Featured autograph - Ross Stripling

The 26-year old righty made his MLB debut Friday night and threw 7.1 hitless innings against the San Francisco Giants - there was a kerfuffle whether he should have been left in to preserve a lead, but he was pulled and the Giants tied the game on a 2-run home run.

Regardless of an eventual 3-2 loss, Friday was a memorable day for him, his friends and family - rookies tend to come and go, but hopefully Stripling can get that first 'W' out of the way sooner than never.

Stripling was pretty much a nondescript Dodger minor leaguer a few months ago, but I pulled out his cards hoping it was him who I saw walking to his car - I think he was about to start up his car when I gestured to him with a card of his in my hand and he was nice enough to get back out and sign for me.

Stripling took a second glance at this 2013 Topps Heritage Minors black border card as he signed it for me - though it's not really for a set, I didn't have an extra copy that I could give to him.

2014 Topps Heritage Minors four pack break

Pack one
#9 Gary Sanchez
#16 Kyle Crick
#30 Kris Bryant
#45 Nick Travieso
#Topps-RTTS RO Roberto Osuna - Road to the Show insert
#115 Gavin Cecchini
#110 Oscar Taveras
#166 Tim Cooney
#175 Aaron Judge

Pack two
#61 Tim Anderson
#72 Carson Kelly
#83 Clint Coulter
#94 Rio Ruiz

#214 Jorge Alfaro - SP
#184 Sam Moll
#195 Eduardo Rodriguez
#179 Tyler Naquin
#43 Christian Binford

Pack three
#53 Trevor Williams
#67 Jake Thompson
#1 Carlos Correa
#21 Clayton Blackburn
#33 Braden Shipley - Black bordered parallel serial #'d 023/105
#151 Chris Beck
#163 Michael Feliz
#177 Mac Williamson
#187 Tanner Rahier

Pack four
#32 Nick Kingham
#46 Tommy LaStella
#57 Lance McCullers
#74 Domingo Santana

#222 Ben Lively - SP
#196 Justin Nicolino
#42 Brian Goodwin
#158 Jamie Westbrook
#154 Mark Lamm

2014 Topps Heritage retail blister recap

I picked up a three pack blister for $9.49 at Target - I like how the cards look, though I fancy myself more of a poor man's prospector looking for random 'first year' guys on cardboard as opposed to established major leaguers I've seen on cards for a number of years.

I don't think these blisters are harder to find than any other 'pack types,' though the lure of the black border parallel cards got me - once these blister packs are gone off the shelves, at least I can say I got one.

Black border pack
#447 Dustin Pedroia
#494 Carlos Gonzalez
#269 Albert Pujols

Pack one
#181 Nick Christiani / Tuffy Gosewisch - 2014 Rookie Stars
#204 Jonathan Papelbon
#15 Asdrubal Cabrera
#198 Eric Hosmer

#497 Curtis Granderson - SP
#63 Jacob Turner
#40 Carl Crawford
#206 John Lackey
#70 Paul Konerko

Pack two
#145 Edwin Encarnacion
#9 Max Scherzer / Bartolo Colon / Matt Moore / C.J. Wilson / Chris Tillman - 2013 AL Wins Leaders
#186 Jon Niese
#255 Darin Ruf
#489 Jean Segura - SP
#284 David Wright
#226 J.R. Murphy / Cesar Cabreal - 2014 Rookie Stars
#7 Anibal Sanchez / Bartolo Colon - 2013 AL ERA Leaders
#83 Justin Smoak

Pack three
#136 Jon Lester
#288 Jhonny Peralta
#305 Garrett Jones
#309 Brandon Barnes
#Topps 65MLB-JB 2 Johnny Bench - First Draft insert
#405 Danny Salazar
#66 Joe Maddon
#336 Andy Dirks
#38 Brett Lawrie 

2010 Bowman Chrome redemption pack recap

My lone redemption pack of 2010 Bowman black border cards came in the mail after I'd finally sent my 18 Bowman Chrome wrappers in the mail about three weeks ago - I think the cards would have 'popped out' more if they'd been the Chrome variety instead of basic Bowman prospect cards slapped with a black border.

#BP 40 Domingo Santana
#BP 34 Scott Shaw
#BP 26 Cody Satterwhite
#BP 10 Aroldis Chapman
#BP 3 Cole McCurry
#BP 48 Simon Castro
#BP 91 Nolan Arenado
#BP 82 Jacob Elmore
#BP 67 Evan Anundsen
#BP 61 Josh Donaldson

Looking on eBay, the basic black border cards are worth about as much as their regular Bowman Prospect counterparts - of course the real money in these redemption packs is when someone pulls the Bryce Harper 'buyback' 2010 Bowman Chrome USA card.