2012 East Coast National Recap! (Pt.1)

Hey guys, Drew back here! All summer, there are certain events I pinpoint as being the highlights of my summer. Sunday was one of those very days, as Dad and I geared up to make the trip over to White Plains, NY, for the East Coast National! As most of you know, we're common customers to JP's Sports autograph signings and card shows, and with a pretty solid lineup, we couldn't miss out on it. I met 6 players, which will be shown later this week, and bought a couple of nice cards, but for today, you guys will see the results of the few packs I opened at the show (hint: I didn't do too badly!). Here we go!

2012 Topps Archives (1 Pack):

- Nyjer Morgan

- David Ortiz

- Josh Hamilton

- Jon Lester Gold Parallel

- Andy Van Slyke

- Starlin Castro

- Jose Valverde

- Clay Buchholz 

If I didn't get the Hamilton card I wouldn't have been very happy at all with this pack. Every card besides it is for trade.

2011 Bowman Chrome (1 Pack): 

- Chase Utley

- Dillon Gee RC

- Michael Blanke

- Dickie Joe Thon

I'm not quite sure why I bought a $7 pack that only held 4 cards in it. I was feeling good, so I thought maybe a sweet auto would be coming, but well, the results of this pack gave me a pretty solid reality check. 

2011 Allen & Ginter (1 Pack):

- Brandon Belt RC

- Daniel Descalso RC

- Peter Bourjos

- Tim Lincecum

- Miguel Tejada

- CJ Wilson

- Jonathan Sanchez Black Bordered Mini

- Roy Halladay Hometown Heroes

I wasn't paying attention when looking for these packs, and instead of grabbing a pack of the new Ginter, I got some of the old, boring, last year Ginter. I believe I have the set, so these are for trade too. 

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen (2 Packs):

- Casey Kotchman

- Ryan Dempster

- Heath Bell

- Jhoulys Chacin

- Jimmy Rollins

- Ryan Braun

- Troy Tulowitzki

- Roy Halladay

- Willie Mays

- Bob Gibson

- Ty Cobb

- Geovany Soto

- Scott Rolen

- Trevor Cahill

- Jemile Weeks

- Angel Pagan

- Carlos Ruiz Gypsy Back Mini

- Willie Mays Moonshots Insert

- Matt Garza Mini

I love the look of this year's Gypsy Queen, and by far these were my favorites of the packs. The mix of older and newer players makes for a really strong checklist, and it's fun pulling cards of people I actually know (unlike Dickie Joe Thon)! But, I did say earlier that I did pretty well overall, and well, one card in the Gypsy Queen pack just about made up for the cost of the packs....

I saw blue when I opened the pack, and I suddenly thought it could be Griffey or Koufax or Darvish or just something beyond incredible. It wasn't at THAT high of a level, but I'll take a Gypsy Queen Eric Hosmer on card auto any day! Hosmer is having a sophomore slump type season, but I think he's got enough potential to be a star for the next decade or so! I redeemed this when I got home, and unfortunately, the Estimated Shipping date was around the beginning of December. A long wait, but I believe it will be well worth it. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the recap! See Ya!

March 24th White Plains Card Show Recap! Yankee Prospect Auto!

Hey guys, Drew back here! This is a bit of a quick post, especially since it's been so difficult to post on school nights, but I did want to share my final card I bought at the show, before I get into who I met and my experiences with them! I paid a decent amount of money for this card, but hopefully it will be well worth it in a few years. Take a look:

Out of 2011 Bowman Chrome, I picked up this beautiful Manny Banuelos chrome rookie autograph! I got a fairly solid deal on the card, and I've been meaning to add his autograph to my collection. Banuelos is the Yankees current top pitching prospect, and is the 13th best prospect in all of baseball according to the Scouting Book. He isn't a big guy by any means, but his fastball has consistently been at 93-94 mph while he has the ability to hit 97 as well. He may not be a household name for a few years, but with risk comes reward, and I was more than willing to take a chance on this guy for my Yankees collection.

What do you guys think of Banuelos? Good/Bad Buy as of Now? It won't offend me one bit if you disagree!

See Ya!