Didi Gregorius Mailday!

Hey guys, Drew back here! To keep things fresh from my recent Luis Severino splurge, I decided to add a few autographs of the Yankees shortstop of the future, Didi Gregorius. 

I wasn't exactly blown away when they initally dealt for the struggling young middle infielder, but I was willing to give him the chance to shine under the bright lights. It took a while for him to get going, after all, he was filling Derek Jeter's shoes. Once he got it all together, he emerged as a Gold Glove front runner with the capability of collecting some clutch hits towards the bottom of the lineup.

Many feel that Didi deserved the AL Gold Glove over the Royals' Alcides Escobar, but just the fact that he was considered makes Cashman look brilliant for the deal. Shane Greene was the only player the Yankees served up for his services, who, after a terrific start; finished with an ERA almost eclipsing 7.00 for the Tigers. 

Now that the Yankees seem to feel comfortable with him in the fold for years to come, I felt like I needed to give him a little more hobby love. His autographs are affordable for now, and the only one I had prior to these was a TTM I got when he was with the Diamondbacks.

The first card I bought was out of 2015 Topps Triple Threads, and is the green parallel autographed relic numbered to 50. The choice to use red ink is a little strange, and makes the card almost feel Christmas themed. However, with a gorgeous thick blue pinstripe across the relic and the low serial numbering, this was a card worth investing in. I remember when Robinson Cano was starting to come into his own and I bought a similar Triple Threads style card of his for about $20. Before Robby left for Seattle, that card was worth much more.

The other pickup of Didi's I made was out of 2015 Topps Five Star. I absolutely love the fresh look Five Star has delivered to collectors the past few years. It is becoming one of my most anticipated releases Topps makes. I got a steal on this on card beauty, only paying $7 shipped on eBay!

I'm excited to see what Gregorius will bring to the table in 2016. If it's anything like his second half performance this past year, I feel like we will all be extremely satisfied.

See Ya!

From Michael to Giancarlo

Hey guys, Drew back here! There is now only 1 more day left for you to sign up for my Victory Fine Art giveaway! I am looking forward to giving away any print of your choice, and would love to see some more entries if at all possible.

If there's one thing I can be especially proud of myself for recently as far as the hobby is concerned; it's my new expansion onto eBay. I have been a constant buyer off the 'bay for as long as I've been collecting, but I had never used it to sell anything... until this fall. They recently had a promotion where you could list up to 1,000 items for free (which, of course, just started up again if you're interested), and I decided to take advantage of not paying listing fees, which has always been my biggest turn-off to the site.

I always preferred the system Check Out My Collectibles uses, where the fee is small and the items are held for as long as you would like, only with a small additional monthly fee for keeping your inventory on the site. I still like that system better, but I can't lie; it's been pretty stale lately. I've had trouble selling cards on there ever since my initial boom, and now I just have a collection of unwanted cards in my inventory.

So with eBay, I decided to flip some cards I wasn't interested in anymore and upgrading some of my favorite autographs. This was perhaps my biggest "hit", outside of some higher end Severino cards I've been showing off this month:

I've had a 2011 Topps Tribute "Mike" Stanton autograph sitting in my autograph box for some time, but I wasn't a huge fan of the card. First, there's that annoying nitpicky feeling that his name has since been formally changed to Giancarlo in that time, so it always bothered me to see the wrong name on the card. Second, the design and photo really didn't do much justice to just how powerful this man is.

So, I sold that card for about $30, and spent about $25 additionally to give Miami's mega millionaire the respect he deserves. Injuries have hampered his young career, yet he still has managed to crush 181 career home runs at the ripe age of 25. I picked him to win the 2015 NL MVP (with Harper as a Dark Horse), and he only played in 74 games. The Marlins were a disaster after I selected them as a surprise Wild Card team, which wound up being my most embarrassing preseason pick. However, going into 2016, Stanton should be healthy and one of my all time favorite players is now at the helm in Don Mattingly, rather than their former GM Dan Jennings. I'll learn my lesson and keep them from the playoffs next year, but I do think the team has some bright talent that could surprise some people down the line (especially if this guy can stay on the field).

The card I added was the gorgeous jumbo patch autograph numbered to just 35 copies out of 2014 Topps Five Star, one of my all time favorite Topps brands. It has a certain elegance to it, however at the same time Stanton looks like a Roman warrior carved in stone. I couldn't be happier with this pickup of one of my favorite players I've ever gotten to watch!

If you haven't tried selling on eBay before, I do recommend it, especially for smaller items like cards. It's an easier process than you would think, and as long as you stay on top of things and learn some basic selling strategies I'm sure you can easily make some great collection upgrades too!

Enter the contest!

See Ya!

I've Hit a Gold Mine on eBay!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! I can not even begin to explain how busy the past few weeks have been, but it's safe to say I haven't had as much time for blogging as I have in recent months. However, I have been adding some pretty nice stuff to my collection again, as I recently got a job and now I haven't been feeling as uptight with my money. One of my favorite cards I've added recently is something I know several of my readers will be jealous of.

Out of 2013 Topps Five Star, my first autograph of Diamondbacks young superstar Paul Goldschmidt. I had the pleasure of seeing "Goldy" play in person last year when my family went to AT&T Park in San Francisco, and his talent was as advertised. He doubled in his first at bat and was a dangerous bat all day long for the Giants. Goldschmidt was having a great, possible MVP season in 2014 until it was cut short two months early when he broke his hand. However, he is back in business in 2015, and has already shown signs of getting right back to where he was. Playing in Arizona has made him one of the more underrated stars in today's game, and that's really too bad. If he was a Yankee, he would have come home with some nice hardware in his trophy case already, and probably would be much more popular than he has been. Regardless, he will continue to be a five tool talent for a struggling Diamondbacks franchise that hopes to overcome several difficult seasons in 2015 and beyond. 

I picked up this card for about $15 on eBay, which I considered fair since his autograph prices have slightly risen and for the caliber of the card itself. This is my first Five Star autograph in my collection, and simply put, wow. I can see why people love this product. The card is on extremely thick stock, but it almost gives it extra elegance that make it stand out. 

I hope to see a whole lot of Goldschmidt in the highlight reels this year and in the future. At the age of 27, he is entering what is usually a hitter's "prime years", and if he can build off some of his already incredible seasons, that would be quite the accomplishment.

See Ya!