Milk, toothpaste, cards, deodorant, shaving cream...

Right down the street from me is a Rite Aid. I pass it frequently, especially when I get off the bus on my way home from commuting from work in NYC. The bus stops directly in front of the store to let me off. It’s very convenient if I need to grab something on the way home – milk, a light bulb, cards, toothpaste, paper towels, etc.

Did I shove a ‘cards’ in there?

Of course I did. You see, this Rite Aid has the 100-card repacks in the toy aisle. They also come with a pack of Triple Play, which I could do without. However, at any given time, there are 3-4 of these repacks. That is a pain considering I go to Rite Aid 2-3 times per week, which means I am tempted 2-3 times per week.

Most days, I can go in and out without grabbing one of these. But once in a while, I just need a snack. A cardboard snack. So I snag one.

I’ve bought a few before, and have yet to get one of the “1 in 4” contain a hit. I just figured the hit is probably visible through the plastic window and gets snatched up. Obviously not why I get the packs, but would be a nice added bonus.

So I found a pack and chose one with a Cal Ripken insert on top, knowing it will go to a #SuperTrader. From there, I was treated to a pretty good selection of cards, especially Yankees. I wonder if Fairfield makes these regional, because it certainly felt that mine had a an unusual amount of Yanks. I get that they are always well-represented, but this seemed pretty high:

You may have noticed this card:

That’s right, a hit! And not just any hit, but a Yankees auto! I was expecting the hit (if I ever got one) to be a relic, so an auto was unexpected, and helps ward off pack searchers. Angelo Gumbs was once a second-round pick of the Yanks who unfortunately didn’t pan out. He’s now in the Reds organization and remains in High-A ball, but hopefully something good happens for him. I always liked him, and think this is a pretty cool auto to come out of a repack.

Here are a few more Yanks. Jeter cards seem to pop up a lot in repacks. There are a ton of them and helps it feel like there are “star” cards in the product. The Bernie Williams rookie is cool, as is the ’78 Topps. I also bet this 1992 Topps Gold Winner Brien Taylor went for a lot back in the day.

I loved getting this Dermis Garcia in a repack as well. I’m anxious to see this guy develop.

Here’s the best of the rest, including a nice Frank Thomas for my son’s HOF binder. I’ll probably put the Sisler in there too.

Not too shabby for a repack, and some good stuff for the #SuperTraders.

Not to get all Zappy on you, but...

I'm going to get sappy on you for a second. Actually, no. I'm going to get ZAPPY on you.

Every, let's say, six to eight weeks, I'm on the victorious end of a Zippy Zapping. Kenny, of Torren' Up Cards, loves (at least I think) hitting me with these epic card packages.

One thing I always enjoy, almost as much as the cards, is the creative way that Kenny packages. Last time, it was the re-created Bowman box. This time, it was a large stack of cut 9-pocket pages. It was like a PWE on PEDs. He could get a job in product packaging in a second if he ever wanted.

See? Good stuff.

So what did he send? Everything. I don't even know where to start.

I'll start with Eric Jagielo. Jagielo gets a little overshadowed by Aaron Judge now, but let's not forget that he was drafted ahead of him. Oh, and he's at .287/.382/.558 with 7 HRs so far in AA. Not shabby. I know Zippy likes Jagielo a lot, so I appreciate the autos.

I wish Jose Contreras got a longer leash with the Yanks. He wasn't awful with them, he just wasn't as expected. He still put up some decent numbers, especially in his first year. They traded him away for Esteban Loaiza, who sucked. Plain and simple. Contreras then went on to be an All-Star, and play a key role on the White Sox World Series team. Sigh.

I like Angelo Gumbs mostly because of his sweet ass name.

Peter O'Brien is interesting. The Yanks turned him into Martin Prado, then turned him into Nathan Eovaldi, among others. So they essentially turned an all-bat prospect into a 25 year old starter. Not a bad swap. O'Brien can hit and hit and hit. He had 34 HRs last year, and nine already this year. He just can't catch. But his power is going to carry him to the Bigs. He'd be a good DH.

What in the world? Ren and Stimpy Mojo?

Vintage! How did I take this long to get to these? National effin Chicle of a dude named Dixie? That's the '30s for you. How great is the back of the card? I mean, what a batting tip! Except, no, you can't step out of the box anymore. Oh, the PURISTS must be livid at this new rule since you could step out in the 1930s!

This card isn't that old compared to the Chicle.

Fast-forwarding a bit to new author Jorge Posada.A 1994 Bowman's Best RC. This ain't no reprint, son. This is the kind of card from the kind of set I would see in Beckett growing up. The ones I never saw in person or ever dreamed I'd own. They didn't sell these at CVS.

 

My first silk, and it's sooooo smooth!

I can't really mention Posada without Andy Pettitte, and here's a lovely rookie of the lefty.

From one ace to another! #BigMike! I needed this one. I'm up over 100 different Pinedas right now, and it's getting tougher and tougher. His prices are going up, up, up on eBay.

I don't think I've met any one collector who knows as much about the Minors, especially the Yanks' affiliates, then Zippy Zappy. He loves his minor league baseball, and his dedication to the Staten Island Yankees is admirable. He's also got, hands down, the best Luis Torrens collection out there. I can't imagine any collector out there has a better one. I am fortunate that he has probably acquired dupes and can spare ones like these for me.

And here are a few more prospects that we both like a lot, especially Jacob Lindrgen!

 

Jeter, on a Sega Gen? Yes, please. I really need to count my Jeters. I want to know how many I have. If it's less than 500, I am going to try and get to 500. If more, I may go for 1,000. Because, well, why not?

 

And a couple more fun ones that I love...

 

I think this is a great way to end it. Thanks, ZZ!

 

Simply Fantastic

Weston over at Fantastic Catch is a very thoughtful guy. He always adds a little something to trade packages that is unexpected. Last time, he sent a broken down blaster box with Michael Pineda on it. This time, he sent a USA Weekend cover with Masahiro Tanaka. Very cool!

He also likes to send me Yankee prospects cards. In fact, he sent me this Leonardo Molina card, which I then sent to Molina for an auto. It now looks like this.

Here are a few other goodies.

Weston, I owe you a return package. I haven't forgotten!

Part 2 of the Zippy Zappy package

Here is part two of the epic package sent by Zippy Zappy. There were a bunch of cards, and I figured this was a nice sampling:

I really like these mini Chrome Refractors. I’m not a huge fan of mini cards at all, but I’ve been all for these so far. I can’t wait for Hensley to get back on the mound next season. I expect big things from him.

 

 Hold the phones! I’m pretty sure this is a 2012 Bowman Chrome Blue Ice card. I expected the pattern to be the same as the Silver Ice, but they are definitely different. This reminds me of an old Upper Deck HoloGRFX card. Either way, a stop-in-your-tracks card.

Orange! I love Orange Refractors. Love them. I need to aggregate them all because I must be getting close to having at least one full team set. 

This card brings back a lot of memories. When we were five or six, my sister and I used to fight over this card. See, I had this version of the card, but Reggie was an Oakland A. She had the version with the Yankees. And she would never, ever let me have it. 

These cards always amused me because of the blue fabric. 

I really need to get Eduardo to sign this. It’s begging for his autograph.

 

My first 2013 Topps Pro Debut! Love these sets even though the logic behind “Pro Debut” is off.

Kenny, it’s all gold (or orange or blue ice). Thanks again, my friend.

Yankees Heritage Minors Team Set

I went on eBay to find the 10-card team set of Yankees prospects from 2011 Topps Heritage Minors (not including the SPs or inserts). I couldn't find anything cheaper than $6 or $7. I turned to SportsLots and bought all the cards as singles from the same seller and paid less than $4, including shipping. That's called beating the system. I like these cards and I'll probably pick up another team set for some TTM requests next spring.