A Sigh of Relief from Spring Training!

Hey guys, Drew back here! After a bit of a delay, Spring Training got a little bit better for me. I received two TTM successes on Monday, both from two above average relief pitchers; the first of which used to play for my favorite team!

Boone Logan: 2/2 in 37 Days (Received March 16th)

I just recently chose Logan as my left handed specialist in my All Yankees team bullpen, and it was ironic that these came back the day after I published my choices for the pitching staff. Boone was a huge part of our bullpen success for 4 years before he fled for the Rockies last year. He was originally part of a trade that sent Javier Vazquez to the Yankees for his second stint and Melky Cabrera to the Braves. Little did we know, Logan would be the more important piece of the deal than Vazquez. 

Boone signed 2 2014 Topps cards for my collection, one from Series 1 and the other from the Update Series. The Update Series card is one of the red parallels, which I pulled from a blaster box last Christmas. Both cards came out great signed in blue sharpie!

Koji Uehara: 2/2 in 328 Days (Received March 16th) 

If you've been really paying attention (it's okay, I don't expect you to), you may remember I mentioned getting an RTS already this Spring from Koji. I sent to the wrong Red Sox address, which appeared to be an issue for several forum members I know of. This success was from a request I sent last year to the right address, one that I had already written off. The moral of the story is to never write off any of your TTM requests. He was becoming my TTM White Whale, because I believe I sent to him three times without a success. Anyone who knows about through the mail successes in baseball know that Uehara has been one of the most consistent signers in the game for years.

Finally, I have my 2009 Topps and 2011 Topps signed nicely in blue with his number inscribed! From what I've seen, he signs his full name on certified autographs, rather than just the first name he exhibits on his TTM signatures, but that's perfectly okay with me. Uehara has been one of the better closers in baseball for the Red Sox, which is impressive considering he started his MLB career at the age of 34. Last season he was named to the All Star Team, finishing the season 6-5 with a 2.52 ERA and 26 saves. I may end up targeting him in my fantasy baseball draft tonight; who knows.

I was recently able to create a page on my blog that links directly to a Flickr account I've set up. Flickr seems to be a great service for uploading pictures, offering 1 TB of free space that I've barely even used so far. If you would like to check out some galleries of signed baseball cards, football cards, baseball pictures, signed baseballs, you name it; give it a look! 

Thanks Boone and Koji! See Ya!

Dad Strikes Again (Show Recap Part IV)

Hey guys, Drew back here. I've been pretty busy lately, but I'm back, with Part 4 of the show recap, the one where dad buys everything in. Take a look!

PART 4:
DAD ATTACK

So, while I bought my things and waited in line, dad bought quite a bit of stuff. He requested a copy of my wantlist and really helped do some damage to it. Check out his set list attack:

First of all, the rest of the 2010 Allen & Ginter set, except 1 card. He accidentally missed card #75, so we need that. This isn't all though, I'm expecting a few more needed cards in some trades coming up. But, yeah, a ton of the cards I needed for Allen & Ginter, which isn't as nice as 2009 but is still great nonetheless.

Also, he knocked off a majority of the 2010 Topps Series 2 Legendary Lineage cards. I really like the looks of these, and they look awesome side by side.

Also, he raided the .10 cent bin, and found a nice lot of Yankees goodies, including 4 Bernie Williams rookies, and a Marcus Thames rookie, which I needed for my Yankees rookie card collection. Nice!

A sweet chrome card from 2010 Topps Heritage of Mariano, numbered 1227/1961.

And a ton of other rookies, including:
- 1984 Fleer Don Mattingly
- 2000 Bowman Chrome Adrian Gonzalez
- 2001 Topps Justin Morneau
- 2003 Bowman Chrome Sergio Mitre
- 2006 Bowman Chrome Jeremy Hellickson
- 2007 UD SP Rookie Edition Tim Lincecum
- 2007 Bowman Tim Lincecum
- 2007 Bowman Phil Hughes
- 2008 Donruss EEE College Ties David Price/Brett Jacobsen /1500
- 2009 Topps Magic Mark Sanchez
- 2010 Bowman Gold Austin Jackson

A really sweet lot! My favorite is the Hellickson, then probably the Rookie Edition Lincecum, but they're all awesome.

Then onto some hits!

2009 Sweet Spot Josh Hamilton Jersey

Josh Hamilton has evolved into one of my favorite players in baseball, because I like how he got through all his troubles and became an MVP candidate this year. I loved his display at the Home Run Derby a few years ago, oh, and did I mention he was on the Renegades, my minor league team? I may start a small collection of Josh, so be on the lookout for a future announcement regarding that.

2007 Topps Joe Mauer Bat Card

Well played, Mauer. A very nice bat chip of former MVP Joe Mauer, another non-Yankee favorite of mine. I've always respected Joe and he seems like a cool guy, plus he's a great batting average hitting catcher, something we don't see often.

2007 Topps Ryan Howard All Star Jersey

ANOTHER one of my favorite non-Yankees, Ryan Howard. Ryan has had a nice little career so far and I really like this card. Except it says patch for the whole set, which isn't right. Plus, black jerseys are cooler than white/gray jerseys, more unique.

2010 Donruss Elite Santonio Holmes Jersey /135

Another awesome card, haven't gotten much 2010 football cards yet, so this is a nice start. Also, it's a black jersey again, which is awesome too, and it's numbered relatively low. Santonio is gonna be a monster once he gets out of his 4 game suspension, and the Jets are going to need him down the stretch.

2010 Topps Heritage Evan Longoria Bat Relic

Look who decided to show up again? It's Mr. Longoria and he found his hat it looks like, which is good. Here's a nice little sliver of his bat for you, a very nice card indeed. I like these relics, even though this is probably one of the top 3 cards in the set, which isn't really impressive.

2010 Upper Deck Mariano Rivera Jersey Relic

This is a card I've bookmarked before, because it's so nice! And now it's mine, honestly, I think it may be my 1st Mariano Rivera jersey card, which is kinda unimpressive. Mariano is a legend, and I really really like him, he seems like he could be any man's best friend. And 500+ saves? 1st ballot Hall of Famer all the way. Cool Card!

2006 UD Future Stars Boone Logan Auto

Well, Boone has emerged as a top reliever for the Yankees this year, after starting off slow. He came back however, and replaced Marte as the left handed specialist. It's nice to have his auto, and it's a RC auto so I guess I can count it in the RC PC too.

2005 Bowman's Best Michael Bourn RC Auto /974

This guy is becoming a pretty good player, and I like him. He steals a lot of bases, doesn't do much else, but he's fast, and I like speed a lot. No, not the drug, fastness, running hard, that stuff. 44 steals so far, nice!

Thanks so much dad! You da man! See Ya!