Hey guys, Drew back here for the summer! First of all, how is everyone doing? I'll have you know I'm doing better than ever, and it feels awfully darn good to be back here with you all. I've got a heck of a lot of stuff to show off that I got since my departure from the site, a lot of it coming from my great friend William, from
foul bunt! Since the last time I posted about cards from him, he's sent me not one, not two, but three packages that kept me updated with all the new products coming out, as well as some other assorted Yankees from over the years! Check out this pretty solid portion of what he's sent over the past month or so:
We'll start with some of these mixed Yankees, including an awesome Bowman rookie card of Yankee prospect Adam Warren, who's one of the more underrated guys in the system, as well as a rookie of now Mariner Hector Noesi. Noesi was pretty good for us last year, but was dealt in the Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda deal earlier this year. Also I really like the Jorge Posada vs. Pedro Martinez "Grudge Match" insert. I miss when the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry was intense and really fun to watch.
It really is getting more and more difficult to fill holes in my Yankees wantlist, however William knows best, with all of these cards being new additions to the Yankee box! The Pettitte Turkey Red refractor numbered to 999 is now one of my favorite Pettitte's I own; the shine really pops in person. Also, that Munson Diamond Kings insert is pretty as well.
One of the packages contained quite a few 2002 and 2005 Topps cards, which was cool also. While I do own the 2005 Topps set, I have hardly any of the 2002 set, so most of these were also needed!
Getting a little more modern, here are a few more recent cards (besides the Abbott and O'Neill's in the top left)! I love the way the Topps parallels shine from the past couple years, so it's definitely awesome to be able to add the Bartolo Colon card! Also, I don't think enough people give Bowman Platinum the props they deserve, because the Cano base card is one of the nicest base designs I've seen in a while.
Like I said, if it wasn't for William, I would have close to 0 2012 cards. He's been basically my provider of all 2012 cards necessary, not because I tell him to, but because he wants to, which is really too cool. Here are 7 Heritage cards, one being one of those little sticker things of Mark Teixeira. I'm surprised on how nice Heritage actually looks this year; I honestly thought it would be a really lame set.
Another set that surprised me this year was Bowman, which sports a really clean, sharp look this go around! Normally Bowman has a very generic, bland feel, especially in the regular base set, but this year there's something refreshing, although I can't quite put my finger on what it is. I'm excited to add my first card of Jose Campos, the "PTBNL" in the Pineda/Montero trade. Apparently he's supposed to have pretty good stuff as well, and is ranked in the lower half of most Yankees top 10 prospects lists.
No set in 2012 has been nicer than Gypsy Queen though. Topps definitely nailed the hammer on the head with this set! It is so elegant and pays a lot of respect towards the art of the game, which is something that needs to be remembered more often. Baseball is the classiest sport around, at least in my opinion, and some of these photos just show the elegance of the game better than just about anything I've seen in cards the past 5 years or so. Well done Topps.
The final current set William hooked me up with is the most recent (besides Tier One) release, Series 2! He sent me a ton of Yankees base from the set, which again was really awesome of him. I'm still not really sure where I stand with this year's set, because I feel like the swoosh thing in the corner kind of gets in the way of the photo a bit too much. However, Topps' design team has really stepped their game up this year and proved why they received the license from the MLB rather than Upper Deck. I do miss the rivalry though, a lot.
I hate to be a downer, but while the base designs have been pretty nice all around in 2012, the inserts in the flagship sets have been a bit disappointing. We've seen pretty much the same inserts the past 3 or 4 years now, and even though they have different designs, the concept has been exactly the same. I say every year keep 2 or 3 solid inserts, like the parallels for example, and do away with the rest. Believe it or not, in the long run inserts of young players like the Betances card above can kill a lot of value for player's rookie cards. I recently read an article in Beckett Magazine about how Mariano Rivera's Bowman rookie card is so valuable because it's his only rookie, meanwhile Bryce Harper rookies will be pretty affordable one day because he has so many. While I don't always agree with Beckett, they are 100% right in this case.
For the final two cards, we switch gears a little bit (emphasize the little)! This John Lennon Topps card came out of their 2011 American Pie product, which was really cool! William told me the card was from his wife Mal, so again I want to thank her for this awesome one! I've always loved the Beatles, and have a tremendous amount of respect for John Lennon.
The final card (for now) was one he bought specifically for me, from 1961 Post of Yankee great Elston Howard! William, you are too much my friend! I'm going to have a field day trying to find a way to get you back for all of this awesomeness!
Everyone PLEASE go follow
foul bunt and check out that site, because man is William an awesome guy. I'm so glad to call him my friend. Thank you man.
See Ya!