2014 Topps Jumbo Pack Cards from WalMart (2/22/14)

It's been anout two weeks since I've posted anything. I bought a jumbo pack of Topps cards and I'm here to share my results.

 

 

Two different cards of Brandon Crawford.

 

 

Brian McCann, wonder how he'll look in pinstripes.

Here's Shin Soo Choo.  Hope he makes that contract in Texas work.

 

C.J. Wilson, Gregor Blanco, Billy Butler, and Rafael Soriano.



Cody Asche, Brett Oberholtzer, Anthony Gose.

Jason Frasor and Trevor Rosenthal.

Here's the second set of 18 from the 36 pack.

American League 2013 Wins Leaders and Miguel Cabrera.

Green Border of Ryan Goins and a Short Print of Rickey Henderson.

Craig Kimbrel 2011 Rookie Replica Card, Shelby Miller Future Card, Blue border of Anthony Gose.

 

Blue Border of Jason Frasor, Ryan Doumit, and Yunel Escobar.

Two Padres: Yasmni Grandal and Huston Street.

Dustin Pedroia and Chris Sale.

Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Upton.

All in all, I thought it was a successful run. I had a coupleof repeats, other than the Gose and Frasor cards.  I got a good Kimbrel card and Henderson card that made it worth the $5.

Results from My First Visit to the Citrus College Swap Meet

Today I went with the entire household family to the swap meet that is located at Citrus Community College.  My father had informed me that there were a bunch of stuff from a variety of things like baseball that I would be interested in.  Well, he sure was right.  The only bad thing though was that I didn't have the thought of bringing my phone so I could take pictures.  I saw a number of baseball memorabilla that fascinated me enough to me wanting to buy it.  I saw this group of people and in their cart contained a plaque of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.  The plaque was gigantic and contained a baseball each for those players and team.  It sort of looked something like this. 

 

 

I soon found a Dodger poster.  The owner was selling it, along with other random posters, for $2.  I quckly obliged as I'm not sure that you can find a decent looking poster for that asking price.  Here's how it looks like.

 

 

There was this nice gentleman who had baseball cards, postcards and pictures.  The one that intrigued me was this Mike Piazza 3 dimensional looking picture.  It also costed me $2, which was not bad.





Along the way, I saw vendors that sold bobbleheads for the Dodgers that costed about $15 - $20.  However, I just kept going.  There is always a saying that my father told me.  Never be too quick in spending money because there's always someone later that has the same item cheap.  Well, that saying was put into place.  I found three bobbleheads that each costed $7.  Sadly, I only had enough to buy two.  He had Casey Blake, Russell Martin, and Nomar Garciaparra.  By the way, they were not in the boxes as I assume he probably threw them.  I had seen the Nomar bobblehead for $20 with the box at another vendor earlier in our walk. So, I purchased it as I knew it was a big save.  The bad thing was that the bat was missing.  The same thing occured with the Casey bobblehead.  Along with Nomar, I bought the Russell Martin bobblehead because I had the thought of him still playing while I hoped I could eventually find another Casey bobblehead with the bat screw.

 

 

Now here they are with the rest of my collection.  That makes 10 bobbleheads out of the total number of 59 (as of the end of the 2013 season) that have been given away at Dodger Stadium.  

What I Bought From Target Today (02/03/14)

Today I headed out for my local Target to buy three packs of 2014 Series 1 Topps Baseball Cards and the Blu - Ray + DVD combo pack of Bad Grandpa.  The 2014 cards came out last week and I needed to buy some to kick off the season, besides going to FanFest.  I also went to buy the copy of Bad Grandpa because the combo back that had a code that would give $15 off sports tickets on Ticketmaster.  What made it even better that it was on sale for $10 and I just couldn't pass the opportunity while it lasted. 

A Matt Harvey card.  I really hope he fully recovers from his Tommy John.

Here's the second pack.

Among them: a Ryu card!

 

A replica of what looks to be Justin Verlander's 2006 rookie card.

And Mariano Rivera.

Here's the third pack.

 

 

 

 



I ended up getting two different versions of the same card.

 

If you noticed the Roberto Clemente card.... well your eyes did not deceive you.

 

Well, that's the cards I got from my pack.  I can't wait to collect more.

 





2014 Dodgers FanFest Recap - A Great Improvement

Today was finally the day.  Fanfest had come and I needed to get ready to leave.  My parents left with me and my little sister at 9 in the morning.  I knew that parking gates opened at 9:30 at the Sunset and Downtown entrances.  What I had in plan was to get there at the same time the gates would open thus smoothly getting us in.  However, that did not happen.  You are probably thinking as to why I'm saying that this is bad when I'll discuss the cool things about FanFest.  Well, the lines coming at every  intersection were crowded and traffic was moving slow.  Therefore, security guards  decided to open the Left Field entrance in Academy Drive to make it easier for access.  Too bad for me because I had already got out of my father's car to make the long jog from Elysian Park that was near Academy Drive all the way to the Sunset gate.  I had managed to arrive a bit ahead of my parents in order to get as near to the FanFest entrance as possible.

The crowd went on smoothly as security checked my bag quickly.  The minute I got in I was just amazed to be attending the event.  The serene beauty of Parking Lot B kind of brought me to wanting to cry.  Once I found the line to get in for autographs, I entered and made my way to get my stuff signed.  My first of two autograph sessions were Shawn Green and Rule 5 draft pick Seth Rosin. 

 

 



Of the two, I really wanted Shawn's autograph.  He was a really nice guy and I really appreciate that he signed the picture that I had of him.  Seth was also cool and signed a card that the Dodgers had available on the tables.  Before going for Stephen Fife and John Valentin's signing, I checked around the scenery of the fanfest. I even had fun at the batting cages since I had filled out a waiver.  I went back to the autograph lines and security let us in about 20 minutes before the signing  so we could  get our vouchers scanned.

 

 

I got Stephen and John to sign one OLB 3 Rawlings  baseball on the sweet spot.  They were also very generous for doing so and I thanked them.  Now check the rest of my highlights.

 

First Dodgerdog of the year!

 

 

I also took a picture of with one of the trophies from the 1980's championships.

 

 

Charley Steiner interviewed on stage.

 

 

Stunning view from nosebleeds looking down upon crews getting rid of what was the Stadium Series.

 

I also bought an autographed baseball for $20.  It was a mystery bag and in it it had a random autograph.  There was a bucket full of bags with one baseball in it.  You pretty much had to guess and hoped that the bag you got was a good one.  The first one I bought was a Rafael Furcal autograph.  An hour later, I went back to buy another one..... only to get another Furcal autograph.  I don't know if that's just good luck or bad luck.  Oh well, thank goodness I got a World Series champion and proceeds went to charity for the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.  There were also mystery photos and jerseys autographed for sale as well.

 

The 2014 edition of FanFest was one of the best times of my life.  I'm not kidding.  Unlike last year, I walked out with at least one autograph that I really wanted and there was much room to walk around.  I just hope the Dodgers can improve with sales of autograh vouchers so they don't sell out as quck as they did Monday.  I also wish that they keep up the good work with having Fanfest in an amazing setting, like lot B, so that way everyone can have fun for years to come.