Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Most Recent Package from William!

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!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Some Unexpected Amazing Pickups from Dad!

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!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Mail from Ryan!

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!

Monday, October 17, 2011

TTM #78- Yankee Legend!

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!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

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


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!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

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

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!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

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

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!

Monday, October 10, 2011

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

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!

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

See Ya!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

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

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!