Gleyber, you ok?

 Over the past year, Gleyber Torres has not been a good baseball player.

After All-Star seasons in his age 21 and 22 season in which he hit 24 and 38 HRs, respectively, he's struggled a bit. He never looked good in last year's fake season, and he's off to a slow start this year. While that can be said for the entire Yankees team, Gleyber really has not been good.

Just twenty three days into the season, I'm not worried. I think he'll find his stride and hit .250 with 25+ HRs. Fine numbers for a shortstop. But why the sudden struggles after the game looked so easy for him just a few years ago?

One theory is that he was moved over to shortstop, and the defensive pressure of the position is weighing on him. I don't know if that's true. It might be. As a rookie, he was inserted into second base and asked to really be a bat-first player. But since Didi Gregorius left, the keys to the left side of the infield were passed to him. A lot of pressure? Yes. And perhaps it's affecting his offense.

I think he'll be fine. He's too talented not to be. Games are a lot more fun for me to watch when he's a threat at the plate. Right now, he's not scary in the box. He did have a 3-hit game last night after his hustle was called into question the previous night, so perhaps he's on his way to finding his stroke.

I write about Gleyber today because I just received two of his Chrome rookie cards from Shane of @shanekatz73 on Twitter. I sent him a single card of Jazz Chisolm, and he reciprocated with two Gleyber RCs. I felt like I came out a bit too far ahead here.

Shane also included a few others, including a nice looking holo from 2020 Donruss.

Thanks for the trade, Shane! And hey Gleyber, get it together. 

Sports wagering, with interest

I like to bet a little. Not a lot. Just a little.

I'll never be someone to throw down massive sums of money on betting, but a little skin in the game? Sure, why not? Plus, sports wagering is now legal in the state in which I reside, and many others are on the way, and on the way quite soon. It's going to be mainstream here in the US (if it isn't already), and frankly, I'm glad to see us catch up with the rest of the world on that front.

But one does not need to bet in just cash. Cards are a solid form of wagering!

I'm not talking about buying Bowman, which is a form of gambling in its own right. I'm talking about cards as the payment for a friendly gentleman's wager.

In December, when it was announced that my alma mater, Syracuse, would be taking on the hometown squad of Bob Walk The Plank, West Virginia University, in the prestigious Camping World Bowl, we decided to make a friendly wager out of the ordeal. Loser would buy the other a $10 card of their choice, related to the school that won. I think those were the terms.

Syracuse ended up winning the game 34-18, although admittedly it wasn't a fair fight. WVU was without their stud QB, Will Grier, who decided to sit out the game to avoid the risk of injury heading into the NFL Draft. Plus, for a perennial bowl-bound team like WVU, I can't image this game felt too big for them. For Syracuse, the game was a culmination of their best season in years, with a lot of optimism for the future with a solid team and a great coach. The game felt like it meant a little more for the Orange because of the way the last two decades have gone.

Regardless, Matt is a man of his word, and this was the card I chose:

I'll always have a soft spot for Malachi Richardson due to his performance in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, so I felt like owning an autograph of him in a Syracuse jersey was the way to go.

Matt decided to charge himself some interest for a delated payment, which I wasn't expecting, and sent four additional cards my way:

The Gleyber/Adams dual relic is awesome! Matt said he actually pulled it from a pack, which makes it even cooler.

The Leyritz buyback autograph is very cool, and then Winfield jersey is great. There's even some dirt on it! I appreciate the low-numbered mini of future Hall Of Famer CC Sabathia, as well.

Thanks for the bet and following through, Matt!

Thank you, Wes

I've been wanting to post this for awhile, but the scanned cards in my folder have just been very daunting. Yes, I'm talking about my haul from Wes "You'll Always Be JBF To Me" of Area 40's final cardboard giveaway this past holiday season.

For whatever reason, Wes decided that I would be an often recipient of his generous "bombs." The first package came in May, 2011. I had started blogging in February of that same year, so for basically as long as this blog has existed, JBF has been a constant source of blog fodder, usually the result of his ridiculous card packages he'd send at any given moment.

I tried to think of a favorite card he sent, but I couldn't possibly. I've got over 65 posts dedicated to him, and he's really one of the main reasons my collection is as large as it is, and has as many amazing cards as it does. I appreciate each and every bombing, as they were always well thought out and personalized. You could make one small comment at some point, and Wes stored that information for future card packages.

So with that, I'll show a few of the amazing cards he sent my way as part of his incredible final giveaway.

The most interesting item was easily this jumbo memorabilia swatch of Mariano Rivera. The card is massive (and has a regular sized card embedded, with a truly enormous piece of jersey included. It's obviously a swatch of a mesh spring training jersey, with some elastic either from a sleeve or collar. It's so large really pops out of the card. I have never seen anything like it! Plus, this was pulled right around the time of Mariano gaining election to the Hall of Fame. Someday I'll probably frame this.

Probably the other most interesting card is a cut autograph from 2018 Leaf History of Baseball. Hall of Fame Hill Dickey is the subject of this card, with a cut HOF post card embedded within the plastic case. I know many are not big fans of cut signatures, but I'm very thankful to own a signature of a Yankee Hall of Famer.

There were plenty of more memorabilia cards pulled, including several from Topps Clubhouse Collection. Sorry these scanned so dark:

I really like relics of bases as well (why doesn't Topps do this nowadays?), and this Posada from the 2003 All-Star Game is definitely cool looking.

here were plenty of autographs too, including a Clint Frazier, who has gotten off to a torrid start this season. The Enos Slaughter IP/TTM is really beautiful as well.

When I saw this Winfield, I was definitely confused since I hadn't seen it. Turns out it was a Topps on demand issue.

Here's a few more cards that jumped out to me as scan-worthy.

Wes, all I can really say is thank you. Thank you for this card package. Thank you for the countless others over the last 8 years. And thank you for choosing me as one of the many recipients of your generosity.

Branded

Recently, Fuji showed off his favorite relic card. Fuj, I'm going to steal your image:

I really like when Upper Deck used to brand a bat relic piece with a team logo. It added a nice looking element to an otherwise pretty boring piece of wood.

Recently, I picked up this Dave Winfield bat relic. I was emptying my COMC account of credits, and had around $2 left, and search for a "Yankee memorabilia card" to spend the remaining funds on. This one was probably the best of the bunch with was left, so I figured a card like this of a HOFer was worth it.

It may not be a press conference-used table cloth, but still a pretty cool card for a small price, and I do appreciate the extra step to make the relic look a little less bland.

Swing and a Pop Up pops up

It's been awhile since I've conversed with Bert from Swing and a Pop Up. I've always known him to be a very generous guy though. Out of the blue a few weeks back, Bert popped up in my inbox, offering me a full set of Yankees 1981 Topps Giant Photo Cards. He informed me that he bought a box expecting all Red Sox, and the Yankees found their way into it. I chuckled at that!

Regardless, Bert sent me all the Yankees from this fun product. Here are a few:

 

I've always like them! I want to figure out a cool way to display them.

Speaking of display, Bert also sent a wrapper from '81 Topps Giant Photos. I thought it was cool, and decided to turn it into some wall art. More to come!

Bert, thanks for your generosity!

Winfield for the win

The COMC Black Friday sales gives me an excuse to do what I normally don't: browse without an agenda. Many card price are slashed so greatly that there are often tons of great deals, especially on cards you didn't even know exist.

Towards the end of my order, I find myself just looking to fill up my card even more, so I'll type in random searches. In this instance, I search for Yankees 2017 and sorted by memorabilia cards, hoping to find a cool relic or two at a great price.

This popped up for less than $2.50, and I figured it was worth it to add a dual-relic of a Hall of Famer. This particular card is from 2017 Panini Diamond Kings, a set I don't follow very closely. Sure, no logos and whatnot, but I like the design and the photo of Winfield getting ready to uncork one of his powerful swings.

I like that both jersey swatches are different too, although admittedly it's not specific to whether or not they are from Yankees uniforms.

Neat card, and hard to beat the price.

A Walgreens re-pack to end 2016

We planned to stay in on New Year’s Eve this past Saturday. With two kids ages 5 and 2, there isn’t a ton of options outside of getting a sitter, and after a week of travel, we looked forward to a night at home. Our friends two streets over were doing the same with their three kids, and before we knew it, we had plans to go to their house for dinner, along with another couple who has two kids. The end result was not a nice quiet evening, but listening to seven kids run around like complete maniacs.

So at about 4pm, I hit up the liquor store so as to not show up empty-handed. My wife asked me to grab sparkling cider for the kids as well. Of course I forgot it, so instead of turning around and heading back, I continued on to Walgreens, where I luckily found some sparkling grape juice. Close enough!

While at Walgreens, I felt like I needed to treat myself to a New Year’s present. 2016 was a good year for me, overall. Kids were happy and healthy. We bought our first home. My first year at my new job went well. Sure, why not splurge on a $4.99 gift to myself?

There were four of thew 100-card re-packs to choose from, and the very last one on the rack had this as the first card:

Easy choice, right? Frazier cards have increased in price since he became a Yankee, and I only have one or two, so I figured this was the best choice.

There is a 1:4 chance of a hit. I didn’t get one. The pack also guarantees 5 HOF cards. Cool, I’ll put them in Joey’s binder. How did my five go?

Ok, ok. Not bad. I don’t think I’ve seen the blue bordered Classic cards. I remember the yellow ones. The Winfield Score is ok, and Palmer oddball is cool, although I definitely already have it. There were two Winfields too (also had an '88 Topps), so I guess I ended up with six cards of five HOFers.

It would have been six HOFers if this guy didn’t cheat.

 

How was the rest of the pack?

I was surprised to see 2016 Topps already make an appearance in these.

There were two 2015 Topps cards, but I was pleasantly surprised when I turned it over to find that they were from team sets, including Bryan Mitchell of the Yankees.

Not bad here, including an OPC.

A Scott Stahoviak hot pack!

Hey, I know this guy! I have about a hundred of these, but funny to see in a re-pack.

All-in-all, not the worst way to spend $5 on the last day of the year.