Today Was A Good Day (I Didn't Even Have To Use My AK)

Today was the first day of classes. It is even more special for me, as I begin my last semester. If I keep on track, I'll finish my dissertation in October and I'll be done. October can't get here soon enough.

I also got a text from my LCS owner to let me know that my PSA order was in. I decided to drop in to pick it up. I had five cards in the order:

Five Kris Bryant rookies! Three PSA 10s and two PSA 9s (one of which is from Chrome). I decided a while back that I should get this graded and slabbed, for both protection and re-sale value. Bryant seems to have staying power (so far), and while I doubt he will be on Trout's level, it would be nice if his rookies grow in value in a similar way that Trout's rookie did. 

While I was in the shop, I decided to grab a couple of boxes of the 2017 Topps Clearly Authentic. I watched a few case breaks of these and I really dig the cards. I opened the first box and thought to myself, "Oh great, a freakin' redemption." I'm still waiting on other redemptions, the last thing I need is another in in the queue.

But then I read the name on the card:

So...yeah. I'll take that. This is officially my first dip into the Aaron Judge auto-mania pool. I immediately listed the card on eBay. The card seems to bring decent money, and I would like to take advantage of that before his value bottoms out. That being said, there is definitely a part of me that wants to redeem this one.

My second box was okay:

Well, maybe it was better than okay. Alex Bregman is a nice pull, also! This is the second Bregman I have pulled (I also pulled one from 2016 Bowman's Best). That was a bad day at the shop!

If I am being honest, these aren't the first boxes of Clearly Authentic that I have bought. I also picked up a couple last week. The pulls weren't quite as nice.

Carson Fulmer was the first...

...And Javier Baez was the second. Baez isn't bad, and I think Fulmer can be a solid starter, but neither of these are on the Judge/Bregman level (in my opinion). 

So there it is, a handful of PSA Bryants and a handful of Clearly Authentic. 

It was a good day.

(And I didn't even have to use my AK)

Some PSA Goodness

I turned in my last final a couple of hours ago. I turned in grades for the class I taught a bit earlier in the day. What does that mean? I'm officially done with the semester!!!

Well, I have a bunch of research to do over the break, but that's the life of an academic. Always trying to plan ahead for tenure.

Regardless, this is the first opportunity I have had in a while to post. So I'm not going to miss the opportunity.

A wihle back, I threw some cards into my LCS owner's PSA order. I got them back a couple weeks ago, and I was stunned.

First up, I included this Phil Bickford team omission auto from '16 Heritage Minors:

The guy had some promise, but was suspended for the first 50 games of next season for his second failed drug test. C'mon, man....I hope he gets his act together. Drugs lead people down bad roads.

Next up was this Tyler O'Neill green bat variation from 2016 Heritage Minors:

I don't know much about O'Neill, other than that he is supposedly one of the Mariners' top prospects. MLB.com ranks him as #2, behind Kyle Lewis. This leaves me in a dilemma: I want him to do well so the card increases in value, but, as a Mariners prospect, I also want him to fail miserably (relax, I don't really want him to fail...I just don't want him to succeed against the Rangers).

Next up, Jon Daniels GM Signature card from 2012 Topps:

This is one of my favorite cards in my collection. I wanted it for a while before I finally got it. When I got back into collecting, the first auto I pulled from flagship was the GM auto from now-former DBacks GM Josh Byrnes. It was one of the pulls that brought me back to the hobby.

Lastly, I sent in my Cole Hamels Real One auto from '16 Heritage:

Anyone see the problem with this?????

For some reason, the grader at PSA decided that Cole Hamels was demoted and listed this as a Minor League Real One Auto.

I just double checked, and PSA still has it listed with the error. eBay 1 of 1, anyone??? But seriously, is there an eBay market for PSA errors?

Anyway, back to the main story. The thing that shocked me about this order? All of my cards came back Gem Mint 10s. That's kind of crazy, right? I'm definitely not complaining.

Well, that's it for now. It is officially almost 2 a.m. my time. I am going to do a few things to clean up my desk and then I am off to bed. I hope everyone is well!