If you could donate a card to the Baseball HOF, what would you choose?

I stumbled upon this cool article on Sports Card Daily about the National Baseball Hall of Fame building a baseball card exhibit. My first thought was, “This doesn’t already exist?!” I know cards are featured throughout the exhibit, but I suppose they don’t have a place to call their own. I definitely plan on donating to this exhibit (click here), and please scroll to the end of this post to see how I’m going to do that with your help.

Sadly, I haven’t visited the HOF since 1996. I do intend to get back there at some point, as it’s not terribly far from where I grew up. I do want to take my kids there though, although I’m waiting until they are just a little bit older for that. They'd be a disaster there now.

Regardless, it got me thinking. If you could donate one item to the Baseball Hall of Fame for their card exhibit, what would it be? I've seen so many amazing cards/collections featured on these blogs, I know we could open up an exhibit on our our!

Mine would easily be my Topps Yankees Project, as I think it would be awesome to feature that within a glass case…although sort of sad I wouldn’t have it in my own possession. However, it’s what I’m most proud of as a collector. As a reminder, it’s a signed Yankees card from each Topps flagship set, 1951-2018, done entirely by me via through the mail (TTM) autograph collecting.

 

 

 

 

(I know 2018 is missing but I have it...just didn't have an updated image!)

 

So how about you? Which personal card(s) would you donate if you had the chance? If it’s something you’ve featured on your blog in the past, feel free to link it within your comment.

And since I feel strongly about this exhibit being part of the HOF, I’ll donate $1 to the exhibit for each response I get by Friday at 11:59pm ET (capped at $100).

Thanks for looking out for me

Every couple of weeks, a blogger reaches out with a photo of a Tino Martinez card, asking if I need it.

Most of the time I can tell right away if it's a yes or a no. In this instance, I actually had to look when Paul from Scribbled Ink reach out with this card:

What threw me was the "UD PROMO" stamped across the card in foil. Hmmm. Turns out, this is a promotional card versus the regular Game Face, which I have. Cool!

Paul threw in three more cards into the PWE. First off, another Tino, this one a 1998 Ultra Gold Medallion. I'd say that this is my second favorite Gold Medallion design behind 1996.

The third card is of AL Silver Slugger winner Gary Sanchez. I always appreciate cards of this guy.

Lastly, a cool Robinson Cano Bowman Gold. I had been on the hunt for a Cano autograph for awhile, but obviously his PED suspension came as an unfortunate surprise. Maybe I'll pick one up on the cheap now.

Paul, thanks for the cards!

TTM Failure!

I look at three different buckets when it comes to a a TTM failure:

1. The write-off - the card just never comes back.
2. The price list - the card comes back unsigned with a price list.
3. The player is no longer here.

#3 happened to me just this week. In the spring of 2017, I sent Josh Hamilton. He was a non-roster invitee for the Rangers trying to make the squad one last time. He was a pretty decent signer for a lot of his career, so I gave it a whirl.

I never heard back, figuring it was a write-off. But then a PWE showed up that looked like it wasn't one I recently sent out.

Inside:

Oh well. It wouldn't have been a big deal if this never came back. I guess it's a nice thing the Rangers did by returning the item with a note. It's probably kept an intern busy over the last few days. I'm sure most of the time these just end up in a dumpster somewhere.

TTM failures happen to us all. Onward!

TTM Success: A Don Mattingly masterpiece

Over the past few days, I've seen some Don Mattingly TTM successes coming through from requests that were sent to the Marlins manager during spring training. I sent one as well, and was hoping mine would return like the others I was seeing.

It did.

For the life of me, I couldn't remember which card I sent to him. For some reason, I thought I either sent a 1987 Topps base or All-Star. While I do keep records of of my TTM requests, I rarely note which card I sent, only the quantity (e.g. 1 or 2 cards).

I was happy to open my envelope and remember I sent this:

OH YEAH! 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces!

I love these cards. From the simple design to the canvas-like texture, they are perfect for signatures. This is now the third Masterpiece I've gotten signed:

What a great looking card of Mattingly. I guess if I had one complaint it would be that I think blue Sharpie would have looked better, but I'm not someone who sends a pen with their cards, so beggers can't be choosers. I'm still thrilled with it and think it looks awesome.

What a great set. What a great player. What a great autograph.

Thanks, Donnie Baseball!

Torres Up Cards

I’m thinking of changing my blog name to Torres Up Cards, not to be confused with Torren’ Up Cards.

Ok, I’m kidding. I’m not going to do that. I’ve built too much equity in being “lost” for the last 7+ years of this blog.

But I would expect the next seven to see many more posts about this guy:

Top prospect Gleyber Torres has been on the Yankees for about a month now, and he’s as advertised. He’s a very, very good player. He’s just 21 years old, and I could really see him being a key cog in the organization for years to come.

I know it won’t always come this easy to him. He’ll have many ups and downs. But the consensus is that he belongs. He doesn’t look overmatched. He always looks like he’s in control. You can just tell he knows he’s meant to be there and meant to be playing baseball at the highest level. Many times, a young player comes up and tries to do too much. Torres has stayed within himself and taken control of the Yankees 2B job.

He's hitting .309/.374/.494 with four homers He’s played a solid 2B, although there have been a couple of miscues while he learns the position. Still, he has made some gems and has shown to be a quick learner.

I’m not going to deem myself an exclusive collector of his. Too competitive. But I’ll be picking up his cards here and there, and I am looking forward to his flagship RC which I assume will come in Topps Update. I assume his cards will be sprinkled in other products as the year goes on. I’ve already got another Topps NOW on the way from his recent walk-off homer.

I’m just kicking myself for not ponying up and getting an autograph, because now it’s going to be very hard to find a reasonable one.

Danny Baseball?

One of my favorite players of all time is Don Mattingly. If he played a couple of more seasons, he probably would have been the star of my collection. Instead, most of my childhood coincided with Tino Martinez at 1B for the Yankees, and he obviously become the focus of my collection.

Still, I love Mattingly cards. During all of the reorganizing I've been doing, I keep stumbling across cards I haven't looked at in a while.

Even better, I notice new things on these cards all the time.

This 1990 Broder Living Legdn stuck out to me. Do you see why?

It says Dan Mattingly!

The error is repeated on the back too.

Very funny! I had never noticed it until earlier today. I will say, Donnie Baseball has a nicer ring to it thank Danny Baseball, does it not?

Not too slabby

I'm not a huge fan of graded cards.

I don't purchase enough high end or vintage cards to really be concerned about them. I do have a couple that I've gotten sent to me or purchased, and that's all well and good. With so few in my collection, they aren't easy to store and sort of stick out like a sore thumb.

However, there are instances where a graded, slabbed card is more affordable than unslabbed. For instance, in March, this same card, ungraded and #'d 1/5, sold or $35.99 on eBay. The bidder was not me.

I bought this same card, graded and #'d 2/5, for $1.99 + 3.99 shipping last week. That's quite a price swing for the same card. It's a 2013 Bowman Platinum Orange that was exclusive to the National Convention. I've had the regular version of this (Orange #'d to 125) for years, but the autograph /5 is fairly rare and I've only seen it pop up once or twice.

I think I scored quite the deal, especially compared to the person who purchased the ungraded version two months ago!

Loving the PWEs

I think I've previously stated, but it feels like PWEs find their way to me in bunches. I could go months without getting one, then three pop up in one week. That's why it's always fun to go to the mailbox.

Last week, Adam from Cardboard Clubhouse sent an awesome PWE. It definitely struck a really nice vintage chord, and are some big-name players!

 I love it! They were all in great condition too. I definitely didn't have that Jim Hunter, and the Murcer is a really special card given what we meant to Yankee fans.

I really liked this Ken Greer card from Star. I've gotten a lot of Star cards over the years, but I don't recall seeing the purple border. I kind of like it! Very different.

Tanaka time! Being that this is his fifth Yankees season, I need to start counting how many Tanaka I have. It's gotta be in the 50 or 60 range.

Adam, this was a most appreciated and unexpected surprise. Thank you!

Yankees cards coming to life

One of the coolest blogs out there, Baseball Cards Come to Life!, recently sent me a great trade package. Bo runs a very cool blog, complete with some awesome player interviews and #walletcard posts. I wish I had his ability to notice so many cool things in NYC. I probably walk by so many each day that I never take the time to notice. Bo does.

It all started with this card, the 5x7 Zenith Tino. I didn't have this one, so jumped at that chance.
Bo also protected these cards in a fun way:

I'm glad Pat LaFontaine was a Ranger for a short time. I remember watching their team quite a bit when he was there.

To me, the best part about the trade package was how random it was, and I mean that in a good way. It was filled with cards from all years, many from sets I don’t remember or had forgotten about. Here are a few cards that stuck out to me:

Topps 206 was one set I missed as a kid, but I do recall there being several versions of each card, as on display here:

SI Yankees!

Ziploc!

There were a bunch of Classic cards, including the ones featuring the Saved By The Bell design. I thought I was being original by calling it that but it looks like this is well known by Night Owl and every other blogger.

How have I never seen this Prime Time card? It’s great, although that looks like a brutal sun. Good concentration, Deion.

And I can effectively say, this is my first card of Meatloaf. Wonder if he signs TTM?

Bo, such a fun package. Thank you so much!