drewscards

White Plains Card Show 1/22/12 Recap, Part Four!

2012-01-29T18:32:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Moving along with the recap series, here is Part 4, showcasing all of our newest autograph pickups, minus the ones we obtained in person!

PART 4: Certified Auto Pickups

2005 UD SPx Russell Martin RC Auto /185

We begin with an autograph from a current Yankees playing, their starting catcher Russell Martin! I wasn't extremely impressed with Martin last year, but he did a pretty good job behind the plate. I'm not necessarily used to having a catcher hit for such a poor batting average (.237), but I guess in this day in age he's an All Star caliber catcher. Anyways, I wanted his autograph just to have it basically, and who knows maybe he'll bat a whopping .250 this year!

2011 Topps Chrome Eduardo Nunez RC Auto

I'm torn on Eduardo personally. I think he had a pretty solid rookie season, considering all of the pressure in New York for him to succeed, since he had to replace stars like Jeter and A-Rod when they suffered injuries. He could wind up being a solid player, but he won't be that player for the Yankees, because they probably wouldn't have a spot for him to do well. However, this is a pretty nice rookie auto, and trust me it looks a heck of a lot better in person.

1997 Donruss Signature Series Bartolo Colon Auto

Bartolo was a great success story for the Yankees last year for sure. Most fans did not expect to see the aging power pitcher dominate the mound again, but he proved everyone wrong by producing solid numbers for the Yankees. I mean, think about it, he basically got hardly any money and was expected to be a minor league pitcher, but he worked his way up to the starting rotation. I give him props for that.

2006 Bowman Originals Nick Swisher Auto Gold Parallel /31

Boy was I glad to see the Yankees lock up Swisher for another year! It would've been a tragedy to let him go this offseason, because clearly there were no other right fielders available that could produce like he does. Yes, I understand his postseason stats aren't impressive, but honestly I feel like he is in for a big year. I already had the base variation autograph from this set, so being able to add a more rare parallel to my Swish PC is pretty sweet!

2007 Bowman Sterling J.P. Arencibia RC Auto

Prior to the show, I listed the 10 autographs I wanted most for each position based on active players, and Arencibia was #8 on the catcher list. I think he has a lot of potential, although he didn't hit for a very good average last year either (.219). But with 23 homers and 78 RBI, he should be one of the top catchers in the league for years to come.

2004 Topps Blue Chips J.J. Hardy RC Auto

Similar to Arencibia, Hardy snuck onto my list of top shortstop autographs I wanted. He had a great year with the Orioles last year, batting .269 with 30 home runs and 80 RBI! His signature really looks like it just says Hardy, but who knows what these current players try to get at with their autographs.

2008 UD Signature Sensations James Shields Auto

After his stellar 2011 season, I honestly feel that James Shields is better than David Price. Everyone made a huge deal about how good Price was supposed to be, and while he's done fairly well, he had a very inconsistent season. Shields threw 11 complete games and finished 3rd in AL Cy Young voting behind Verlander and Weaver. I'd consider that a great season! Therefore, it was probably a smart idea to pick this auto up before he becomes more well known in baseball!

2007 USA Darwin Barney RC Auto /595

Barney ranked in the top 10 autographs needed for second baseman on my list, and I'm glad Dad was able to pick one up for me. Barney had a very good rookie season last year, batting .276 with 146 hits, earning him 7th in NL Rookie of the Year voting. I think he'll be a pretty solid player in the future for the Cubs, and he has a pretty nice autograph as well.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Starlin Castro Auto

To go along with the Cubs second baseman, I also managed to round out the other half of the middle infield, picking up this beautiful Starlin Castro autograph. Apparently the card is a short print, so I paid a fairly high price for the card, but I think it will be worth it. Starlin is heading into his 3rd full season, after starting his career batting .300 or above both of his first two seasons. Last year, he batted .307, pounding out 207 hits and scoring 91 runs for the Cubbies. I have a feeling he could end his career with better stats than Hanley Ramirez and maybe even Jose Reyes, given Reyes' health issues.

2007 UD Sweet Spot Classic Jack Morris Auto Bat Barrel /50

I have watched a ton of shows on the MLB Network so far this year. I go downstairs, sit down and record 5-6 shows at a time on our DVR. Therefore, I watched a lot of the Hall of Fame coverage this year, and after watching all the debate, I really think this guy should be in the Hall. I mean, they voted him the best pitcher of the 1980's for crying out loud! Who cares about his stats, when he was one of the most dominant pitchers of his era? Unfortunately, after this weak class went by, Morris still didn't receive enough votes, and with the insane classes upcoming, I doubt he'll get in anytime soon unless the Veterans Committee elects him one year. Nonetheless I was able to pick up this card for 20 bucks, numbered to only 50. It's a nice one for sure.

2003 UD Yankee Signature Series Paul O'Neill Auto

One of the reasons why this show was so big for me was because I was able to make some significant strides in my collection! Paul O'Neill's autograph was one that had been haunting me for quite some time, and Dad was able to buy me one, which was really awesome of him! I've watched a lot of the games from the 90's dynasty years, and I can tell if I wasn't 4 or 5 years old, but the age I am today as a fan, O'Neill would've been one of my top 3 or 4 favorite players on the team. He was indeed a warrior in every way, and he inspires a lot of people to really give their all on the field and have no regrets when leaving the ballpark. You have to love having a guy like that on your team.

1996 Leaf Signature Series Andy Pettitte Auto

The final, and in my opinion, best autograph pickup from the show was most definitely this card. Anytime you are able to manage to add an autograph from one of the "Core Four", I would consider it a success. Dad also bought me this card, and I can't begin to tell you how lucky I am to have him so interested and helpful in my hobby. He is always willing to take me to signings and shows and always wants to try and make me happy! At this point, he uses my wantlist more than I do, which is crazy. Andy Pettitte is one of my favorite pitchers of all time for sure, and it was awesome getting to watch him pitch for them the past few years. His autograph is a rarity, but I'm glad we finally locked him up in the collection. Three down, now only Rivera to go! Wish me luck!

Thanks again Dad for all of the help! These posts wouldn't be close to as impressive without you! Part 5 coming up next, and be sure to check that one out because it features my experiences with the awesome autograph signing lineup they had at the show!

See Ya!

White Plains Card Show 1/22/12 Recap, Part Three!

2012-01-27T15:00:00.001-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, continuing on the series, here is Part 3, which features all of the relics we purchased between Dad & I at the show! Check it out:

PART 3: Relic Additions

This is where the show began to get out of control for us, as we picked up a ton of nice new cards to add to the collection! We'll start with all the jerseys, including our Tier One set additions, and then work our way to the autos. Lets get started!

We lead off with a 2010 Allen & Ginter relic of the reigning NL MVP, and possible PED-user Ryan Braun. Braun was starting to go up the ranks on my favorite non-Yankee player list, but I think he's starting to creep back downhill a bit. I think for the sake of baseball he should give the trophy back, whether he is truly guilty or innocent. It would show a lot of class for him to admit himself being wrong. Why should he worry about giving it back though? If he really thinks he didn't use PED's and he just had a great season, he might as well go back out and try to win another MVP award next season! Anyways, I got this card for free from a vendor because I bought two fairly expensive autos from him, and I liked the color of the swatch more than anything else on the card.

Speaking of PED's, here's a Jason Giambi patch card numbered to 45 from 2008 UD SPX! I've never really been a big Giambi fan, mainly because when I was getting into baseball, he was on his way out of baseball. Also, I got into the sport not much before the Mitchell Report and the Steroid Saga was underway, so it didn't give me a whole lot of reason to like him. But, like A-Rod, I dealt with him being in the Yankee lineup. I got this card only because the patch is just awesome all around! I see 3 different colors on the patch and a neat design, as well as a pinstripe sneaking onto the card in the corner of the swatch! Pretty neat for sure!

These two Robinson Cano relics kind of went hand in hand for me, as Dad got them for me from the same vendor as a lot. The vendor I bought these from is definitely one of my favorites at the show, and he's there every time working at the same table as Hunter, another one of my favorite vendors at the show who I've mentioned before. Anyways, I needed both of these 2007 Topps Highlights jersey and 2009 Legendary Cuts jersey cards for my Cano PC, and it's even cooler to see that they both have pinstripes!

Next was a pretty sweet dual relic from again, 2009 UD SP Legendary Cuts! This card features jersey swatches from both Bo Jackson and Albert Pujols. I don't really see the connection between the two, but I like both of them a lot so it's pretty cool for sure. I'm not a fan of the Pujols signing in LA but I still have respect for him because if he hasn't done steroids or PED's, he's one of the best players of all time.

Along with the Pujols/Jackson card was another sweet dual relic of two of my favorites, Reggie Jackson and Josh Hamilton! Both of them reside in my Secondary Collections group, and it's only fitting that I would eventually add this one to the collection!

The final three relics I was able to add to my collection last Sunday were needed for my Topps Tier One relic set I'm working on! Going into the show I had 5 cards total from the 50 card set, along with 3 that were incoming from trades and eBay. As well as the incoming pickups, Dad was able to help me add 3 more at the show!

The first relic was of one of my PC players, Don Mattingly! This card is absolutely awesome, with a nice crisp photo and a solid overall design. The Yankees are pretty well represented in this set, with Babe Ruth; Lou Gehrig; Joe DiMaggio; Mickey Mantle; Reggie Jackson; Thurman Munson; Mattingly; and Paul O'Neill. One of the main reasons why I decided to collect this set was because there were a lot of Yankees relics I needed to add that were included! I've already got plenty of Mattingly but I can never get enough of one of the top players in all of baseball in the 1980's!

Card #2 just so happened to be a bat relic of one of baseball's most legendary hitters, in Tris Speaker. Tris is very often overlooked by some of the heroes in the game from his time period (1907-1928), such as Cobb; Wagner; Ruth; and a young Jimmie Foxx, but he was by far one of the best hitters to ever pick up a bat. He retired in 1928 with a lifetime batting average of .345 and 3,514 hits. When he retired, only Cobb had more hits than him, and to this day he still ranks 5th all time. To now own a piece of his bat is something special, even if its just a small part of what he used to get himself to an elite level of baseball skill.

As dominant as Speaker was for all of those years, the best relic we were able to pick up was of Dodgers legendary lefty, Sandy Koufax. This is the dual relic version, numbered 41/99. Sandy is a rarity in today's hobby, but thanks to his contract signing with Topps over the past year, collectors all around the world have been able to add his autograph and memorabilia to their collections! Koufax doesn't have the raw career stats that would put most pitchers in the Hall of Fame, but his level of dominance in about a 5 year span was great enough to put him in Cooperstown with ease. Being able to own a part of his jersey is unreal, and I'm really grateful for my dad to be able to help add cards like these to my collection!

Thanks again Dad for all of the awesome cards you got for me! The autos will be on the next post, and following that will be able 2-3 more posts until I complete the in-depth recap of one of the best shows I've ever been to!

See Ya!

White Plains Card Show 1/22/12 Recap, Part Two!

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Now that we're underway with the card show review, I'm just going to let it continue. Check it out!

PART 2: 1961 Topps Pickups

The 1961 Set has been moving quite slow of late for us, but every show Dad and I tend to at least chip away a few cards from the set. We've knocked off a majority of the star player base cards, except for Bob Gibson, Carl Yastrzemski, Sandy Koufax, and Roberto Clemente, however there is still a long way to go until the set is be anywhere close to complete! I officially announced that I was collecting the set last spring, so within the year, to be able to track down 1/3 of the set is not bad at all! Anyways, let's get to the new additions to the set:

Some may consider this set extremely boring, but honestly I think there's something about them that I really like. It's a very classy set, and while it doesn't contain the flare and fantastic design that many modern sets have, I still value the photo more than anything else. There are some classic shots in this set for sure. My favorite of the 8 above cards is definitely Ted Kluszewski, who was known for being the muscular home run hitting guy who cut his sleeves off on his jersey. Unfortunately, while the card is nice, it doesn't show his hot abs!

Next up are all of the remaining League Leaders cards I needed for the whole set! Honestly, I think these cards are the ugliest part of the set, but that's just my opinion. Of course, there is nothing ugly about the top card, featuring Mantle and Maris! Anyways, there are some solid players displayed on these cards without a doubt, but I'm not a big fan of the overall design. Still, they are part of the set, which means I'm obligated to obtain them. I'm glad to have them all out of the way!

In my opinion, the top pickups (besides the Mantle/Maris leaders card) were of these 4 players: Warren Spahn, Brooks Robinson, Bill Virdon, and Harmon Killebrew. While clearly Virdon may not fit with the other 3 Hall of Famers, I like him a lot and it's a nice card. I got him through the mail a while back and he also was a Yankee manager so I'm a fan for sure. Besides Virdon, I've been really meaning to add Brooks' card for a while now. Not only do I think it's one of the nicest cards in the set, but I knocked off a majority of the first 50 cards, and he was the biggest card I needed to get. Also, Dad originally bought a Richie Ashburn but then realized we had it, went back and exchanged it for the Warren Spahn you see above. I didn't have much in Spahn, so I'm glad he was able to get that one! Lastly, the late Harmon Killebrew's card is pretty nice as well, showing him while his hair was still a full strawberry blonde/brownish color.

So, that will do it for the 1961 portion of my card show gatherings! Thanks a lot Dad for all of the help as always! You're the best! If anyone has any 1961 Topps cards you wouldn't mind trading, please take a look at my list of what I have under the first headline of the sidebar! Thanks guys!

See Ya!

White Plains Card Show 1/22/12 Recap, Part One!

2012-01-26T17:16:00.003-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Phew, midterms are finally over! I wish I could have brought you the awesome news about the card show earlier, but no, I was stuck in rooms testing for hours and studying all week. Anyways, on Sunday, Dad, Mike, and I went down to White Plains yet again to meet a few players and buy some cards at the "Winter Extravaganza" card show! It was a pretty nasty day outside and there was a big Giants game that night, so it wasn't very packed, which led to quick lines to meet players and more time to browse cards!

To start, I'll show off the packs that Dad and I opened after we got back from the show. We didn't hit anything overly special, until the very last pack, but continue reading to see what it was. Dad got 2 packs of 2011 Goodwin Champions, 2 packs of 2011 Topps Lineage, 2 packs of 2011 Topps Pro Debut Series 2, and 3 packs of 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter. Let's see what we got!

PART 1: Pack Breaks

2011 Goodwin Champions: (2 Packs)

- Steve Young

- Lou Brock

- John McGraw

- Laffit Pincay Jr. (Jockey)

- Carlton Fisk

- Edgar Allan Poe

- John Muir

- Hope Solo (Soccer)

- John L. Sullivan (Boxing)

- Julia Mancuso (Skiing)

Honestly, I'm going to be straight up and say I am not impressed with this product by any means. I didn't mind the 2009 edition with mainly baseball players, but Upper Deck's version of Allen & Ginter doesn't do much for me at all. It does provide a lot of variety if you're a fan of that, but for me, I don't know how much more I'll be getting out of this set.

2011 Topps Pro Debut: (2 Packs)

- Chris Murrill (Renegades PC!)

- Jacob Turner

- Louis Coleman

- Tyler Vail

- Gustavo Pierre Blue Parallel /369

- Michael Kirkman

- Jesus Montero

- Brodie Greene

- Devin Mesoraco
- Justin O'Conner
- Niko Goodrum
- Brian Diemer
- Mike Montgomery Tools of the Trade
- T.J. House
- Todd Frazier
- Tanner Bushue

First of all, I get that these cards aren't legitimate rookie cards. In my opinion, a player's true rookie card should be their first Bowman card, but nonetheless, who says they can't have a solid minor league set? I'm all for this set, although I'm not much of a prospector personally. I like the photography and insert/parallel designs, and I think it's a very good set for the market of collectors that enjoy this kind of thing. On a side note, pulling a Jesus Montero card makes me cry on the inside, but hopefully in a few years pulling Michael Pineda cards will make me scream with joy!

2011 Topps Lineage: (2 Packs)

- Carlos Beltran

- Michael Young

- Joe Morgan

- Roberto Alomar

- Jayson Werth Diamond Parallel

- Ty Cobb

- Chipper Jones

- Paul O'Neill

- Larry Walker

- Grady Sizemore

- Justin Upton

- Ryan Howard

- Ike Davis Diamond Parallel

- Wandy Rodriguez

- Daniel Hudson

- Andruw Jones All Star Rookie

I don't really care about this set personally. If it never existed, I wouldn't be crying, but I'm content with it for the most part. The design is nice and clean and would be great for some autos, and I still can't deny to say I love the diamond parallels. The player selection is solid although its the same old, same old from Topps, but it's still cool to pull a card of Ty Cobb and Michael Young in the same pack.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter: (3 Packs)

- Billy Butler

- Drew Stubbs

- Matt Guy (Cornhole Champ)

- John McEnroe

- David Ortiz

- Andre Ethier

- Jose Reyes

- Robinson Cano

- Jeremy Jeffress RC

- Rick Porcello

- John Lackey

- Carlos Ruiz

- Neil Walker

- Maxim Shmyrev (Ping Pong Champ)

- Colby Lewis

- Prince Fielder Hometown Heroes

- Mike Napoli Hometown Heroes

- Starlin Castro Highlight Sketch

- Gregor Mendel Minds That Made The Future

- Ben Revere RC Mini

- Troy Tulowitzki Mini

- Gharial Animals in Peril Mini

It's always nice to crack open a few packs of Allen & Ginter! Ginter, as well as Masterpieces, was one of my favorite products of the past decade, and no matter how boring some of the inserts can be (Mendel, really?), it's still fun because you never know what you're going to get. We had no clue, but we actually ended up pulling a relic in this pack! Of who? Keep scrolling..

Just the biggest name in sports this week, Prince Fielder! Fielder, the newest Detroit Tiger, is always a good pull. Personally, I like the guy, maybe even more than I like Pujols. I just like how his swing is so strong and powerful and he has a really cool personality. At first glance, I was happy to pull a Prince relic, because he's one of my favorite players outside of the Yankees. Then at second glance, I became even more happy because, the swatch is not a bat but instead, a very dirty jersey piece! It's not often you come across a really dirty relic, especially from Allen & Ginter, so I was really happy with the pull!

Well that will just about wrap up the pack break portion of the recap, so be sure to stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon to a computer right in front of you!

See Ya!

Nice Yankees PC Add!

2012-01-20T21:13:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. As I get into midterm week for school, things are going to get busy. But that doesn't mean I can't still have a little fun! On Sunday, Dad, my friend Mike, and I are going down to the White Plains show, to meet a few awesome players! The following Sunday I'm going to an autograph signing, but you guys are going to have to wait and see who it is of! I'm going to try to get around posting it all as soon as I can but if I don't, I'll get to it when I have the time. Sophomore year has been really difficult this year so I'm definitely going to have some studying to do. Anyways, here's a new card I was able to add to my Yankees collection (and 2 player collections!):

Out of the new 2011 Bowman Sterling product, here is the dual relic box topper featuring a jersey swatch from Curtis Granderson and a bat relic of Robinson Cano! Not only is this an absolutely awesome looking Yankees card, but it features 2 of the 4 current Yankees I'm collecting! It's a win-win-win for me for sure. I love the design of this card and it really has a nice shine in person. Hopefully I'll be able to add more cards like this in the future because this is pretty darn sweet!

I paid about $9 for the card, which wasn't bad at all. I have a few more eBay posts to come but I'll do them when the cards come in.

See Ya!

TTM #79- One of My Favorite Players!

2012-01-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Yeah, I've still got a lot of stuff to show you all, so I might as well get going on that! A few weeks ago, I received one of my favorite TTM returns I've ever gotten, one that came out of absolutely nowhere. I've sent one TTM request since June, which is pathetic but unfortunately true, so when one of the older requests come back I'm always in complete shock! He didn't sign my custom I sent him, but he did sign the other card I included, and it looks pretty darn nice. Check it out:

The return was from Rangers All Star outfielder Josh Hamilton! Ever since that one summer night in 2008 in Yankee Stadium, Hamilton has been my favorite non-Yankee player. His performance in the Home Run Derby that year may be one of the most unreal moments I've ever watched, clearly something I'll never forget. From that point on, I researched him and learned about his story, and immediately gained a lot of respect for him because he came back so strong after going down a dark path. He suffered emotional issues for many years due to his drug addiction, but he was able to recover from the addiction in order to play baseball again. The Rangers traded Edinson Volquez for Hamilton following the 2007 season, and boy has he worked out for them. While he's suffered some injury issues, he did win the 2010 AL MVP award after posting up big numbers: .359 AVG / 32 HR / 100 RBI! I really enjoy watching him play and I'm so happy he signed my card for me!

I sent the card out on January 7th of last year, and got it back in late December of 2011. I didn't think I'd ever see the day it would come back, but I guess he decided to catch up on his mail, and I was one of the lucky fans to receive an autograph! Thanks so much Josh!

See Ya!

My Take on the Big Yankees Moves

2012-01-14T17:23:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, Drew back here. As the free agency period is starting to slow down and come to a close, Yankee fans seemed to wonder where GM Brian Cashman had been. Normally, Cashman and the Steinbrenner family are all over the free agents every winter, but it seemed different this year. Obviously, the team's weakness from last year was our starting pitching, with struggles from Phil Hughes, Bartolo Colon, and more famously, AJ Burnett. Burnett has been consistently awful through his 3 seasons in the Bronx, and for about $16 million a year, Cashman did the wrong thing taking him on. But you can't necessarily blame him for the signing. Burnett had been a very solid #2 pitcher for several years, and his performance demanded a salary of maybe just a bit less than what he got.

But when I heard about the big trade that went down yesterday between the Yankees and Mariners, I was a bit stunned. In case you haven't heard, the Yankees sent their top prospect Jesus Montero and a potential starter in Hector Noesi to Seattle for their young future star pitcher Michael Pineda and pitching prospect Jose Campos. I was in shock when I received the Yankees News Alert text message, because of the way they brought up Montero. His hitting skill was un-matched by most catching prospects, and his overall future talent was predicted to be of All Star caliber. I invested in a few of his autographs and was extremely excited for his call up to the big leagues. Last September, he made a splash when they finally called him up for his cup of coffee at the end of the season. He hit .328 in 18 games, slugging 4 home runs, and knocking in 28 runs, which in my book is an unreal first month in the big leagues! 2012 will be his official rookie season, now with Seattle, and he may do even better in a less covered team in the Mariners.

Michael Pineda is going to be a beast in the major leagues, from what all of us fans got to witness last year. With very minimal run support, the 6'7 right hander still managed to win 9 games and sported an ERA of 3.74. He collapsed as the year went on, but he showed many signs of promise. I actually had gotten 2 of his autographs through the mail last season, and I owned him at some points of last year's fantasy baseball season. I'm not sure how he'll stack up in New York, with all of the media and pressure that has scared away many other solid players that just couldn't perform in the environment. My take on his collapse last year was that he lost confidence in his ability to help his team win games, because the Mariners offense didn't give him much/if any run support all season. Also, he was only 22 years old, and it's very hard for a young pitcher, no matter how talented, to pitch that well against so many All Star hitters for an entire year.

While I am a fan of Pineda, I still don't understand why Cashman decided to deal the future face of our franchise, once Jeter retires. The deal does even out in the end, but after how Yankee fans fell in love with the future hitting star late last year, I couldn't believe he would allow his stint to end. They have wanted many top of the line players over the years, and in order to get those guys, they would have to surrender Montero. In fact, a few years ago they could have gotten Cliff Lee from Seattle, if they gave him up. But Cashman wouldn't do it. Finally, he did it. Hopefully he did it, and got the right guy out of it.

Based off their 2011 performance, Pineda's numbers top most of the other big name pitching free agents' stats. CJ Wilson was pretty much the only pitcher that topped him last year, but Wilson is inconsistent and did very poorly in the playoffs. I'm really going to miss Jesus, and I wish him the best of luck in Seattle.. well as long as Pineda can perform to the ability the Yankees management thinks he can!

Immediately following the trade, the Yankees also announced they had signed former Dodgers pitcher Huroki Kuroda to a one year, $10 million dollar deal. I honestly don't know a whole lot about Kuroda, besides the fact that he's an aging pitcher who had one of his better seasons last year, although he also did not receive much run support from his Dodgers teammates. I think judging off of what I've read he could make a solid number 4 starter, and if he doesn't turn out well, he could be a long man in the bullpen, because they certainly have many other arms to test out in the rotation! The rotation now looks to consist of: Sabathia; Pineda; Nova; Kuroda; and either Hughes; Burnett; or Garcia in the 5th spot. I could see them putting Hughes in the bullpen, because as we've seen, he can be dominant in that role. Burnett may either be traded prior to the season or could fill a bullpen role, as much as he won't like the idea. But honestly, I don't think it matters how happy he is, because he earned the role he now has, by failing to perform at the level his contract wanted him to.

Nobody wins in the offseason, because simply, there aren't any games to play! With the Angels signing Pujols and CJ Wilson, the Marlins signing Jose Reyes; Heath Bell; and Mark Buehrle, and all of the other big moves, it's been an interesting offseason for sure. I hope a few years from now the Yankees won't regret yesterdays moves, but we're going to have to wait and see!

What are your views on the big moves in the Bronx? Who do you think got the bigger edge in the deal?

See Ya!

The Core 4 Slims Down To 2...

2012-01-07T18:33:00.001-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Today, the Yankees' beat writer Sweeny Murti revealed some big news, in that former Yankees staple behind the plate and current free agent Jorge Posada is set to announce his retirement within the next 2 weeks. While the future is definitely set catching wise for the Yankees, with Russell Martin and many top of the line prospects like Montero and Romine, it's definitely a sad day for Yankees fans worldwide. I've grown up watching the "Core 4", consisting Jeter; Rivera; Posada; and Pettitte; as well as the other stars that surrounded them through their World Series run in the late 90's. Of course, having been born in the mid-90's, I was too young to see the dominant Yankees dynasty, but I at least got to see the 2009 championship as a diehard fan.

Posada never quite stood out as a clear favorite of mine, but it wasn't until last year that I realized how important he truly was to the Yankees franchise. Not only was he a standout offensive player for many years, but he also caught a majority of the games and was one of the best offensive catchers in baseball history. Through the history of the game there have been many top tier catchers: Berra; Bench; Campanella; Fisk; Carter; Rodriguez; Piazza, and the reason to their success was because they were aggressive players who battled through innings behind the plate; called a great game; but also could hit! Posada may not belong in the first group of catchers, but he's very close. Whether he makes the Hall of Fame one day is a question that not many people could answer right now, but he will definitely draw consideration. He will retire with a lifetime batting average of .273, 275 Home Runs, and 1,664 Hits. His best season in my opinion was 2003, when he finished 3rd in AL MVP voting after posting a .281 average with 30 home runs and 101 RBI's. That is a great season for a catcher! He also made 5 All Star Teams, won 5 Silver Sluggers, and of course won 4 World Series championships!

Unfortunately, he went out on a bit of a rough note. Last season, he clearly showed signs of wearing down, batting only .235 with 14 home runs in 115 games. However, he came through in the clutch, especially on September 21st, when my dad, best friend, grandpa, and I went to the second game of a doubleheader, that was a make up game from August we finally got to see. The Yankees already clinched playoff berth in the first game of the doubleheader against Tampa Bay, and with a win in the next game, they would have the division pretty much wrapped up. The Rays took a lead late in the game, but the Yanks battled back and got some runners on base for Posada, who pinch hit for Jesus Montero in the 8th inning. Jorge delivered big with a pinch hit 2 RBI double that scored the go ahead runs! The Yankees went on to win 4-2, and clinched the division with the win! I'll never forget how pumped we all were and how memorable the game was. I guess it was a nice way for his career to end on.

Who knows what the future has in store for Posada. A lot of people have said he would make a great manager one day, and I would personally agree. Many former catchers have had a high amount of success managing teams, I think because they get such a good taste of it when they are trying to manage their pitching staff and call a solid game. He is a very smart and wise man and I think he's going to do something else in baseball, besides for being a fan-favorite at Yankees Old Timer's Games in the future!

I know I'm speaking for a majority of Yankees fans, and even a good percentage of baseball fans when I say that we're going to miss you, Jorge! Thank you for all the unbelievable memories you've left behind, and for the legacy that I can carry on to my family one day, for the most clutch hit I may ever witness in person.

We'll miss you Jorge. Thanks again.

Christmas Gift from William! Woah!

2011-12-30T15:20:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, as you saw in the last post, William already did a good enough job helping my dad out with those 2 awesome pickups, in the Jackson auto and the quad Yankee relic, but he couldn't hold back in wanting to do more for me! So he sent me a bunch of loose Yankees mixed cards, along with one huge Christmas gift. And when I say huge, I mean huge! Take a look at some of the stuff he's sent me lately:

These actually came in a package he sent me before the Christmas gift, but I never got around to post them. Pathetic, right? Yeah, believe me, I know. I love adding any new Mattingly cards to my collection, and I needed all of the cards on the bottom row because I've been far too lazy to go out and buy any Bowman Chrome and Topps Lineage.

Also, he sent me a few nice Cano cards I didn't have yet. Each card is chrome: his 2011 Bowman Chrome; 2011 Topps Finest base cards; and his 2011 Topps Chrome refractor parallel! All 3 cards are very nicely designed, but still they don't seem to have the kind of pop that cards had for me a few years ago. This card sure did though...

I don't even know where to start on this one! This dual bat card is just insanely incredible! From the set I'm attempting to put together, William got me the Lou Gehrig card out of the set! LOU GEHRIG! Not only is this a huge set wantlist helper, but man this is something I've always wanted to add to my collection! Gehrig is one of my favorite old Yankee players even though he was often overshadowed by Babe Ruth. It's hard for anyone to argue; however; who the best 1st baseman of all time is, and it's clearly the man on the card right above this paragraph.

Dude. You didn't have to do this. This is way too much! Thank you so much William! You're as classy as it gets and it's hard to find better friends than you out there. When I one day finish this set off, I'm going to think of you for the big help you gave me in the process of the set. It means a lot.

See Ya!

Merry Christmas Everyone! 3 Sweet Gifts to Share!

2011-12-25T11:47:00.002-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. I know, it's been forever and a half years since I had any activity on this site whatsoever. But it's Christmas, so I decided to find the time to wish all of you a happy holidays! Another year has gone by and I'm still so fortunate at the love I've received from all of my friends in the hobby, and that no matter where life takes me, I'll always have you guys as a strong childhood memory. Hopefully I'll be able to continue on sharing with you all the journey through my card collection growth (yes, it's not dead, just the blog), but things are going to be a lot slower on here than ever before. I hope you all understand that, but I do want to try and throw a post out there every few days, or maybe once a week. We'll see.

However, getting back to the Christmas spirit of things, I received 3 card related gifts this Christmas morning from my parents, and I wanted to show them to you all! According to them, they couldn't have found the right ones without the great help of one of my best friends, and fellow blog-mate William, who actually bought 2 of these cards for my parents at his recent card show in Raleigh, NC! William also sent me a Christmas package last week that will NEED to be posted soon, because it was simply incredible. To say the least, well, he's a heck of a guy and I'm so glad to consider him my friend! Anyways, getting to the cards, well, we'll start with the guy who always wants to be first...

Out of 1995 Upper Deck, it's none other than an on card autograph of "Mr. October", Reggie Jackson! This is part of one of the first certified autograph sets ever produced, and it just looks incredible! Attached with the card is a separate COA that has a matching code on it with the code on the back side of the card. Reggie was among the top 5 overall in guys I wanted an autograph of, and to be able to knock one of, and it being a card of this caliber is just too awesome!

Card number 2 was purchased by my mom on eBay! She changed her password to shoo me away from getting into the account, and boy do I miss buying things for myself! However, she did a great job choosing which card to knock off the Tier One relic set, in Ty Cobb! The Georgia Peach himself! Cobb is the oldest subject in the checklist, and the card has a piece of his very own bat! Talk about awesome! Sure, it's numbered pretty high (/399), but nonetheless, it's a card I would have never thought I would own! However, I think the last one is pretty darn good also...

From 2009 UD SPX, check this quad relic out! Not only is it the newest addition to my growing Robinson Cano PC, but it also features jersey relics worn by Derek Jeter; Jorge Posada; and um... Joe DiMaggio? Anybody know him? Someone told me he happened to get a hit in 56 straight games... he must be pretty good. Kidding aside, this card even beats out my Berra/Jeter/Posada/Cano quad relic I already had, and it's the first nice DiMaggio card I've gotten yet! Pretty darn sweet!

So, first of all, thanks SO much Mom and Dad for buying these for me! They're going to be 3 cornerstones of the collection, and I'll be proud to show them off one day! Also, again, thanks William for having such good taste in Yankees cards! Your post is coming soon man, but you know how much this means to me.

Merry Christmas Everyone! See Ya!

A New Set Idea! First 3 Out of the Way!

2011-12-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So recently I've dug my head into yet another set, but this one, unlike the 1961 Topps Set, is a modern day product. I am going to attempt the 2011 Topps Tier One "Top Shelf" relic set! Each card I am attempting to pick up is numbered out of 399 and features one piece of game used memorabilia from some of the best players the game has ever seen, to players that could get to that level at some point! There are 50 cards in the set, and due to the higher numbering, even some of the all time legends in the set's cards are selling dirt cheap! So, I was able to buy 3 of the cards recently, and they all came in within the past few days! Take a look:

The first card I bought was the bat card belonging to "Stan The Man", Stan Musial! I didn't have any memorabilia cards of Musial until this card came in, and I'm glad I do now. It would take an awful lot of money to finish off the trifecta and pick up a rookie card of his, so I probably shouldn't consider a Musial trifecta anytime soon! But the card cost about $12 and I feel like I did well on the price!

Relic number 2 is of current Giants ace Tim Lincecum! Lincecum has been one of my favorite pitchers in baseball over the past few years, and a lot of that respect came from having him in fantasy baseball last year, even though it wasn't his best year. It was all good though, because Verlander did most of the work in my rotation! Anyway, this one was numbered 394 of 399, and it's a piece of his jersey. A lot of the cards in this set have bat relics, which is okay, but I do sort of wish some of the older cards had some wool in them!

The final card is an absolute beauty, even for a Red Sox card! It's the Jimmie Foxx bat relic! I literally probably had under 10 cards of Foxx in my entire collection, but this one certainly is a step up from anything else of his that I own. The bat piece in the card probably is the oldest piece of game used memorabilia I own, as Foxx played mostly through the 20's, 30's, and 40's! Fortunately, this set also contains a lot more old memorabilia, in Cobb, Sisler, Speaker, Hornsby, Ruth, and Gehrig, so I'm going to have my hands full! And oh by the way, I don't mean to brag but this card cost me $8.

So, 3 down, 47 to go! This set is absolutely beautiful, and when it's complete I will cherish it to say the very least! So, if anyone has any of these cards, for trade or for sale, please consider shooting me an email and letting me know if you want to try and work something out! Thanks everyone!

See Ya!

A Wonderful Hall of Fame Autograph Surprise from JP's Sports!

2011-11-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, about a month ago in the Long Island National card show, JP's Sports organized a large 1986 Mets World Series reunion show, featuring about 32 Mets players, plus Ralph Kiner and Bill Buckner. While most of the players are often attainable, one player lately hasn't been so attainable. Over the past year, he's suffered through a severe case of brain cancer, and has scared the baseball world with his survival chances. Fortunately, he is somehow recovering from the awful disease, and was doing well enough to sign at the show. Unfortunately, he cancelled about a week before the show, because while he was doing well, he wasn't ready to go to the signing. At that point, my card was off in the mail order, so it was too late.

Somehow, a week ago I received a special surprise in the mail...

It looks like the mail order items were able to be signed by "The Kid", Gary Carter! And, while it does have a little bit of a smearing issue, it sure does look great! You can tell Carter's signature is a little shaky but I'm so lucky and fortunate I was able to pick this one up for the collection! It was worth every penny for sure!

Before I go I want to wish Mr. Carter the best of luck on his battle with cancer. Cancer is the devil, and I really hope someday soon a cure will be discovered. Watching someone suffer with it is depressing and gives you images in your head you will never forget.

Also, a big thank you to my good friends at JP's Sports and Rock Solid Promotions for the help getting this autograph! See Ya!

Triple Threads Addition to the PC!

2011-11-26T14:44:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, I hope everyone had themselves a nice Thanksgiving, filled with amazing food and some good football! Now we're on the road to Christmas, and it should be a nice way to cap off 2011. Anyways, getting back to what I normally do here, let's have a look at the most recent card I spent my money on off of eBay!

I saw this card with a few minutes left a couple weeks ago, and I knew immediately it would fit nicely into the collection. Out of 2011 Topps Triple Threads, this is a triple relic card numbered out of 36, featuring jersey relics from Boston's Jon Lester, New York's CC Sabathia, and Tampa Bay's David Price. All 3 of them are considered one of the top two pitchers on their respective teams, and they all play in the AL East, as shown by what the relics spell out. It's a really nice card to look at in person, as Triple Threads never fails to disappoint in appearance. I picked it up not only for my Yankees collection, but also because I like Price a lot as well. As for Lester, well, I respect him more than most Red Sox, but still, he's a Red Sox player.

Anyways, I got the card for around $10 and I'm glad I purchased it to add to the collection! If you were a fan of either of these teams, would you buy the card even though it also features relic pieces from a rival team?

See Ya!

Trade with James!

2011-11-23T22:15:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, Drew back here. Boy has it been a while. Getting back to the old form though, here is some mail I've been meaning to post for a while, courtesy of a loyal reader of mine named James. James contacted me recently asking about a possible trade, and I loved the offer and he sent me the cards a few weeks ago! Check them out:

We start with a few of the 1980 Topps Yankees cards he sent me. I've always liked the 1980 Topps set. Why? Absolutely no idea. But some of the photos, like on the Guidry, Randolph, and White cards, are very nice. It's a set that I probably will do at some point or another, but you know how slow and lazy I am.

Next were a few more mixed 80's cards. I like the 1980 Guidry/J.R. Richard League Leaders card a lot. I read up on Richard one time, because he was on almost every league leader card for pitchers for a certain time span, yet nobody ever talks about him. He was unbelievable for a few years in the 1970's, but after that he had a stroke which basically caused his career to end. Following that he invested in unsuccessful businesses, got divorced multiple times, and went completely broke. He was actually homeless at one point. He now is a minister and has rose up from nothing again. His story is really interesting.

Next were a whole bunch of 70's goodness! Oh, and the 1964 Topps Yankees "Young Aces" card featuring Al Downing and Jim Bouton! Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the 1974 Bucky Dent is a rookie card, and I also really like the Goose Gossage card from that year. And nothing is better than a few Hall of Famers in Kaline, Frank Robinson, and Bob Gibson!

Getting more modern; here are a few cards from the recent years. My favorite is definitely the Heritage card celebrating Ruth hitting 60 home runs. To me, besides Maris' 61 home run season, that season for Ruth is definitely the 2nd best year ever for a power hitter.

The final card is pretty darn sweet, and was the main part of our trade. Out of 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee, here is a triple relic of Derek Jeter; Robinson Cano; and Jorge Posada! Three of my favorite Yankees on one card? How sweet is that? The Jeter piece has a pinstripe, while the other two relics are from away jerseys. This is a card that isn't seen often, and when it's been on eBay it has held a little bit of value. Overall, I'm really glad to add this card not only to the growing Cano collection, but for the Yankees collection in general!

So thanks so much for the trade James, I really appreciate it! Alright everyone, in case I don't have anything up tomorrow I just want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! See Ya!

Cano Collection Heating Up!

2011-11-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, today started off extremely rough, with some very sad news regarding my family. However, while I have a little time to kill, lets take a look at some of my newest additions to my Robinson Cano collection!

Out of the new Topps Update series, I picked up this All Star game workout relic of his. Cano put on a clinic in the Home Run Derby this past season, and as soon as I saw that this card existed, I needed to grab a piece of his jersey. I'm not quite sure when he wore this jersey but if its part of the jersey hes wearing in the picture on the card, well, that would be pretty sweet! I bought this one off of the bay a week or so ago, and I love the design of it for sure. For only a couple bucks, why not?

The second of my two recent pickups came courtesy of the good guys over at the Sports Card Haven! They get one box of majority of the newest products, and Ryan (pinetarsports on YouTube) breaks them live on video. I watch most of the breaks, and sometimes they pull some nice stuff. The catch is that they give away the best card in every box they open on the website, and all you have to do is leave a comment with a short review of the product they opened. Well, after they used some randomization tool, I ended up walking home a winner of the 2011 Allen & Ginter contest! And my prize you ask?

Just a bat card of my favorite player to collect. No big deal! Kidding aside, I love winning contests, they're great for the community and I like to support most of the people that run their own contests here and there. The best feeling is when you win something cool, and this certainly qualifies, as it adds yet another relic to my growing Cano PC! So, thank you so much to the guys at Sports Card Haven, I really appreciate it!

FYI, my contest should be coming within the next week, I've just been very busy and stressed out so I haven't gotten a chance to start it up yet!

See Ya!

A Few Recent eBay Purchases!

2011-11-04T17:20:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Dang, the last couple weeks have been awful on here, I haven't had time for anything! But I'm glad to be back here for now, because I have a couple of recent additions I'd like to show you all! Take a look:

First off, I have to say that I absolutely love the look of 2011 Topps Marquee! This here is a rookie autograph card from that very product of Rays phenom rookie Jeremy Hellickson. You all know my love for some of the Rays that came through the farm system around here in New York, such as Longoria; Shields; Hellickson; and even Josh Hamilton in his short minor league stint with the Devil Rays. This card was at a fairly low price, and for what I figured, a great price for one of his rookie autographs. It's on card, numbered out of 185, and I think it just looks incredible in person!

Of course, many of the big offseason awards have started to be announced, and that means that this guy could come home with some hardware soon. Hellickson's great rookie season (13-10 W-L, 2.95 ERA, 117 Strikeouts) may give him a chance at taking home the AL Rookie of the Year award! I feel like the biggest 3 contenders for that award are him, as well as Royals' Eric Hosmer and my beloved Yankees' Ivan Nova. I'd be happy for either Hellickson or Nova, because either way they rank pretty high on my favorite players list!

The second and final pickup to show and tell for today is this 2011 Topps Triple Threads Unity autographed relic card of 2011 Silver Slugger winner Aramis Ramirez! This card was dirt cheap, only at a couple bucks, and for the year he gave me in fantasy baseball, I owed him a quick little $4-5 dollar pickup. I never really was a big fan of his, because he always seemed so injury prone and overrated. Well, he certainly proved me wrong in 2011, batting .306 with 26 home runs and 93 RBI. At this point I would take him over the ridiculously over expensive Alex Rodriguez, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. Maybe the Yankees should've put an ounce of thought in before they signed him to a 10 year contract.

Triple Threads has always been a nice looking product to me, although some people may disagree. Sure, it's very similar year in and year out, but with the new addition of the addition autograph and autographed-relic in these "Unity" designs makes for a cool chase. Plus, there are 3 different photo variations for each player in the checklist, which can be put together to make the Unity part complete. Although it's a sticker autograph, it's really shiny and just looks great in general. Nice job, Topps!

So, hopefully this will put me back on the blogging map, but we'll see! See Ya!

The Most Recent Package from William!

2011-10-25T18:34:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Yes, I'm still alive. Laziness is definitely the worst disease for a writer, especially a writer stuck in school all day. Yippee! Anyways, continuing on my attempt at catching up, here are some cards William recently sent me for my Yankees collection, to go along with 2 new ball cubes he sent me for some of my non protected autographed baseballs!

First were some base cards of some of the newer releases, in Chrome, Lineage, Pro Debut, and Update. Fortunately, he's kept me up to date this year, with a few Yankees cards thrown in here and there from most of Topps' releases. I haven't bought close to anything pack/box wise this year, so I really can't say much about Topps this year. I do like the feel of the 2011 Chrome product though, CC being the first one I've gotten from the set thus far.

Next were a few mixed Yankees, including 2 of the 2011 Topps 60 players, Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada. The Mattingly and Jeter cards are part of the 60 Years of Topps set, and the Jeter is an original back. I could definitely use some of these cards to fill holes in my Yankees need lists!

He also had more inserts for me, including a gold parallel of the Curtis Granderson 2011 card! In fact, he has now sent me that card and Granderson's diamond parallel card, so he's certainly helping my little chase for Granderson cards! Who knows what his chances at MVP are, but he'll certainly finish in the top 5 in votes when its all said and done. Also, some of my favorite cards of the package were the three Kimball Champions minis of Gehrig, Berra, and Mattingly. I love the look of these cards, and if I was to be crazy enough to collect any of the insert sets from this year, that would be the one I'd do.

The final piece of the package was this sweet 2011 Topps Robinson Cano relic card, to join my growing personal collection of the reigning Home Run Derby Champion! Speaking of the derby, stay tuned really soon to see another recent pickup that has to do with Cano's big night! Anyways, this card really just looks great. I like how the jerseys are matching and the photo chosen is perfect for the card. It says he led the league in hits from 2005 to 2010 for a second baseman. Really? How much more do you need to narrow down stats just to see how they can fit Robby in the checklist! Go Topps!

So, thanks so much dude as always, you're the best! I'll have some stuff for you coming soon in a mailbox near you! (Hopefully it's your mailbox and not your neighbors) Anyways, See Ya!

Some Unexpected Amazing Pickups from Dad!

2011-10-19T15:09:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, about last week, Dad found a few deals at an antique shop. He came home with 5 cards, and I'll let them do most of the talking, because well, they are some pretty darn good ones to have!

First was this 1988 Topps Willie Randolph autographed card! Of course, this is an IP autograph pickup, and I don't know how legitimate this one is, but it looks good and the autograph looks sweet on the card! I don't have too much of Randolph other than my signed baseball of his, so it's cool to add this one to the collection!

Second was this 2003 Topps "Blue Chips" Brandon Phillips rookie card autograph! Phillips was one of my most wanted autographs of MLB's current second basemen, only behind Rickie Weeks in terms of who I don't have yet. Phillips has definitely been one of the best second basemen in the league for a few years now, and last year he posted a .300 batting average with 18 home runs and 82 RBI. I would take that in a second baseman anyday, but fortunately enough my Yankees have even better with Robinson Cano!

Well, it started off good, which I means it could only go down! From 2007 Bowman Heritage, here's a Carl Crawford black parallel autograph numbered to only 52! Crawford sure did have a disappointing year in Boston, but boy was he good for my fantasy team two years ago when I went on to win the championship! I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for my 2010 2nd round fantasy pick, but I sure wish he never signed with Boston! Regardless of that this card is pretty sweet looking, and while I probably will end up hanging onto it, I'll certainly take offers for it in exchange for any Yankees autos you're willing to lose!

So now we're down to the final two. Let me tell you it sure was difficult to choose which one to write about first, but I guess I had to save the autograph I didn't have yet for last! Both cards book for close to $100 if not more, and are certainly huge additions to my overflowing population of cards in my basement!

We start with the Ripken boys! Out of the 2005 Donruss Signature Series product, this dual autograph of Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Ripken is a beautiful card, and it definitely made my day! Cal is one of my favorite players in the Hall of Fame, just because he's just so classy and memorable, and will always be perhaps the biggest class act to ever play the game. The fact that he stayed and signed an autograph for every fan after the Orioles' games was remarkable and unheard of in the sports world filled with money and greed. I do have Ripken's autograph in his children's book I picked up off of Barnes & Noble, but this one is just a really sweet card in general. I didn't have a Bill Ripken autograph, but I'll always know him for his awesome 1989 Fleer card, and not for his mediocre career as a player and analyst on MLB Network.

The final card, is a very classy card as well, out of the 2006 Upper Deck Reflections product. It's a dual autograph of perhaps the best father-son combo in baseball history, Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr.! I have always wanted to pick up an autograph of Junior Griffey, as he's by far one of the greatest players of our generation. It was great getting to see him play, even though I wasn't really around much during the good times of his career. He retired with 630 home runs, all of which had not been surrounded by the questions of steroid use that majority of the players of his time used to get an edge. Sure, we may never know if or not Griffey did use the roids', but I highly doubt he did. Dad also recently got me an autograph of Griffey Sr. pictured in a Yankees uniform, so it's kind of cool to have one as a Red too. Upper Deck designed this card really well and it just is great looking in person, numbered only 26 of 99!

Thanks so much Dad, seriously I appreciate this so much. High school can really be a drag sometimes but its you and so many of my other great friends that know how to put a smile on my face!

See Ya!

Mail from Ryan!

2011-10-18T17:46:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, it's catch up time now for me here, as I certainly have my share of stuff to post for now. As a blogger, you need to enjoy these moments while they last, because it sure does suck when you can't think about what to write about! Today, I'm gonna share with you guys what my good friend Ryan sent me a few weeks ago. Ryan and I have been talking on and off for a little while now, and he's definitely an awesome guy. I feel bad because I haven't found the time to hit him back yet for this package but I most certainly will in the coming days! For now, here's a look at my end of the deal:

First off were some mixed Yankees cards Ryan generously threw in, my favorite of course being the 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle card. Not too bad for a toss in! Okay, it's just a Topps insert guys, you all know I'd be worshiping the ground Ryan walks over if he actually sent me a real 56' Mantle! However I did need the insert so it's all good. I have to say, that Phil Hughes Gypsy Queen "Future Stars" card looks pretty sweet too.

To be totally honest, I didn't and still have absolutely no idea what these cut outs are. On one side of each of the 3 cut outs, there's a Yankee player (Griffey Sr., Murcer, Mayberry), and on the opposite side there are photos of Dave Kingman, Willie Wilson, and Mike Schmidt. They look cool with the facsimile autographs for sure, and the photographs used are pretty nice! If anyone could identify what these are I'd greatly appreciate it.

Well... I like the design at least! Kidding aside, here's a 2000 Pacific Prism AJ Burnett rookie card! AJ hasn't fared all that well in New York, and yes I do admit to be part of the growing clan that wants him out of the Bronx, but throughout his career he has had some of the best stuff in the game, although he's had some difficulty finding out how to use it. Hopefully next season he will!

Finally, the only part of the trade I knew I was getting all along were these 2 cards for my 1961 Topps set of Ray Semproch and Chet Nichols! With these 2 cards, I am now officially 400 cards away from completing the set! Oh joy! Both cards, particularly the Semproch, have some damage but I really don't care right now because they fill a spot in the set that can be improved on at any time in the future!

Well thank you Ryan for the set help and other goodies! I promise to have your stuff out very soon!

See Ya!

TTM #78- Yankee Legend!

2011-10-17T19:01:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, this is a very delayed post, but the day after we got back from the show, well, I got a pretty nice through the mail success, the first one in a long time!

My jaw dropped when I opened the SASE on the kitchen table containing the autograph of one of my personal favorite Yankees players of all time, Don Mattingly! Don appeared to have caught up on his Spring Training letter stash following the season, as I've seen many collectors end up with an autograph from "The Hitman" lately. Who knows if the autographs are actually his or not, but while they do have slight differences from his certified autographs, maybe he changed it up a little bit?

All in all I have to say the custom looks great, and I'm so glad I took a shot in the dark with one of my Spring Training attempts! I haven't sent any TTM's since June but I certainly plan on doing some new requests in the near future!

So Thanks Mr. Mattingly for adding a new autograph to my personal collection of yours!

See Ya!

2011 TriStar OBAK Football Box Break! Future Contest Coming Soon?

2011-10-16T16:42:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, just recently I got an email from my good old friends at TriStar asking if I was interested in reviewing their newest football product, Obak! I gladly accepted the offer and Dad and I broke open a fresh box of the product two weeks ago or so. As promised, here is my review:

Base Cards: 103 (7 Doubles)

Well, in case any of you didn't realize, this Obak product offers a ton of variety. You can find cards of people involved in any way with football. First off are the players. Going back as far as Sammy Baugh and going as modern as the all time NFL points leader Morten Anderson, it offers a vast timeline of football history. But not only that, but the set also features a card of Vince Lombardi in his playing days, and even cards of the people who invented certain plays and equipment, as well as famous team owners and Hall of Famers. One thing I also love about the set is the inclusion of former US Presidents, majority of them even in their football uniforms back before their presidencies. Pretty cool!

The design is simple, but I like how the photo is cut out and put on a random design in the background. It offers a neat look back at some of footballs greatest memories. By the way, I also pulled 3 cards with a gray back variation: Jack Chevigny, Johnny Poe, and Eddie Lebaron. I'm not sure what the distinction of those are, but I guess they're kind of cool.

Box Topper: Emlen Tunnell/Charles Follis /25

The connection between these 2 players is that Tunnell was the 1st African American inducted into Canton, while Follis was the 1st African American to ever play football. I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of this design, as it is kind of boring to be honest, but it still serves as a cool part of the set. Plus, it's very limited, numbered only out of 25!

Minis: 23

I feel like minis have came a long way the past years. They started off as a cool concept, and at this point they serve as a "ughhhh another pointless parallel". Some people love them. I don't love them but I don't hate them either. I really think it would be cool if they did an Obak set in just mini form, like the original Obak cards. I feel like a product should be either all standard sized or all mini sized, because it just adds a lot to chase after.

One thing I do like about the minis here is that the mini set is much smaller than the base set. At only 25 cards, I'm only 2 cards away from the entire set already! When you buy multiple boxes, it gives you plenty of duplicates, but if you're doing a one box break it's nice to knock off a lot of the cards without having to chase them around.

Green Base Parallel: 2 (Tunnell/Anderson)

TriStar did a much better job with the overwhelming amounts of parallels in this product. Last time I reviewed a box for them, it was a box of Obak baseball, there are an extreme amount of parallels in the box. This time around, I pulled about 6 in total, 2 being these green cards numbered out of 25 each! Not too bad at all.

The last parallel was again a green parallel, this being a mini numbered to 25 of Earl Campbell! Not bad to have a card of one of the top running backs of all time with a low serial number and a nice design.

On to the autographs! The first of the four promised autos was one of Charlie Ward, numbered 22 out of 50. Ward was a very skilled athlete, and was drafted by the Brewers in the 1993 MLB draft, followed by the Yankees in 1994. Also, he was a great tennis player, having played in the Arthur Ashe Amateur Tournament in 1994. But, his two sports he'll be remembered for most were basketball and football. While he went on to have a decent NBA career with the Knicks, Spurs, and Rockets, he shined in college football, winning the 1993 Heisman trophy. Definitely a neat autograph to own of a very good athlete!

Autographer number 2 was of another former Heisman Trophy winner, Andre Ware. Ware, along with Ward, is in the College Football Hall of Fame after his successful college career with Houston. He had a very rough NFL career, but will be widely remembered for his successful college career. He currently works for the Houston Texans radio broadcast team.

The third ottograph just happened to be of the legendary number "00", Hall of Famer Jim Otto! Otto was one of the best centers of all time, making 9 AFL All Star selections and 3 Pro Bowls! He played his entire career with Oakland, and he was one of only 20 players to play every season the AFL league existed. The Sporting News ranked him as the 78th greatest football player of all time!

And well, the last autograph was a bit of a surprise!

It was a 1/1 cut autograph of former Chiefs head coach and Hall of Famer Hank Stram! Stram led Kansas City (which was also the Dallas Texans at one point during the period) to 3 AFL Championship wins, as well as a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl IV! His career coaching record put him at a 57.5% percentage, and he is considered one of the best coaches in football history!

This is my 1st cut autograph in my collection, and while I know I'm going to give away a majority of the content from the box in a contest coming very soon, this one very well may stay here with me. All in all, I'm a big fan of this product! I think it has a very neat checklist and perception, and for that I give TriStar a strong A on this product!

Thank you so much to my good friends that work with TriStar and allowed me this opportunity! Stay tuned for a chance to win many of the cards from this box!

See Ya!

October 1st White Plains Card Show Recap! Part 6!

2011-10-13T19:19:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, there was one thing that hadn't been posted yet that I thought deserved it's own little special post! Well, a lot of you know about Dad and I's hot streaks in the past, winning the door prizes at the shows. I mean, between Mike, Dad, and I now, we've won them 5 times. We haven't cheated, but we've just gotten an extreme amount of luck. Just before we met our Jets players, we heard that a certain Joe won the first door prize! Dad took off out of the line, claimed it and came back with time to spare! Check it out:

Yep, we won an autographed bat by Don Larsen, with the perfect game inscription! At first thought, I wondered, why the heck did they want Larsen to sign a bat, I mean, he was a pitcher after all! But then, I remembered that maybe while he wasn't known for his bat, there was no DH rule when he pitched in the 50's and 60's, meaning that he did have to hit every fifth day. And actually, after having talked to William about it, and after him doing a little research, it turns out Larsen was a career .242 hitter, with 14 career home runs! Not too bad for a pitcher! He batted .306 in 49 total at bats in 1958, clubbing 4 home runs!

Of course, the point of the piece was not to emphasize Larsen's decent hitting career but to just have a nice piece signed by a Yankees great! I'm not disappointed with this whatsoever, and I'm glad because it came with JSA Authentication and a bat tube. This is my 1st of hopefully many more signed bats to come, and I guess it's a pretty darn good start for a Yankee fan like myself!

All in all, this card show lived up to the hype I had for weeks, about meeting some former great football players, and to have a good time. Thanks so much again to Dad for taking me and treating me all day as usual, and for my good friend Matt too for coming along and checking out the hobby from our angle!

See Ya!

October 1st White Plains Card Show Recap! Part 5!

2011-10-11T18:34:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Yes, I am still posting stuff from October 1st, which was indeed 10 days ago. I guess that just goes to show how amazing these White Plains shows are for a young collector like me! On to Part 5 of the 6 part review!

PART 5:

MEETING THE LAST

30 GAME WINNER!

Aside from the Jets' greats we met (see my last post), we also met the free signer of the day! I didn't prepare anything for him because, with his recent legal troubles and arrest, I figured he wouldn't be there. But, he was, after they dropped charges for his recent fraud situation. This guy won a combined 55 games between TWO seasons in the late 1960's, being one of the most dominating pitchers in the game at the time. He helped lead his Detroit Tigers team to the World Series in 1968, by winning not only a Cy Young award but an MVP as well! If you don't know by now, this was the story of Denny McClain, one of the most forgotten former greats in the history of the game!

Minus his legal and post-retirement legal issues, McClain seemed like a pretty cool dude. When we were meeting him he checked to make sure I paid for my inscription because according to him the "a**hole promoters" got on his case for signing an inscription for someone who didn't pay for one prior to meeting him". He was pretty funny, although I was a little intimidated meeting a felon. And he was a big one at that!

It's not like I haven't been used to meeting ex-convicts in my life. Just at White Plains card shows, I've now met Dwight Gooden, LaMarr Hoyt, Dave Parker, and just minutes before McClain, Mark Gastineau. Not one of them has been a jerk, in fact they all were very nice people. It's nice to have players try and turn their lives around by giving back to the fans.

I was overly impressed with the way my signed picture came out! I asked just for his record in 1968 and the Cy Young inscription, but then he went ahead and threw in the MVP 68 inscription as well! I also found the huge scribble under the inscription pretty cool, and it makes for a cool piece of memorabilia.

Overall, I'm pretty glad I didn't pass up on meeting Mr. McClain. This autograph is certainly a unique one to add to my collection, and if I could get a signed picture similar to this by Justin Verlander it could make for an incredible piece!

See Ya!

October 1st White Plains Card Show Recap! Part 4!

2011-10-10T20:50:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, there was one main reason I went to this October card show. Had I not been born and raised a giant Jets fan, there wouldn't have been much of a point in going to the show. However, JP's Sports hooked us Jets fans up with a sweet addition to the lineup. Time to reflect on an amazing experience!

PART 4:

THE NEW YORK

SACK EXCHANGE!

My dad grew up around the Jets, but was a little young during their Super Bowl winning season. What he remembers most from his younger years was this late 1970's- early 1980's Jets defensive line, consisting of: Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam, and Mark Gastineau! Klecko was Dad's all time favorite football player and he and I were both extremely excited to have the opportunity to meet him!

The players stalled 45 minutes before they came out to sign, so Dad held my spot in line while I went and bought a few things, including a holder for the football I planned to have the 4 of them sign! When we came closer to the front of the line, we realized there was one free inscription. Rather than doing something original, Dad looked up the Sack Exchange's best season, 1981. You'll see what the inscriptions are very soon.

The first player we met was Dad's favorite, Joe Klecko. Klecko was an above average defensive lineman throughout his day, and could be considered the best player among the four we met that day. He made 3 Pro Bowl teams, and was the second player ever to be elected into the Pro Bowl in 3 different positions. Many former players argue Klecko should have been considered more for the Hall of Fame, and the Jets honored him as the 3rd retired number in Jets history early last season. Dad had a blast getting to meet him, as he was a very nice guy, getting a picture with us and signing our football with the inscription we asked him to do.

Next up was Marty Lyons, who was the Jets first round pick in the 1979 NFL Draft. He was a fairly decent player during his career, and was known for some pretty dirty plays, especially "giving the business" to Jim Kelly (see below)! Lyons was a really nice guy and talked about some of his charity golf tournaments to us. He kindly posed for a photo and gave us the inscription we asked for.

The third of the four players we met was Abdul Salaam. There isn't too much to say about Salaam other than he was a big guy and I think he may have tied Dwight Gooden for the record for biggest hand I've ever shaken in my life. He changed his name from "Larry Faulk" to Abdul Salaam early in his career because his new name meant "servant of peace", and he wanted to be known as a peaceful man. Like the other two, Salaam was a great guy and after noticing we forgot to ask for an inscription, we went back and he added that in for us before we walked away without it, which I thought was really cool of him.

The final member of the Sack Exchange was Mark Gastineau. If there was any competition between who was the top guy of the line, Klecko's biggest threat was Gastineau. Recently, the NFL Network ranked him as the 8th greatest pass rusher of all time. His 107 career sacks is a Jets record to this day, as well as his single season sack record of 22. Among his other accomplishments were his 5 straight Pro Bowl selections, as well as winning the Pro Bowl MVP in 1984. He was the most popular of the Sack Exchange, and here is a basic summary of his career:

He was always known as a tough guy, having been arrested for domestic violence and drug issues in the past. But, boy had he changed when we met him. He now is apparently a major believer in his religion, and considers himself a changed man. Dad told him all about my grades in school and my accomplishments, and Gastineau asked me if I played any sports. I told him I play 3rd base for my school baseball team, and he asked what was more important, sports or schoolwork. I said "School I guess" and he said "You don't guess, school IS the number one focus". He was such a down to Earth and nice guy, and was my favorite of the four we met just because he took his time out to talk to us. Plus, that picture with him tucking my Dad basically under his armpit because my Dad is so short is a memorable one for sure!

On to the autographs! I found this unopened football laying around in my closet just before the show, and I thought it would be neat to add a signed football to my collection. So, I took the ball, and got all four of the players to sign it!

The unique part about the ball is that I got all 4 of them to inscribe their sack totals from the 1981 season, in which the Jets had a total of 66 sacks, with a whopping 53.5 of them coming from the Sack Exchange!

Klecko

Lyons

Salaam (photo won't rotate for some reason)

Gastineau

I thought it came out great in all! Now, the only question is what I should do with it! All in all, the Sack Exchange really was an exciting part of a good Jets team. They brought the team back to the playoffs for the first time since their Super Bowl winning season of 1969, and while they never won they certainly displayed a hard nosed way to play football!

What do you guys think of the ball? See Ya!

October 1st White Plains Card Show Recap! Part 3!

2011-10-10T10:52:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Wow, what a long, long week this week was. Anyways, let's continue with the show review, because there's still a lot to see!

PART 3:

1961 TOPPS PICKUPS

There's not an awful lot to see in this post, other than the 20 new cards we were able to add to our 1961 Topps quest. Dad got these all as a lot, and what he tried doing was knocking off all of the first 40 cards in the set. I think we're now only missing 3 of the first 40 cards now. Most of these are just commons but the card in the bottom right was a nice AL Batting Leaders card with Yankee Moose Skowron on it.

With these 20 new cards, my set quest is now at about 31.5% complete! I've only been collecting it for less than a year now, and to be able to already average over 3 cards per every 10 cards in the set is a pretty good accomplishment. Not to mention getting all of the big rookie cards out of the way and some of the biggest base cards too. The biggest issue right now is that I am 2 cards deep out of the 60+ high numbers in the checklist, which is going to take quite a bit of time to accomplish. My goal is to have this set finished off within the next 2 years, so we'll see how that goes!

As always, you can check out the chase over on this page below:

http://drewsbbcards.blogspot.com/p/1961-topps-set.html

If you have anything I may need please shoot me an email or comment on this post! Thanks everyone!

See Ya!

October 1st White Plains Card Show Recap! Part 2!

2011-10-04T17:10:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Luckily enough, the last few days' workloads were not heavy at all, so I've got a little extra time on my hands to catch up. Following my card show review there may be a contest, so stay on the lookout for that! We'll now move on to part 2 of the show review, which will contain all of the other big "hits" I picked up there! Let's get it started...

PART 2:

MY PICKUPS!

We'll start with these two chrome prospects out of 2011 Bowman! I spent quite a bit of time searching through this one vendor's boxes of cards, because he had all sorts of newer inserts/prospect cards/parallels in there for a dollar a card. I took five of them off of his hands, one being the Bowman's Best Cano insert in the previous post. Next I got these 2 rookies, of Giants top prospect Brandon Belt, and Yankees pitching prospect Manny Banuelos. I got the Belt just for the heck of it, and the Banuelos because I didn't have much of him in my Yankees collection. I have a feeling he's going to be a good one!

The other two were out of Topps' newest high end products, Marquee and Triple Threads. Marquee is new to the hobby this year, and reminds me a lot of Stadium Club with the crisp and colorful photography taking up majority of the card. This one was of Reggie Jackson, and is the blue parallel numbered out of 299. As for Triple Threads, well, it's been Topps' most popular high end product for years now, and this year is no different. The cards don't tend to change much in design every year but with the new checklist additions and combinations it's always a risky but fun break. I got the Mark Teixeira gold parallel numbered out of 625, and it's a pretty nice card for sure.

Next, I broke one pack the entire show, of the new Goodwin Champions product. Why? I have no idea, but I was hoping for something different, and I definitely got just that. First though, I did pull two sweet football rookies, of Cam Newton and Julio Jones! Those ones are going to stay in my collection for a while. Also, a very uncommon player I pulled was Addie Joss, a Hall of Fame pitcher whose 1.89 career ERA is the second greatest of all time!

Then, Goodwin got weird on me. Here is a memorabilia card of female golfer Natalie Gulbis. See, this card is one of many reasons why I don't pull a whole lot of packs anymore. Then again, the pack did state that it was mixed sports. Well, if anyone is interested in the card, send me an email.

Moving along to the better stuff, here is a 2008 Donruss Threads autograph of Yankees catching prospect Austin Romine! Romine got a cup of coffee this September, playing in 9 games total. He had 3 hits in 19 at bats, but it was nice to see him up in the big leagues, because I'm sure he'll have a spot within the next couple of years. I bought this card along with the next card for $25 in all, and I think it might be a pretty good gamble.

The other card in that group was this 2006 TriStar Prospects Plus "Farm Hands" autograph of Yankee rookie Dellin Betances! Betances, along with Romine and a few others, got to play this September with the big boys. He pitched in two games, one in which he struggled to the extreme in two thirds of an inning, and the other in which he started and threw 2 scoreless innings. Of course, I have no idea what the future will tell for Betances, but he definitely has the stuff to be a possible fourth or fifth starter very soon. This card isn't overly exciting but it was the best I could do in terms of his already fairly expensive autographs.

The next four cards were all part of a five card purchase Dad made from my favorite vendor Hunter at the show. He always has a bin sitting around with relics/autographs/vintage all half price, which makes the deals even better. In the past Mike and I have bought some beautiful patches and autographs off of him, and I always like to see him at the shows. The first of the four cards Dad got was this 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature Series Dave Righetti autograph! The first thing that caught my eye when I saw this was that Righetti has a beautiful autograph! I never watched much of Rags but he was a solid player throughout the 80's, and it'll go well with the other autographs I already have in the set (Winfield, Mazzilli, Cone, Sieburn). One day I might try to get this entire set.

Card number 2 was this 2001 Upper Deck Sweet Spot bat card of Alex Rodriguez. A-Rods been nothing but a disappoint this season, and to be honest; with the injuries he's faced in the past couple of years; for the price we paid for him he just hasn't been worth it. I've never been a big fan of his, simply because I've heard many annoying stories about him blowing people off for autographs and charging ridiculous prices for autographs just to add even more money to his insanely huge wallet. So far he's 0 for 10 in this insanely disappointing ALDS, and I really hope he can regain his form tonight to help us stay alive. Nonetheless, it's definitely a cool looking card.

Talk about a card that jumps right out at you! This card looks awesome! Numbered only 1/25 from 2009 Sweet Spot, it's a Vernon Wells 3 color patch with a whole lot of stitching. I just love cards like that. Sure, I'd rather have an entire jersey but when the card companies do patches right, they look outstanding and have an incredible appeal to collectors! This card is tradeable but I'd be looking for something nice for sure.

The last card Dad bought from Hunter was this 2001 Upper Deck Legends Willie Mays bat card! This card is so awesome! It's really cool to own any piece of memorabilia from a player of Mays' caliber, even though this one is awfully small. I love how the bat chip has the baseball seams etched into it, although many people may think it's hurting the pieces even more. Personally, I think it's cool enough that I get to own a piece of Willie Mays' bat, and I want to thank Dad for giving me that opportunity to, as well as for the other cards you bought for me!

These last two cards were two of my more expensive pickups, the first being a 2009 Upper Deck Icons David Price rookie autograph. While James Shields dominated the Rays pitching categories this season, with an overwhelming 11 complete games, Price is definitely one of the more established pitchers in baseball. To say 2011 was an off year for him definitely makes sense, and was shown last night when he gave up 4 runs and struggled in the Rays loss to the Rangers. Regardless, I'm hoping for a bounce back year out of David next season, and wanted to get this one at a lower price while I had an opportunity to. It's a sweet looking card for sure, although the autograph is on a sticker.

Finally, I saved this one for last because this guy is good at closing it out! Nothing better than a 2011 Topps Marquee quad relic of Mariano Rivera! I had a choice to make towards the end of the show, either to buy this card of Rivera, without patches, or an A-Rod card with patches. While the A-Rod may carry more overall value over time, I went with the Rivera simply because I'm happier to own it than I would be with the A-Rod. Sometimes its hard to remember that even though we all invest a ton of money into this hobby, you need to find ways to keep yourself happy, and there is nothing better than a beautiful looking card of one of my favorite pitchers in baseball history.

So, that'll do it for today's part of the show review. I sure hope I get to see more of Mariano tonight, perhaps closing out the game for AJ Burnett, bringing the Yankees back in the series? I know, it's unlikely, but it's always good to dream!

See Ya!

October 1st White Plains Card Show Recap! Part 1!

2011-10-03T19:13:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone, Drew back here. I hope you all remember me, because it's been over a week. Sorry about the slack everyone, I wish I could be more active but with my busy life nowadays with school its very hard to keep the site running. However, this past weekend I spent majority of my Saturday with Dad and one of my best friends Matt at the White Plains show! I think we made out incredibly well, even though I didn't go overly prepared and were on short notice before we decided to confirm we were going for sure. To start off the recap, here are the many new additions to my growing Robinson Cano collection! I thought Cano deserved his own post after his incredible Game 1 performance in the ALDS, smashing a grand slam and driving in 6 runs in the Yankees win! Way to go Robby Cano!

PART 1:

ROBINSON CANO!

I didn't hope to accomplish anything overly specific at the show in terms of buying cards, I just wanted to add some nice ones to my collection. I think I did a pretty decent job, take a look:

Leading off was this card out of 2011 Bowman, part of the "Bowman's Best" insert set. It cost me a dollar and I figured why not because it was an all around nice looking card! I haven't picked up nearly any 2011 cards of either one of my PC players- Cano and Swisher, but when I do, I buy in bulk!

I find it ironic how clutch Cano was the night following all of these pickups. I had a feeling this postseason could bring an even bigger jumpstart to his card prices, so I definitely tried to help the collection while I could. Out of 2011 Topps Heritage, here is Cano's bat relic card. I like the look of this card but I think they honestly could have done away with the yellow bottom design. It's a simple but effective look, and I got this as well as the next card for $15 together!

I came to this seller frequently throughout the show. Yes, there were hundreds of tables, but this guy's low priced Yankees relics and autos had me biting all day. This one was out of 2008 UD Baseball Heroes, numbered out of only 50! Its cards like these that really pop, especially the blue parallel. Plus with the hint of a pinstripe, I couldn't go wrong!

This card was actually my final pickup of the show, that Dad actually bought for me. He had a few spare singles and we put together enough money to buy this 2006 Allen & Ginter jersey relic of don't ya know? Robby Cano. I absolutely love any relic or autograph from any year of the Ginter line, and this card has to be one of my favorite cards of Cano in my PC. Again, this one has a pinstripe, and with this card I now only need his newest relic out of 2011 Ginter to complete the chase of his relics in the product.

Finally, the most expensive Cano card of the day was this 2011 Topps Triple Threads five piece bat relic, spelling out "Robby". Numbered only 12 of 27, this is definitely one of the lowest numbered cards I own of his, and I love its design. Triple Threads is such an expensive product but if you hit big, I think it can be well worth it! I would be happy with this pull, but then again I did buy the card for $25, instead of paying a good $100 on a pack of it.

Anyways, I hope by now you can tell that Cano is certainly one of my favorites on the current Yankee team! At this moment I have 172 unique cards of his, and will have a few more incoming! Be sure to stay tuned for more card show review posts and future posts!

See Ya!

The Yankees Clinched the East, and We Were There!

2011-09-23T18:06:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Wednesday really seemed to be my kind of day, starting off with my recent big news on being included in Beckett Sports Card Monthly. Just following that, we headed down to Yankee Stadium for the makeup game we missed due to rain in late August, the second game of a double header against Tampa Bay! I was glad the game was rained out because Burnett was going to be the scheduled starter for the game, but with the makeup, we got one heck of a pitching matchup, between one of my favorite young pitchers, Rays' Jeremy Hellickson, and Yankees ace CC Sabathia!

My dad, my Grandpa Charlie, Mike, and I all got down to the stadium after a long day, and hoped to have a nice relaxing night. It didn't look promising. The weather was stable for the ride, but as soon as we got into the stadium the rain picked up more and more. We hoped it wouldn't affect us though. In the meantime, we visited Monument Park! I hadn't been to Monument Park in the new stadium yet, so I was excited to see it for the first time. Check out some pics I took in the Yankees Hall of Fame:

Ain't Looking Too Pretty to Start!

Mike and I with Joltin Joe

R.I.P. George Steinbrenner

Never Forgive, Never Forget.

I have to say, I really enjoyed Monument Park as always. They did a nice job putting it together out in center field, and the plaques and numbers look amazing as always. Even with the poor weather at the time we still all enjoyed honoring the past Yankees greats and of course, Jackie Robinson. Getting back to those ugly clouds though, well, it didn't get much better. It started to absolutely poor. However, they didn't put the tarp down on the field so I still thought there was some hope. Eventually, after about a half hour of rain, I stood up and shouted "Rain, STOP!" Two minutes later... it stopped. Time to go help my dad out with the lottery!

We waited by the Yankees bullpen, which, if you walked down the rest of the row in my section, was right next to our seats! We had these same seats back last year when I got to see Andy Pettitte pitch, even though he didn't last long because of a groin injury he sustained. Soon after we waited, Carston Charles Sabathia came out of the indoor bullpen room and began to throw!

Jeremy Hellickson getting loose

One thing I felt ashamed of not noticing however, was that the whole time CC was throwing, standing right besides Yankee catcher Russell Martin was Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson! I completely didn't realize that he was there until after CC threw out on the field. Fortunately, we did catch Reggie for a moment before he went in to the clubhouse. I double took when I saw him walk by and was like "Oh my god... it's Reggie Jackson!" and started shouting "REGGIE!!" Mike, Dad and I started yelling for him and he stopped to waved to us all before he went in the room. I almost got a perfect picture but I was shaking too much in awe to hold the camera still.

While that was an incredible moment, I have to say watching CC Sabathia warm up from so close of a distance was unbelievable. He was throwing gas and the pop in Martin's glove was one of the most incredible sounds a baseball can make. Don't get me wrong, watching Pettitte warm up was great, but Sabathia blew him out of the water, especially throwing his nasty slider often in his warm up.

I also got to snap a few pictures of Yankee pitching prospects, and members of the "Killer Bees": Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman. Both of them are freakishly huge, Betances being 6'8 and Brackman being a whopping 6'11. Last night they didn't fare well in each of their first pitching appearances, but they certainly have the stuff to become solid pitchers down the road.

At about 8:00, the game began! Unfortunately, being the second game of a doubleheader, the Yankees gave Jeter, Rodriguez, and Swisher a game off, and replaced them with Eric Chavez, Eduardo Nunez, and Chris Dickerson in right field. One of the things I wanted most was to be right behind my favorite player Nick Swisher once again, but sadly, I had to deal with Chris Dickerson in front of me, who was as boring as a rock compared to Swish.

Jesus Montero!

Here are just a few random shots from throughout the game. Sabathia pitched 7.1 innings, allowing 2 runs, both on solo home runs, including a moon shot by Sean Rodriguez that bounced off the foul pole. Fortunately, the Yankees got in on the action in the home run parade, as one of my favorite players, Robinson Cano, blasted a home run into the shallow right field bleachers. Wait. I was in the shallow right field bleachers!

Notice anything? Yep, we were on TV! If you're still struggling to realize, we were the 4 people all the way in the front, me being the crazy one with the camera over my neck with my mouth wide open. The ball landed 2 rows behind us, and we came extremely close to adding a game used ball to the collection. Unfortunately, we fell just a bit short, but we got to hold the ball, and we got on TV!

Cano broke the tie game early on, and Jesus Montero added an RBI on a double play with the bases loaded and 0 outs. Boy, was it cool to finally get to watch Montero play!

Andrew Brackman

A Close up on Aaron Laffey

Yankee prospect Austin Romine!

In the eighth, CC was starting to break down, with an extremely high pitch count. The Yankees were loosening up Brackman and Betances, but then in order to keep the game in tact, they warmed up All Star set up man David Robertson to help him out. In a 2-2 game, with the bases loaded and 1 out, the first pitch hit off Robertson made up for a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat! Wow!

Then, you couldn't imagine the joy in my face when Brett Gardner was pinch hit for in the bottom of the eighth by good old Nick Swisher! Well, my joy escalated even more when Swish came up clutch, ripping a double into the gap to lead off the inning!

The Yankees soon loaded the bases, for Jesus Montero.. err.. a pinch hitter...

None other than Jorge Posada was Girardi's choice to come up to the plate in a key appearance, and well, he came up huge, with a 2 RBI double to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead! The stadium, silent all night, erupted with chants, one very big one, was in result of the Orioles triumph over the Red Sox to take the series against the struggling Sox. I started an enormous "RED SOX SUCK" chant that carried throughout the outfield, and took part in the Hip Hop Jorge chant!

Sadly, Girardi didn't bring Rivera in to close it out, which would've made for a perfect ending to the AL East, instead bringing in our insanely overpaid reliever Rafael Soriano, who worked through the inning, leading to a 4-2 Yankees win! With this win, the Yankees clinched the AL East yet again, which is a major accomplishment given all the smack talk Red Sox fans had to offer before the season. To beat traffic, we left with 2 outs, and missed the celebration, which I regret big time. But its okay, we all had a blast and saw a great game! Congrats to the Yankees! Time to bring home World Series Championship #28!

Also, thanks again so much Dad for taking us and spending all kinds of money on us, you're the best! See Ya!

Holy Beckett Sports Card Monthly! I'M IN!

2011-09-22T22:03:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, while I would've been writing about the incredible Yankees game I was at last night, I decided this was something extremely important I wanted to show off first and foremost. Around 2 weeks ago, I got very bored online one day, and I saw Beckett's "Reader's Rock" monthly article program, and I thought "wouldn't it be cool if I made it in there?" So, I wrote something up on the best part of my collecting experience, the mysterious binder. I spent a good bit of time working on it, and sent it over to Beckett. I sort of forgot about it, even when yesterday I came home from school to find the newest Sports Card Monthly issue waiting for me in the mailbox.

I saved it for the car ride to Yankee Stadium, and pulled it out of my bag just minutes before dad got on an important work call. Just as he got on the call I turned to this page:

(click to zoom)

As coverboy Charlie Sheen would say, WINNING! My article took up half of page 33 in the October 2011 issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly! I had to double take when I first saw this, and when I realized that I'm the only Drew that looks like that with an amazing binder and a great card seeking dad, I began to flip out! Mike saw it too and together we were going nuts in the back seat. Dad didn't realize what was going on, and he told us to be quiet since he was on the call, but when he got off, we all celebrated it, and dad was extremely happy for me!

I've done a lot of things I never could imagine myself doing in this hobby over the years, but this one may rank above all other things. Being in the biggest sports card magazine in the world is an honor and a privilege and I'm going to make sure I buy a few copies of this one.

Also, without the inspiration everyone has given me over the years to continue in my passion and stay in the hobby, I may not have ever had this story to tell. Thank you all for your enormous amount of support for me and my collection, it really means a lot.

See Ya!

Congratulations to the Sandman!

2011-09-19T21:34:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Today was another monumental day for the Yankees, just days after another big milestone, both of which by none other than the dominant closer Mariano Rivera. After recently celebrating Mariano's big 600th career save, 2 saves later, he became the all time saves leader, surpassing former closing great Trevor Hoffman for sole possession of the record! I'm sure, given with the NY media and coverage, every sports fan living already knows of the accomplishment, but I feel obligated to give this guy a post in recognition of the significant achievement!

I started watching baseball in 2005, especially after I went to a game early that season at Yankee Stadium, the first of many to come in the past few years. Mariano Rivera has been there from the beginning of my journey to becoming the diehard Yankee fan I am today, and has been by far one of the most respectable baseball players not only of today, but in baseball history. Yes, he only pitches an inning every few games, but he's left a bigger impact on the game then any other who has pitched for only that long per game. He's done it with pride, a desire to win, and his patented big smile on his face, that you hardly ever see disappear, except for the rare occasion in which he struggles to do his job. He makes being a Yankees fan so much more enjoyable and fun, and is one of many reasons why I'll always cherish the tradition the team has left.

Forget the many, many things that you may not like about the Yankees. Yes, they have an awful lot of money. But how did they get that money? By making the money. Steinbrenner did a great job building the team up in the time of the free agent period just getting underway. You hate A-Rod? Well, don't worry, I'm not too big of a fan either. You're a Red Sox fan? Sorry, don't have anything for that one. But, anyways, you all get the point. This pitcher has been larger than life in baseball, and I hope nobody can think of a way to dislike the guy. He will certainly be heading to Monument Park, as well as the Hall of Fame, and there is no doubt in my mind that I will be there at his induction. You can't pick a much better all around person to look up to as a young baseball fan, and I'm honored to have had the opportunity to grow up watching Mariano pitch so often.

So, a big congratulations goes out to the final #42, who may be the most dominating pitcher I'll ever get to see. I do wish he could've gotten it a few days later, as Dad, my Grandpa Charlie, Mike, and I are all heading down to the Stadium for the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday night against the Rays! But oh well, maybe I'll get to see save #700! Lastly, thank you Mariano, for all the incredible years.

See Ya!

A Big Old Box of Yankees From Dad!

2011-09-18T20:46:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So I've been meaning to post this for a little while now, and feel bad for not having done so sooner. Anyways, recently, Dad contacted someone on Craigslist, who was selling a huge load of Yankees cards. One day he came home with an enormous box full of Yankees, which brightened my day since I was feeling very sick at the time. Check them out!

Yeah, there were a whole lot of pinstripes inside this box, 5 rows to be exact. There were a lot of duplicates but that won't be a problem as I have many big Yankee fans to give them to. Now let's get into the stuff I thought mattered most...

Here are 8 new Nick Swisher cards I got through this. In total, I added 18 new Swisher's to my collection, giving me about 156 unique cards of his. I was surprised I didn't have a few of these, but I'm glad I was finally able to get them out of the way.

On to my 2nd personal collection; I was able to add 22 Robinson Cano cards to my respective Cano collection. It's been difficult for me to collect Cano's cards of late because his stock has finally soared as it should have a long time ago and everything of his is in demand. But I'm glad I was able to knock off a whole lot of 2008 UD Documentary and 2008 Topps Moments & Milestones cards of his. And yes, every card in the scan above is a different card, they're not doubles. Yeah, I'm confused too.

Here I found a lot of decent rookie cards, or at least, rookie cards that were decently valuable at one point or another. The top row of the scan consists of many different Melky Cabrera rookie cards, who is having a great year over in Kansas City, when many people didn't think he could do it again. He's currently sporting a .303 batting average, with 18 home runs and 83 RBI! The bottom consists of many Donruss Chien-Ming Wang rookie cards. Wang is trying to make a comeback with the Nationals this year after several injury filled seasons, but hasn't reached the point of success he had for the Yankees in 2006 and 2007.

I used to think I had a lot of 1990 Topps Bernie Williams rookie cards. I now feel like I have enough to give one to every person in the entire world. It's definitely a nice card though.

In this box I was able to add 2 more Dellin Betances rookie cards to my collection! I can't get enough of this guy's rookie cards, as the Lost Collector recently informed me of his MLB debut quickly approaching, as he was called up to the Yankees on September 9th. He hasn't had an opportunity to pitch yet, but I'm sure he will during his little cup of tea.

Next were a few of the MANY numbered inserts and parallels we came across while searching through the box. Nothing overly valuable, but I always liked numbered cards and I'm glad to add these to the collection.

Also, there were plenty of Mark Teixeira insert and parallels, all numbered! I don't have much of anything of Tex, who is putting up another very good season. He seems almost underrated on this Yankees team, because not many people talk about him, but I honestly feel like he deserves to be in MVP talks every year. Despite a typical slow start, he is probably one of the best (if not THE best) 1st basemen in baseball defensively, but also has a great power stroke and has a solid 37 home runs. The batting average this year though? Meh.

One of my favorite parts of the box were all these nice parallels and inserts of former Yankee greats such as Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, and Roger Maris. I have to admit the card companies did a great job honoring these players, as these cards are just absolutely beautiful looking. The Rizzuto Topps Archives Chrome Refractor is amazing looking in person and I love the Maris Diamond King card.

Now on to one of my favorite sets of all time; nothing better than some 2008 UD Masterpieces. I found some awesome framed cards mixed in, including a Yogi Berra green /75, a Whitey Ford not numbered black border, and two Joba Chamberlain parallels, one numbered to 50 and the other /25! These are seriously as beautiful as it gets in the card hobby, and may very well be my favorite modern set out there.

An engraved piece of Joe DiMaggio's bat? Holy WOW! Yeah, I know, it's not actually a real bat relic of Joltin Joe's, but it sure does look sweet. The card dedicates a magical DiMaggio performance when a play at the plate initiated by Charlie Keller allowed him to circle the bases and score, eventually leading the Yankees to sweet the 1939 World Series. I don't have much of DiMaggio so its a cool add for sure.

While this card isn't of Joe DiMaggio, it is at least a real game used jersey card, of former Yankee great Paul O'Neill! The card celebrates his 1994 season when he batted .359, something close to unheard of today, or at least a modern day rarity. I've always had a lot of respect for O'Neill, he truly was a warrior on the field but a gentle giant off of it. I would love to meet him sometime for sure.

We move on to the next relic, which oddly enough is the only non Yankees card in the entire box! However, it does feed another hobby addiction of mine, which is cards of Hall of Famers! Out of 2005 Donruss Champions, here's a nice Joe Morgan bat card! You don't see much of Morgan as a Giant but its pretty cool nonetheless.

Finally, we get to the 3 autographs in the lot. The first 2 were out of the 2003 Upper Deck Yankee Signature Series product, on card autos of Lee Mazzilli and Norm Siebern. I very well may consider building this set one day, as I do have 4 different autographs out of it now, in Sieburn, Mazzilli, Winfield, and Cone! I had to research Sieburn because I literally knew nothing about him, but he was a 3 time All Star who played outfield for the Yankees from 1956-1959.

The final card was one I've wanted to get myself for a while. Out of 2006 UD Artifacts, and numbered out of 699, is an on card autograph of Ken Griffey Sr.! Yeah, Junior would've been a little better, but his daddy wasn't too bad either. A lifetime .296 hitter; Griffey spent 5 seasons with the Yankees, on a few rough teams in the mid 80's. He's got a really nice strong signature, and it fits the card design amazingly!

Anyways, that'll just about do it! Thank you so much as always dad, I'm speechless by the insane amount of things you do for me and I appreciate it so much!

See Ya!

The Most Famous 1961 Player Arrives in the Mailbox!

2011-09-16T18:51:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Thank god it's Friday! Been an extremely long week and like good old Rebecca Black says, I'm lookin forward to the weekend! (By the way, I am in no means a Rebecca Black fan) ANYWAYS, a week or so ago I was able to pick up this beauty on eBay. Give it a look:

It's just the 2nd card of the 1961 Topps set, of the 1960 AL MVP, Roger Maris! If you were to pick any card of Maris', despite his rookie card of course, this would probably be your best bet. Maris didn't play all that long, only 12 seasons in the bigs, but he sure did make it worth it. As every baseball fan should know, one of the many main reasons I chose to build this set was because it was a great year for the Yankees and for baseball. It was the year of the Mantle/Maris home run race, of course, won by Maris, who hit a record 61 home runs that year. I still consider him the record holder, since the players who've surpassed him for single season home runs didn't do it fairly at all, and cheated the game.

As for the card, well its certainly not mint, as it has a few creases on it, one particularly over his mouth. The corners aren't mint, but it's definitely presentable and will go well with the set! I picked this one for a little over $30, which is a great deal, considering normally you would have to cough up between $75-100 for a decent looking one. As for commons now, the biggest needs I need are Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, and Carl Yastrzemski's 2nd year card.

So, again, if anyone has some 1961's for trade, I'd be more than happy to work something out with you! Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate everything.

See Ya!

Mail from William... Yet Again!

2011-09-15T19:27:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, Drew back here. So, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering where I've been the last week. Well, I've been here, but have been getting used to the enormous 10th grade workload and have had trouble finding time for the hobby of late. I'm going to try to be here a little more often, but I really can't promise too much, because, as always, school comes first.

Getting to the point of this post, once again, the basically monthly package from William this time around was a great one. Well, they always are, but this one was extremely unexpected and he went way out of the way to make me happy! Take a look and you can see why:

First off was this card of Joe DiMaggio that I've never seen before. It looks like an oddball card, as it doesn't say anything about the company on the back. Still pretty cool for sure.

Next was this 2006 Flair Showcase "Wave of the Future" card of Curtis Granderson. Again, I didn't have this one, and he certainly has been a huge wave into baseball, especially this season!

After that were a few rookie cards of Yankees pitching prospect Dellin Betances! Betances is now in my opinion the top prospect in the Yankees organization who hasn't been called up yet. I'm really excited for when he gets the call, because I think he has pure talent and is going to be great.

The highlight from this package is without a doubt these 22 cards from 1961 Topps he sent me, all of which I needed! While a majority of the cards are of semistars and commons, every bit really makes a difference and I can't express how much I appreciate this help! These cards push my set total up to 165 out of 587, which is about 28 percent of the set. Some of these may be a little too rough for the set pursuit, but for now a few of them will be great filler cards until I can replace them.

So thanks so much again William, you're the best. You really didn't have to do all this, and I'm gonna have to try and get you back soon!

See Ya!

Some Custom Mail from Cam!

2011-09-08T16:30:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Nothing like being sick on the first day of school. It's like making a kill joy even more of a kill joy, so you can imagine how excited and happy I am right now. Anyways, my good buddy Cam, of Collectable Cards, hooked me up recently with an awesome looking card. Check it out:

Yep, Cam made me a custom card of one of my favorite Yankees, Robinson Cano! It's very tough to afford Cano's cards now that he can be considered the best hitter on one of the biggest offensive teams in baseball, but there's still one way to add new Cano cards, and that is in custom cards! This one definitely has a unique look to it, one that I haven't seen used before, but I like it! I would definitely like to see more of the set, the new set Cam is working on, because I think he has some good talent with customs and I'm really happy he chose me to send his first one to.

So, thank you so much Cam, I really appreciate this!

See Ya!

Vintage Bowman eBay Pickup!

2011-09-06T20:28:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Well, sorry for the long delay in getting a post up; I actually just got back from a vacation up in the Adirondack Mountains with my friend Mike, and the day prior to leaving I layed in bed sick all day and was unable to notify you all that I wouldn't be here. School starts Thursday, but hopefully tomorrow I can get some posts lined up for the rest of the week. Continuing with where we left off, heres a card I got a while back:

Yeah, I sure did catch an old one off of the bay of e! It was a 1955 Bowman Yogi Berra card, which is now the oldest Berra in my collection! Sure, it isn't in mint condition, but I'm not the kind of collector who really would care. I understand the people in it for the condition, but the reason I'm in this hobby is just to get myself some of the cards I've "ooed" and "aaahed" over, no matter what it looks like. Its got a few rough corners, and some surfacing damage, but it's presentable and I'm more than happy about it, especially with the price I paid for it.

I've always really been a fan of the 1955 Bowman set, commonly referred to as the TV Set. It's a classic design, and one that has been one of the more commonly used designs in Bowman's recent sets. The only card I'd rather have in this set is of course, the Mantle card, but I'll happily settle for Berra.

Through my recent vintage splurge I've decided that some day I want to try to collect most/if not all of Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford's vintage cards. It would be a fun little goal for sure.

What do you all think of the card? See Ya!

TTM #77- Another Crazy Celebrity Addition!

2011-08-31T22:16:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, I finally made myself some what of a come back, posting over 20 times for the first time since earlier this year. I definitely have gotten back into it, as I've spent a ridiculous amount of money on the hobby over this summer vacation. Unfortunately, with September approaching, school is coming right back into the picture. So, the next couple months will be rough on here, as 10th grade is definitely going to be a challenge. Anyways, I still have one more week to go, so I'm going to make the most of it. We'll start with a TTM success I got when I returned home from the card show, a TTM that I had completely forgotten about sending...

I don't know if this is real or fake, but I have to say, it would be sweet if this is an actual Johnny Depp autograph! I made the custom card one day when I was bored, about perhaps the most "Popular Pirate" around, Jack Sparrow! Regardless of the Pirates series, Depp is a great actor, even though sometimes he gets a little strange for me to watch. His autograph certainly looks strange, but I guess it fits his personality. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Harry Potter" series' are the only ones out of the new movie series' that I can stand, so it's cool to add an autograph of the most famous actor of those 2 series.

What do you all think of it? Real or fake?

Yes, I had to.

See Ya!

Mail from The Lost Collector!

2011-08-31T11:30:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So apparently, there's been this "lost collector" running around the hobby lately. He's been running around to all the blogs trying to find his way into the hobby. I guess he's doing a pretty good job, considering he has a great blog and sends us bloggers some great packages. Kidding aside, I got a package from AJ of "The Lost Collector" about a week ago and wanted to show off my end of the deal. Take a look:

First off were a few extras he threw in for me. I needed most of them, and love that Tino Martinez USA card! AJ gave me a new Mattingly card, which is now the 188th card of his that I own. Just for reference, he is a big Yankee fan and Tino Martinez collector as well, so if you've got any good Tino stuff definitely go to him!

The actual deal was that I sent him 2 1968 Topps Game Cards, from the set he's collecting, for these two 1961 Topps Yankees! Luis Arroyo was a decent pitcher who played for several teams throughout the 1950's and 1960's, and Blanchard was a very good defensive player on his 8 seasons with the Yankees. Pretty cool stuff for sure, and glad to add them to the set!

Lastly, AJ was cool enough to include this signed 1995 Pinnacle card of Danny Tartabull! I remember one of the first Yankees cards I ever owned in my collection was a Danny Tartabull card, so it's cool that this card made me remember my days as a (really) young collector in training. He was a solid player in the 80's and 90's, hitting 262 home runs in his career, and he's got a good looking autograph.

Thank you again AJ, I really appreciate the set help and the extras! Please everyone go check out his blog, ESPECIALLY if you have any of the 1968 Topps Game Card set that he's trying to collect!

See Ya!

August 20th White Plains Card Show Box Break! A&G?

2011-08-28T16:46:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, Drew back here. So, we're not quite done reviewing the card show. When we all got into the car on the way back, dad pulled out this box from his bag, saying we have a box to break soon! It was a box of the new 2011 Allen & Ginter! He got a very good deal on the box, and while I hadn't been overly impressed with the product so far, I definitely was excited to open the box. Before I get into the results, here is a little bit of product information, although most of you already know what to expect:

Part 6:

2011 Allen & Ginter Box Break

PRODUCT CONTENT

24 Packs Per Box

8 Cards Per Pack

192 Cards Per Box

1 Box Topper Per Box (Cabinet/N43)

1 Mini Per Pack

3 Relic/Autograph/Printing Plate/Booklet/Rip Card Combo Per Box

Look for a lot of Variations and Inserts

Alright, let's get into my box!

MY BOX BREAK:

Cabinet Card: Baseball Highlights- A-Rod's 600th HR

I definitely prefer these box toppers rather than the smaller versions, the N43 cards. As a Yankee fan, I couldn't have gotten much luckier than I was pulling one highlighting a Yankee's accomplishment. Never been a big A-Rod fan but it's definitely better than any of the others, for me at least.

Base Set: 127/350 (36%)

Most of you have seen one too many Allen & Ginter cards highlighted throughout the blogs, considering it's maybe Topps' most popular release every year, after the flagship product of course. I'm glad that Topps put a little more into this year's design, as it definitely has a bit different feel to it. They look pretty nice in my opinion, my favorite card being the Derek Jeter card.

Crack the Code Cards: 3 (Jeter/Reyes/Hoffman)

Topps used the weird borders for the Crack the Code contest this year, with each card having a different border design. Does anybody know if the code has been cracked yet? Just curious.

Hometown Heroes: 18/100 (18%)

Here's Topps' annual insert that dedicates a country, state, continent, etc, where someone grew up. I have to say that this insert set has been way over done and it's gotten old. I barely even look at them anymore, and just throw them into a pile.

Minds That Made: 3/40 (7.5%)

Floating Fortresses: 3/20 (15%)

Ascent of Man: 4/26 (15%)

In 2011, Topps really went out of there way to make this product way more than just a baseball set. With all these random subsets, considering smart people, boats, and the history of man, it really kills the purpose of Allen & Ginter. The first couple years I did a lot of Ginter breaking, I didn't mind this stuff, but after year after year of random inserts finding their way out in trades, I'm getting sick of them.

Baseball Highlight Sketches: 4/25 (16%)

I really liked these the first year they brought them out, 2 years ago, but since then they've really gotten sort of boring. The paintings, to be honest, haven't been all that great, and the design is a bit redundant. I pulled the Mark Teixeira card and then 3 trade bait cards out of this box.

Minis:

Base- 6

A&G Back- 5

Black Border- 3

Here are most of the minis. The top row is made up of the Allen & Ginter back variation minis, and the bottom row is made up of the regular minis. While the minis are the most realistic cards compared to the original set of Allen & Ginter, I almost feel like they are just more variations and versions to chase after. I guess some people like the chase, but with the ridiculous amount of variations and parallels of every card made over the past few years, it seems close to impossible to get every card you need to finish a player/set/team collection.

However, I was lucky enough to pull the base and black border minis of Nick Swisher for my Swisher collection! I like the looks of the black border minis this year over any of the new changes, because I was sick of the regular black border that had no style or anything to it. Pulling these cards of Swisher was one of my favorite parts of the box, because I guess it means a little less eBay shopping for me!

Mini Inserts:
Animals in Peril- 2 (DHole, Ethiopian Wolf)
Uninvited Guests- 2 (RMS Queen Mary, Waverly Hills Sanatorium)
World's Most Mysterious Figures- 2 (Kasper Hauser, Captain Charles Johnson)
Portraits of Penultimacy- 2 (Watson, Igor)
Step Right Up- 1 (Fire Eating)

Again, way overdone on the non sports stuff this year. Does Topps really think we care a whole lot about these cards? What need do I have for a card of a DHole or Fire Eating? I can even tell you that 9 of every 10 kids probably wouldn't care all too much about a card having to do with these subjects. Yawwwn.

Bazooka Back Mini: 1 (Yovani Gallardo)

This card was definitely a surprise, and without it I may have been a little disappointed with the break. It's a hand numbered to 25 card of Yovani Gallardo. Gallardo is having a pretty good year, with a 15-8 record and a 3.37 ERA. He's definitely one of the more underrated pitchers in baseball, and had he been more well known this could've been a better pull. That being said, if anyone has a Yankee Bazooka back (especially Swisher/Cano/Granderson) and is interested in this, please let me know.

Relics: 3

I guess we'll start from the worst to the best. Here's a jersey card of former Yankee prospect Austin Jackson. Jackson was supposed to be everything the Yankees were hoping for in a future center fielder, until they decided to ship him out to Detroit in the deal that landed Curtis Granderson. So far, he's shown a lot of promise, but he's becoming known as a bit of a strikeout machine. Then again, so is Granderson. But who would I rather have based off of this so far? Granderson.

Next is a bat card of perhaps one of the hottest hitters in baseball, none other than Dan Uggla! I never had the idea, even through his terrible start to the season, that Uggla couldn't do it anymore. A lot of hitters this year, for some reason, can't even bat .200. I'm not quite sure what the reason was, but guys like Adam Dunn and Uggla, guys who were some of the better sluggers in the game, suddenly are averaging 2 hits per every 10 at bats! Anyways, lately Uggla has pushed the average up quite a bit, and still has quite a few home runs, with 30.

Lastly, the biggest pull of the box was this Albert Pujols bat card! You can't hit much better than King Albert, as he's by far the best all around hitter in baseball. Even battling a lot of injuries this season, Pujols still leads the National League in home runs and is well on his way for another 35 home run season, and maybe 40 as well. I sure hope Pujols is doing what he's doing in a fair way, as it would really be a devastation to baseball if he was caught using performance enhancers. I doubt it, but hey, you never know.

Overall Thoughts: All in all, 2011 Allen & Ginter is pretty much the same as always, with a ridiculous amount of oddball cards mixed in along the way. I would say better things about the product had the inserts been a little less redundant and if they used some actual baseball creativity rather than some cemeteries and near extinct animals. Make a seperate set for that stuff if you really think its THAT necessary to include in your product line. The design this year was great, the price is better than ever, the hits are decent enough, but there's just something missing from this product, or that it's just getting old fast. Overall Grade: B

Well, that'll just about do it for the entire Card Show report! I want to thank everyone as always for sticking through it and checking the blog out, I can't even tell you how much it means to me. And also I would like to thank my dad once again for all of the great things he's done and given to me over the past few years, and I know you'll probably read this sooner or later, so well, thanks Dad. You're the best!

See Ya!

August 20th White Plains Card Show Review Part 5

2011-08-27T10:56:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Keepin' with the recent flow, lets jump right back into the review. In this post, we have one thing that is great news, and one thing that is bad news. I guess we'll start off with the bad news...

Part 5:

Autographed Photos

Oh hey remember me? If you all remember, back in January I bought this signed 8x10 autograph of Mark Sanchez, which was authenticated by "Left Field Sports Memorabilia". According to this company's website, they get their autographs checked by big name companies as well, such as PSA, JSA, etc. It came with the certificate of authenticity, assuring me that the autograph was real. Well lately I've been looking at other Sanchez autographs, and this just looked much different from the rest of them. So, I decided to take it to the card show to get it checked out by JSA, one of the best authentication companies in the world. It cost me $20 to get the picture checked, and it took over 2 hours for them to do their entire examination of the photograph.

Dad picked it up for me at the JSA table while Mike and I were in line for Ernie Banks. It was bad news. JSA said that the autograph could not certify its authenticity. Does that mean it can still be real? Yes. Is it likely? No. The photo came from China, so unless they purchased the photo off another dealer, they couldn't have gotten it in person.

So, when I got home, I checked eBay to see if I can contact the sellers, and unfortunately, I can't, since they close down their account. I did see their feedback, and they had almost 100% feedback with hardly any poor reviews. Something is definitely wrong here, and I may never know the truth about this picture.

Do you guys have any advice for how to go about this?

Moving on. Like I said, there was certainly good news as well! Dad and I were just about to meet Lou Piniella when the 1:00 door prize winner was revealed to be my dad! So dad sprinted down the line of people and tried to get there to claim his prize before they gave it to someone else. He got it, and this was the prize:

It was an 11x14 autographed picture of Robinson Cano! Cano, as you all know, is one of my top 3 favorite players, to go along with Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher, and he is one of the most fun players to watch in all of baseball. He can do it at the plate, with his glove, and he makes everything look smooth as silk. So, I was just a tad bit excited when dad came back with a prize that I can now hang up on the wall!

Unfortunately, none of us were crazy about the picture Cano signed. It looks like someone in the stands took a picture of him and blew it up to 11x14 size. No, we're not really complaining, as it was free and we were lucky enough just to win it. But still, I probably would've been a little happier with a picture of him batting rather than one of him just standing around with a ton of grass surrounding him.

But anyways, I still can't wait to hang that one up, and also, I don't know quite what to do about the Sanchez picture. Anybody know what to do?

See Ya!

August 20th White Plains Card Show Review Part 4

2011-08-26T13:30:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here! Time for you guys to see the 2 big Hall of Famers I added to my custom Hall of Fame set! Take a look...

PART 4:

HALL OF FAMERS

This has been a post I've been dying to write for months now, because I couldn't wait to talk about my story of meeting these former greats to you all. We all had to wait quite a long time because, considering its one of the biggest card shows in the country and many people were there, a lot of people were in line to meet these guys too.

The first Hall of Famer I met that day was former Cardinals All Star shortstop, "The Wizard", Ozzie Smith! Smith, known for his trademark backflips and incredible defensive plays, was larger than life back in his playing days. Fortunately, throughout his popularity and fame, he hasn't changed his personality one bit, as he was by far the nicest and most down to Earth player I've ever met. Before us in line was an older guy with his little son, holding a little toy when he shook hands with Smith. Smith proceeded to have the kid pose on the table while he held his little toy for a picture, and it looked like it was a cool memory for those people for sure.

I came up to Ozzie and greeted him, and did the usual "I made this card of you on my computer, in your honor" deal, because it's always the shy guys way out of being loud and obnoxious to players. He responded by saying that I'm a really creative young kid, and it meant a lot for me to hear that from a guy who was certainly a unique baseball player:

So, I got him to sign my Hall of Fame card and we posed for a picture. Following that Mike did fellow blogger William a favor and got his baseball signed for him by Ozzie, giving him a chance to meet "The Wizard of Oz". We both strongly feel like he was the nicest baseball player we've ever met, and it was a great opportunity and memory for both of us.

My autographed card came out good, and my only complaint is that I didn't reprint it before I got it signed because the printer started to run low on ink as the card completed. You can tell by looking at the color comparison on the far right side of the card. Otherwise, the autograph, plus his Hall of Fame inscription came out awesome, and I'm extremely psyched to add it to the set! Before I get to the other guest we met, here are a few pictures of some of the other signers at the show:

Ralph Kiner

Fay Vincent

Mets Rookie Justin Turner

Mets Rookie Dillon Gee

Anyway, the second autograph guest was none other than "Mr. Cub", Ernie Banks! When I saw that Banks was on the lineup, I knew for sure I wasn't going to get a whole lot of "gifts" for my birthday, as I instead asked for money so I can save up to meet the legend! I eventually compiled the money, made his card, and went off to wait in line for him in the afternoon. Boy was he slow at signing autographs! It took Mike and I over 2 hours to wait in line just so we could make use of my autograph ticket. Mike ever so kindly stood in line for me since he was done buying stuff and had nothing better to do, as I ran out to buy more before the show ended and I came back with more money than I hoped to have had. The show was about a half hour from ending, with many more people still to go, Banks already having been way past his time allotment, and he decides to get up, and walk around a little bit...

I swear, I have absolutely no idea how I felt at this moment. I thought it was absolutely hilarious some of the stuff he was saying, and the fact that he decided to get up and personalize with a lot of the people still waiting for him, but on the second hand I was worried that he wouldn't finish in time and I ended up losing the price of his ticket! Fortunately, he soon finished joking around asking who was married and who has considered divorce, murder, or suicide, and finally returned to his signing table. (PS, turn up the volume on the video above, so you can hear him!)

So, about a half hour later it was FINALLY our turn to meet him. His price was $90 an autograph, so I guess he was trying to make it worth every penny! The lady in front of us worked in the media section for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and she decided to have a long conversation with him about the old Pirates teams, etc etc. I'm standing there, right in front of Mr. Banks, while he's holding my card and about to sign it, while not having said one word to me yet and continuing the conversation with that lady. He finally turned to me and I said hello, and the usual, custom card deal, and I asked him to inscribe his Hall of Fame year on it. He responds to me by saying, almost as if he was in awe, "You made that?", and I said yeah, and he told me he was really impressed. He finished signing my card and the 3 of us, dad, Mike, and I, all went around the table for a photo opportunity. My dad decides to be the funny guy he is and says "See that kid there (pointing to me)? He's 15, married, and murdered his wife!" Banks turned and stared me down for a good 5 seconds with his jaw dropped until dad said he was kidding and that I would never do that. Banks knew and just said he was going with the joke basically. What a hilarious and memorable meet with "Mr. Cub"!

Overall, Banks really made my day, and it was definitely something I'll never forget. He seemed like a real gentle giant, and had one of the better personalities I've came across in a long time. The autograph came out beautiful and is easily my favorite of the set so far. You can't get a whole lot better than a 14 time All Star who slugged 512 home runs, winning 2 MVPs along the way!

So, my advice is this. If you ever see one of these guys, Smith or Banks, coming around your area for a signing, don't miss out! Both of them are complete gentlemen and class acts, and it was a day I'll never forget...

See Ya!

August 20th White Plains Card Show Review Part 3

2011-08-25T12:27:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, keeping everything moving, here's part 3 of the on going card show series!

Part 3:

Meeting Former Yankees

So, on the 20th, I met 4 players, 2 former Yankees, and 2 members of Cooperstown. We'll start off with the 2 Yankees, and the first of the 4 that I met that day!

None other than "Sweet Lou", Lou Piniella! Words couldn't describe what I was thinking when I first saw the name Lou Piniella on the autograph guest list prior to the show. He surprised me as being somewhat quiet, but we did a little talking about my custom and how I made it in his honor, etc etc. He was very nice, and I really hope he gets a shot at making the Hall of Fame one day!

As I mentioned, I got Lou to sign a Yankees Greats custom card I made. This set isn't huge, but I've gotten quite a few former Yankees to sign them now. Piniella won't have a shot at Cooperstown for his playing days, as he was simply just a solid player on a great team (ie: Jayson Werth). His lifetime batting average was .291 but otherwise his stats were just not enough. However, he managed the Yankees following his retirement, as well as the Reds, Mariners, Devil Rays, and most recently, the Cubs. He won in 1990 with the Reds, and even while managing some bad teams, his career managerial record was a little over .500.

Next, Dad, Mike, and I all met Bob Watson, a former 1st baseman throughout the 1970's and 1980's, for the Astros, Red Sox, Braves, and Yankees. While his stats were very good, maybe even better than Piniella's, Watson was best known as the first African American GM, when he took a job with the Houston Astros following the 1993 season. He went on to become the GM for the Yankees throughout the beginning of their dynasty in the mid-late 90's. Also, a neat note was that Watson scored the 1,000,000th run in baseball history on May 4th, 1975, scoring on a home run by Milt May.

I got a baseball signed by Mr. Watson that day, and I think it came out pretty nice! The ball I used to get signed was cheap, as it was a freebie when you came into the show, so you could use it for autographs. It's made by Steiner, and it's nothing special, but it looks good in person for sure. Watson was again, very quiet, and I didn't have much to say to him, because frankly, I barely knew anything about him when I met him.

See Ya!

August 20th White Plains Card Show Review Part 2

2011-08-24T19:50:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, last night, I went to the Yankee game, and it sure was a nailbiter. I don't know if I've ever been to a closer game, as the Yankees wound up losing 6-5. I'll have more on that including some pictures sometime soon. For now, let me reminisce of dad and I's vintage pickups at the White Plains show this past weekend.

PART 2:

VINTAGE PICKUPS

Yeah. I just went there. I started off a "vintage" post with a 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly rookie card. I know what you're saying. "THIS ISN'T VINTAGE?!?!" Well, it isn't necessarily vintage, but it had to go here. So, deal with it. Anyways, I got this card for $12, since it was in great shape but was the only one of the major rookies Mattingly has that I didn't have yet. Always nice to mark one off the list. Oh, and this one's my favorite of the 3!

Next was a very off centered, but cheap, 1979 Topps Ozzie Smith rookie card! I'll have more on Ozzie before this series ends, but for now I'll just write about this one. His rookie was one that I've wanted to add to the Hall of Fame rookie collection for a while now, no matter what the condition was.

Now onto the picture I took rather than taking each card out of their holders and scanning them and putting them away. Boy was I lazy the day I scanned these. Anyways, oh yeah, the cards. Dad got me these, and I needed most of them, and even if I had them, definitely happy to add seconds of them! I've really taken interest in 60's and 70's cards, recently buying a huge box just to hold them in. My favorite of these is probably either the 1979 Willie Stargell (Pirates!) or the Bob Allison card, from 1961, that I'm pretty sure is not a Topps card. Interesting...

Also included in dad's little vintage bunch were these 2 1967 Topps League Leaders cards, both featuring Frank Robinson on them. It's funny because Robinson also was the first one on the Home Run Leaders card. Oh thats right, he won the Triple Crown that year! I should probably add the home run card sometime just to finish off the trio of Robinson-leading cards.

HOLY 1961 TOPPS! Yeah, Dad wasn't done with the vintage shopping, to say the least! Between the two of us, we combined for just under 90 new cards to add to our set. I picked up a lot of 20 cards for $5, while I only had 2 of them already. Dad got all the ones in toploaders, and I can't wait to add all these into my box of 1961 cards!

Those were just some of the bigger cards of the bunch. Most of the cards were just commons, but a few cards stood out, such as the Dick Williams card, the Whitey Ford postseason highlight, Johnny Podres, Elston Howard, and a MVP card of Jim Konstanty, my ex-little league teammate's grandfather. The condition of most of these are decent, some could be better, but for now they'll fit for sure!

.... we're not done with 1961's. Here we have the Yogi Berra base card, as well as the Rizzuto MVP card. I bought the Rizzuto and Dad got the Berra as well as the following two cards. Yogi's card from that year is one of my favorite cards he has, I'm not sure why though. It just really pops though.

Dad also got me the Ron Santo Rookie Card, featuring the famous Topps All Star Rookie trophy. Santo surely was an All Star throughout his career, and possibly should've been considered a lot more for Cooperstown. A career .277 hitter with 342 home runs, as well as 9 All Star selections and 5 Gold Gloves makes me wonder why he's not in when guys like Orlando Cepeda, Jim Rice, and Bill Mazeroski are in. The card is in great shape and is definitely one of the best looking cards in the entire set.

But wait, there's MORE! The final 1961 card I obtained at the card show was the rookie card of Hall of Fame pitcher, perhaps the best pitcher throughout the 1960's, the Dominican Dandy, Juan Marichal! Marichal, as well as Santo and Billy Williams, was the last top rookie card to acquire for the set! Marichal was a 10 time All Star with a career record of 243 wins and 142 losses, and an ERA of 2.89. He won the most games throughout the 1960's, using his intimidating leg kick to put a scare in some of the best hitters in baseball. This card is a little off center but otherwise the corners are sharp and it's perfect! No need for a replacement with this one!

So, well, Dad and I really did some damage with that set we're building. If any of you have any 1961 Topps cards laying around, please check out my have list and let me know what you have that I may need. Thanks so much once again to Dad, I wouldn't be nearly as close if it wasn't for him!

See Ya!

August 20th White Plains Card Show Review Part 1

2011-08-22T19:48:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. I guess it's time to start the review for the White Plains show I went to a few days ago! This time, we're gonna do 2 pickup posts, one on modern cards and one on vintage, followed by meeting the players and my experiences with them, and we'll wrap it up with one more post. You'll have to wait and see what that is... for now, here's the modern stuff I picked up:

Part 1:

The New Stuff

Well it was packed once again at the East Coast Spectacular, as many fans poured in to meet perhaps the greatest lineup the show has ever provided. We did one thing off the bat we never did before, rather than coming in and waiting in line to get our autograph tickets, the line was so long we just entered the show then and got our tickets when the line died down. We soon realized we needed this early time. Mike and I spent most of the day in lines for autographs and I didn't get to buy a whole lot. But, I definitely got some sweet stuff for my collection! First though, Dad got me some mixed $1 grab bags and they ended up actually being pretty cool. Take a look:

These grab bags were definitely helpful, as I haven't touched any of the new 2011 Topps football product, as well as the Topps Unrivaled, and baseball wise, I haven't gotten much Bowman Platinum. The best pack had rookies of Buster Posey, Stephen Strasburg, Jesus Montero, Kyle Drabek, Mike Moustakas, Mike Trout, Dee Gordon, and Austin Jackson! Not bad for a buck!

Dad also picked up this Nick Swisher 2011 Topps Opening Day Blue Bordered Card, which is numbered to 2011. Swisher's base card from Topps this year is really sweet, and I can't get enough of the parallels and what not. I didn't have this yet but I'm definitely happy to add it.

Next, Dad got me this card as well as the next 2 cards all combined for $20. Had the autographs been not as, well, faded, any one of these 3 could have been $20 seperately. This first one is a dual autograph of Dwight Gooden and Jim Bouton. I don't know what these 2 really had in common other than the fact that they both pitched for the Yankees during their careers. However, minus the autograph fading problem, it's still a nice card, and it's my first Bouton auto in my collection.

The next two autographs were both out of the 2003 Topps Uncirculated autograph set, and I'm very tempted to take them out of their scratched up cases. The two autographs are of Graig Nettles and Moose Skowron, two great former Yankees. I have gotten their autographs before, but it sounds like Dad got too good of a deal to pass up. The Skowron autograph is the most faded of any of the autographs in the lot, but it still looks pretty cool and I'm happy with it. Now I just need to get them out of their cases.

Now on to my pickups, for the rest of this post at least. We'll start with this 2011 Topps 60 relic of Brett Gardner. The seller was a really cool guy and I talked to him for a few minutes, and this, as well as the next card caught my eye. I got them pretty cheap. Gardy's having a very good year, especially when the Yankees don't expect him to be the best hitter on their team. He lives up to their expectations for sure. This is my first relic of Gardner, which means I completed his trifecta by adding this card! Sweet!

Also from that seller, I got this 2011 Topps Lineage Brandon League autograph for a couple bucks. League, as well as most other relievers, are very undervalued in the hobby, while they are key contributors for their teams. League has been a staple in my fantasy baseball bullpen this year, with 30 saves and an under 3 ERA while having to close out games for the worst offense in baseball. I'm not sure how much I like these Lineage autographs, perhaps if they were on card I would like them more. They feel a little cheap is all, I think.

Next, I got this autographed card from 2009 Bowman Chrome of the Yankees ambidextrous pitcher, Pat Venditte. I've been wanting his autograph for a while now, and I'm happy I finally got one. Venditte is infamous in baseball for an at bat where he threw to a batter with both arms (link). Venditte's dad taught him at a young age how to throw with both arms, and while he may never amount to a big league pitcher, it still is cool to have in the collection.

Here is a card that has eluded me for the past 2 years, since 2009 Allen & Ginter was released. It is just the simple bat card of my favorite player, Nick Swisher, but it's more than just a bat card of his. This is a card I've seen only a handful of times online, on eBay, anywhere. It's a super short printed relic and they typically sold for like $20-30, which was always too much for me to want to drop on just a simple bat piece of his. I wrote off the card, and figured I'd never get it.. but then, I saw it, for $10 at a vendor at the show. Now, its mine!

The final card produced within the past 10 years or so that I picked up was this 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature Series autograph of Hall of Famer Dave Winfield! I met Winfield around that date 2 years prior to this year's show, but didn't pay the price to get an autograph. Instead, I caught him in line at Nathans. I'll always remember him, as one of the best players I've ever shaken hands with. For $25, this card was totally worth it in my opinion. Winfield spent 9 of his 22 seasons with the Yankees, and was regarded as one of the best all around athletes to ever play the game. He recorded over 3,000 hits and over 400 home runs, and is one of the only players to do so.

All in all, there weren't many, but of the cards I picked up, I'm definitely happy. The show has always been so worth it to me, and you'll see more reasons why in the upcoming posts!

See Ya!

A Fun Contest Over at Schuyler's Stuff!!!

2011-08-21T21:09:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, Drew back here. I first want to say that the show yesterday was absolutely memorable, and I have a lot of memories to share. While I get all of my things all scanned and ready to show and tell, I want all of you guys to please going over to one of my best friends; Schuyler; recently created a blog and created a contest to see if he can get some readers flowing. For a chance to win a few cool prizes, please go follow his blog and enter his contest!

Thanks everyone! See Ya!

LINK: http://schuylerstuff.blogspot.com/

Today's the Day!

2011-08-20T10:00:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, Drew back here. As you read this I will probably be heading on my way down to White Plains with my dad and my friend Mike to attend the "East Coast National"! This will be my 3rd straight year of going to the biggest show in the area, and hopefully, I think I'm coming prepared this time. Granted I've went to a lot of shows at the County Center but this show is typically bigger than the rest. I will meet 4 players, rounding up in about $190 of autograph guests. Yes, I'm ridiculous, but hey, better do what you love doing while you're young!

So I'll leave the surprise going until I get back so you can see my new additions to the collection, and I'll give you all the review just like I did last time, in the order of how it happened. I've been super excited for this all summer, and here we go!

See Ya!

American League Cy Young Award Winner eBay Pickup!

2011-08-19T13:13:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, after a certainly eventful and memorable day in my life yesterday, I'm here to show you all more of what I got myself for my birthday.

Next is an autographed card of a pitcher I've wanted for a long time. It's a 2005 Topps Gallery Felix Hernandez rookie on card autograph! First things first, Felix has a beautiful autograph. I've been bidding on autographs of his for way too long now, but I finally pulled through and got this one for about $15 of birthday money. King Felix is having a disappointing year compared to his stellar Cy Young year last year. In 2011, he's 11-10 with a 3.38 ERA and 176 strikeouts. He probably will reach 14 or 15 wins by the end of the year, which is still very good, especially with the very bad Mariners team he currently is pitching for. Last year he has criticized for winning the award with only 13 wins, but with a 2.27 ERA, you really couldn't go wrong. I thought Sabathia would have won but Hernandez definitely deserved it as well, I mean, I think you should get an award for even having to pitch for the Mariners and deal with barely any run support every time you pitch!

All in all Felix is definitely one of the top pitchers in the game, and of the pitchers autographs I didn't have prior to this pickup, Felix was #3 on the top 10. Halladay and Lincecum are next!

See Ya!

Core 4 Autograph Pickup!

2011-08-16T11:34:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, it's definitely a big day, at least for me in sports. First off, I want to congratulate Jim Thome on hitting his 600th home run. A true class act, and, as long as he's been clean, for sure a future Hall of Famer! Second, the Jets opened their preseason today against the Houston Texans. The 1st quarter was pretty much the only one that mattered, and they looked fairly good, considering they were missing 2/5 of the offensive line and Plaxico Burress. Speaking of good news for New York, this guy recently threw a party on the Rays a couple of days ago. I just picked up his autograph on eBay as my biggest birthday gift for myself, take a look:

Out of 2004 Topps, a Jorge Posada autograph! While most people look at this and think about how horrible he's doing this year, I like to think about the excellent career Posada had as the Yankees starting catcher throughout some great times in the Bronx. Sure, he's having a hard time this year at the plate as the Yankees DH, but let's face it, he probably should have retired prior to this season. He even said recently that if the Yankees don't want to have him back next year he would go to another team, which is kind of sad to hear considering he's played 17 years here in New York.

Those 17 years have surely been memorable! Starting out as the backup catcher for current manager Joe Girardi, Posada caught between 60 and 100 games for the most part until 2000, when Girardi headed over to the Cubs. He never was a huge stat producer, but he had a couple of big years. He's been elected to 5 All Star teams, and has placed in the top 10 for MVP voting twice in his career. The first time was in 2003, when he batted .281 with 30 home runs and 101 RBI. Also, in 2007, he batted .338 with 20 home runs and 90 RBI! He became the only catcher of all time to ever hit .330 or better in a season with 40+ doubles, 20+ home runs, and 90+ RBI. Yogi Berra and him basically split the Yankees catcher hitting records, while Berra's legacy also landed him plenty of World Series rings. While he surely has been a Yankee great, I would put him around the level of Don Mattingly, Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez, 3 former greats but not great enough to make the Hall of Fame.

In terms of the card, and of his autographs in general, well, it was pretty expensive! It's hard to find a Posada autograph that sells less than $75, which I did fortunately find, paying around $50 for the card. I couldn't pass it up at the price and I'm glad to have autographs of half of the Core 4 so far. Pettitte and Rivera are definitely on top of my list to get as well, to join my Jeter/Jorge autos. I'm glad I payed $50 for an on card auto at least, and while the card is simply generic, the autograph makes the card way better.

Oh by the way, last post was #900! I realize the number when its coming up and I always just breeze right by and forget it as I got right past 900 without noticing. Anyways, See Ya!

Revealing the Rest of the Mysterious Binder...

2011-08-13T16:14:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. I figured, with the rest of the day with nothing to do, why not finish off this binder series with a bang? I scanned the rest of the bigger cards, and while I would've scanned them all, I figured you would all prefer to see some of the other ones I didn't get to show yet.

Well, why not start with the Babe? Sure, it's 27 years after his retirement, but still, it's my oldest Ruth card in my collection. It's part of the Babe Ruth Special that Topps threw into the 1962 set, honoring him. This card shows him and Hall of Fame manager Miller Huggins, which is perhaps my first card of his. Pretty sweet for sure.

From my 1961 Topps set I'm trying to build, here are 3 of the cards in the "Baseball Thrills" subset. I already posted the card highlighting Mantle's 565 foot home run, which is also part of the subset, but these are awesome too. My favorite of these 3 is the card that dedicates Rogers Hornsby's .424 batting average in the 1924 season! Just thinking of how impossible it sounds to hit for that good of an average in the major leagues makes me think even better of Hornsby and the card.

Next were some of the base I needed in the 1961 set, from left to right: (top) Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Batter Bafflers (Cardwell/Hobbie), Bobby Shantz MVP, (bottom) Eddie Yost, Billy Martin, Brother Battery (Norm/Larry Sherry), & Dodger Southpaws (Koufax/Podres). Most of the cards are in awesome shape, and I love the player selection. Glad to have these ones knocked off the set list.

Also from 1961, I got 5 of the 8 World Series highlights cards. It's cool, because even though the Yankees wound up losing the series, I got a chance to watch the game that Mazeroski hit the winning home run on an MLB Network special, and it was really fun to watch. I have a lot of the Pirates autos from TTM's, and I'd say it's safe to say they are my new favorite National League team, as tough to watch as they normally are. The Game 1 "Virdon Saves Game" card isn't in great shape, but it will still join me in the pursuit of the set.

The final card from 1961 to show is this NL Home Run Leaders card, featuring Ernie Banks; Hank Aaron; Eddie Mathews; and Ken Boyer, all pictured on the front. Banks led with 41, while Aaron trailed by 1 and Mathews trailed by 2. Sounded like a close race to the Home Run crown for sure!

Next are some cards that probably should have deserved their own post, and I forgot to give him that post. None other than "The Chairman of the Board", Mr. Whitey Ford! In the binder, I found his 1959 Topps, 1961 Topps, 1962 Topps Postseason Highlight, and his 1965 Topps! All 4 are absolutely beautiful cards of perhaps the greatest Yankee to ever take the mound.

Here are some of the other Yankees I found too, ranging from 1959 Topps to 1967 Topps. One set I could try to build following 1961 Topps is 1967 Topps, because there were plenty of them in the binder. A thing I picked up on recently that I love about vintage is the colors and just the way players stick out on the cards. The cards have a 'pop' to them that most modern day cards don't seem to carry.

Here's a scan of all Orioles, for William and all my other Orioles fans out there! I've always had a soft spot for the Orioles, as they probably would be my second favorite team in the AL East. They've had some great history and great players come through, such as the Robinsons, Brooks and Frank! Both of them were unbelievably talented, Brooks more with the glove and Frank with the bat. But you all know that. These are some great looking cards for sure!

Well, here are some more of the best cards I found in the binder. Many Hall of Famers and 1 should be Hall of Famer (Hodges) are on this scan, my favorite being the 1959 Topps Ernie Banks, but I also love the 1962 Topps Al Kaline! I would love to try the 1959 set one day, because I think it's one of the greatest sets of all time, without question. That Banks card really pops in person, and it's probably one of my favorite vintage cards. Also, did I mention I like the Pirates uniforms? And Willie Stargell? Well, now I did.

I guess this card is a good way to finish off the series. Nothing like a 1958 Topps "Sluggers Supreme" card of Ted Kluszewski and Ted Williams! I make a few exceptions to Red Sox players in terms of likeability. I like Ted Williams, David Ortiz (what a fantasy helper), and Jon Lester (since he's a warrior and beat cancer, I respect him a lot). This is my first vintage Williams card, of hopefully a few more to come. As for Kluszewski, he seemed like a pretty cool player, cutting off his sleeves to show off his muscles to the fans every game.

I think if I had to pick one word to describe this binder, it was just simply unbelievable. It was full of firsts for me, including giving me my first vintage cards of Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, and many, many more. Other than their dollar value, these cards are certainly special, and they tell a story better than many manufactured patch or any gimmick short print card can do today. The hobby has really changed in the past 40-50 years, for the worse? Maybe. Topps will never be able to create a nostalgic feel to their sets like they did back in the 1950's and 1960's. That's for sure.

I hope all of you guys can some day find an opportunity this amazing to add these cards to your own collection. I think in every lifelong collector's journey through the baseball card world, they'll have at least one big moment like this that they'll never forget. Unless I find a 52 Mantle rookie laying on the streets one day, I doubt dad and I could ever do this well again! I'm happy to share this collection with you, and I feel bad for the poor people we took the cards off of for a whopping $20, but I'm gonna hang on to these for the rest of my life.

Thanks again Dad for your magic touch! See Ya!

2011 Topps Diamond Card Pickup!

2011-08-12T22:25:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, after a boring day yesterday, today brought me 2 new packages, both from eBay! One of those 2 cards just happened to be the biggest pickup, aka the one that cost the most. You will most likely see that one tomorrow! As for today, here is the first pickup, one that I really couldn't pass up:

From the 2011 Topps "Diamond Giveaway" website, I purchased the redeemable die cut card of Nick Swisher for my Swisher collection! I haven't been fortunate enough to win any of these cards on the website, and I was dying to see how they looked. A lot of collectors have complimented them, saying that the design was great and they were incredible to see in person. I'll have you know that I 100% agree with them. They are amazing looking!

I definitely recommend trying to find one of these cards, either on the website, or online, of one of your favorite players. You will most likely not be disappointed! The cards have a thick stock, but otherwise they have a feel of the popular 1990's inserts. Topps did a great job with this set, and it may be the best part of their 2011 year!

See Ya!

Bowman's Best Autograph Pickup!

2011-08-10T17:03:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Drew back here. I've always been a fan of the 2007 Bowman's Best set, even opening a box a long time ago. The cards are sweet in person, and even with the sticker autographs, they still look awesome nonetheless. One of my recent pickups just happened to be out of this set, so check it out:

The scanner really doesn't do this card justice, because it looks 100 times nice in person! It's a gold refractor autograph card of Cardinals All Star Matt Holliday, numbered 16 of 50! I became a Holliday fan early this season, after making a trade in fantasy baseball to land him, and trading away Tim Hudson, Ricky Romero, and Kevin Youkilis, just to make a spot in my outfield. It doesn't sound like a very fair trade, but I'm in 1st nonetheless. Holliday was batting .348 when I added him to my team back in early May, and while he's had a DL stint and has dropped off, with a stat line of .319/18/62, he should finish in the top 10 for MVP voting this season. I think he's one of the better outfielders in baseball, and while people may argue he can't really carry a team himself, not a whole lot of players can!

So, I'm definitely pleased with this card, especially for less than $10! I've got 3 more eBay purchases to show off, and as soon as they come in the mail, they'll be on here!

See Ya!