Upcoming Appearance: Mike Trout (CANCELLED)

Meet Angels Rookie OF Mike Trout

CANCELLED

September 24
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

OCsportscards.com

5655 E. LA PALMA AVE. #123

Anaheim Hills, California

small items $45

Large items $60

PSA included for all signatures.

Mike will not sign game model bats, jersey numbers or jerseys and will not inscribe mlb debut or game used items.

MIKE TROUT AUTOGRAPHS WILL BE LIMITED TO 175! You may pre order starting Tuesday morning at 11am!

This will be Mike's first public signing of his Big League career!

Call of Duty XP in Los Angeles

Call of Duty XP

September 2nd & 3rd

Los Angeles, CA

Hip-Hop Icon To Headline {Kanye West}

Performing Live on Opening Night {Dropkick Murphys}

Want to Play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3? {Be the First}

Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer {Challenges}

Call of Duty Action-Experiences {Real-World}

Tickets Now Available = $150

$1 Million Multiplayer Tournament

How pro a player are you? The Call of Duty $1 Million Tournament Presented by Xbox 360 is your chance to challenge top Call of Duty warriors from around the world in a colossal 32-team, single-elimination tournament for a record $1 million in cash and prizes.

Call of Duty® XP will be taking place at:

5600 Campus Center Drive

Playa Vista, CA 90094, USA

For more information, visit the Call of Duty XP Official Site.

U.S. Men's National Team Public Training Session

All U.S. Soccer and Galaxy fans are invited to attend the U.S. Men's National Team public training session Wednesday, Aug. 31 from 5-6 p.m. at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Home Depot Center

18400 Avalon Blvd

Carson, California

Fans wishing to attend the training session are requested to register by emailing rsvp@ussoccer.org. In the email, please include your name and the number of people who will be in attendance. U.S. Soccer will send out additional information about the session via email 24-hours prior to the event. All training times and locations are subject to change.

Admission and parking are free and open to the public.

Fans can park in Lot 12. Gates will be open at 4:30 p.m. and fans will enter through the Southwest Gate.

This is the first training session open to the public under new U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. The U.S. will face Costa Rica on Sept. 2 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Tickets starting at $20 are on sale through ussoccer.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, at all Ticketmaster ticket centers throughout the Los Angeles area (including Walmart and La Curacao stores), and at The Home Depot Center ticket office (open Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) Groups of 20 or more can obtain an order form at ussoccer.com or call 312-528-1290.

U.S. TRAINING CAMP ROSTER BY POSITION – Detailed Roster

GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Tim Howard (Everton) 
DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Edgar Castillo (Club América), Timmy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City) 
MIDFIELDERS (8): Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Chris Pontius (D.C. United), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Jose Torres (Pachuca) 
FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

From U.S. Soccer

Matt Kemp @ MetroPCS Recap

Congrats to Matt Kemp on joining the 30/30 club!

Just a random note before I recap my morning, Matt Kemp homered both times he had a free signing this month. The first signing was on 8/13 at Living Spaces.

It was another chance to meet Matt Kemp. He was scheduled to sign at MetroPCS in Baldwin Hills from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. It was limited to the first 200 people.

I decided to camp out for this appearance earlier in the week and invited my cousin from Temecula to join me since she's a huge Matt Kemp fan. Even though it was a weekday, I knew it was going to be just as crazy as the Living Spaces appearance.

I arrived at 10:45 p.m. and was about 60 people back at the time. Eventually, I would be pushed back to about 100 since people hold spots for the family/friends and some people even try to cut in line.

Even though I had to wait 13 hours for Matt Kemp to arrive, I had a great time chatting with other Dodger fans and even met some new friends. The funniest guy of the entire night was Greg, who created Plaschke, Thy Sweather is Argyle. I've been following his blog for a couple of months and finally had the opportunity to meet him. He was hoping that Matt Kemp would say yes.

A little after midnight, there was a nice surprise for those who decided to camp out. Matt purchased Papa John pizza and soda for his fans. A couple of fans tweeted Matt about breakfast and he said that he would be sending some pizza for us. There was a group of fans who walked the entire line serving pizza and drinks for everyone. Thanks again to Matt and the group for helping out.

There was a guy who was trying to get rid of some of his baseball cards and as a card collector, I was curious to see what he had. I spent at least an hour going through some of his cards and made a deal for an awesome lot. You can see what I bought by clicking here.

At around 9:30 a.m. is when the MetroPCS staff decided to pass out wristbands. I think they wanted too long and they should have handed them out earlier like at 7:00 am because it would have given those people who camped out longer a chance at getting a wristband. Since they wanted so late to hand them out, people had their family members and friends show up at around 8:30 am. When I got my wristband, I was about 110th in line.

Power 106 showed up about 15 minutes before Matt Kemp was scheduled to show up and they were entertaining the crowd with games and trying to get the crowd loud. That was a tough task since most of us had been there for over 12 hours. Matt Kemp showed up on time and signed right away. Pictures weren't allowed so they could keep the line moving. The mini helmet is an awesome item to get autographed and I plan on using those more often. Dave Stewart, who is Matt's agent, also showed up and signed autograph for fans. He even took pictures for anyone that asked. He was very nice and even inscribed my ball (81 WS Champ) for me.

I had a lot of fun and don't mind camping out all night to meet one of my favorite players. It's worth it in the end and it's an opportunity to meet other Dodger fans. It was nice meeting Clint, Teresa, Greg, and Josh. Make sure to also check out Josh's post about the Kemp Appearance.

Thanks to Matt Kemp, Dave Stewart, and MetroPCS for a great day.

Card Purchase @ Matt Kemp Signing

Last night, I camped out for the Matt Kemp signing in Baldwin Hills. Here's the recap: Matt Kemp Signing

During the night, the guy in front of me in line had a box of cards that he won from a storage auction. I asked if I could search through the box and hopefully make a purchase. I was shocked to find so many great cards from recent years including some 2011 products.

Click on any picture to enlarge them.

2006 Score #362 - Maurice Drew RC (BV $2)

2008 Topps Chrome Gold Refractors #TC124 - LaDainian Tomlinson LL #/199 (BV $8)

2006 Score #360 - Reggie Bush RC (BV $2.50)

2010 SAGE HIT #62 - Dan LeFevour IT (BV $0.50)

2006 Score #328 - Matt Leinart Reggie Bush (BV $1.50)

2007 Upper Deck College to Pros #RB - Reggie Bush (BV $3)

2007 Topps Total #456 - Adrian Peterson RC (BV $10)

2007 Topps #301 - Adrian Peterson RC (BV $10)

2007 Upper Deck First Edition #133 - Darrelle Revis RC (BV $2.50)

Total BV: $40

2002 Bowman Gold #319 Adrian Gonzalez x2 (BV $0.60)

2002 Bowman Gold #245 - Miguel Cabrera (BV $3)

2010 Topps Update #US274 - Stephen Strasburg Ivan Rodriguez (BV $2.50)

2010 Topps Update #US55 - Stephen Strasburg (BV $2.50)

2011 Topps Target #183 - Stephen Strasburg (BV $2.50)

2002-03 Topps #193 - Amare Stoudemire RC (BV $5)

2007-08 Artifacts #31 - Yao Ming #/25 (BV $10)

2010 Topps #661D - Stephen Strasburg UPD White Jersey Arm Back RC (BV $10)

Total BV: $36.70

2007 Bowman Chrome Draft Draft Picks #BDPP55 - David Price (BV $6)

2007 Bowman Draft Draft Picks #BDPP54 - Jason Heyward (BV $6)

2010 Topps Update #US318A - Domonic Brown RC (BV $3)

2007 Bowman Draft Future's Game Prospects #BDPP71 - Joba Chamberlain (BV $1.50)

2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Purple Refractors #BDP53 - Vin Mazzaro (BV $4)

2009 Bowman Chrome Draft WBC Prospects #BDPW2 - Yu Darvish (BV $3)

2006 Bowman #204 - Hanley Ramirez RC (BV $1)

2009 Bowman Draft #BDP1 - Tommy Hanson RC (BV $1.50)

Total BV: $26

2010 Bowman Prospects #BP10 - Aroldis Chapman x2 (BV $2)

2010 Bowman Prospects #BP90 - Donavan Tate (BV $1.25)

2010 Bowman Chrome Topps 100 Prospects Refractors #TPC36 - Chris Withrow #/499 (BV $2.50)

2010 Bowman Chrome Topps 100 Prospects #TPC5 - Mike Stanton #/999 (BV $8)

2010 Bowman Chrome Topps 100 Prospects Refractors #TPC43 - Jeremy Hellickson #/499 (BV $10)

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP207A - Gary Sanchez x2 (BV $2.50)

2010 Bowman Chrome Topps 100 Prospects Refractors #TPC61 - John Ely #/499 (BV $2.50)

Total BV: $33.25

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Refractors #BCP33 - Gustavo Nunez #/777 (BV $3)

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP89A - Dustin Ackley (BV $5)

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP130 - Jerry Sands (BV $4)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP47 - Steve Rodriguez (BV $1.50)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP32 - Gerrit Cole (BV $5)

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP199A - Aroldis Chapman (BV $3)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP13 - Freddie Freeman (BV $4)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP5 - Mike Trout (BV $8)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP1 - Jerry Sands (BV $5)

Total BV: $38.50

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP24 - Donavan Tate (BV $2.50)
2010 Bowman Platinum Refractors #67 - Victor Martinez #/999 (BV $3)

2010 Bowman Platinum #1 - Stephen Strasburg RC (BV $8)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects Refractors #PP6 - Dustin Ackley #/999 (BV$12)
2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP6 - Dustin Ackley (BV $6)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP10 - Aroldis Chapman (BV $4)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP31 - Jackie Bradley Jr. (BV $3)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects #PP4 - Jesus Montero (BV $5)

2010 Bowman Platinum #47 - Mike Leake RC (BV $3)

Total BV: $46.50

2010 Bowman Platinum Gold Refractors #17 - Josh Hamilton #/539 (BV $10)

2010 Bowman Platinum Gold Refractors #75 - Tommy Hanson #/539 (BV $6)

2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects Green Refractors #PP26 - Jose Iglesias #/499 (BV $10)

2010 Bowman Platinum Gold Refractors #96 - Starlin Castro #/539 (BV $15)

Total BV: $41

*Update* I found 3 more cards in my car that I forgot to scan.
2010 Bowman Platinum Prospects Gold Refractors #PP7 - Zach Britton #/539 (BV$10)

2010 Bowman Prospects #BP100 - Starlin Castro (BV $2)

2011 Topps #10 - Stephen Strasburg (BV $2)

All 60 cards come out to a total book value of $275.95

I will most likely be selling or trading most of these cards. Some are going into my collection and sorry if it's a little hard to read the card names since they are bunched together.

Thanks for looking.

August Mail - Dodgers, Falcons, Josh Johnson & More

I think i'm going to do these post once a month since I've been slacking on posting my new cards. I have added a couple of nice cards to my Dodgers, Falcons, and random personal collections. Plus I won a nice prize from CCW.

Let's start off with the prize I won. Card Collector's World held a contest for the month of July for members who posted at least 10 times a day for the whole month. They randomized the prizes and I ended up with a Scott Jorgesen Autograph. It's his 1st autograph in the 2011 Topps product. It's available for trade.

Next I'll show my random personal collection.

I added two more Josh Johnson cards. One is a Gypsy Queen Autograph and it's ON-CARD! Cards look better without the sticker autograph. The Upper Deck Icons is two colors, which comes from the stripes on the Marlins jerseys.

I was able to trade for a Randy Johnson jersey card. He's a future Hall of Famer and had to get one. Plus the older sets are harder to find these days. 

I added another jersey card to my Matty Ice collection. It's my 20th different relic. It's also numbered out of 299.

For the Falcons collection, I bought this Roddy White patch off of eBay. It's numbered out of 50 and two colors. There is stitching on the white part of the patch. It's my second Roddy White patch.

I was able to trade for a Drew Brees Patch. It's numbered out of 75 and it comes from 2009 Topps Unique. Right now, I'm going to hold onto it unless I can trade it for a nice Matt Ryan patch.

I added a couple of Dodgers relics and autographs. The first two relics are Shawn Green, who played for the Dodgers from 2000 to 2004.

Another guy that use to play for the Dodgers, but was traded away to the Chicago White Sox, Juan Pierre. It's tough trying to find Pierre relics in his Dodgers uniform. This is a piece of a Game-Used Bat.

Jeff Kent retired a couple seasons ago and hasn't really been quiet since his retirement. He was the Dodgers second baseman from 2005-2008. I don't know what took so long trying to get this Kent relic from the Allen & Ginter set. I believe it's the last Dodger one I needed in that set, plus it's a piece of a bat like the Pierre.

I was really happy when I was able to trade for this Topps Chrome Gold Autograph. John Ely is one of the players the Dodgers received from the Juan Pierre trade a couple seasons ago. He's been up-and-down the past two seasons.

Matt Kemp commemorative patch. This is my 2nd patch from the 2011 Topps set. It's not numbered but has a patch from the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers. The card came in a little damaged since the seller on eBay didn't send it to me properly. Oh well, it's still a nice card.

I won this card on eBay last week for very cheap. It's an Swatch-Auto of Chad Billingsley. The card isn't numbered and it's a sticker autograph.

I won a couple other cards on eBay that I'm looking to trade. The first is an Upper Deck Black American Flag of L.C. Greenwood from the Pittsburgh Steelers. The UD Black Flag set is one of my favorites, so I might keep this one. The last two cards I got for my brother if he wants them, but if not they are also for trade. Diego Sanchez is an MMA fighter in the UFC and the last card is a Clippers Quad with Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby. The Clippers card is numbered out of 100.

Thanks for letting me share my August cards. I'll have another post up at the end of September.

Upcoming Appearance - Donovan Ricketts

Get an autograph with Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts prior to the Galaxy's CONCACAF Champions League match on Thursday! Fans must have a ticket for the match to enter. 

Tickets are still available at lagalaxy.com/CCL and parking is FREE for the night!!

Thursday, August 25 · 6:30pm - 7:00pm

Event Suite 1 (top of section 140), The Home Depot Center

18400 Avalon Blvd

Carson, CA

More information can be found on the Galaxy facebook page.

Upcoming Appearance - Tony Gwynn Jr.

Tony Gwynn Jr.

Tueday, August 30th, 12-1pm

Staples Store

213 North Glendale Ave.

Glendale, CA 91206

Information can be found on the Dodgers website.

Free 1-Year Subscription of Dime Magazine

I saw a link that allows anyone to get a free year of Dime magazine and thought I'd share it with my readers. It's a basketball magazine that was created by Foot Locker.

Sign-up Here

Foot Locker is celebrating Dime Magazine's 5 Year Anniversary by hooking up its VIP members with a FREE 1-Year subscription to Dime, The Basketball Lifestyle Magazine©.Simply fill out the fields, click submit and you've got nine issues coming to you full of the hottest hoops content you can't find anywhere else.

Visit Dime Magazine's Official Site

2011 Stadium Giveaway Bobblehead Recap

I started collecting the stadium giveaway bobbleheads last season. I went to all six Dodger bobblehead nights and the Kendry Morales Angels bobblehead night. I have a total of 18 different bobbleheads in my collection.

The Dodgers went 3-3 in their 6 bobblehead nights. Hiroki Kuroda pitched on the first bobblehead night and defeated the Rockies. Clayton Kershaw pitched on three (Kuo; Ethier; Fernandomania) of those nights and went 2-0.

The Angels lost their game to the Oakland Athletics. Dan Haren gave up two home runs to David DeJesus.

May 17th - Clayton Kershaw

May 24th - Kendry Morales

June 1st - Don Mattingly

June 14th - Hong-Chih Kuo

July 7th - Andre Ethier

July 26th - Fernandomania

August 9th - Duke Snider

Favorite: Clayton Kershaw

I'm being a little bias on this one because Kershaw is my favorite Dodger. The details on the Kershaw are spot on, especially with his beard and his green eyes. I also like that the bobblehead is his pitching motion. If it wasn't for Roy Halladay being in the NL, Kershaw would have a chance at winning the Cy Young this season.

Least Favorite: Hong-Chih Kuo

I didn't really like that they did his follow through when he strikes out a hitter. If you glance at the bobblehead, you would think he's a right-handed pitcher. The details are great on the bobblehead but so are most of the 2011 bobbleheads.

2011 Cy Young Race - Halladay vs. Kershaw

I was looking at the pitching stats for the National League starting pitchers and noticed that the current Cy Young race is very close.

Roy Halladay has been spectacular this entire season. His team has the best record in the league and he's tied for most wins (15) in the National League with Clayton Kershaw. While going over the numbers, their numbers are almost identical in most categories.

I set up all of their stats together so everyone can get a better idea of Halladay and Kershaw. There are a couple of other pitchers who are in the discussion like Tim Lincecum, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels.

Both pitchers have pitchers at least 183.2 innings and have a record of 15 wins and five losses. Halladay has given up 30 more hits and Kershaw has struck out 22 more hitters. Kershaw has given up four more home runs and has walked twice as many hitters.

The most surprising stat to me is Halladay's shutouts. He doesn't have one this season but he does have seven complete games.

Let's take a look at their probable opponents for the rest of the season:

Roy Halladay
@ WAS
vs. FLA
@ CIN
vs. ATL
@ MIL
vs. STL
vs. WAS
@ ATL

Clayton Kershaw
@ STL
vs. SD
@ ATL
@ WAS
vs. ARI
vs. PIT
@ SD

It's going to be a fun race to watch, especially between Halladay and Kershaw.

UCLA Football Scrimmage - Free 2011 Schedule Poster

UCLA Athletics just announced a free giveaway for August 20th.

First 2,500 fans at Saturday's scrimmage receive 2011 schedule poster.

*Click Picture to Enlarge*

Football Scrimmage

5 pm @ Drake Stadium

Upcoming Appearance - Rex Hudler

Meet and greet former Angel player and broadcaster Rex Hudler before the Halos take on the Rangers.

August 18 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Angels Stadium

2000 E Gene Autry Way

Anaheim, California

Hosted by ESPN LA 

Eastbound & Down - Kenny Powers Bobblehead

The 2011 Comic-Con was held on July 21-24 in San Diego.

There are special appearances from television stars, movie stars and comic book writers/artists. This event has become more popular over the past few years. 

One of my favorite television shows is Eastbound & Down starring Danny McBride as Kenny Powers. It's about a former professional baseball player who is forced to return to his hometown after an up-and-down career in the major leagues.

A couple of months ago, Eastbound & Down announced that they are currently filming the third season, which is also the final season. Still no word about when the third and final season will air on HBO.

During the first day of Comic-Con, the Kenny Powers Facebook page made a post about their new bobblehead. I asked my godfather if he could pick up one for my collection when he was going to attend.

Kenny Powers Bobblehead

This is my favorite scene from Eastbound & Down that involves the jet ski:
*Warning Strong Language*