2011 Panini hockey Dustin Brown #109 - I had to pick this random hockey card up when I saw that 'big hair.'
2013 Topps Archives football J.J. Watt #32
2013 Topps Series II baseball Lance Lynn #507 - I think this is blue Emerald parallel available through in-store promo packs [?]
2013 Panini basketball Brandon Jennings card #23
Seager isn't quite an All-Star caliber performer yet - but Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley, Jesus Montero have been sore disappointments so far and may not fulfill their potential.
As an autograph signer, Seager signs when asked and is fairly accomodating - makes him a decent guy in my book even if he plays for a division opponent of the Angels.
As someone who tries to bring random cards to the ballpark to get autographed - it makes some sense for me to bring extra cards of guys currently at AAA since MLB teams tend to bring up or send down players on a regular basis.
I ended up ended up with a retail jumbo pack for $4.98 of Topps Series II - it seems like card releases have been slow, so I wasn't really paying attention when Topps Series II came out on shelves.
Top section
#423 Miguel Gonzalez
#614 B.J. Upton
#630 Andy Dirks
#602 Anibal Sanchez
#610 Brandon Beachy
#621 Steve Cishek
#654 Brandon Barnes
#359 C.C. Sabathia
#551 Wellington Castillo
#418 Evan Gattis
#382 Jackie Bradley Jr.
#577 Matt Harvey
#609 Scott Baker
#409 Logan Morrison
#539 Phil Coke
#356 Greg Dobbs
#466 Jerome Williams
Bottom section
#559 Travis Snider
#547 Glen Perkins
#600 Mariano Rivera
#587 Matt Cain
#CH-87 Lance Lynn - Chasing History foil insert
#CH-80 Yu Darvish - Chasing History foil insert
#359 C.C. Sabathia - Walmart blue parallel
One of those players in the USA set is Clarkin, who was signed this week along with second round pick, infielder Gosuke Katoh - when the New York Yankees visited the Angels, I told myself to bring the card of Clarkin since he was a Yankees' draft pick from Southern California [San Diego area] and I figured the Yankees would do something like invite him for an informal work out or something.
Both Clarkin and Katoh were waiting to enter the stadium hours before the Friday game at Angel Stadium and I was able to get Clarkin to sign his card - a handful of collectors had spotted both guys, making it easy for me to go where they were.
In five years I'm going to be wondering if I should have gotten Katoh's autograph too - though I was just happy not to get shut out that day.
It must have been really sweet for the two just to graduate high school and jump onto a MLB field to shag balls in the outfield or to take grounders at second base in the vicinity of guys like C.C. Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Mo, Robinson Cano, et al - knowing that it was only a matter of time before they signed their first contracts to become professional baseball players.
After having an explosive first week as a Major Leaguer, there was no question Puig was served up a 'welcome to the big leagues kid' message pitch - that reminded me of happened last year with Cole Hamels hitting Bryce Harper.
I'm tempted to say Ian Kennedy was sort of a punk in this whole situation - but I just watch the games and I'm not actually down on the field as a player or coach, so who am I to judge his intent?
One featured autograph I can put up is a TTM autograph card of Brad Hawpe I picked up through a forum several years ago - I also remember pulling a 2008 Topps Stadium Club certified autograph of Hawpe, but I'll probably use the TTM auto for my all-time Angels collection.
I realize the situations aren't at all comparable but the Los Angeles Dodgers can call up a stud like Yasiel Puig - while the Angels end up bring up a guy like Hawpe from oblivion.
A late bloomer, Hawpe had some nice seasons with the Colorado Rockies - but for whatever reason his bat ran out of juice and he has bounced around with four different teams before the Angels signed him this season to serve as AAA depth.
I've noticed he kind of holds his bat in a peculiar way and it's kind of funny to watch him hit - he and Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs look sort of the same when they are at the plate.
I'm not counting on any sort of success but hopefully this guy will be of some use to the Angels - even if he is pretty much cooked as a MLB hitter.
I don't mind the thin stock but Topps could have gone all the way and used 'primitive' cardboard stock - like the original Topps cards these are supposed to mimic.
It's like I want to pull something in 2013 - that feels like it came from a pack in 1972, 1982, 1985 or 1990 [maybe not that year].
Pack one
#179 Tommy Milone
#44 Chris Davis
#64 Asdrubal Cabrera
#MT-RD Rob Dibble - Mini Tall Boy insert; it's not any taller than a regular sized card but it looks different because 1/3rd of a regular sized card has been cut off; Dibble is covering Angels games for some media outlet and I just got him to sign three more random cards, so this one should be inked up in-person at some point this MLB season.
#141 Adam Jones
#151 Jason Motte
#28 Mike Schmidt
#65 Paul Konerko
Pack two
#138 David Murphy
#166 Ryan Vogelsong
#5 Allen Craig
#92 Ken Griffey Jr.
#215 Bob Welch - SP
#146 Eddie Murray
#167 Rod Carew
#21 Adrian Beltre
Pack three
#143 Jake Odorizzi
#197 Chris Sale
#12 Jarrod Parker
#DFF-NU Otis Nixon / B.J. Upton - Dual Fan Favorites insert [not quite with Nixon's recent legal problems and Upton's slow start]
#60 Robinson Cano
#127 David Price
#164 Dan Uggla
#17 Hanley Ramirez
Pack four
#68 Matt Harrison
#140 Dylan Bundy
#168 Pablo Sandoval
#29 Angel Pagan
#83-PG Pedro Guerrero - 1983 All-Stars insert
#84 Coco Crisp
#121 Ian Kennedy
#161 Anthony Rizzo
Pack five
#96 Edwin Encarnacion
#106 Tim Lincecum
#165 Stephen Strasburg
#27 Manny Machado
#MT-AB Albert Pujols - Mini Tall Boy insert; these were listed 1:5 but I got two.
#42 Mariano Rivera
#93 Ian Desmond
#122 R.A. Dickey
Pack six
#88 Derek Holland
#102 Matt Moore
#169 Pedro Alvarez
#209 Dwight Evans - SP
#152 Craig Kimbrel
#37 Elvis Andrus
#70 Ozzie Smith
#147 Hiroki Kuroda
Pack seven
#25 Dexter Fowler
#81 Will Middlebrooks
#119 Ian Kinsler
#97 David Wright - Gold parallel serial #'d 186/199
#69S-SKCK Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton and Clayton Kershaw - 1969 4-in-1 sticker insert
#155 Wilin Rosario
#30 Yu Darvish
#51 Carlos Gonzalez
Pack eight
#194 Yadier Molina
#45 Chase Headley
#56 Josh Reddick
#83-LD Leon Durham - 1983 All-Stars insert
#148 Dustin Pedroia
#178 Giancarlo Stanton
#1 Babe Ruth
#69 Eddie Mathews
I can't really say much more about a guy who carved up the Angels this season - Sale struck out 19 and walked three in 16 2/3 innings in two starts against the Halos, allowing only 4 hits and a grand total of 0 runs.
If I feel a little behind on all things related to actual baseball card collecting, I like the idea I can still build up my collecting topics collection - even though right now I'm trying to focus on only cards of players / coaches with facial hair.
This means for an indefinite period of time, I'm basically keeping an eye out for facial hair cards I've added this year - as well as trying to figure out if I have 100 percent of the cards listed in my database in-hand.
Once I figure out how to keep all the facial hair cards I have together - then I'll move into another collecting topic to swim in for a while.
Pack one
#21 A.J. Pierzynski
#153 Carlos Beltran
#BP 12 Collin Wiles
#BP 100 Carlos Correa
#152 Shin-Soo Choo - gold
#BP 69 Anderson Feliz - International
#BCP 80 Alex Meyer - Chrome
#BCP 91 Gabriel Guerrero
#26 Darwin Barney
#68 Zack Cozart
Pack two
#55 Lance Lynn
#184 Johan Santana
#BP 19 Carson Kelly
#BP 27 Cory Vaughn
#197 Delmon Young - gold
#CC-SDP 2 Rymer Liriano - Mini Chrome Refractor
#BCP 54 Chris McFarland - Chrome
#31 Michael Young
#209 Jim Johnson
#36 Alex Rios
Pack three
#51 Evan Longoria
#49 David Price
#150 Bryce Harper
#BP 39 Brett Gerritse
#BP 47 Michael Taylor
#56 Matt Cain - gold
#BDP 63 Andrew McCutchen - Blue Sapphire Continuity Program insert / reprint of 2005 Bowman Draft
#BCP 20 Darwin Rivera - Chrome
#81 Cliff Lee
#39 Dylan Bundy
Pack four
#133 Anthony Gose
#132 Adrian Beltre
#BP 60 Yordano Ventura
#BP 77 Jorge Bonifacio
#BP 88 Dorssys Paulino
#140 Jose Bautista - gold
Bowman Prospect Challenge code card
#BCP 11 Jamie Callahan - Chrome
#BCP 17 Mitch Nay - Chrome
#171 Paco Rodriguez
#217 Brock Holt
Pack five
#142 Matt Kemp
#101 Paul Goldschmidt
#BP 101 Ronny Rodriguez
#BP 110 Sam Selman
#10 Johnny Cueto - gold
#25 Dan Uggla
#BCP 67 Travis Shaw - Chrome
#BCP 81 Gabriel Encinas - Chrome
#43 Ryan Wheeler
#175 Ali Solis
Pack six
#16 Ryan Vogelsong
#62 Raul Ibanez
#149 Yasmani Grandal
#BP 71 Pedro Ruiz
#BP 70 Casey Stevenson
#BP 50 Rafael Montero
#52 Jacoby Ellsbury - gold
#BTP 38 Allen Hanson - Bowman Top 100 insert
#BCP 89 William Oliver - Chrome
#77 Jaime Garcia
#207 Eric Hosmer
Pack seven
#195 Aaron Hill
#188 Howard Kendrick
#BP 36 Jose Peraza
#BP 26 Cory Hall
#91 Clayton Kershaw - gold
#BP 82 Yeicok Calderon - Silver Ice parallel
#BCP 84 Luis Sardinas - Chrome
#BCP 53 Steven Moya - Chrome
#73 Angel Pagan
#72 Ike Davis
Pack eight
#138 Jayson Werth
#181 Dexter Fowler
#BP 16 Tyler Gonzalez
#BP 7 Jesse Hahn
#46 Wei-Yin Chen - gold
#CC-MT 3 Oswaldo Arcia - Mini Chrome Refractor
#BCP 69 Anderson Feliz - Chrome
#113 Mat Latos
#155 Mike Moustakas
#154 Hunter Pence
I don't hear too much about the supposed ace of the Washington Nationals anymore though I assume he's never been quite a peach and the less national attention he gets - the more comfortable he feels as long as he can go out and dominate on the mound.
However, it's been three or four years already since Strasburg was hyped as the greatest thing since sliced bread - though pitching relatively well despite his W-L record, maybe he doesn't seem to be as sure of a thing at the ripe old age of 24.
It's not like his future is all behind him - but I wonder if fans and or experts will ever get an opportunity to talk about his talent like a Justin Verlander or Felix Hernandez any time soon.
Strasburg missed much of the 2011 season after coming back from Tommy John surgery - in 2012, wasn't allowed to finish the 2012 season and it was a strange decision for the Nationals to make, even with Strasburg's long-term interests in mind.
I guess Strasburg has to take a back seat to position player and teammate Bryce Harper on the Nationals - and apparently Strasburg is no Matt Harvey, who is the hot rookie pitcher of the moment in Major League Baseball.
From what I've read, the biggest difference between PSA/DNA flips is blue is basically for authentication and grading of the autograph - while red flips is for the authentication / grading of the card and authentication of the autograph.
This might be a one time submission so I wanted some autograph cards that meant something in my collection - if I sent some oddball autographs cards for submission, I might be stuck with a reminder of something I don't really care for either way.
I decided to submit with two Mariano Rivera, two Derek Jeter and two Kirby Puckett autographed cards - through the special.
Though not perfect, PSA/DNA is the industry standard as far as autograph authentication is concerned - on a whim, I was looking to submit some cards that have been in my collection for the last 15 years and maybe looking for some validation.
After putting together the packaging I was mailing to PSA/DNA and hoping it would get to their offices safely, I realized I'd forgotten to sign and date the submission form I'd filled out - after someone from PSA/DNA contacted me through e-mail to resolve that little problem, I assumed my order was good to go, though I didn't know if it was going to take a while to process my order.
I was waiting around the clock, day by day, looking for any confirmation of my order and/or results being posted - maybe I was looking for a courtesy e-mail, but I didn't get anything at all and perhaps an option would be to give PSA/DNA a call.
I signed up with my personal info to create an account on the PSA Web site to see if I can get some kind of status check - however, I shouldn't assume PSA/DNA would process my order and tie it back with the account I just created on the PSA Web site after I'd already sent my cards in. THERE WAS NOTHING IN MY CREATED ACCOUNT TO INDICATE ANY ORDER AND I WONDERED HOW LONG I'D HAVE TO WAIT AROUND.
The small box I received at the post office after signing / writing my name / giving my address was from Newport Beach, so it had to be from PSA/DNA - it looked sturdy enough that I was hoping there would be slabs inside.
From all the lurking and reading I've done on autograph message boards - a possibility is not having everything I sent in authenticated and I wondered what my reaction would be if none of my cards were slabbed.
Eventually I tried to rip into the well packaged box as delicately as possible and saw what I'd paid $18 each [with insurance/shipping] for - for my first time, I was relieved to see five cards slabbed, though it became apparent soon enough that I had one clunker that failed to pass muster with PSA/DNA.
Results
Two Rivera autograph cards - I'm thinking both of these cards were sent through the mail in the late 1990's since I wasn't out at the ballpark for two or three years after 1996.
Both cards were slabbed with the autograph on the 1997 Score being graded a Gem Mint 10 - I like the 1993 Bowman second-year card though I wish I'd found a way to pick up his 1992 Bowman rookie card instead.
Two Jeter autograph cards - the one I got in-person back in 1996 was slabbed and the one I got TTM in the late 1990's was unslabbed and 'tagged' with 'N4' questionable authenticity.
Two Puckett autograph cards - which were both authenticated and slabbed with the autographs being graded.
I never had the opportunity to get Puckett in person but in the late 1990's - wrote to him a couple of times to get a couple of cards signed.
For all my worrying, my submission took about 20 business days then just these last several days to ship back to me - I was worried I'd have to wait at least a couple of months or longer to receive my order, but I got my autograph cards back, even though I don't know what to do with my supposed Jeter miss.
Through the first month of this season Bourjos has put up some nice stats on the board as a hitter, excelling at the top of the lineup - hopefully he can put up comparable numbers for the rest of the year, get his hits and get on-base in other ways.
