Luis Severino PC Additions: Spring 2016

Hey everyone, Drew back here. I've been back in the US for almost a month now, and unless you keep tabs with my Twitter or Instagram accounts; you haven't seen any of my new Luis Severino PC additions. So with that, let's get you all up to date, shall we?

- 2014 Bowman Scout's Breakouts Insert

- 2014 Bowman Scout's Breakouts Die-Cut Insert

- 2014 Bowman Scout's Breakouts Die-Cut X-Fractor 61/99
- 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospects Black Refractor 

I purchased these four cards off of Check Out My Collectibles just before I fly off to Italy, and arrived home to find them waiting on my desk for me. I'm going to try to fill as many holes in his early Topps/Bowman rainbow checklists as I can without breaking the bank, and I believe these all came to me for less than $10 shipped.

- 2016 Topps #265 Rookie Card (x17)

Not one, not two, but seventeen. It's safe to say I won't be needing any more copies of Severino's official Topps rookie card. They really put together a solid debut card of his, more than likely thanks in part to him being represented by them.

- 2016 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autograph Refractor 177/499

When I initially started collecting Severino, I told myself I would only focus on his prospect years and his rookie year, and only went after his Topps/Bowman releases. I didn't think it would be much. I was wrong. His autograph is featured multiple times in every single Topps release this year, which I can only imagine is part of why they hardly sell for over $10 a pop (though, in fairness to Topps; his performance in 2016 has left much to be desired). I want to at least have one autograph from each set he's been included in, but as for completing the rookie year rainbows.... we'll see.

- 2016 Topps Museum Collection Signature Series Triple Relic Auto 95/99

Museum Collection has produced some of Topps' finest quality since its birth in 2012. This year, I feel like it may have taken a bit of a step back. Don't get me wrong, I'll take a card like this any day; but it does feel a little busy. Regardless, there are a few other Severino inclusions in this year's release that I'll be trying to add sooner or later.

- 2016 Topps Archives 1969 Super Auto 70/75

When I first saw these cards appearing out of this year's Topps Archives, I was so pumped. I quickly made an offer on a Severino autographed version on eBay and it was accepted. The card came in yesterday, and it is undoubtedly one of my favorites in my growing collection of the future Yankees ace.

And yes, I said ace. Because I still believe in the kid, and so should you.

Prospect Pickups: James Kaprielian

Hey everyone, Drew back here! I hope you all are enjoying a nice, relaxing Memorial Day Weekend with your loved ones. But, if you have a few minutes to scour the blogosphere, allow me to show off a lot of James Kaprielian cards I purchased off of eBay while I was studying abroad!

Kaprielian is the Yankees current top pitching prospect by a considerable margin now that Luis Severino has graduated to big league status (for now). The former UCLA standout was drafted as the 16th overall pick in the 2015 Draft, and is estimated to make his debut in the big leagues in 2017. He's only started three games in 2016, and is currently on the disabled list with elbow inflammation. Luckily, it doesn't appear to be anything more than that.

This lot included 8 copies of his 2015 Bowman rookie card and 5 of his "Draft/Dividends" inserts, which shows how much your draft stock can improve by going to college. Kaprielian was drafted in 2012 in the 40th round by the Mariners, but his decision to go to UCLA helped him grow into a first round talent.

2015 Bowman DPP Refractor Autograph

The centerpiece of the lot was this gorgeous Bowman rookie refractor autograph! In my honest opinion, there is no better card to own of a player than one of these. Bowman offers several rarer color parallels, but the basic refractors are often relatively affordable while also being aesthetically pleasing.

Over the summer, I'm going to be looking to add Bowman refractor autographs of several of the other Yankees top prospects. The major targets will be Aaron Judge, Jorge Mateo, and Gary Sanchez. Unfortunately, this mini project will probably have to wait a little while because I'm a little short on money at the moment.

Which product do you think offers the best, most memorable autographed cards?

Severino Sunday: November 1st (PLUS Contest Results)

Hey everyone, Drew back here. I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween! Mine was relaxing, as I got to sit back and watch game 4 of the World Series after powering my way through a never ending week. I've been rooting for the Mets because I honestly don't have any emotional attachment to the Royals at all, and because I'm a big fan of David Wright's. It doesn't look ideal for the Mets, but crazier things have happened.

I have been able to add 13 new Luis Severino cards to my collection since my first edition of Severino Sunday, and the quality hasn't decreased as far as I can tell.

 

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Blue Paper Parallel 279/399

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Green Paper Parallel 6/75

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Red Ice Parallel 49/150

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Purple Ice Parallel 58/99

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Black Wave Refractor

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Black Refractor 60/75

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Blue Refractor 217/399

- 2015 Bowman Prospects Silver Paper Parallel 54/499

- 2015 Bowman Prospects Purple Paper Parallel 226/250

- 2015 Bowman Prospects Blue Paper Parallel 106/150

- 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Profiles

- 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Profiles Green Parallel 66/99

- 2015 Bowman Autograph

Many of these additions came together via Check Out My Collectibles, but the autograph, ice parallels, and black refractor arrived through separate eBay purchases. I now have his regular and refractor Bowman rookie autographs, and hopefully won't be my last Bowman autograph parallel of his. I completed the mini 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Profiles rainbow with the regular and green parallels (the gold and orange cards were featured in the last post). It's quite difficult working on four separate set rainbows at once of a highly touted prospect, but its refreshing to get the newest set out of the way before the cards become more rare and expensive.

To see my current Luis Severino collection all together, click here.

Before I let you all go and enjoy the rest of your football and World Series Sundays, I would like to announce the winner of my Victory Fine Art contest I ran this week. I was a little disappointed by the total number of entries, but those who did get involved were fantastic and it really seems like I'm not the only one to see the potential of this company.

I placed all of your names on random.org and after five randomizations, the winner of any Victory Fine Art print of their choice is...

Congrats Rich B.! I'm going to send Victory Fine Art an email announcing that you have won, and if at possible, please send them an email also (marie@americanpopdigital.com) with your mailing address and the Ali print you are interested in winning so they can ship it out to you!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest, and I just hope this helped bring more awareness to a great up and coming company. Once again, if you haven't seen their work yet, click here.

See Ya!

Severino Sunday!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! Midterms are just about complete, and I finally have some time to show off what I've been doing between studying and writing papers. I've been falling in love with eBay all over again of late - and with their recent promotion allowing users to list just about as much as you want for free, I've been flipping cards like a mad man. 

Many of the cards I let go of were sacrificed to make room for my ever growing Luis Severino collection, which is now officially listed on my Wantlist page. However, there is one catch to collecting Severino: I'm only going for Topps and Bowman products. I enjoy his inclusions in other sets such as Panini Elite or Prizm, but keeping it to only licensed products will allow me to have more of a budget for higher end cards. I won't refuse anything of his from other sets, but my priority is to collect and complete as many parallel rainbows as I can.

Check out some of my recent acquisitions of the Yankee phenom rookie:

- (3) 2014 Bowman Chrome Base

- 2014 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor 201/250

- 2014 Bowman Chrome Purple Refractor 60/150

- 2014 Bowman Chrome Bubble Refractor 95/99

- (2) 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Silver Ice

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Refractor

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Blue Wave Refractor

- 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Green Refractor 128/150

- 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Profile Gold Refractor 18/50

- 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Profile Orange Refractor 23/25

- 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospects Autograph Refractor 295/499

You must all think I'm crazy. I'm just having fun! Of the bunch shown on this post, my personal favorites are obviously the Refractor autograph but also the Bubble Refractor from 2014 Bowman Chrome. Some of the Bowman parallels out there are pretty unique but that one has to take the cake. I don't have much familiarity with recent Bowman products, but this new goal should provide some insight on the various parallels Topps created. A few of them are particularly pricey, but I got some good deals on the cards listed above so hopefully the good fortune will continue.

With all of these included, I now own 22 unique Severino cards, and I have about 9 more on the way (including my best card of his yet) that you will all hopefully see next Sunday. If at all possible, I would love to reach 50 different cards by the end of the year. I don't think that will be too difficult of a task to handle, but we'll have to wait and see.

You can view my Severino collection here. If you have any of his Topps or Bowman cards I may be missing, please feel free to leave a comment and we may be able to work out a deal. Now that Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano are long gone in New York, it's about time I have a new Yankee to collect. I have a feeling this one could be worthwhile too.

See Ya!

All In

Hey guys, Drew back here. I was glad to see that a lot of you really liked my Top 10 Best Yankees Cards post from yesterday, as I definitely had fun writing it. I recently took a gamble on eBay hoping to take on what may have the potential of being ranked highly on that list in the future. 

Outside of his most recent start against the Blue Jays, Luis Severino has been awesome to watch in his rookie season. He has the poise and stuff necessary to dominate in the league for years to come, and I look forward to seeing more of him hoping in the playoffs this year. One night I splurged on eBay and wound up winning 3 separate auctions from the same seller; all Severino. In total, I spent about $20 on 22 cards; an investment opportunity I'm glad I took advantage of. 

Here's what I ended up with:

- 2014 Bowman Draft (x9)

- 2014 Bowman Chrome Draft (x3)

- 2014 Bowman Draft Silver Ice Parallel

- 2014 Bowman Draft Bowman Is Back

- 2015 Bowman (x4)

- 2015 Bowman Chrome

- 2015 Bowman Farm's Finest Mini

- 2014 Bowman Chrome Draft Black Wave Refractor Parallel 

- 2014 Bowman Chrome Draft Blue Refractor Parallel /399

I originally just wanted the two Chrome parallels, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to add several of his other rookie cards as well. This is just one of many examples of my love for combined shipping.

If any of you has Severino cards for trade and sale, I'd be most certainly interested. I'm not quite ready to declare him as my next PC, but I think it's getting closer and closer to happening as each of his starts come to pass.

See Ya!