The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 16

"A card of a player whom you appreciate but don't like."

Kershaw lives a charmed life as the best pitcher in baseball, but aside from what he does in front of the cameras, I feel like he gives off a vibe where he's just too good for everyone - as is, Kershaw is such world beater on the field, it might be 'fun' to watch him deal with not being able to come through, to struggle and be human once in a while.

2016 Marketside Cheesy Breadsticks II

I picked up another package of breadsticks with another pack of cards - the 'oddball' factor gives me an excuse to seek these out [as opposed to a typical card product I'd find in the card section of a big box store] and I kind of like the breadsticks.

Pack one
#49 Mr. Met
#43 Dee Gordon
#45 Clayton Kershaw
Topps info / coupon card - $2.50 off a Topps 2016 Value Box / $1 off a Topps 2016 Jumbo or Value Pack.
Topps Bunt info / jumbo pack code card

Pulling a card of a MLB mascot and a guy who was suspended 80 games for PEDs nearly made this pack break a 'loss' for me - I did pull a card of the best pitcher in the game today, so I'll take it.

2015 Donruss pack breaks #3 of 3

Pack nine
#86 Justin Verlander
#78 Corey Kluber
#105 Adrian Gonzalez
#96 James Shields
#175 R.A. Dickey
#170 Leonys Martin
#11 Maikel Franco - Donruss Preferred insert
#81 Troy Tulowitzki - Statline parallel serial #'d 262/340

Pack 10
#48 Patrick Corbin
#46 Paul Goldschmidt
#73 Devin Mesoraco
#80 Yan Gomes
#195 Ernie Banks
#194 Bo Jackson
#18 Zack Wheeler - Elite Series insert

#198 Andrew McCutchen - 1981 Donruss insert

Pack 11
#52 Justin Upton
#49 Alex Wood
#97 Alex Gordon
#88 Victor Martinez
#149 Hunter Pence
#147 Ian Kennedy
#146 Everth Cabrera
#14 Daniel Norris - Donruss Preferred insert

#14 Clayton Kershaw - Diamond Kings insert

Pack 12
#104 Clayton Kershaw
#95 Eric Hosmer
#120 Danny Santana
#113 Jose Fernandez
#185 Frank Thomas
#180 Stephen Strasburg
Dummy card
#21 Jimmy Rollins

#24 Bob Gibson - All-Time Diamond Kings insert

Corey Kluber and 2014 MLB award winners

This was probably supposed to be a post having a small stash of Kluber signed cards from a minor league game or spring training perhaps - as is, I can't immediately find anything autographed by Kluber and despite being confident I had his scribbles on a few cards, I guess an unsigned 2014 Topps will have to do for now.

I do like cobbling together loose cards of the major award winners [Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player] - come awards season, I feel like I'm going to be able to make use of a few star cards [for the most part] that I'd normally overlook because I have too many in general to care about.

I'm adding this 2014 Topps Stadium Club Future Stars die-cut insert to my American League Rookie of the Year collection - the card I'll be adding to my National League Rookie of the Year collection has already been featured.

I found two of these 2014 Bowman cards, so even though I want different cards to represent an award winner in most circumstances - I think I'll live with dropping one card into my National League Cy Young collection and dropping a dupe into my National League MVP collection.

I have enough loose Trouts to choose from and it's a wonder why I haven't been able to use a couple more of his cards for my American League MVP collection already - but he finally took the MVP award home and I can put his 2014 Topps Stadium Club Rainbow parallel into my AL MVP collection.

Clayton Kershaw no-hitter

Since I have the Dodgers' TV station and someone is paying for it, I tuned in to watch snippets of the Dodgers game - I like how Kershaw showed some emotion after the final out was recorded, being congratulated by his teammates and eventually his wife.

During the game, the broadcast showed a graphic of the Dodgers' no-hit pitchers and I liked when Vin Scully said - we are here to broadcast the game, not be superstitious.

Clayton Kershaw in-person autograph failure - not so close and even further away

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is one of the best young pitchers in Major League Baseball and he made an appearance at a furniture store in La Mirada California Saturday - I see nothing wrong with wanting his autograph, because he's a future stud who has enjoyed at least a couple of strong seasons as a big league pitcher.

However, as a *gasp* Angels fan, I found myself in a sea of Dodgers fans at 8:15 a.m. - it felt a little suffocating, especially when the guy who was behind me ended up cutting [like it really mattered] in with guys a little bit infront of me [he just kept yapping, blabbering and blending in].

Despite knowing most local So. Cal Dodger signings are usually balls deep with fans wanting to get their stuff inked up - I still decided to go just because I thought I could really get Kershaw to sign something at a public appearance, when he has sort of cut down on signing for adult fans [he prefers kids] for the most part.

Die-hards types had lined up at 7 p.m. the night before - once Kershaw arrived at around 10 a.m., the lines for Saturday's appearance moved once an hour and he left about 200 fans hanging when he stopped signing by noon.

As an autograph collector in general, I expected not really getting him, but pissed since it looked like people were coming out with two or three things signed - when it was supposed to be a 'one per autograph' event.

It looks like the wristbands that were handed out a few hours before I got to the signing - were being 'recycled' by people who were getting Kershaw multiple times and just wasting everyone else's time.

One guy was even trying to sell his wristband, after getting an autograph - after no one bit, he went back in line to get another.

Just to finish up, it was sort of a frustrating morning - but something where the outcome wasn't too hard to predict, considering I probably should have gotten to the signing earlier than I did.

2011 Topps Glove Manufactured Glove Leather cards

I got three of these insert cards in the mail Thursday and I really like the look of them even though they really are just figment of someone's imagination - I probably wouldn't be able to pull or even consider purchasing one if they were actually game-used.

It maybe obvious, but I assume these leather nameplate cards are supposed to mimic the stitching done on baseball gloves - to personalize them for particular players.

Besides Angels fan favorite Torii Hunter - the other two I got were Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Martin Prado of the Atlanta Braves.

Card show purchases #3

Spent $14 on an assorted number of common cards - this was Part III of my purchase, but didn't get to post it. Out of the three purchases posted, this cost the most [$10], though it was more about quantity than quality [it would seem].

At the show I go to, there is a booth with bins filled with random cards bundled up with rubber bands - maybe six or seven years ago, it was 'top heavy' with scrap commons [poor-fair-good] going back from at least the 1960s through whatever there was in the last 30 years or so.

There is still a random mix here and there, but probably less 'vintage' cards - sometimes I've seen 'newer' brands of cards [within the last couple of years] put together.

It is typically 10-15 cards of the same brand, featuring base cards/commons. I took a chance picking up 10 random stacks of cards [$10] - I thought I might find a card you might be able to get autographed randomly [my bread and butter] in-person or through the mail.

2006 Topps '52 - could have done without these. No matter how you flip through them, they all feel like repacked 1987 Topps to me, with lots of cards of guys I could care less about.

#246 Dan Uggla
#62 Ruddy Lugo
#25 Chris Roberson
#73 Cody Ross
#165 Joel Guzman
#37 Jeff Karstens
#109 Jason Kubel
#238 Bartolome Fortunato
#226 Bernie Castro
#202 Franklin Gutierrez

2006 Topps '52 - I'm doubting this purchase
#257 Zach Jackson
#90 Tyler Johnson
#245 Tom Gorzelanny
#234 Scott Dunn
#244 Alexis Gomez
#258 Charlton Jimerson
#105 Chris Resop
#267 Paul McAnulty
#247 Jeremy Guthrie

2006 Topps '52 - no one really good
#139 Carlos Ruiz
#159 Colter Bean
#189 Kevin Barry
#161 Kevin Reese
#97 Macay McBride
#131 Matt Albers
#147 Martin Prado
#123 Davis Romero - look about 40 on his card
#273 Ronny Paulino
#229 Roy Corcoran

2006 Topps '52 - no one really good
#173 Taylor Tankersley
#249 Brendan Harris
#145 Jason Bergmann
#25 Chris Roberson
#208 John Hattig
#80 Joe Nelson
#152 Joe Inglett
#243 Justin Germano
#228 Doug Clark
#219 Ron Flores

2006 Topps '52 - no one really good / these were pretty much drecks
#15 Norris Hopper
#27 Kevin Frandsen
#3 Chuck James
#37 Jeff Karstens
#109 Jason Kubel
#145 Jason Bergmann
#80 Joe Nelson
#85 Yurendell De Caster
#260 Mitch Jones
#232 Rajai Davis

2006 Bowman Heritage - it seems like the guy bundled up 20-25 cards instead of 10-15.
#189 Jorge Cantu
3 of 3 Checklist
#187 Jose Castillo
#184 Juan Encarnacion
#179 Kevin Youkilis
#171 Coco Crisp
#166 CC Sabathia
#163 David DeJesus
#159 Jose Lopez
#135 Curtis Granderson
#125 Derrek Lee
#124 Erik Bedard
#121 Joe Crede
#118 Eric Byrnes
#113 Chad Cordero
#112 Bronson Arroyo
#104 Juan Uribe
#98 Bengie Molina
#95 Robinson Cano
#78 Adam LaRoche
#76 A.J. Pierzynski x2
#62 Gary Matthews Jr.
#57 Ty Wigginton
#49 Mark Kotsay
#39 Eric Chavez
#34 Doug Davis
#22 Dan Haren
#279 Jered Weaver
#18 Mark Mulder
#14 Michael Cuddyer

2006 Bowman Heritage
#6 Jake Peavy
2 of 3 Checklist
BHP 95 Chad Huffman
BHP 94 Brad Furnish
BHP 93 Brooks Brown
BHP 88 Billy Rowell - he is supposed to be some sort of top prospect, but I have heard nothing really positive about his development as a professional.
BHP 85 Clayton Kershaw - now, here is a nice $2-$3 first-year card.
BHP 81 Chad Tracy
BHP 80 Dustin Evans
BHP 75 Kyle McCulloch
BHP 68 Jose Campusano
BHP 65 Adam Coe
BHP 68 Dale Thayer
BHP 57 Brian Horwitz
BHP 54 Steve Kelly
BHP 53 Andrew Kown

2006 Bowman Heritage - I was thinking of buying a box of this stuff, but I see why I probably shouldn't.
BHP 49 Landon Jacobsen
2 of 3 Checklist
BHP 35 John Bannister
BHP 59 Diory Hernandez
BHP 31 Brandon Moss
BHP 29 Welinson Baez
BHP 28 Chris Dickerson
BHP 25 Brent Dlugach
BHP 22 Radhamez Liz
BHP 16 Nate Gold
BHP 9 Yung-Chi Chen
BHP 8 Nick Adenhart
BHP 7 Ben Copeland
BHP 5 Garrett Mock
#46 Carlos Zambrano
BHP 4 Cameron Maybin - another nice first-year card, though probably only worht about $1.50.
#247 Jeremy Hermida
#246 John Lester
#228 Kevin Thompson
#221 Craig Hansen
#213 Hanley Ramirez
#203 Matt Kemp
#194 Mark Buehrle
#192 Adrian Gonzalez

2007 Topps Allen and Ginter
#106 CC Sabathia
#324 Ian Kinsler
#305 Jeremy Bonderman
#216 Rickie Weeks
#151 Bob Wickman
#70 Jermaine Dye
#347 Anibal Sanchez
#268 Washington Monument#176 Bronson Arroyo - needed
#222 Rocco Baldelli - needed

2007 Topps Allen and Ginter
#347 Anibal Sanchez
#63 Bengie Molina
#247 Dave Roberts
#342 Chad Cordero
#190 Scott Kazmir
#341 Adrian Gonzalez
#264 Aaron Rowand
#203 Justin Verlander - needed
#81 Mike Sweeney