Monday, January 30, 2017

Stupendous Gavin Autographs

Always a thrill for me when I get an autograph of a brand new Gavin for my collection. Remarkably, I was recently able to add 3 such "autoGavs" in the span of about a week thanks to a couple eBay wins and a TTM success.


Check out Diamondback prospect Gavin Stupienski in the style of A&G! I even went the extra mile by grabbing a framed mini off COMC for a buck so I could repurpose the frame.

Neat story behind this TTM request, as fellow blogger Matt Stupienski is Gavin's cousin, and Matt kindly helped facilitate the success. If you've seen his blog Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits, you know Matt is a big Ginter nut, so that inspired me to go this route with my idea for the card.

At 66 days, it's now my longest-awaited successful return, but it wasn't because Gavin was lazy about it or anything. I originally sent it to Matt in our trade before Thanksgiving, with our thought being that the two cousins would possibly cross paths over the holidays, but it didn't end up shaking out that way, so eventually Matt mailed the card to Gavin, and then Gavin mailed it back.


Gavin S. also included a nice note. Super cool!

Big thanks for your time and generosity, Gavin! I'll be rooting for you to kick ass in 2017 and hopefully make your way up to Arizona before long!

And big thanks to Matt for the great assist!

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2016 LEAF PERFECT GAME BASE AUTO /50 GAVIN HINCHLIFFE
Gavin Hinchliffe is a high school pitcher who's verbally committed to Virginia Tech, assuming he isn't drafted in a good position this coming June. Best of luck to you, Mr. Hinchliffe!
I got this Leaf Perfect Game stickergraph #'d /50 for a few bucks off eBay.

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GRANT GAVIN 2016 autographed Futures Night Photo Kansas City Royals auto
This might look like a standard card, but it's actually 6"x 8", making it my first oversized Gavin. Grant Gavin had a terrific start to his pro career last year in Rookie League and looks to build on that in 2017. He doesn't seem to have any actual cards out yet, so I was excited when I saw this autographed team-issued stadium-giveaway pop up on eBay for a few bucks.

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So those were three brand new Gavin autographs for my collection. But as long as I'm posting about Gavin autos, I'm going to go ahead and post some new Gavin Lux cards I've picked up lately.


Got the Gavin Lux base autos from 2016 Bowman Draft and Bowman's Best, plus a /50 insert from Best. I was able to land "full name" autos for the Best cards, though all the Bowman Draft autos apparently feature his abbreviated signature. While I've bid on a few parallels, they seem just a bit out of my desired price range, so I'll have to be content with these base autos for now, my first cards of him in a Dodgers uniform.

I did pony up for one rare Lux card, though...


Remember a few weeks ago I did that post on "Sign Here" cards? Well, I ended up winning the auction for that Gavin Lux card. Even though it doesn't actually feature his signature, it's a unique addition to highlight my Lux PC.

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2011 USA Baseball Autograph #USAA45 Gavin Cecchini 18U National Team
Also just picked up a Gavin Cecchini USA auto from back when he was just a wee lad.


And so there you have a few nice additions to my Greatest Gavins minicollection.
See you next time!

10 comments:

  1. The AG looks awesome! Were you able to put it back together so the mini is encased?

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    1. Thanks! It's actually open on the back, but since I'll keep it in a penny sleeve anyways, it's fine for my purposes. I definitely want to improve my technique if I keep doing custom framed minis like this.

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  2. Some very cool Gavin pickups, I don't think I had seen a "Sign Here" before.

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    1. Thanks, Corky. Yeah, "sign here" cards are pretty odd. You gotta figure the vast majority of them are destroyed/trashed, but sometimes they slip out.

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  3. NICE!!!! FWIW, you picked one of the best Ginter frames for this mini. :D

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    1. Thanks, Matt! My first try was with a black frame from 2012, but I was a bit too sloppy cutting it. Now I have "freed" mini relics of Hanley Ramirez and Greg Gumbel.

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  4. Replies
    1. Yeah, well you gotta figure a lot of kids signing for Bowman have never autographed a card before, so it's probably a good idea to map out for them where to sign. But yeah, it's not often those examples end up being circulated.

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    2. And what's extra weird about this one is it's a numbered parallel. I would think a base auto would make the most sense to burn as an example.

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  5. very cool Gavin S. story! I need to make an effort to remember your GAVIN collection. I could have been saving them for you all this time.

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