(Zack) Wheat Wednesday: 1909 Spalding Guide Minor League Item!!

Any day I can add a new Zack Wheat to my collection at this point is not only a great day, but a phenomenal day as they are fewer and further between at this stage in my journey of PCing the Dodgers' legend. When I spotted this 1909 Spalding Guide photo on eBay, I jumped and was pumped to land it.

It did not break the bank by any means necessary; is from the cool Spalding Baseball Guides I am a huge fan of; and is unique and oddball which I also adore. It was listed as 1908 and while I agree the picture is of the 1908 squad, it has to be from a 1909 Spalding publication.

Wheat, number 6 on the piece, is pictured on his Mobile Sea Gulls squad while in the high minors as part of the Southern Association. For a pre-war guy, finding anything from the minors is very difficult, so when I found this I had to grab it.

A Beautiful Blue USA Seager

A quick post today on an awesome gift a friend gave me about a year plus ago. I tend to think my Corey Seager PC is pretty good but his blows me out of the water. For whatever reason the below was not something he wanted to keep and he knows I'm a big Corey fan.

From the 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft USA Baseball set, we have this beautiful blue autograph numbered out of 99 and slabbed a BGS 8 with a 10 for the John Hancock. I attempted to cross this over to a PSA 9 on the off-chance it would slide through....but no go on that.

Thanks as always for your friendship and generosity Wes!

Mike Trout Quakes Minor League Card, Signed and Slabbed PSA/DNA Authentic!

This unique item is something I've had for a couple of years now. I was simply lazy in sending it in to PSA and then posting about it, with a wait time in between leading to the former and contributing to the latter. I spotted it on eBay way back when and decided for as much as it would run me, the one-of-a-kindness of the piece combined with its awesomeness was worth the dough and the time I would need to invest getting it re-slabbed.

While I should have been collecting Mike Trout much, much earlier it is really hard to pass up a killer item of his now. When it's an autographed minor league stunner like this Rancho Cucamonga Quakes team-issued card pulling the trigger is just a formality. I've never seen another of these so trusting my gut was the right call.

It arrived in an old slab and crooked so I knew it would need to be corrected. I begged and pleaded with the PSA Research Department to give it a title other than "CARD" and even offered to call the team to get confirmation. I was turned down and told maybe one day it could be "spec'd" but for now it could not be slabbed any other way than this.

While I was disappointed at that outcome I was not all that surprised and owning it is more important than having any grading company call it what I know it to be. I will likely check back in down the road to see if anything has changed but I don't expect the answer to be yes.

Nonetheless, having this firmly secured and better displayed in my Millville Meteor PC is all that matters, and I could not be happier with this gorgeous seductress of cardboard goodness!

Me and Julio Down By The Colorful and Shiny Schoolyard

I submitted a pair of Julio Urias non-standard Bowman Chrome cards for grading prior to leaving PSA. Neither card was anything major but the grading price was right and both cards are scarce due to lower print-runs.

First up is a 2014 Bowman Chrome Mini Orange Refractor. I really like how the orange pops -- it looks way better in-hand -- and it's numbered 6/10 which doesn't hurt either. PSA gave this one an 8 and I was holding out hope it would sneak through with a 9.

The second slab is this 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Profiles Mini Gold Refractor, limited to 50 copies. This one did get a 9.

2008 Topps Update & Highlights Rookie: Clayton Kershaw, PSA 9!

Clayton Kershaw will forever be one of my top-5 favorite athletes. While I don't collect much modern anymore the pure joy of adding a Kersh card will never dissipate. I can't find the original post from this pickup but getting it protected by PSA was a necessity.

Hoping for a 10, I am more than happy to have a 9 come back. I have always enjoyed the simple Spring Training shot and this portrait with Clayton donning the number 75 is a beaut!

An Awesome T206 Ghost/Registration Shift: Rudy Hulswitt, PSA 1.5!

I went back and forth in my head about whether I should pick up today's featured card. I liked it a lot and I knew it wouldn't kill my wallet but it is one of those esoteric items that you just know you're paying up for. In the end it captivated me to such a degree that I could not resist adding it to my T206 Collection.

What drew my attention to this Sweet Caporal PSA 1.5 was the super cool ghost image/registration shift that makes it appear as if Rudy Hulswitt's soul is escaping from his body. It is much, much more prominent in-hand but thankfully the scan from the seller shows it well enough for government work.

Hulswitt had a short pro career before moving on to manage, coach, and scout in the minors, including a stint with the Dodgers. According to the T206 Collection 2nd Edition book (an awesome read if you can find one) Hulswitt holds the record for the most errors committed in a season by a shortstop with 81.

This is the second ghost/registration shift I own, joining Owen Wilson. I would love to get one of the truly crazy ghost images you find every now and then.

Wander Franco Addition: 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects RC, Slabbed a PSA 10!

I showcased a couple of Wander Franco cards towards the end of last year that I picked up for free and sent in to work to get slabbed. Here is the third of that group and the best of the modest bunch. It also arrived back in my hands as a PSA 10 and while none are super high-value I'm happy to have a small collection brewing of baseball's best prospect.

From the 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects set, this is likely the last card of the future face of the Tampa Bay Rays' franchise I'll be acquiring any time soon.

My First Wander Franco Cards

On one of my monthly trips back to Los Angeles I swung by my old job and watched a customer bust a number of boxes. As was usually the case when I was working there he took the hits only and left all of the base for anyone to pick through. I found a couple cards I was definitely more than happy to snag for free and submitted both for slabbing.

The first card was this 2019 Bowman Paper Prospects card of the best prospect in all of baseball, Mr. Wander Franco. It came back as a 10 and as I won't be dipping my toes into the deeper end of the Wander spectrum, this base rookie is plenty good enough for me.

What's better than one Wander card in a PSA 10 holder? Why, two PSA 10 Wanders, of course. Here's the 2019 Bowman Sterling Continuity offering of Wander's. There is most certainly a lot going on with this design, to say the least.

Dustin May 2018 Bowman Paper Prospect Rookie Auto, Slabbed a PSA 9

A few months back I went to a card show. It was put on by the same folks who held the one I recently recapped here. I bought mostly non-sports items my first go-around but this was my big sports grab (before it got slabbed).

I couldn't resist this Dustin May 2018 Bowman Paper auto for $5, originally marked $7 before my expert negotiating skills kicked in. May showed flashes of promise and excellent stuff in his limited time in the bigs this year, and hopefully he can be a more permanent fixture in the Dodger rotation next year. A little white on the bottom left corner accounts for the PSA 9 grade.

Corey Seager Graded Rookie Pickup: 2014 Bowman Draft, Asia Black.

Here's a nice looking but lower-end Corey Seager rookie I recently snagged from work in a two-card purchase. Both cards were bought from the same customer and I instantly knew I would want both for myself. This was easily the cheaper of the two (the sweet Jimmie Foxx Batter-Up card I posted earlier in the week).

This is the Asia Black parallel of Seager's 2014 Bowman Draft Top Prospects card. It's been slabbed a PSA 9 and while it's more aesthetically-pleasing than it is valuable, they don't pop up graded for sale all that often.

Hidden In My Collection To A Quick Flip: Aaron Judge 2013 Bowman Chrome RC

A handful of weeks back I was looking for cards to send to a fellow blogger. I decided to look through just about everything I had set aside as trade bait and stumbled upon a pair of cards I had entirely forgotten about. They were tucked away for yet another blogger and after finding them I knew I needed to capitalize on a hot market and do a quick flip with these hidden gems.

Behold many dollars worth of Judge 2013 RCs sitting in a random box for years. I don't fully recall how I came to possess these in the first place, although I have an idea. If my notion is indeed the way it occurred I paid nothing for this 2013 Bowman Chrome and 2013 Bowman Draft Picks RC of the young Yankees' slugger, so the quick flip was all profit for me. I was happy with the amount I got after selling them on eBay, and those newly found funds remain in my PayPal account and will no doubt go towards something much more apropos for my collection.

Celebrating 8 Years of The Blog With A Bang: Clayton Kershaw 2008 eTopps Auto /100, BGS 9.5-10 AU!

Today is the 8th anniversary of this here blog. Today's card is one I legitimately adore. I feel confident in already calling it my top modern purchase of 2017. I actually bought it months ago, but I'm slow. So, to celebrate the 8th anniversary of PTSiA, here's a beaut I knew I couldn't let slip by me.

Behold the centerpiece of my Clayton Kershaw PC in all of its on-card rookie autograph glory! The card is numbered 381/999 but Kersh only signed 100 of them. While not as sought after or expensive as his 2006 Bowman Chrome RC Auto, this baby is actually a much tougher card to find. I won the auction as the only bidder (or it was a BIN....this is what happens when you wait to post things).

The card itself came out in 2008 and I'm guessing Topps had Clayton sign 100 of them in 2009, hence the dual years on the Beckett label. I'm really loving the design, so kudos to the folks at Topps.

My grandfather passed earlier this year after a wonderfully long and amazing life. He left each of my cousins and I a little bit of green to do with as we pleased. He wanted us to treat ourselves to something fun, whatever that fun entailed being irrelevant to him. I decided to add something to my collection that would not only be a centerpiece but a nice reminder of my grandfather every time I look at it.

It will likely end up tied with a card I just won as my overall top acquisition of the year because I don't have to choose in this imaginary game I'm playing. As far as I know the pop on this BGS 9.5-10 AU is just 2. This will never leave me and my collection under any circumstances, which I can only say for a fraction of the cardboard I own.

Corey Seager: 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft USA RC Auto, BGS 9.5-10 AU

Here's an update on a card scanned in and written about long, long ago. Included in my recent batch of BGS-bound cards was the below beaut, a 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft USA auto of All-Star Corey Seager. I had high hopes for the card and thankfully the person at Beckett agreed with my aspirations.

It came back in an oh so sweet 9.5-10 AU holder and serves as one of the centerpieces of my #ManBearSeag PC.

Julio Urias: 2016 Topps Chrome Rookie Autos Purple REF /250, BGS 10-10 AU!

I was looking to add a specific Julio Urias auto to my modest collection of the young left-hander. I would have been happy with any version of the card, graded or ungraded. Prices have been relatively reasonable for Julio over the last six months, though they ticked up at the time of his recall this season. I struck when that uptick occurred, although not by design. I had the most eBay Bucks available to me I have ever had and I could not lock down anything to spend them on.

That all changed when the above popped up at the end of the month in which I had the extra funds. I'm a huge fan of 2016 Topps Chrome and the autographs are just gorgeous. They are on-card and fit in extremely well with an overall fantastic design for the product. I was thankfully victorious and after applying my free dough from eBay the purchase was much closer to a number I was comfortable with. The card is the Purple REF parallel and numbered 115/250. It serves as the first BGS 10 in my collection and the first 10 of any company I've purchased.

While Julio struggled upon his 2017 recall I still think he's going to be a wonderful pitcher long-term and I hope to land a couple more John Hancocks of his while prices are at a nearly all-time low for him.

Julio Urias: 2013 Bowman Sterling Prospect RC Auto, BGS 9/10 AU

An update on a card previously posted. I recently got my batch of cards back from BGS, and here's the first one to be recapped. I'm fairly positive our group got the world's toughest grader on corners and this card shows it with an 8.5 sub for the corners. There is a small issue with a back corner but I also believe a few cards came back worse than they were when they left my collection. I know Dodger Penguin, who submitted for me again, feels the same way on his cards.

I don't hate 9s by any means, but if I think a grader is wrong or may have worsened an issue when handling the card, it just irks me. I'm not parting with this Julio Urias rookie signature anyways so I can certainly live with it, but it's the principle of it. Or something like that.

Corey Seager 2010 Topps USA Baseball 16U Auto, BGS 9-10 AU (Full Sig)

Here's another Corey Seager card I sent out to be graded months ago but have been slow about posting. The card hails from 2010 Topps USA Baseball and pictures the Dodger shortstop on the 16 and Under National Team.

Beckett deemed it a 9 with a 10 signature, docking the most points for the corners, which came back with an 8.5 sub-grade. I think the thing I love most about this piece of my Seager Collection is that you actually get a full auto from Corey.

'15 Bowman's Best Auto: Walker Buehler

I finally picked up my first autograph of 2015 first-round draft pick Walker Buehler. I've wanted one of his signatures for some time and I've debated collecting him in a more thorough manner but never pulled the trigger on either front.

Patience worked as I landed the above 2015 Bowman's Best John Hancock for just $6.50 delivered. Ignoring how dirty my scanner is, it's a great-looking set and a simple design that works well. I don't think I'll collect him heavily any time soon but I'm happy to have one of his hits. Plus, Walker Buehler is just a really cool name.

Corey Seager: 2013 Bowman Inception Prospect Orange Auto /50, BGS 8.5

Here's another BGS return from way back when. Thanks, as always, to the fantastic Dodger Penguin for letting me submit through him. Today's card was acquired in a trade with The Daily Dimwit back in 2014. I redeemed it and Topps sent it to me later that year.

Damn Inception and its oh so tricky corner issues. I had hopes this 2013 Bowman Inception Orange Auto, #'d 03/50, of Corey Seager would at least 9 but some corner damage sunk it to an 8.5 with a 10 signature. While 8.5's are not ideal the card does hold sentimental value to me as I always appreciate people trading me cool stuff. Also, Seager autos are always tremendous. I may try and snag another down the road but whether that happens or not I'm happy to have this John Hancock in my #ManBearSeag PC.

Corey Seager 2012 Bowman Sterling Black REF Dual Auto /25 (BGS 9/10)

Here's another card sent to BGS with Penguin; it's also my newest Corey Seager.

It's the Black Refractor of Seager and Jesmuel Valentin's 2012 Bowman Sterling Dual Auto, and it is numbered 22/25. It was too good of a deal to pass up when I landed it at right around $30. The card came back a 9 with a 10 for the pair of signatures. I may one day try and get it bumped to a 9.5.

Hidden In My Collection: Alex Bregman 2010 Topps USA Baseball RC

I was recently attempting to clean up some areas where I store my collection when the below card popped up in a stack of 2010 Topps USA Baseball cards.

Bregman had a fine introduction to the bigs and I think he's going to be a really, really good player. He's already become one of my six keepers for my fantasy league in 2017 and I'm happy to have stumbled upon this hidden gem. While it's not an official RC I essentially consider it as one. Because if Topps can call 18 different cards a rookie, I can think of this one as such.