March 24th White Plains Show Pickups

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, on Sunday, Dad and I took a quick trip down to White Plains! I didn't bring as much money as I usually do, but I still had a good time and got some nice deals. The main reason I wanted to go was because some personal favorites of mine were signing autographs, and I wanted to add them into my signed baseball collection. You'll get to see all of that tomorrow, but for now, take a look at what I was able to pick up!

A little while into the show, I found a younger guy selling a bunch of prospect and star autographs, which is usually what I look for at these shows. Over time, I've composed a list of my Top 100 favorite players, and my goal is to eventually have an autograph of all of them (I have 66 of the 100)! However, this Ty Hensley autograph from the new Bowman Sterling stood out first to me, since I had the refractor version already. He wanted $8 for the card, which was a bit much for this one for me, so I tried to see if he could work with me. 

I then saw this sweet Zack Greinke autograph from 2004 Topps, and decided to ask the price on it. He said it books between $20 and $30, but then said he'd give me the two cards for $20! I couldn't pass up that offer, as Greinke had been an autograph on my list for a while now. However, I decided to keep looking and make sure there weren't any other cards I wanted. 

Well, there was one more, this sweet 2006 Upper Deck F/X Matt Cain autograph! Again, I inquired on the card, and he said it books around $30, but he'd give it to me for $10! I hadn't seen a Matt Cain autograph for around $10 in ages, so I pounced at the 3 for $30 offer he gave me! Cain and Greinke were two of the top pitchers I've wanted, so it was awesome to knock them both off in one swing. I don't believe that Greinke is deserving of the fattest contract for a right handed pitcher ever, but I guess he showed up to free agency at the right time.

Then, Dad & I went to a table ran by two girls that usually have the nicest new cards in the building. They have all sorts of rare 1/1's, printing plates, and parallels of prospects, you know; the stuff all out of my price range. However, they also had some mid-end stuff, including this beautiful Tyler Austin Bowman Chrome autograph! Austin's prices have skyrocketed since he became the Yankees 2nd best prospect according to many lists, so I've had a hard time getting a hold of this one for a solid price. Fortunately, I paid $30 for this one, which is certainly fair according to eBay value. The last time I spent $30 on a prospect autograph it was of Manny Banuelos, who proceeded to get injured directly after the purchase, crushing his stock. Hopefully that doesn't happen this go round.

My Dad decided to treat me to a sweet card also from the same girls, this 2006 Topps Finest Robinson Cano autograph! I can never add enough autographs of my favorite semi-affordable player, and Dad understood that by helping me out here. Now the 9th Cano autograph in my collection, this one is up there as one of the shiniest (go grammar!) of his that I own. However, this is already an old autograph in my Cano collection... and you'll see what I mean in a few days. 

Before Dad and I left the show we also picked up a jumbo pack of 2013 Topps! I haven't gotten to open any of it yet but made it a priority to do so at the show. I really like the design, and I think a lot of them would look great signed TTM. I counted about 8 cards in the 50 card pack that will probably be going out in the mail once the season starts, so hopefully I'll get a few of those back as well. It's amazing to see how clear and visually appealing Topps' flagship products have gotten over the years. I'm definitely impressed, even though I'm not exactly a huge Topps fan thanks to their poor customer service.

Fortunately, I did awesome on the inserts, although I didn't get a hit in the pack. I don't think I'd trade any of these, except for the Lowe emerald which will probably go towards William's set chase. By the way, if anyone has any of those emeralds laying around, be sure to go check out his blog and see if you can help with his daunting task! Final thoughts: the Calling Cards seem pretty pointless but I love the die-cuts and '72 minis! I tried the Million Dollar Chase and it is pretty lame. If anyone wants Desmond Jennings (who went undrafted in my 8 team fantasy draft) for their Topps team let me know.

Thanks again to Dad for taking me to the show and for the Cano! I've got a whole lot of awesome things to come; be on the lookout! See Ya!

Stuff from Mike Pelfrey Collectibles

Hey guys, Drew back here, with some nice mail today, from Anthony of Mike Pelfrey Collectibles. But, before I get into it, first I wanna say R.I.P. Ralph Houk, who died yesterday at the age of 90. I wanted to get TTM but it was too late unfortunatelt. Houk was a great manager and he will be missed. I also wanted to say that I'm going to skip showing the videos sadly. I don't really have time to do a ton of work for just one post, so for now I can't really show them. I wish Blogger was better at uploading videos though, I mean, they were a minute long! Anyway, moving on to the mail.

Anthony was having an online yard sale of his entire collection, because he's grown bored of the hobby and wanted to move on and try something new, which in his case was War Memorabilia. So first, if you have any of that, go to his blog and let him know. His sales were great, and he negotiated with me really well and I feel like both sides made out well. I'm pretty sure he forgot one of the cards in the package, so I contacted him about it and he said he accidentally did forget about it and will ship it soon. So, here's what was in today's package!

Yes, he did write on the bottom right card. He says he has like 50 of these cards, so he figured he'd send some my way. I do enjoy collecting cards of players that aren't on the Yankees, as you will see more of in this post. I like Mike Pelfrey, although he's struggled a bit, he's a good pitcher and I'm happy to own a few of his rookies.

I got these from Anthony because they're two favorites of mine that don't play for the Yankees. Morneau was completely under shadowed by the Pujols and Ichiro phenomenon but has turned out to be a great MVP caliber player. Longoria was brought up on a local team that I occasionally go to games with, and in 8 games with that team, he hit 4 home runs. I also really like Evan's talent and it's a nice card to have.

Now for vintage, I got an Oscar Gamble 1977 Topps since I didn't have it, and the Andre Dawson rookie card. I've wanted Dawson's rookie ever since he was elected to the Hall of Fame last year, and even though it's not mint condition, I really like the card.

Here's the 1st of 2 Sheffield relics I got, a 2005 Cracker Jack "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" relic at that. It's really nice, smaller than a regular card but bigger than a 2007 Goudey card I'd say. Sheff as you may know used to be my favorite player, until he left NY on a bad note. I still like him and I'll try to add some of his better cards to my collection from time to time.

The second Sheffield is from 2006 Topps Heritage, another bat card. I must say I like the one above this more but this is nice too.

The final card here is a rookie jumbo jersey from 2006 Sweet Spot of Giants pitcher Matt Cain. Cain has been very good so far in his career, but is very unpopular due to Tim Lincecum being the star pitcher in San Francisco now. This may be the biggest relic on a jersey card I have, and I like the simple design. Plus, it's numbered out of 299.

All that plus one more nice relic for $15. Thanks for the great deal Anthony, go check out this link to see if you like anything, Anthony needs to get this stuff out of his collection! See Ya!

Who was brave enough to vote for Matt Cain?

Man, this poll is just a bit lop-sided! 17 votes so far, 16 for Tim Lincecum over Matt Cain! So you guys don't know the stats behind it!

Matt Cain: 12-4 Record, 2.44 ERA, 124 K

Tim Lincecum: 12-3 Record, 2.20 ERA, 198 K

So, Lincecum does have better stats and I would have voted for him too but he has only dominated 1 out of the 3 major categories of pitching! I can't believe it's been THIS lop-sided!