PWE-Town Tom does it again

It's always nice to get a PWE from P-Town Tom. I know he's been busy with the end of the school year and his baseball team's advancement through the playoffs, so I appreciate the time he took to send two cards my way.

I sent him a few Bunt Cubs, and he returned the favor with this 2017 Bunt Blue Parallel of Masahiro Tanaka.

It's been a weird season for Tanaka. He went nearly all of spring training without giving up a run, then has basically been the worst starter in the AL during the regular season, despite a couple of dominant starts. It's like he and Pineda switched places. As long as he's healthy, I fully expect him to go on a roll at some point.

Speaking of going on a roll, Aaron Hicks is having a phenomenal, All-Star caliber season. Last year's trade for John Ryan Murphy is now looking like a complete heist. Hicks was not great in 2016, but showed some life at the end of the season with regular playing time. This year, he has really come into his own as a player.

This cool RC is from Panini Prizm. I hope Hicks has some Yankee autographs on the market soon, as I'd love to snag one.

Tom, thanks for taking the time to send me a couple great cards!

Blog Bat Around: The Origins of My Player Collections

P-Town Tom posed up a question about the origins of one's player collections. Honestly, I’m not even sure why I collect some of the guys I do, but thought it’d be fun to give some of the back story.

Tino Martinez – Obviously my #1 PC with over 800 unique Tinos. I was 12 years old when the Yankees acquired Tino in December of 1995, and obviously a big Yankees fan. I loved Don Mattingly, and wasn’t so sure about Tino as his “replacement.” I saw how much Tino struggled in April of 1996, but I loved how he carried himself. I could just tell that he cared. I was immediately drawn to him, and not long after, my basketball coach (RIP, Andy) came up to me after church one day and gave me a 1992 Topps Tino, saying he knows I liked him and that he and his son (also RIP – gone way too soon as a high schooler) had some cards and found this and wanted me to have it. I wanted more Tinos after that.

As luck would have it, Tino would go on to have a monster year in 1997, further cementing himself as my favorite player. I was 13-years-old, homers were cool, and Tino hit 44 and won the HR Derby. I also got AOL that summer, and found baseball cards forums or newsgroups. I started buying Tino cards online, usually sending cash and a SASE. I would literally mail like $.45 in coins to people for Tino cards. Crazy, right? It’s quite a bit easier now, and I’m glad to say I’ve been a Tino collector for over 20 years (with some gaps in between).

Ty Hensley – I felt like the Yankees got a steal in the 2012 MLB Draft when projected top 20 pick Ty Hensley fell to them at #30. I was also really getting back into collecting at this point. After a few pleasant interactions with Ty on Twitter and a TTM success, I really started to follow and root for him. I also started scooping up all his cards, and have been fortunate to have interviewed his mom on my blog, as well as exchange a few notes with him over the years. I’m sure he thinks I’m a creepy fanboy, but I really appreciate how kind he’s been to me, and hope he finds success in the Rays organization after he was scooped up in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft.

Michael Pineda – I’m not really sure why I collect Big Mike. I was excited when the Yankees acquired him, even though I hated losing Jesus Montero. I had a couple of Pineda cards with the M’s, but immediately bought a few more on COMC and SportsLots. When I got up to 20 cards or so, I asked myself if I was a Pineda collector. I didn’t know. Then he missed two years with injury, and his cards were super cheap, including autos. I bought low, although his demand never remotely returned to 2011 levels. When he came back in 2014, he pitched a brilliant game versus the Cubs that I watched in the hospital the day my daughter was born. I’ve continued to pick up Pineda cards ever since, and how have over 150 different.

Phil Rizzuto – This is another collection I don’t pursue as hardcore as my Tino or Hensley collections, but I do appreciate getting Rizzuto cards. In fact, I do list all the ones I have on my blog. He holds a special place in my heart from my TTM experience with him, which you can read here.

Prospects – Gary Sanchez, Dellin Betances, Mason Williams, Tyler Austin, Aaron Judge, etc – While none of these may be “formal” player collections, I love Yankees prospect cards. I don’t prospect to benefit off of them (although I could have made a pretty penny on Sanchez last year and Judge this year), but because I enjoy following the minor leagues, and hope I’m able to get a head start on having a bunch of cards of the next great Yankee. In some instances, it works. I have a decent amount of Sanchez and Judge cards that I couldn’t afford today, including printing plates and autographs. I also have a lot of cards of guys like Mason Williams and Slade Heathcott and other guys who haven’t panned out. I don’t like those cards any less though. I enjoy collecting these guys from the ground floor up.

Thanks for posing the question, Tom. It’s always nice to revisit why we do certain things, as sometimes we’re so focused on accumulating that we forget why.

Repacks do grow on (Dollar) Trees

Yesterday, I showed off the unexpected Andre Dawson/Vlad Guerrero insert I pulled in a Dollar Tree 30-card repack. I bought seven of the packs, and here are a few more highlights that are a lot more what you’d tradionally expect to get in this type of product.

First off, the best “window card” – the card showing through on the packaging – was a 2016 Bowman Masahiro Tanaka. While this is a dupe for me, it’s a lot easier of a choice for me to snag this card versus someone I’ve never heard of.

This Wil Myers card was also a window card, and I also received this same card in another pack.

There were a few Dodger cards through, and these were two of the cooler ones. The Crawford is one of the foil variations, which isn’t a terrible thing.

Glossy! Nearly each pack had a 1988 Fleer, and each was the glossy version.

A few cards from a time I didn’t collect, and didn’t recognize either card’s design. The Rollins is from 2007 Topps.

Gum stains were plentiful as well. If this were more recent Heritage, these would be worth something.

Diecuts in a repack are cool!

 

Lastly, HOFers! Unlike Fairfield repacks, these don’t guarantee X number of HOFers in each pack. However, there was no shortage. I’ll add these to my son’s HOF binder.

Are you supposed to pull cards like this in Dollar Tree repacks?

Two weeks ago, I stopped by the Dollar Tree and there were zero baseball packs. Nada. I was disappointed, as I had seen a few people stumble upon 30 card PressTine repacks.

I begrudgingly stopped back in this past Saturday, as I needed a few bubble mailers. I know there are other places to get them a little cheaper, but these come in packs of two for a dollar. So snagging 5 packs leaves me with ten new, fresh bubble mailers. That’s not too bad.

I swung around to where the cards are, just in case, and lo and behold, there was a fresh, gravity-type box of PressTine 30 card repacks! I couldn’t believe it! They must’ve just been open, as the packs were still neatly in there. If only I could experience this at Target, knowing the packs hadn’t been sifted through.

I ended up snagging 7 packs. It was tempting to get more, but it’s important to remember that probably 25 of 30 cards are junk. There weren’t too many great cards showing, but I snagged a few with some Bowman prospects, as you never know. I also snagged one with a 2016 Bowman Masahiro Tanaka on the front, as that’s not a bad card to get.

However, within one of the packs, I was shocked to find this card:

Front and back, what a cool card! It was certainly an outlier across all packs, that’s for sure. Unlike Fairfield repacks which guarantee X HOFs or the chance of a hit, these don’t do anything of the sort. While perhaps not a traditional hit, a low-numbered (162/250) insert card of a current and probable future Hall of Famer is pretty damn cool. This is from 2004 Donruss Elite, and is a green parallel within the Passing the Torch set.

I’ll show more of the cards from the other packs in a future post, as there were a few decent cards you’d expect in a repack. But honestly, this card blew all the others away.

TTM Success: Shaq

Last Friday, I returned home to find an envelope that I didn’t recognize.

I opened it and found my SASE (unused), with two signed cards in it. I sent these in early April:

Nice! Now, when I showed this on Twitter, the TTM Police immediately told me someone signs for him. They love doing that. It's a funny thing. It's worse on Instagram, which is why I don't participate on that site from a hobby standpoint. 

Are they real? I’m not sure one way or the other, as the signatures look pretty good compared to his certified stuff. I’m also not too worried about it. I’m not getting these authenticated or selling them. They are for me.

Growing up, Shaq was pretty much the most popular player on the planet outside of MJ. He had a great career, and I’m lucky I had a couple cards to send him. I used to have a bunch of Shaq cards growing up, but haven’t seen them in years. Perhaps they are still in my parents’ attic. I discovered these two in a box of mixed singles I had.