A smaller, yet bigger milestone

Yesterday, I collected my 125th unique Ty Hensley card.

While that number pales in comparison to 1,000 Tino cards (or 3,000 Andrew McCutchen cards!), I feel like it's almost more impressive than my Tino collection.

Ty just doesn't have a lot of cards. TCDB lists 246, all between 2012 and 2014. Most of what's left are basically 1/1s - superfractors and printing plates.

Ones I need for my collection just don't pop up too frequently. What's left on COMC is vastly overpriced and has just been sitting there for years. I've never found one on TCDB that I need.

So I'm left to my eBay saved search. I probably average about 3-4 new Ty Hensley cards per year, at this point.

To me, that's why it's more impressive than my Tino collection. I can always find Tinos I need, plus he keeps getting autographs in modern releases. But anytime a new Ty card pops up on eBay, it feels like a minor miracle.

The latest was a 2012 Panini Extra Edition Gold Prizm, numbered 10 of 10. I have a lot of cards from this set, including most of the autographs. But I don't recall ever seeing this card. I even had some bidding competition, but ultimately won it.

Ty has also had a tremendous year for Utica of the USPBL. Yes, many independent leagues have been playing this summer! As of August 21, Ty was 7-0 with a .75 ERA and 42Ks in 36 IP. In a normal MiLB world, I'd have to imagine Ty would have been scooped out of independent ball by now and assigned to a minor league organization.

Please keep me in mind if you ever come across a rare Ty Hensley card!