My New Hall of Fame Showcase!

Hey guys, Drew back here! I'm very proud to congratulate four great players on their inductions into Cooperstown, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio! I originally predicted 3 of those 4 to make it in 2015 with Smoltz barely missing the cut this year but making it in within a year or two, but I'm so glad that wasn't the case. We just missed adding Mike Piazza as well, but it looks like next year he and Ken Griffey Jr. will look to share the spotlight.

Since most of the baseball world has been focused on the Hall of Fame vote these past few weeks, I had been preparing this post for a little while now once the voting had concluded. This Christmas I received a really cool baseball holder, and I decided to hang it on one of the few open spots on my wall and put all of my Hall of Fame signed baseballs inside. I kept most of my Yankees balls together with the exception of the HOF'ers, and while I was originally 3 baseballs shy of filling the case with Hall of Famers, with yesterday's induction that was slimmed down to 2. About a year and a half ago, I met John Smoltz at the East Coast National Show, and added a signed baseball to my collection in hopes that he would be enshrined one day, and yesterday I was able to put him into my ultimate pitching rotation that spans two rows (or 11 of 21 total balls) of the case.

Here is how the display currently looks as of January 2015! I look forward to replacing two of the balls with Hall of Famers, but do wish Fred McGriff and Vladimir Guerrero all the best in being one day inducted.

Row 1: Gaylord Perry, Ralph Kiner, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Vladimir Guerrero (non-HOF), Fred McGriff (non-HOF)

Row 2: Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford, Bob Feller, Steve Carlton, Warren Spahn

Row 3: Fergie Jenkins, Jim Palmer, John Smoltz, Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers

Row 4: Frank Thomas, Johnny Bench, Cal Ripken Jr.

Row 5: Yogi Berra

The lighting in the room seems to make most of the balls look more yellow than they actually are, but I've never been one to particularly care how worn the ball is as long as the signature is presentable. I never was interested in collecting signed baseballs but soon realized I couldn't have signed pictures of everyone because I didn't have enough space to present them all, so I took an alternative path and I now love to add baseballs of my favorite players and Hall of Famers. It will never quite compare to my good buddy William's insane 108 Hall of Famer deep baseball collection (please check this out if you want to be impressed), but I personally prefer to dabble all around the various highlights of our great hobby.

So what do you think? How do you all prefer to display your baseballs? Thank you to Mom and Dad for such a smart gift, it cleared a lot of space on my desk (for more baseballs)! Congrats again to all of the new members of Cooperstown's Finest, and for now, See Ya!

Very Belated Christmas Gifts!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Posts like these really make me feel pathetic. It's taken me over two months to show off some of what I got for Christmas. Oh well, check them out:

My dad treated me to a bunch of the cards at the local corner store that has sold me a few very nice cards in the past. I had eyed one of the cards they had there for a while, and sure enough Dad remembered it! But first, here's a nice Hunter Pence Bowman Chrome refractor autograph numbered out of 500! It's a gorgeous card and from what I remember, it was at a bargain price too! Pence is a solid player, and I remember having him on my fantasy team a few years ago.

Next was a Jorge Posada rookie card out of 1994 Bowman's Best! I have one of these, but can never have enough; the other sits in my Core Four rookie card display I have set up in my mancave. This is probably my favorite Posada card, so I'm glad I got to add another one to my collection. 

Here's a 1961 Topps Ron Fairly card, the only '61 Topps card I believe they had for sale. I've currently completed 52.5% of the 1961 set (including high #'s). I haven't focused on it at all lately, but I've been thinking about scrapping off the high numbers for the time being and just finishing the regular set. It would help me concentrate on it more, because knowing that a bunch of random cards are worth $30-40 at least has intimidated me. I love the set, and look forward to adding more to it in the future. 

Sticking with the vintage theme, here's a very nice 1968 Topps Bob Gibson! I've always been a fan of players who aren't afraid to leave their mark on the game, and Gibson was nothing short of scary throughout his career with the Cardinals. I love collecting Gibson cards; he's easily my favorite pitcher of yesteryear and I'm glad I didn't have this one yet!

We close with a few rookie cards of my all time favorite player, Derek Jeter! I needed both of these cards for my Jeter collection, and I think with these I now own close to/if not all of his regular issued rookies! First, here's the 1993 Bowman card, which is certainly one of the more underrated rookie cards of his. I've always slept on it and I'm glad Dad was able to wake me up and get it for me!

Easily the hardest card to scan of all time, here is the card I've had my eyes on for a few years now, the famous 1993 Upper Deck SP Jeter rookie! This is Jeter's most saught after rookie card, and even though I know of a few Jeter cards I like much more visually, this one strikes as gold just because of what it is! And finally, it is in my possession!

Thanks so much Dad for the awesome gifts! Merry Christmas to all of you! ;)

See Ya!

A Merry Feller Christmas!

Hey guys, Drew back here! First and foremost, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I was spoiled once again and had a great time with my family, and I hope you can all say the same. As always, William and I got each other presents for Christmas, and this year's was certainly a special one. Check it out:

William sent me this gorgeous JSA certified Bob Feller signed baseball, inscribed with his Hall of Fame year to boot! Feller was a hero on and off the field, and although this certainly isn't my first Feller autograph, it's now definitely one of my favorites. He and I are both big fans of Feller, especially after he had been so giving to both of us with through the mail requests. After looking at a lot of statistics and reading stories about his fantastic life, we came to a conclusion that he was one of the most underappreciated pitchers in the game's history! I'm really glad I was able to add him to my collection, and it being from William just makes it all the more special.

Thank you so much for the great gift William! Please, if you guys haven't given his blog, do yourself a favor and click this link. I'll be back here with more recent Christmas additions and TTM's shortly, but for now, See Ya!

Very Delayed Christmas Gifts from Dad!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! It's been just about the toughest week I've had in a long time, and it isn't even over yet. While I finished my midterms today, I have to prepare for the SAT tomorrow. Fortunately, there isn't an enormous amount of pressure considering this is my first crack at it, of the three opportunities you're given. I'm not too worried about it, but the last thing I need right now is another four or five hours of sitting at a desk in complete silence. Anyway, I am ridiculously behind on here. It's January 25th, and I have to show you stuff from exactly one month ago, which is pretty lame on my part. School comes first though, and while I've certainly upgraded my collection tremendously in the past month, I didn't find the time to show it off on here. Well, without any further delay, here's a look at what Dad bought for me this Christmas:

First off was this nice 2005 Donruss Champions Frank Robinson relic! I'm not quite sure what it is, but there is something very appealing about this card. It has a nice, glossy finish on it, and the black relic looks pretty cool. I know a few people who would love this in their collection, however I think I might hang on to it for now.

Dad occasionally has mentioned how he really enjoyed watching Dave Kingman, among others, when he was younger. I don't really know a whole lot about him, but I do know he was a great power hitter, and he stopped briefly during his career in New York. From doing a little research, I learned he is one of only a few players in history to play for 4 different teams in 1 season, which he did in 1977. He finished the season with the Yankees, but didn't get to play in October for the soon to be World Series team because he was added to the team past the deadline.

I'm pretty sure I've got two or three of this card now, however, I really do like the 2003 Yankees Signature Series set Upper Deck released. I've considered going for the set, even though there are a few huge roadblocks in the way (Brian Cashman's autograph sells for 3 figures, easily). If anybody wants this one, let me know. It'd be really cool if I could get a different player in the set for it, if anyone is up for that sort of trade!

 I've been a fan of Sparky Lyle's ever since I read his book, "The Bronx Zoo", a few years ago. I loved how open he was about some of the pranks he pulled! This won't be the last time Sparky is mentioned on this blog in the upcoming weeks (hint, hint)! He's got a real nice autograph, and even though I had a few certified autographs of his already, I didn't have this one yet!

Tommy John was a very good pitcher during his career, maybe not Hall of Fame worthy, but who even knows what that means anymore. I met Mr. John a few years back, and while he was friendly, it still kind of disappointed me how little attention he gave my friend Mike & I. He was signing 8x10s for the company in the midst of his autograph session, maybe because he had to leave early or something. I'm not upset about it, it just kind of lingers with me whenever I think about him. 

Those were all real nice, but this one took home the gold medal...

Out of 2005 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic, a Yogi Berra autograph! This card scanned terribly, but believe me it looks a heck of a lot better in person. Regardless, this is a beautiful card! Yogi, aside from Jeter, is my favorite living Yankee, so I'm always more than open to welcoming a new autograph of his to my collection! This is my 3rd Berra autograph in my collection, but hopefully I'll be able to add to that one day. It would mean the world if I got a chance to meet him, but that opportunity is looking real slim. The other day when he was honored at the B.A.T. dinner, Yogi didn't sound so good, basically repeating how much he loved baseball in a quiet, raspy voice, until his son Dale took over during the speech. Whether or not I'll ever get to shake his hand is one thing, but all I know for now is that it's smart to get some of his autographs, in case anything happens, because we all know ten years from now his autographs won't be as affordable.

Thank you so much Dad for all of the incredible cards! They'll fit in nicely to my ever growing collection! See Ya!

Merry Christmas Everyone! 3 Sweet Gifts to Share!

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!

Christmas Gift from Dad! Sweet Stuff!

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, it's becoming a tradition every year for Dad to go out of his way and go Craigslist crazy for my Christmas gift. He loves getting lots of cards and hoping for nice finds, which we certainly have found in the past, the best being a 1980 Rickey Henderson rookie card. This time, he got 4 sets, a 300ct box of Yankees, a few Hall of Famer autos, and a good 17 relics. I didn't wanna overload you guys on scans, so I made one of those video slideshows for the first time in a long time. Check it out!

I will show you scans of the two biggest cards in case you couldn't view the video. On top of the box were 2 Hall of Famer autographs, and they were of Orioles Great Jim Palmer and Dodgers Great Duke Snider! I got Snider TTM but this is a sweet addition to the Hall of Fame PC and I did need Palmer which was cool. Both were from the Nabisco All Stars set, which is a really cheap and affordable set for Hall of Fame autographs! Each card comes with a certificate of authenticity, and they display nice photography. I own the Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Duke Snider, Jim Palmer, Bob Gibson, and Catfish Hunter autos from this set now, and I don't know if I'm done yet!

Thanks so much Dad! See Ya!

Catching Up, Mail, & Other Forms of Card Related Material

Hey guys, Drew back here, and after a long and exhausting week of doctors appointments, after school activities (track), and tests galore I finally am done. Tomorrow is the big day, certainly can't wait to go meet Mr. Mattingly and spend over 100 bucks on packs and singles. Life is Good! Anyway, time to finish my catching up. I won a contest over at Baseball Card Stuff recently, unfortunately since he is a new blogger, I was the only person to enter. I wanted him to redo it and have me give him a shoutout but he said no, and he sent me the cards. Also, I still didn't post some of the singles dad got me for Christmas, there were some awesome ones. Lastly, since dad went down for a week in North Carolina for a family matter, one of his relatives gave me some old cards! All those groups I listed are in the video below, so watch it. NOW!!!

PLEASE CHECK OUT BASEBALL CARD STUFF!!!!!

Thanks again to all of you in that video. Next we have a couple cards I bought off Check Out My Cards, my second purchase off the site so far, and a third one is in the process. Yes, go to that website, but, please ask permission to buy Cano or Swisher cards for yourselves, :). Here's what I got (btw, I also purchased some cards for a few others, if you've seen some cards of mine on other blogs lately):

2009 Allen & Ginter Black Border Cano
This is a really nice card, and I'm making progress towards that 2009 Allen & Ginter rainbow, still need the mini, A&G Back, and no numbered card /99. Maybe that will change by the end of tomorrow.


2007 UD Masterpieces Yogi Berra/Jackie Robinson
Yes! This is the LAST card I need for the 2007 Masterpieces set! And what an awesome set this is! In my opinion the best designed card set of the 2000's, Allen & Ginter in second. And this is a cool card, even though Jackie really was out! Maybe some time I'll show off this set, like I did with the 08 Heroes set a while back! Remember that?


2008 Leaf Limited Joe Klecko Team Trademarks /999 Insert 2009 Donruss Gridiron Gear NFL Teams Joe Klecko Autograph /119
The 1st card is from a high end football set and isn't anything great, but it does have a good picture. Klecko was a former Pro Bowl defensive lineman, and was my dad's favorite player! When he came home from NC, he was surprised to see this! I love the autographed card because not only is it one of my fave sets over the years, but the Jets helmet is rubbery, so it's unique. Unfortunately it's a sticker auto, but I'll have to live with it.

Lastly on the agenda, some cards I got from Jeremy from "no one's going to read this blog", a very negative based title if you ask me, considering he has a good following. We recently completed a trade and shortly after I got my cards, another little package was waiting for me, and here are the goodies:

Group 1: Mixed Yanks/Jets
Some cool mixed cards from over the years, the Phil Hughes RC being my favorite, my 1st of that card. I also like those 2 Jets from Leaf Rookies and Stars 2008, very cool!


Group 2: Almost the entire 2009 Topps Updates & Highlights Yanks Team Set
I sure love the 2009 Topps base set, and I needed a good chunk of these! Sweet! I really like the Posada Season Highlights and the Mariano Rivera 500th Save card.

Group 3: Mark Teixeira Fun!
Other than the creepy "Game?Used Memorabilia" card of him and a Allen & Ginter game used from Ryan's Memorabilia, I don't have much of Teixeira. Well, until Jeremy sent me a Topps Updates & Highlights base card, the propaganda card, AND a gold card /2009! Cool.

2009 UD Rookie Premiere Shonn Greene RC
Simply. Awesome. Period. I love the photo on the card and it is I think my 4th or 5th Greene rookie. I'd like to add an auto to that list tomorrow.

Thanks Jeremy and everyone else in this long and dreary catching up post! See Ya! Wish me luck tomorrow!

Christmas Packs & Packs from the shop

Hey guys, Drew back here. For Christmas along with 3 boxes, I got vintage cards from Pop Popps, a lot of Yanks from Dad, a Topps football cereal box from my grandpa and grandma and a few packs. There were 2 seperate trips, dad got me a pack of 09 Sweet Spot (hobby), 08 Stadium Club (hobby) and a Goodwin Champions (hobby). I went to the card shop a few days later, and I figured since both were pack breaks I'd combine the video and post. I got a pack of 206, a pack of Unique, and a pack of SPX, plus one of those random 100 card lots that I got for 2 bucks. I know I should be saving money for the show but I wanted to get some 206 and Unique, and my airsoft gun has a crack in one spot and my dad wanted to see how to fix it while there. My card shop sells paintball, airsoft, and sports cards. Awesome. Anyway, here's a video recap of the cards, plus a picture of my new airsoft gun.

Here are the packs that are in this video:

- 1 Pack 09 Sweet Spot (hobby)
- 1 Pack 08 Stadium Club (hobby)
- 1 Pack 09 Goodwin Champions (hobby)
- 1 Pack 09 SP Authentic (retail)
- 1 Pack 09 Topps Updates & Highlights (retail)
- 1 Pack 09 Topps 206 (hobby)
- 1 Pack 09 Topps Unique (hobby)
- 1 Pack 09 UD SPX (hobby)
- 1 Cereal Box (50 Cards + 5 National Chicles) 09 Topps football
- 1 Lot of 100 Mixed Cards
- 1 Guarenteed Memorabilia Card Target Thing

Here we go! (it's in no particular order)

Awards

Hey guys, Drew back here. I hope you all enjoyed the holiday, it was so great for me. I got 3 boxes, 08 Donruss Threads, 09 UD Piece of History, and 09 Topps Chrome. I opened the Threads as you may have heard yesterday, and I got one heck of a sweet hit. I also opened the Piece of History, and other than one card that is definitely pretty awesome for my collection (doesn't book much though), it wasn't the greatest by any means. I am going to open the Chrome with my dad today, not expecting much hit wise but you never know. So just wanted to let you all know that, I also got 100 bucks from my grandparents, so now I am definitely going to that January show. And my Pop Popps gave me a sweet stack of 70's cards, including some of the best players that ever lived, cool stuff. Grandpa Roy is coming over today, so we're hoping to think up and write down some questions. We are planning on a weak next 2-3 months for the Grandpa Roy Column, until Spring Training starts.

So, for the awards, the last polls didn't go so well but I'll count them anyway, staying on track, the next 2 polls are going up today, so vote on them! They are the insert awards, what inserts did you enjoy the most?

Please vote for the awards if you haven't already, email me your picks for these awards to yanks1996wsc@gmail.com

Blog of the Year
Rookie Blogger of the Year
Blog Trader of the Year
Blog Box Breaker of the Year
Most Creative Blogger
Coolest Blog Design

and if you know YouTube, the same awards for blogs go for them. The nominees are here.

VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!

Merry Christmas to all!

Hey everyone, just wanted to wish you all a great holiday, although I'm assuming most of you are with family now so you won't be able to read it yet. I got my 1st airsoft gun with some video games, a PSP, some DVDs, some Yankees stuff, a box of 08 Donruss Threads, mixed Yanks from dad, and some packs, and MUCH MORE!!!! We opened the box of 08 Donruss Threads already and let me tell you it was awesome. But that's all I'm tellin ya, so stay tuned to see what my amazing Christmas present was! Plus some pictures of other things! After the awards, I'm going to catch up and start showing off mail, plus all these great gifts from the family!

But, if you are on the site now, VOTE FOR THE AWARDS TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST!!!!!

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Alright, so I'll see you all later and have a great holiday!

Drew