A few more HOFers for the binder

Including the cards I have yet to scan, I now have 48 cards in the HOF binder. Not too bad. I haven't updated progress lately, as these aren't very well-read posts (I don't care though).

Here are the new four I'll show. A little bit of everything here...an old school Topps, an ugly Donruss, a crazy credit card (still one of the coolest sets ever), and a typical, shiny mid-90s card. Variety!

Rivera Excels

As the Yanks play in Kansas City this weekend, it's hard not to remember last May, when Mariano Rivera fell to the ground after tearing his ACL shagging fly balls. At the time, no one knew if he'd pitch again. Luckily, he decided to come back, and he's been his usual self this season. The man is amazing.

Before being a dominant closer, he was a decent starting pitching prospect in the Yankees system. Here is a '94-'95 Fleer Excel card of Rivera pictured with the Tampa Yankees, won on Listia. I hadn't seen this card, but vaguely remember Excel from back in the day. The '94-'95 year is odd for baseball, as that's usually reserved for spots that play during two different calendar years, like basketball and hockey.

Rockin' Robin! Tweet tweet

 On Listia, I stole this sweet 1962 Topps Robin Roberts. I got it for way too cheap. I had seen an oddball card or two with Roberts as a Yankee, but nothing from Topps. I just didn't know it existed.

Now, I believe if you look closely, you can still see red pinstripes, but they are pretty subtle. Topps also didn't do a crappy airbrush job on a cap. They simply showed Robins well-maintained mane.

Roberts never did pitch for the Yankees, but it's very unique to have this card of a Hall of Famer, on your team, who never actually played for your team. Any other instances of that happening? I'm sure there are, but none off the top of my head.

1975 OPC from Adam E

AdamE from Thoughts and Sox and I did a quick trade recently. I sent him a few oddball Clemens, as well as a couple of cards off his want list. He sent me these sweet 1975 OPC cards. I had no idea these existed. Thanks, Adam!

Tino Tuesday #60: 2001 Topps Chrome Retrofractor #563

When I picked up this card on eBay a few weeks ago, I wasn't really sure what it was. It was definitely a 2001 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor, but this set is actually called Retrofractor. From what I can tell, they were seeded around 1:12. The star players fetch some decent $ on COMC. I landed this on eBay for a couple bucks shipped.

I half expected it to be serial numbered on the back, but it isn't. Either way, I hadn't come across this card, and find it to be really sharp.'

Anyone have any more info on Retrofractors?

A RC I had to have

I'm not huge into rookie cards. Although I do enjoy cards of prospects, I don't necessarily collect them to stock up on rookie cards.

Sure, there are a few I own that I cherish - an '84 Topps Mattingly, a '93 Topps Jeter, just to name a few. And I really, really want Mariano Rivera's Bowman RC. However, there is one that I have been chasing for awhile, and I finally picked up.

Cano is the best 2B in baseball, and thus far, has been the rock in the Yankees lineup, providing middle of the order power and striking fear into opposing pitchers. I've been a big fan of his since he came up, and the cost of his RC are only going up. I found it for a pretty good deal on eBay, and finally pulled the trigger.

I'd be surprised if Cano didn't re-sign with NY after his deal is up this year. I look forward to watching him continue to produce in his prime, and am happy to now own this card.

A Zipp-ity Zapp-ity doo dah trade

A few weeks ago, reader Kenny aka Zippy Zappy reached out about a possible trade. Zippy Zappy has been a frequent commenter on my blog, so I was all for it. As seen in many of his comments, he too is a Yankee fan. He mentioned he had some prospect cards and other goodies, and that he collects Cervelli, Posada, and Cano. I figured I had enough dupes around that I could help him out, and a trade was born.

Kenny’s package arrived first, as I was a slacker and took forever to send out my portion. Kenny exceeded any expectations I had by a longshot. He sent some sweet autos, a relic, and an overall large stack of awesome Yankee cards. I had been missing out by not trading with him sooner!

I’ll start with the autos. When he was my favorite Yankee prospect, I always coveted a Jesus Montero autograph. I was about 0 for 12 with him TTM. Although he’s no longer a Yankee, I’m thrilled that Kenny sent this:

These 2008 TriStar Projection cards were always a favorite of mine. I love the white, and signatures stick them very well. Kenny sent me a stack of the base cards and the foil parallels.

Here are a few more Montero and other prospects that Kenny included: 

Kenny also included two other autos of Yankee farmhands – Austin Romine and Daniel Brewer. Romine just got called back up to the Yankees to replace Frankie Cervelli. 

The Brewer is really interesting. His autographed card says “Danny Brewer”, but the base card says “Daniel Brewer.” I found that to be quite odd. 

Here is the relic that Kenny sent. I didn’t have any from 2012 A&G. 

Check out this sweet Sabathia. I have NO IDEA where this is from. It’s issued by Topps, but also co-branded with Sega. The back is in Japanese as well, and the stats appear to be some sort of rating system. It’s a very, very cool card. CC’s gut looks completely massive in this photo. For all you Dodger fans, Kenny also included a Matt Kemp Sega card. 

Here are some shiny inserts that really caught my eye. That Montero die cut is actually gold and #’d 03/25. I didn’t know there was a gold parallel for these. I couldn’t get it to scan well, but the gold is really cool…almost like a diagonal rain. 

 

Finally, Kenny added a few cards to my son’s HOF binder.

Kenny, this was a great, great trade. Thanks for being a loyal reader, and I hope to trade again soon.