Christmas Gifts in February: Andrew's Edition

Hey everyone, Drew back here. Alright, so maybe the comeback was a little bit of a tease. What more could you have expected from perhaps the most consistently inconsistent blogger in the community? 

Anyway, I'm going to at least shoot for one post a week, and this week I'm going to start catching up on some of the mail I've received from some of my friends. We begin with a Christmas gift I received from Andrew, of the now pretty much extinct Everyday Holliday blog. Andrew is finishing up high school now and; while he's still involved heavily through his Instagram (@everyday_holliday7), he's seemed to move away from the blogs. If he ever does make his way back here like I did, he would most certainly be welcomed back.

His package contained a bunch of various odds and ends I really didn't expect. To begin, here were a couple really nice parallels of some of the Yankees high end pitching prospects. 

Domingo Acevedo put together a strong 2016 season and fits the mold of "tall Yankees right hander who throws gas" (a la Dellin Betances). It will be interesting to see if he can string together another excellent year; because if it weren't for the year Chance Adams had (not to mention all the new young acquisitions), he would be all the talk. 

Speaking of which, Justus Sheffield was acquired from the Indians last July in the Andrew Miller deal. The lefty found success in his brief stint for the Yankees following the trade, and projects as our second best pitching prospect behind James Kaprielian.

Tyler Wade is going to have to work really hard if he wants to play for the Yankees going forward. Wade does a lot of things well, but nothing exceptionally. He currently ranks as our tenth best prospect according to River Ave Blues, but with Didi Gregorius, Gleyber Torres, and Jorge Mateo also listed under shortstop on the organizational depth chart, he may need to find a new position. Last fall, he tried playing outfield in the Arizona Fall League, which could open up an opportunity for him to supplant Ronald Torreyes or Rob Refsnyder as the utility man in the long run.

Wade was certainly one of the top Yankees prospects I needed a refractor autograph of for my collection, and Andrew was able to knock him off my list as my main gift. However, he went overboard and spoiled me with some other stuff...

Ah, arguably the Yankees two best pitchers, Masahiro Tanaka and Aroldis Chapman. You can definitely add Dellin Betances in this upper tier, but after that there are endless questions about the rest of the pitching staff. Can Michael Pineda be a little consistent? Can CC Sabathia repeat his bounceback year? And most importantly, is Luis Severino more of the 2015 or 2016 version? These questions are paramount to the team's success this year and to the future teams.

I absolutely love the Gypsy Queen relic of Tanaka. The card design just works for me. Also, the Chapman relic is an instance where a gray relic actually looks good aesthetically!

Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Why are there Matt Holliday cards in a package from "Everyday Holliday"? Well, Andrew is a Cardinals fan and had two PC's: Matt Holliday and Aroldis Chapman. And as of now, both of those players are now on the Yankees roster, which is not exactly something he was envisioning. So, he's decided to cut bait with some of the lower end cards of those collections (hence the Chapman above, as well as the next few Holliday's).

2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History was one of the first products I really got into when I took the next step in my early collecting years. Holliday was a heck of a player in his Rockies days.

In a deal Andrew and I made early last summer, I sent him a parallel of this autograph from 2007 Bowman's Best. Now, I've got the base version of that card back in my collection. In 2007, Holliday batted .340 with 36 home runs and 137 RBI's. If he can do half of that pinstripes, I'd be satisfied.

I actually knew I was getting this card, because I bought it off of him before he mailed out my Christmas gift. I really am not a fan of sticker autographs at this point, but most of Holliday's affordable autographs are on sticker. He really doesn't sign much, actually. I love this card from 2008 Topps Triple Threads, one of the first high end products I remember watching box breaks for. This one is numbered 5/18.

Lastly, Andrew threw in an autograph of the aforementioned Severino and a really nice Joe Panik out of Topps High Tek numbered to 99. I probably am of the minority when it comes to Topps High Tek: I'm not really much of a fan in most cases. I think the clear acetate style cards are sort of a gimmick, and my opinion varies from a card to card basis. I won't even try to figure out what version the Panik is, but it is a good looking card and I appreciate the kind gesture!

Andrew is a heck of a good dude, and I think more people need to know that. If you have an Instagram, be sure to check out his if you haven't already. Thanks for the awesome stuff!

All Star Stitches

Relics don't really have the same appeal they once did to me. There have been so many controversies in regards to where the "game used material" comes from to the point where I'm generally driven away from buying them. I'm even at the point where I'd rather add a colorful parallel of a player I collect over having a piece of their bathroom towel or socks or whatever Topps and Panini are using.

One of the best relic sets every year to me is the All Star cards in Topps' annual Update Series. I like some diversity in my player collections, and typically most of the jersey swatches placed on their cards look pretty similar. But the All Star ones can be bright and on the complete opposite end of the color spectrum from what they typically don throughout the course of the regular season. I recently added two cards of this nature, the first on Check Out My Collectibles and the second from eBay.

2013 Topps Update Prince Fielder All Star Stitches

I've had a few of these cards on my want list ever since they came out in 2013. I was lucky enough to attend that year's Home Run Derby and watch my favorite sluggers duke it out in Citi Field. Prince Fielder was a favorite to win, and was one of my favorite players at the time (still very much up there). He didn't make it as far into the competition as we hoped, but the power display Yoenis Cespedes provided Queens that night was enough to make up for it. It's pretty cool in retrospect to think that just two years later Cespedes helped lead the Mets to the World Series.

I highly doubt this was the jersey Fielder wore during the Derby, but it's close as it's going to get for me. That was one of the best days of my life, and I'm glad I have another token to remember it by. This cost me maybe $2.

2015 Topps Update Joe Panik All Star Stitches

It's hard to believe that a player can make such a quiet splash into the league. Joe Panik helped lead the Giants to an unforgettable World Series victory in his rookie year, and followed up by making the All Star team the next season. I hope this is the first of many for Joe, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was. I talk him up a great deal because we rarely get major league quality talent in my neck of the woods, but he really is evolving into one of the best second basemen in the National League. If he can put together a full, healthy season, I feel like he can bring in some hardware.

Most fans don't get much out of the All Star Game, and I understand why. The game means too much for the World Series but usually isn't as thrilling as the stakes would entail. On top of it all, interleague play is so common that it's not as exciting to see these players face off. I still enjoy seeing the players I've admired for years honored annually, and I hope that feeling stays with me for a while. 

Pieces to the Panik Puzzle

I'm beginning to notice a trend with my two main player collections. Whenever I type "Joe Panik" into eBay, I typically sift out all of the parallels and focus primarily on autographs and relics. Meanwhile, I'm collecting any licensed cards I can find of Severino. I've made an effort to add some of his lower numbered parallels when products first hit eBay, because they wind up costing much less if you buy them early. I was a little late to collecting Panik, and he was a part of just about every set Topps released last year. In an effort to make up for time lost, I've been grabbing some of his higher end cards and waiting to fill in the remaining cracks later. Here are two recent examples of such:

2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autograph RC

I've wanted this card for over a year now, and I finally made it mine after Frankie's amazing Christmas gift allowed me to sell my Bowman Panik base autograph. I simply don't have the budget to have multiples of higher end issues, so it made much more sense to sell my duplicate and replace it with a card I needed. I believe the base version of this Heritage card is considered Panik's official "rookie card", although that whole concept is extremely tough to comprehend these days. Heritage is one of my favorite Topps products, and the 1965 set the design is based on may just be my all time favorite card design. This pickup was as much of a win-win scenario as it gets.

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Autograph

Allen & Ginter has worn out its welcome. I remember being so excited to buy a hobby box every year of it, but now I only seek out singles of my team and player collections. I always enjoyed doing the annual Gint-A-Cuffs contest within the community, but the product felt so recycled that my ambition drew thin. I'll grab some of the obscure cards and try to get them signed TTM. But the excitement A&G once brought feels like its worn away. Then again, my box breaking days are just about behind me. I've taken too much interest in collecting specifics and liquifying my collection that it simply does not make sense to budget my collection around ripping wax. Stadium Club was the lone exception to this position I've taken, and that was courtesy of my Dad and undoubtedly the product of the year in 2015.

Regardless, I got a steal for a deal on this framed autograph and it looks awfully nice to me. I know if I pulled this card, I'd be satisfied, but there are very few names in the checklist I would've been happy with. I guess that's just part of what comes with getting older and taking a budget seriously.

Where do you all stand as far as buying and breaking boxes of cards go? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below! And please, keep spreading the word about the new site if it all possible. I appreciate every last bit of your help!

Joe Panik Mailday: Topps Supreme

Hey everyone, Drew back here! My eBay streak has began to subside, as a majority of my budget is beginning to go towards Christmas shopping along with a card show this Saturday. However, I did manage to grab two more Joe Panik autographs from a set I've been anxious to see in person. 2015 Topps Supreme does something I've never seen the company do this well before: layering.

You can probably tell from the scan that the blue border surrounding Panik is indented into the card below the main frame. This element creates an elegance about the cards, and really looks fantastic. The border colors coincide with the parallel and serial numbering as Topps typically does, and I have to believe when the player's uniform colors line up with the parallel color it must make for a gorgeous card (case in point).

I was able to find both of his "base" autos from the set for under $20 combined. They became my 7th and 8th Panik autographs, but certainly will not be the last ones. Topps has pumped out autographs of his all year, and I look forward to snatching up more of them as time goes by.

What are your thoughts on 2015 Supreme? See Ya!

Belated Birthday Mail from Andrew!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! I arrived home from school earlier this week to find a long awaited package from my great friend Andrew (Everyday Holliday). He had sent me a birthday gift in the mail during the summer that wound up getting lost in the mail unfortunately, especially since he drew me a picture of Derek Jeter along with the gift. I was disappointed by the news, but later he messaged me again saying he got me another gift to make up for it.

Sure enough, he wasn't lying, and I opened up the bubble mailer to find not one, but two autographs I needed of one of my main personal collections:

I have slowed down with my Joe Panik collection in light of my recent Luis Severino surge, but he is still one of my primary focuses at the moment. The great thing about this hobby is that you can really allot your time and effort to different collections, especially with the help of generous friends like Andrew. The card on the left is out of this year's flagship set, while the opposite card is from 2015 Topps Tier One and is serial numbered 84/399. He was in many of the Topps issues in 2015, so I have a lot of catching up to do when I do turn my focus back to the young star.

Panik had a solid 2015, although it didn't end as well as it began. He faced a lingering back injury that limited him to just 100 games with the Giants, but he performed well while healthy. I would consider the year an overwhelming success because he landed a place on the National League All Star team for the first of hopefully many times to come. Even if his career doesn't pan out from this point forward, he can still say he is a World Series Champion and former All Star. Not bad.

Thank you so much Andrew for going so far out of your way to make my birthday even more special. The cards mean a lot, but the generosity is what I really appreciated over anything else.

See Ya!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hey guys, Drew back here! My own annual holiday is tomorrow, and as always I like to buy myself one nice piece for my collection in celebration. I recently set up a PayPal and eBay account of my own so that I no longer have to bother my Mom with any of my hobbies, and sold some things in order to collect enough money to get something I really wanted. In addition, I was emailed a $15 off coupon ($25 or more) from eBay to use on my first purchase with my account, and I was sure to take advantage of that excellent opportunity to reap the benefits of having my own accounts (finally). Here's what recently arrived in my mailbox in honor of turning 19 for the first and last time:

This year, I bought a 2014 World Series baseball signed by my favorite current player and main PC, Joe Panik! With his autograph prices rising constantly on cardboard, I haven't been able to add to this collection as much as I would like, outside of one certified autograph I bought several years ago and a few TTM successes. The ball is PSA/DNA certified, and is the first unique signed baseball I've had the privilege of owning. Panik inscribed his number 12, and I debated whether to spend double the price to get a "World Series Champs" inscription, but chose to go simply with his name and number.

Panik has been as impressive as one young second baseman could be in not even one full 162 game season into his career. He helped his team get to and win last year's Fall Classic, and pounded the "Sophomore Slump" myth into the ground with a first half that awarded him a spot on the National League All Star team. I couldn't be happier for Hopewell's very own as he is batting .316 on the year and is on pace for close to 200 hits.

See Ya!

Joe Panik PC Pickups from JustCommons!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! About two or three weeks ago, I made my first purchase on JustCommons.com. As many of you may know, I am a big fan of COMC.com, and I even have a store on their site (shameless plug, couldn't help it). However, I've since learned that ordering base cards tends to add up quickly on COMC, and that I could find cheaper base cards on other sites. I have heard a lot of people talk up this site, and decided to give it a shot. For about $15, I was able to acquire cards of all of my PC players, as well as some set needs and much more. The purchase netted me with 7 new Joe Panik cards, which is the subject of today's post.

I finally got a hold of Panik's first Bowman card, from the 2011 Draft Picks & Prospects set. Joe started the season struggling at the plate, but he's been picking up for that over the past week. He is now batting .281 this season with 3 RBI.

From everything I've seen of Joe's past performances, his speciality seems to lie on the defensive side of the ball. He obviously made a fantastic diving stop in the World Series to start what would be a double play after it was reviewed, but he's frequently known to flash the leather and it's impressive to watch! He appears to be a pretty one dimensional threat at the plate, but is a pretty good contact hitter at that. Panik doesn't appear to have much pop in his bat, but as long as he can get hits he'll have a spot in a lineup for years to come.

Panik's 2014 Topps Heritage High Number card is his official rookie card, whereas all of the previous cards are considered prospect editions. It is my favorite card of his that has come out so far, and I would love to get my hands on one of the autographed copies. This will certainly do for now.

Finally, we have his first card of 2015, out of Topps Heritage once again. I can't wait to see his flagship debut that hopefully will be in Series 2, because this card doesn't do much for me. It is nice to have a card of Joe in his home San Francisco uniform rather than in batting practice or minor league jerseys!

With these 7 pickups, I now own 11 unique cards of Joe's in my collection. If you have any cards of his for trade, take a look at my checklist and feel free to email me at yanks1996wsc@gmail.com!

See Ya!

COMC Pickups: Nate 'The Great' & Don't Panik!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! I've been busy lately wrapping up my Spring Training TTM's and attempting to get the giveaway packages lately, but I've still been getting some new stuff in. I ordered a few cards off of COMC.com with a few bucks I made selling, mostly to send out to players for Spring Training (link to my store if any of you are interested). I did purchase two cards for my actual collection though, one of a new Yankee pitcher and another of my newest PC player!

I first added this really stunning autograph card out of 2013 Topps Museum Collection of new Yankees pitcher Nate Eovaldi! I really liked their move for Nate this offseason despite losing Martin Prado, because no young, live arm should be counted out regardless of how they start their careers. Larry Rothschild has done an excellent job through his 4 years in New York as pitching coach, and last year he looked especially good for how he transformed now Dodger Brandon McCarthy. I hope he can do the same with Eovaldi, because having a trio of him, Tanaka, and Pineda could turn out to be lethal a few years from now (or could be a complete disaster but I'm trying to think positively). This one is signed on card and is numbered out of 699, and is my first autograph of his in my collection. And no, he is nowhere near "Great" yet, I just suck at coming up with post titles.

I was also able to add this pretty cool 2013 Bowman Chrome mini "Blue Wave" refractor card of Giants second baseman Joe Panik. I decided to start collecting Panik after he helped lead the Giants to the World Series in his rookie season. As I've mentioned numerous times, he is a hometown kid, and with that I hope to make a primary focus of my card collection in the future. This one is part of the "Cream of the Crop" insert set, and is numbered 240/250. It looks even better in person!

So, that's all for today. Before I go, in case any of you were curious, I just added an 'About Me' page to the top of my site, and you're all more than welcome to check it out. I tried to outline the story of my years throughout the hobby, because I'm aware that some people find it interesting how I kicked this site off when I was 12. Believe me, the writing wasn't nearly as high quality (some of you can attest to that for me), but I've loved this hobby for as long as I can really remember and I don't plan on letting go anytime soon. Now, I really need to get my hands on a 2015 Topps blaster.

See Ya!

Don't Panik: There's a New Joe Collector

Hey guys, Drew back here. I announced on my last post that I plan on going home after this semester back to my Card Cave and all the memorabilia sporting the walls (I even convinced my mom to hang my Willie Mays signed photo outside my room in the hallway... with mostly family photos nearby)! With that, I'll have a little more of an opportunity to keep up in the hobby, since I'll have all my resources with me. I'll be busier having to commute every day, but it'll be much easier to send some TTM requests out and be a little more involved. And with all that comes an announcement.

I will be collecting any and all Joe Panik cards from here on out, as he will replace Robinson Cano as my main PC! We don't often get to boast about homegrown professional sports players in my hometown, but this kid has been quite special for a long time. And we NEVER get to boast about local World Series champions, but now we do.

Panik come up through the Giants organization to replace the oft-injured Marco Scutaro. I actually had a chance to see him play in San Francisco, but unfortunately I went to one of the few games Scutaro was available for; thus no Panik. After getting adjusted for a few weeks, he took off and was a catalyst down the stretch for a streaky Giants team that needed people to step up. He batted .305 on the season in 287 at bats, and garnered some Rookie of the Year consideration for helping to get the Giants to the Wild Card Game. In such game, he collected 3 hits in 5 trips to the plate and the Giants advanced, and we all know how the rest of the story went. He didn't hit tremendously well in the playoffs from that point forward, but had some huge moments! He tripled in both the NLDS and World Series, homered off of Adam Wainwright in the 5th Game of the NLCS, and who can forget the incredible double play he and Brandon Crawford turned in Game 7? He's shown so much poise for a young player, and my friends at school mess with me for how excited I got seeing him play well.

Needless to say, we're all really proud of Joe at home. He played about a half hour away from my house in high school, and he ended up playing college ball at St. John's University in Queens; a school I considered to be my #2 option before committing elsewhere. I've purchased a Bowman rookie autograph of his in the past and gotten a few autographs TTM last season. I may not be as crazy as I was while collecting Cano, but I just wanted to inform you all that I'll be more than happy to take his cards off your hands!

As for Cano, I'll still be interested in adding some of his older Yankees cards I didn't have yet (his prices have gone down a little since being in Seattle, of course), but I won't be going out of my way. He's a great hitter, and I'm planning on stashing his stuff for when he makes the Hall of Fame one day (knock on wood), and just as he did to the Yankees; I may look to add a little extra profit due to his talent.

If you have anything of Panik's, comment below or email me. I won't be able to trade for a little while but I can keep some ideas aside if they do arise for when I do return home. Alright everyone, have a great day, See Ya!