I took advantage of PSA’s Christmas grading special. Combine that with a $50 voucher (the 2018 Bowman’s Best Acuna gold auto took too long for them to turn around), and it was a pretty good deal.
Lately, I’ve had pretty decent “success” with grading. The 2018 Bowman’s Best Ohtani and Soto autos being 10’s alone has been worth the price of admission. The vintage cards I sent in … not so much. Live and learn. This batch, however, is all over the board. So, with apologies to Clint Eastwood, let’s see how we did.
Gem Mint 10s
Two good Junior Caminero grades: a Bowman Sapphire and a blue Chrome Mojo refractor. I had a 2017 Jazz Chisholm rookie auto. The Gabriel Moreno I thought was messed up because of the faded spot in his name. Apparently, it’s supposed to look like that. And a Gem Mint Elly de la Cruz rookie. Nice!
Mint 9s
Some nice 9s. Kyle Harrison, 2023 Bowman Chrome purple auto. A Gilded Outman auto, Nolan Gorman, and a Rico Petrocelli (#/25) auto.
More 9s
Three 2018 Legends of WWE: a black Stephanie McMahon (#’d/5) and blue Ric Flair and Lita (#’d/25). Also, a Cheap Fun Breaks threw in a pack of 1991 Upper Decks last year and I pulled this Jordan!
The 8s
Die cuts are hard, sorry Benny Montgomery. The Tatis patch/auto is nice. I had bigger hopes for the Hao Yu Lee and the Pujols Transcendent VIP (#’d/5). The Bowman Chrome Heritage … I got the Reds in one of two breaks from Cheap Fun Breaks. The other Reds break? Guy got the 1/1 Superfractor. **sigh** At least Rachel Phelps got an 8.
Off the Rails
Jose Ramirez was a Kylie-inspired purchase. #/25, I hoped it would be more than a 7. The Alexa Bliss 2019 Money in the Bank … not surpised only a 7 (it’s thinner card stock). The Bowman 1st Edition de la Cruz immediately went into hard case storage but still only got a 7. The 2010 Altuve … not surprised it was only a 7. Fine. But the Thomas auto???? It was still sealed in the “from Topps” top loader and only got a 6. Ugh.
Final thoughts? I felt these were going to be better but it is what it is. A good many will be on comc.com in the next few weeks. The next batch from PSA will be in on Monday.