how sweet it is, to taste the fruits of victory!

i recently won a contest run by mat at bob walk the plank.  matt and i are frequent traders, and i was really excited to see what a contest winning package would look like given how great his trade packages are. i was not disappointed.

matt sent over a great selection of cards from 2016 panini immaculate, including a gil hodges/ted kluszewski dual relic

and a clayton kershaw/max scherzer dual relic

plus a trayce thompson relic/auto combo!

but the big card in the lot was a 2015 panini prizm corey seager on-card auto

giddyup!

another pittsburgh pirate collector, brian from collecting cutch, also held a contest, and although i was not the randomized winner of that one, i still received some cards.

there were some 2017 topps bunt cards of kenta maeda

and kenley jansen

plus a relic of, as brian put it, 'a former dodger prospect'

that beats the paul konerko relic i was expecting when i first read the note!

awesome cards guys! thanks!

only seven months of shopping days 'til christmas

so how about some christmas cards?  i don't have a full on christmas card (cards numbered 12/25) collection, but i do have a few in my collection.  and, while recently scouting for these types of cards for gavin at baseball card breakdown, i found a couple to keep for myself.

first up is a 2016 panini father's day something or other crystal parallel of clayton kershaw

with a very 'atomic refractor' type look.

next was a 2016 panini immaculate collection corey seager quad relic card

these are nice cards regardless of the numbering, and because neither of these guys wear number 12, there was no artificial scarcity added to the seller's perceived value.  however, if christmas cards become too much of a thing, watch out!  santa will want to take his cut.