per my request. All credit to Arno for making use of that inscription many times and inspiring me to give it a go.

All in all it was a fun day and I look forward to next year's FanFest when I'll be arriving ridiculously early. I did miss out on A.J. Ellis for a second straight year, which is very disappointing. Oh, and Magic Johnson, Peter Guber, or any other Dodger owner/employee reading this: hire me and I'll make FanFest and the autograph lines in particular run more smoothly next year. Seriously. I'm available and more than willing to lend a hand.