eBay Pickup: Novakane Style!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Although I am extremely excited for baseball to start, I still haven't lost much interest in basketball over the past few weeks. In fact, after this card I also have another Knicks autograph coming in, of one of the better guys to get! Anyways, besides for last night's loss 100-90 to the Hawks, the Knicks have come alive under their interim coach Mike Woodson, winning 9 out of their 11 games with him in charge. One of the Knicks best shooters, if not their best, is the guy I'm about to show you a card of. There was Linsanity, and then there was Novakane!

Out of 2006-07 Fleer eX, I managed to pick up this very nice Steve Novak rookie autograph. Sure, the nickname is pretty darn stupid, and sounds like a John Sterling thing, but boy can this guy shoot a three pointer. This season his three point percentage has been astounding, at 48.2%, while the next closest players have between 30 and 33% on the team. He only plays about 17 minutes a game, but when he comes in the opposing defense needs to keep him from taking the big shot. His story certainly is an interesting one, in which his rough rookie season brought him into the D-League, until he was traded to the Clippers, where he did fairly well. The next season he was signed by the Dallas Mavericks, only to go back to the D-League, and then the Spurs. He was signed by the Knicks on December 21st of this year and has had his biggest role yet. 

He's a very likely guy from what it seems, as are quite a few of the current Knicks players. I paid only a few bucks for this, so I couldn't really go wrong. It's actually a really neat card, as both sides of the card are clear, which you can see in the picture below. I'm glad I could add Novak to my basketball collection!

See Ya!

Trade with Andrew's Baseball Cards!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Now that the show review is over and done with, I should probably catch up on all of the other cool stuff I've gotten in lately! I met young blogger Andrew through William, and him and I were able to work out our first trade. Take a look at what I got out of the deal:

First were an awful lot of cards from last year that I didn't seem to have yet in my collection. I might've already gotten one or two of the Bowman cards in this scan, but outside of that, everything else was new to me! The Brett Gardner blue border is the 2011 Topps Opening Day parallel numbered out of 2011, and the Derek Jeter card is the retail diamond card (not the actual diamond anniversary set card). Also, the Robinson Cano card is one I would've never known existed had it not been for Andrew, and I'm still unaware of what set it's actually from.

However, the centerpiece of the trade was most certainly this 1993 Pinnacle rookie card of "The Captain", Derek Jeter! I have a lot of various Jeter rookies, but somehow this one had managed to escape me for a long, long time until now. It is probably one of my favorites thus far, until I manage to get a hold of the SP Rookie, which will probably continue to haunt me for quite a while.

So, thank you Andrew for the awesome stuff! I really appreciate you giving up this rookie to help my collection, and I hope you enjoy the Cardinals I sent!

Everyone please go give Andrew's blog a look! He's a good, reliable young kid!

See Ya!

March 24th White Plains Card Show Recap! Meeting Two HOF'ers!

Hey guys, Drew back here to finally wrap up the White Plains Card Show Review. Many bloggers seem to be able to pound out a whole show review within a few posts, but I prefer to go into depth on my pickups because it's not like I leave with a whole lot of money in my pocket, if any at all. The other day I thought about what my collection would be like without discovering these shows that take less than an hour to get to from here, and I couldn't even begin to tell you how much weaker it would be. I'm fortunate that I heard about them a few years back though, as I've gotten chances to meet players such as Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Ernie Banks, and even the whole Jets defensive line known as "The Sack Exchange"! 

At this show, I was able to add two more legends to the list of people I've met, both of which have been enshrined into Cooperstown within the past ten years. I had an opportunity to meet recent inductee Roberto Alomar as well, but the price for an autograph wasn't very favorable to my show budget. Instead, I met a guy with over 3,000 hits on the back of his baseball card, and a guy who was one of the most feared power hitters of his era. 

After waiting 2 hours in line for the free guys, I heard an announcement, saying it was the last call to meet one of the Hall of Famers I bought a ticket to meet. Dad had to take a few photos of the people in front and behind us in line with our camera because he had offered, since they didn't have cameras, and so following getting my Shantz and White autographs, he stayed there for a few moments getting their emails to send the pictures too. In the meantime, I took a mad dash through the show to try and make it before my player left, and fortunately enough by the time I got in the room, both Hall of Famers had absolutely NO line! 

With Dad and the camera not being present at the time, it gave me a few extra moments to talk with third baseman Wade Boggs as he signed my photograph for me! Boggs wasn't just one of the best third basemen to ever live, but he was also the third baseman that helped bring my Yankees to the World Series in 1996- the year that I was born. "The Chicken Man" made 12 All Star teams, while nabbing a few gold gloves in his illustrious career, which resulted in 3,010 career hits and a .328 lifetime batting average! He was wearing his 1996 ring, which I complimented, and I also said thanks to him for helping bring New York Yankee baseball back on the map. He was grateful and kind, and signed my 16x20 photograph beautifully with one of the nicer inscriptions I own. 

I couldn't come across any Boggs photo any more iconic than the one I was able to get signed, of him riding a horse after winning the World Series in 96'! The autograph came out beautiful, and the inscription reads: "To Drew, Best Wishes, Wade Boggs, '96' WS Champs, HOF 05". I just asked him to write it out to Drew, and then include whatever else he wished to include, and this went far beyond expectations. What an awesome experience.

Dad ran into the side room where Boggs and I were a few minutes later, and was able to meet him and take this great picture of me with the 5 time batting title winner himself! After I met the next player, I went and got my picture certified for $6 from JSA, since they run discounts on the players signing at the shows. I can't wait to frame it up on the wall, especially because the picture was from my birth year!

The two of us then scurried through the Alomar line to meet another Hall of Famer with absolutely no line- Expos/Cubs great Andre Dawson! "The Hawk" charged the same price as Boggs, and while he was a little quieter, it was still well worth it. Dawson was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2010, in his 9th year of eligibility. With a career average of .279, with 2,774 hits and 438 home runs, this guy was by far one of the better all around players of his time. To add to his list of accolades, he also won the 1977 NL Rookie of the Year, as well as the 1987 NL MVP, to go along with 8 gold gloves and 8 All Star selections. So, to say he wasn't Cooperstown worthy is a tad bit ridiculous in my opinion.

I had him sign a Hall of Fame custom for my set, which came out nice as always. He has one of the best signatures around, even though I don't necessarily understand why his 'd' in Andre drops down so low. Nonetheless, it looks really cool! The neat part about it, however, was that he signed the card sideways, and still managed a beautiful looking autograph! I've never seen anyone sign like that before, so I thought it was pretty cool.

Dawson seemed like a very nice guy, and I was able to get this picture with him, which came out really good in my opinion. Dad is getting better at pictures every time, so I gotta give him props for that!

That will just about conclude my Card Show review post series. We didn't come home with any door prizes this time around, because we didn't necessarily see any need for the prizes, and we figured we would let someone else win this time! Dad and I had an awesome time without a doubt, and I just want to once again thank him for taking me and treating me with so many awesome cards to add to my sets! You're the best!

See Ya!

March 24th White Plains Card Show Recap! Meeting Bobby Shantz and Roy White!

Hey everyone, Drew back here. For some odd reason baseball was cancelled today, perhaps because it got to be too nice out? Oh well, anyway, since I'm stuck here in my office room, I might as well continue on the card show review! We're now moving on to Part 4 of 6, dedicated to my experiences getting to meet two former players! Both of these players were free autograph signers for the day with paid admission into the show, and had by far the longest line I've ever seen at the County Center. I'm still stumped as to why, because both players weren't necessarily stars, but a free autograph is a free autograph without a doubt.

The first player I was able to meet was former All Star pitcher Bobby Shantz! Shantz is one of those old school players who is now in his upper 80's, but the coolest part about him was that he not only was a very good pitcher, but he had opportunities to face some players us fans idolize today, in Mantle, Mays, and Jackie Robinson. He was an 8 time Gold Glove winner, which really is a hard accomplishment to achieve in baseball for a pitcher. Also, adding to his remarkable list of accomplishments, he also won the 1952 American League MVP after winning 24 games! With a career record of 119-99, he was certainly one of the better pitchers of his era. I actually already got his autograph from a past TTM success, but with a chance to meet him for practically no cost was something I didn't want to pass up.

Unfortunately, I was stuck in line for an hour and a half, and that's just being nice. However, the wait was definitely worth it, as I was able to finally meet Shantz and have him sign a few things for me. I don't quite remember how it came up, but I was able to thank him for signing for me through the mail, and how appreciative I was of that. He seemed like a really nice man, without question.

He first signed this very nice 1988 Pacific Baseball Legends card, from the same set I recently got a Roy Sievers autograph from. I discovered that I had quite a few of these cards laying around in my basement, so I decided to try and get some of them autographed, because they always seem to come out great. This was certainly no exception to that. Shantz has by far one of the nicest all around signatures I've seen. 

For the other free ticket Dad and I had on us, I decided to do something pretty neat, at least from what I think. I bought a cheap 8x10 off of my favorite photo dealer at the show, and I paid the JP's Sports guys for an inscription. I asked Mr. Shantz if he could write a little something about the photo on it, and he went right ahead and did that for me, which was awesome. I thought it came out pretty darn good. 

Yes, the photograph is from the 1952 All Star Game, where Shantz showed off in his MVP season, striking out three batters in a row- Whitey Lockman, Jackie Robinson, and Stan 'The Man' Musial! It shows Jackie swinging at the pitch in the at bat he struck out in, which was really something neat. It's rare to get a chance to meet someone who pitched against one of the biggest American icons, so I always wanted to remember the opportunity I had to meet him. I asked Shantz how difficult Jackie was to face, and he said that he was a very tough hitter, but he was able to get him in that at bat. 

Without a doubt meeting Bobby was something I probably won't ever forget, and I'm glad I took advantage of the opportunity I was given. He was a class act, and I was able to take home some pretty darn awesome autographs! On a side note, he looks very good for 87 years old. God bless him. 

Immediately following my encounter with the 1952 AL MVP, I moved right along to the next free signer, former Yankee Roy White. This wasn't the first time I met White, or even the second. This was the third time I've met him! I've always thought he was a class act guy and a good autograph to have, so I've taken advantage of getting to meet him in the past. In fact, back in 2006, he became the first Major League athlete I ever met. So, with this time around, besides picking up a nice autograph for Connor to give as a gift, I decided to do something special. The night before I met him, I decided not to have him sign my Mantle autographed photo just yet, because I had another idea in mind. 

It came out a little smeared on the right side, but nobody has really noticed it too much until I point it out. The picture was absolutely fine until he signed it, so maybe his hands were greasy or something because there was a thumbprint on the side. Or I was just being stupid. Who knows. Anyways, I now own a signed photograph of my first encounter with a professional athlete, which was something I always thought about doing. He inscribed it out "To Drew, Best Wishes Again, Roy White #6". I have five or six of his autographs already, but this one shot right up to number one. 

White seemed a little out of it that day, but he was still nice enough to add a nice personalization and what not. He's a good guy, but I'm sure he was sick of signing by that point, especially with the line that still awaited AFTER I was done waiting over an hour for them. 

So, these two experiences already had made my day, but it only got better as I proceeded to meet 2 Hall of Famers! I'll post those signings tomorrow!

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!