A Big Old Box of Yankees From Dad!

Hey guys, Drew back here. So I've been meaning to post this for a little while now, and feel bad for not having done so sooner. Anyways, recently, Dad contacted someone on Craigslist, who was selling a huge load of Yankees cards. One day he came home with an enormous box full of Yankees, which brightened my day since I was feeling very sick at the time. Check them out!

Yeah, there were a whole lot of pinstripes inside this box, 5 rows to be exact. There were a lot of duplicates but that won't be a problem as I have many big Yankee fans to give them to. Now let's get into the stuff I thought mattered most...

Here are 8 new Nick Swisher cards I got through this. In total, I added 18 new Swisher's to my collection, giving me about 156 unique cards of his. I was surprised I didn't have a few of these, but I'm glad I was finally able to get them out of the way.

On to my 2nd personal collection; I was able to add 22 Robinson Cano cards to my respective Cano collection. It's been difficult for me to collect Cano's cards of late because his stock has finally soared as it should have a long time ago and everything of his is in demand. But I'm glad I was able to knock off a whole lot of 2008 UD Documentary and 2008 Topps Moments & Milestones cards of his. And yes, every card in the scan above is a different card, they're not doubles. Yeah, I'm confused too.

Here I found a lot of decent rookie cards, or at least, rookie cards that were decently valuable at one point or another. The top row of the scan consists of many different Melky Cabrera rookie cards, who is having a great year over in Kansas City, when many people didn't think he could do it again. He's currently sporting a .303 batting average, with 18 home runs and 83 RBI! The bottom consists of many Donruss Chien-Ming Wang rookie cards. Wang is trying to make a comeback with the Nationals this year after several injury filled seasons, but hasn't reached the point of success he had for the Yankees in 2006 and 2007. 

I used to think I had a lot of 1990 Topps Bernie Williams rookie cards. I now feel like I have enough to give one to every person in the entire world. It's definitely a nice card though. 

In this box I was able to add 2 more Dellin Betances rookie cards to my collection! I can't get enough of this guy's rookie cards, as the Lost Collector recently informed me of his MLB debut quickly approaching, as he was called up to the Yankees on  September 9th. He hasn't had an opportunity to pitch yet, but I'm sure he will during his little cup of tea. 

Next were a few of the MANY numbered inserts and parallels we came across while searching through the box. Nothing overly valuable, but I always liked numbered cards and I'm glad to add these to the collection. 

Also, there were plenty of Mark Teixeira insert and parallels, all numbered! I don't have much of anything of Tex, who is putting up another very good season. He seems almost underrated on this Yankees team, because not many people talk about him, but I honestly feel like he deserves to be in MVP talks every year. Despite a typical slow start, he is probably one of the best (if not THE best) 1st basemen in baseball defensively, but also has a great power stroke and has a solid 37 home runs. The batting average this year though? Meh.

One of my favorite parts of the box were all these nice parallels and inserts of former Yankee greats such as Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, and Roger Maris. I have to admit the card companies did a great job honoring these players, as these cards are just absolutely beautiful looking. The Rizzuto Topps Archives Chrome Refractor is amazing looking in person and I love the Maris Diamond King card.

Now on to one of my favorite sets of all time; nothing better than some 2008 UD Masterpieces. I found some awesome framed cards mixed in, including a Yogi Berra green /75, a Whitey Ford not numbered black border, and two Joba Chamberlain parallels, one numbered to 50 and the other /25! These are seriously as beautiful as it gets in the card hobby, and may very well be my favorite modern set out there.

An engraved piece of Joe DiMaggio's bat? Holy WOW! Yeah, I know, it's not actually a real bat relic of Joltin Joe's, but it sure does look sweet. The card dedicates a magical DiMaggio performance when a play at the plate initiated by Charlie Keller allowed him to circle the bases and score, eventually leading the Yankees to sweet the 1939 World Series. I don't have much of DiMaggio so its a cool add for sure. 

While this card isn't of Joe DiMaggio, it is at least a real game used jersey card, of former Yankee great Paul O'Neill! The card celebrates his 1994 season when he batted .359, something close to unheard of today, or at least a modern day rarity. I've always had a lot of respect for O'Neill, he truly was a warrior on the field but a gentle giant off of it. I would love to meet him sometime for sure.

We move on to the next relic, which oddly enough is the only non Yankees card in the entire box! However, it does feed another hobby addiction of mine, which is cards of Hall of Famers! Out of 2005 Donruss Champions, here's a nice Joe Morgan bat card! You don't see much of Morgan as a Giant but its pretty cool nonetheless.

Finally, we get to the 3 autographs in the lot. The first 2 were out of the 2003 Upper Deck Yankee Signature Series product, on card autos of Lee Mazzilli and Norm Siebern. I very well may consider building this set one day, as I do have 4 different autographs out of it now, in Sieburn, Mazzilli, Winfield, and Cone! I had to research Sieburn because I literally knew nothing about him, but he was a 3 time All Star who played outfield for the Yankees from 1956-1959.

The final card was one I've wanted to get myself for a while. Out of 2006 UD Artifacts, and numbered out of 699, is an on card autograph of Ken Griffey Sr.! Yeah, Junior would've been a little better, but his daddy wasn't too bad either. A lifetime .296 hitter; Griffey spent 5 seasons with the Yankees, on a few rough teams in the mid 80's. He's got a really nice strong signature, and it fits the card design amazingly!

Anyways, that'll just about do it! Thank you so much as always dad, I'm speechless by the insane amount of things you do for me and I appreciate it so much!

See Ya!

The Most Famous 1961 Player Arrives in the Mailbox!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Thank god it's Friday! Been an extremely long week and like good old Rebecca Black says, I'm lookin forward to the weekend! (By the way, I am in no means a Rebecca Black fan) ANYWAYS, a week or so ago I was able to pick up this beauty on eBay. Give it a look:

It's just the 2nd card of the 1961 Topps set, of the 1960 AL MVP, Roger Maris! If you were to pick any card of Maris', despite his rookie card of course, this would probably be your best bet. Maris didn't play all that long, only 12 seasons in the bigs, but he sure did make it worth it. As every baseball fan should know, one of the many main reasons I chose to build this set was because it was a great year for the Yankees and for baseball. It was the year of the Mantle/Maris home run race, of course, won by Maris, who hit a record 61 home runs that year. I still consider him the record holder, since the players who've surpassed him for single season home runs didn't do it fairly at all, and cheated the game.

As for the card, well its certainly not mint, as it has a few creases on it, one particularly over his mouth. The corners aren't mint, but it's definitely presentable and will go well with the set! I picked this one for a little over $30, which is a great deal, considering normally you would have to cough up between $75-100 for a decent looking one. As for commons now, the biggest needs I need are Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, and Carl Yastrzemski's 2nd year card.

So, again, if anyone has some 1961's for trade, I'd be more than happy to work something out with you! Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate everything.

See Ya!

Mail from William... Yet Again!

Hey everyone, Drew back here. So, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering where I've been the last week. Well, I've been here, but have been getting used to the enormous 10th grade workload and have had trouble finding time for the hobby of late. I'm going to try to be here a little more often, but I really can't promise too much, because, as always, school comes first. 

Getting to the point of this post, once again, the basically monthly package from William this time around was a great one. Well, they always are, but this one was extremely unexpected and he went way out of the way to make me happy! Take a look and you can see why:

First off was this card of Joe DiMaggio that I've never seen before. It looks like an oddball card, as it doesn't say anything about the company on the back. Still pretty cool for sure. 

Next was this 2006 Flair Showcase "Wave of the Future" card of Curtis Granderson. Again, I didn't have this one, and he certainly has been a huge wave into baseball, especially this season!

After that were a few rookie cards of Yankees pitching prospect Dellin Betances! Betances is now in my opinion the top prospect in the Yankees organization who hasn't been called up yet. I'm really excited for when he gets the call, because I think he has pure talent and is going to be great.

The highlight from this package is without a doubt these 22 cards from 1961 Topps he sent me, all of which I needed! While a majority of the cards are of semistars and commons, every bit really makes a difference and I can't express how much I appreciate this help! These cards push my set total up to 165 out of 587, which is about 28 percent of the set. Some of these may be a little too rough for the set pursuit, but for now a few of them will be great filler cards until I can replace them. 

So thanks so much again William, you're the best. You really didn't have to do all this, and I'm gonna have to try and get you back soon! 

See Ya!

Some Custom Mail from Cam!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Nothing like being sick on the first day of school. It's like making a kill joy even more of a kill joy, so you can imagine how excited and happy I am right now. Anyways, my good buddy Cam, of Collectable Cards, hooked me up recently with an awesome looking card. Check it out:

Yep, Cam made me a custom card of one of my favorite Yankees, Robinson Cano! It's very tough to afford Cano's cards now that he can be considered the best hitter on one of the biggest offensive teams in baseball, but there's still one way to add new Cano cards, and that is in custom cards! This one definitely has a unique look to it, one that I haven't seen used before, but I like it! I would definitely like to see more of the set, the new set Cam is working on, because I think he has some good talent with customs and I'm really happy he chose me to send his first one to. 

So, thank you so much Cam, I really appreciate this!

See Ya!

Vintage Bowman eBay Pickup!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Well, sorry for the long delay in getting a post up; I actually just got back from a vacation up in the Adirondack Mountains with my friend Mike, and the day prior to leaving I layed in bed sick all day and was unable to notify you all that I wouldn't be here. School starts Thursday, but hopefully tomorrow I can get some posts lined up for the rest of the week. Continuing with where we left off, heres a card I got a while back:

Yeah, I sure did catch an old one off of the bay of e! It was a 1955 Bowman Yogi Berra card, which is now the oldest Berra in my collection! Sure, it isn't in mint condition, but I'm not the kind of collector who really would care. I understand the people in it for the condition, but the reason I'm in this hobby is just to get myself some of the cards I've "ooed" and "aaahed" over, no matter what it looks like. Its got a few rough corners, and some surfacing damage, but it's presentable and I'm more than happy about it, especially with the price I paid for it. 

I've always really been a fan of the 1955 Bowman set, commonly referred to as the TV Set. It's a classic design, and one that has been one of the more commonly used designs in Bowman's recent sets. The only card I'd rather have in this set is of course, the Mantle card, but I'll happily settle for Berra. 

Through my recent vintage splurge I've decided that some day I want to try to collect most/if not all of Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford's vintage cards. It would be a fun little goal for sure. 

What do you all think of the card? See Ya!