Thursday, December 31, 2015

drewscards 2015 Year in Review

Hey everyone, this is Drew back here with you for one last time this year. Today marks the end of one of the craziest years of my life. After a seamless conclusion to high school, the transition to college was rocky and resulted with me transferring schools to come back home. I got out of what once was a really healthy relationship that was affected severely by the changes that took place. I started working at a local Dick's Sporting Goods store and made some really great friends in the process. And I am currently preparing to leave the country next month and explore Europe as part of my journey to start a newer, fresher beginning.

With all of these changes, I had to choose whether to keep this blog going or to let it fade away with the rest of my childhood. I remember saying last year when Derek Jeter retired that it was the final straw for me to grow up and become an adult. I've been starting to take my writing more seriously, as you saw all of last year through my occasional "Ten for Tuesday" ranking posts and my frequent opinions on trades, teams, and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some of the articles you saw towards the end of the year were even published in my school's online newspaper. I plan to use my passion for not just this hobby but for the game of baseball itself to hopefully land an internship next year, and maybe a job down the line. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that I'm the type of person that would prefer to love what I do more than love the benefits of doing something I don't enjoy.

So, the blog continues into 2016, but I decided to brush away the rust and create something new for you all. With that in mind, I'd like to formally welcome you all to "Drew's Hot Corner". Same author, same style, but I would like to think it feels more "grown-up". One of my biggest goals in 2016 (I'll get into this more tomorrow) is to shed away the skin of the 12 year old I was when I began this endeavor and give you all a more mature representation of who I am today. I'll continue to show you all how my card and memorabilia collections grow over time, but a lot of what you'll see from here on will have to do with my thoughts on the sport itself. I'll occasionally branch into football, basketball, TV, music, or really whatever else I feel like writing, but baseball is and will always be the concentration.

I chose third base because it was the position I enjoyed playing the most in the decade I participated in baseball. I've always had the most respect for players that are capable of making the long throw to first and have unquestionably quick reflexes. Maybe had I caught during my career, this blog would be "Behind the Plate". But I think this serves me best. Evan Longoria and David Wright were my favorite players to emulate when playing third, so they accompany all time greats Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt on the updated logo. I hope you all have found this post well, because I did purchase a domain through Blogger. We have moved from www.drewsbbcards.blogspot.com to www.drewshotcorner.com.

But before the Hot Corner begins to spark, let's take a journey into what 2015 brought into my life.

January

I was blessed with a Nick Offerman through the mail success.



Cubs prolific slugger and a personal favorite of mine, Ernie Banks, passed away.


- Dad and I met Tino MartinezDon Larsen, among other Yankee greats at MAB's Pinstripe Pandemonium (and Frankie!)


March





April



May



June







July



- My birthday brought two new signed baseballs into my collection (Panik / Brooks)


August









September



October







November

- I shared the articles I wrote for my school's newspaper: "Five Ways the Yankees Can Claim Back New York" and "A Letter to the Hall of Fame".


December









Thank you to each and every one of you that helped make this year as great as it possibly could get. I'm fortunate to live a wonderful life with amazing influences, friends, and family, and I want it to be clear just how blessed I know I am. I hope I can continue to use all that I have to make a considerable impact on all of your lives much like you have mine. 

Thank you to every single reader out there. Even if you just take the time to click my link, it allows me to continue to bring material out for you. 2015 was an enormous comeback year on the blog for me, and I hope to ride out this hot streak well into 2016 and beyond.

Until next year, so long, and goodbye. Rest in peace, drewscards. It was fun.

2 comments:

  1. The new site looks great Drew! You had a great year! Love it! Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am new to weblog and definitely liked this blog site. Very likely I’m going to bookmark your blog . You absolutely have wonderful stories. Thanks See more

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear what you thought about this post! Please feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you!