A Greatest Gavins Christmas in March

I haven't posted an update on my Greatest Gavins collection in a few months, I don't think.. though I have added several nice additions since last time. If you're unaware, this is just a mini-collection of mine featuring cards of anyone named Gavin. I know this isn't exactly a fan favorite blog topic, since it's really just a vanity project or whatever you wanna call it.. doesn't really have universal appeal. But screw it, if you took the time to read this far, let's take a look at some neat cards of guys named Gavin!

Let's start off with a dual mini-collection hit: Gavin cards that are also Christmas Cards! That's right, another quirky collecting habit of mine is any card serial numbered 12/25. I like to feature Christmas Cards from my collection every month on the 25th, so it works out good timing to show off this one now!

Gavin Floyd, the George Washington on the Mount Rushmore of North American Athletes Named Gavin. This beautiful Gav-used Christmas Card Autogavph was pretty cheap, making it even better. If only it were on-card, it'd be an A+ in my book.

But that wasn't the only Christmas Autogavph I've brought home recently..

Gavin Escobar refractor #'d 12/25. Nice looking card (it's shinier than the scan indicates). On-card auto. Now I just need a Christmas Autogavph of Gavin Cecchini to complete The Big 3 G's. (He has a bunch, but they seem to be a little out of my preferred price range.. someday.)

But back to Escobar, as I mentioned in the past, he has a ton of autos on the market. He's not really a big future star, honestly, but I guess pretty much all NFL rookies just typically get a huge amount of autos produced. I went ahead and bought a cheap lot that included a bunch of Escobar RCs and 1 auto.

It's a sticker auto, but it was cheap, so whatever. And the Gav-used patch is neat. This brings the number of Escobargavphs in my collection to 3 (sorry, I need to cool it was the made-up words). I think I'll be content with 3, the magic number, and not pick up anymore.. unless maybe it's super cheap or from a trade.
Oh, and that sparkly Bowman parallel on the upper left is super cool.. I should make a Refraction Action gif of it one of these days.
As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I'm not one to hang on to dupes (1990 UD Marquis Grissom notwithstanding), so look for some of those extra Topps and Bowman rookie cards to find themselves thrown into various trade packages from me for the heck of it.

Now let's backtrack to a few more Floyds, these of the non-holiday variety, but still pretty great.

There's my first Graded Gavin. Like Escobar, my Floydagavphs now number 3-- wait, make that 4, I think-- and I'll probably be happy to leave it at that unless there's a super bargain I just can't turn down. And of course trade offers are always welcomed.

And I picked up a new player for my Greatest Gavins, specifically a poker player. Gavin Smith.

This isn't a great-looking autogavph (sticker auto, poor design, unflattering photo), but it's something.

Though I have no intention of going after many cards of Mr. Smith, I felt like I needed to upgrade to a better looking auto card from him, so I threw a bid on this one when it popped up and ended up with it:

That's an improvement. Better design, cooler photo, and on-card auto.

Next, here's an inductee to the "Last Name" wing of the Hall of Greatest Gavins.

John Gavin appears here on this 2013 Leaf Perfect Game amateur card. He graduates high school later this year. Wha?! Giving sports cards to kids who haven't even been drafted yet seems wrong. But whatever. Good luck with your career, Mr. Gavin!

After picking up the above card, I found a numbered gold parallel for even cheaper, so I went nuts and ended up winning it too, officially making me the world's foremost John Gavin supercollector with a grand total of two cards from him.

 (hair on the scanner alert)

Now here's the first non-athlete (and um, non-poker player) to be inducted into Greatest Gavins, Gavin Hood.

Apparently this guy directed that recent Wolverine flick. I haven't seen it, nor am I familiar with his other work, but hey, it wasn't too expensive. My favorite part about adding autographed cards to my Gavin collection is checking out how other Gavins sign their name. Mr. Hood here is the first I've added who prints it out (not cursive). Different. Kinda cool.

Finally, this last Gavin is a fictional character.

Yes, some Greatest Gavins purists out there might scoff at the inclusion of a card signed by actor Daniel Dae Kim, but just look at it and there's no denying it belongs in a collection of trading cards focused on people named Gavin. Gavin Park is a character from the TV show Angel. To the best of my recollection, I've never actually watched an episode of this Buffy-spinoff, but couldn't resist spicing up my collection of Gavin cards with this puppy. For what it's worth, I like this actor from his work on Lost, a show I didn't watch during its original run, but burned through on Netflix over the span of a few months a year or two back.

So there you have it, the recent additions to the Greatest Gavins. Hope you enjoyed it! We'll see you again another time for more cards of guys named Gavin. Next time I'll try to get the collection organized and give an overview and come up with a count.