Welcome to the show, Slade Heathcott!

As Zippy Zappy pointed out on Twitter, I did just post that Slade Heathcott deserved a call-up. Well, Jacoby Ellsbury hurts his knee, hits the DL, and next thing I know, it's Heathcott getting the call.

I'm very surprised he was the choice over Ramon Flores, but I gotta say, I'm excited. I hope he can come bring some miuch-needed energy to a bit of a slumping team.

Moreso, I'm just happy for Mr. Heathcott. He was a 1st round pick, battled numerous injuries, not to mention many personal and family issues while he was growing up. At one point, he was living in his truck. Now he's a big leaguer, and it's hard not to be happy for him. I know he'll appreciate it.

Good luck, Slade Heathcott! 

An All-American pick up

This is one of those cards I’ve been after for awhile. You know those cards that either pop up and are too expensive, or you keep getting outbid on? Yeah, that was this one for me.

But patience pays off. It always does. I finally added this Ty Hensley 2011 Topps Under Armour All-American Game autograph, and the price was very right.

This is a card of Ty before he was a Yankee, which is cool. The moment I saw it, I wanted it. I just wasn’t meant to have it for whatever reason.

I was extra giddy when it finally arrived. The card has a nice, non-glossy finish, something I wish that many current autograph issues had. Think of a Topps Archives-type cardstock, which is great for autographs. I would love to see Bowman take this approach with their autographs, actually.

It’s a great card, and I’m thrilled to finally have it.

Abi dabba do!

This is one of the more interesting signatures I've seen in a while. When I saw it, I had to have it!

Abiatal (Abi) Avalino is a young infielder in the Yankees system. He's already swiped nearly 20 bags this year (as of writing this), something a lot of Yankees minor leaguers seem to be doing. He earned a promotion from Low-A Charleston to High-A Tampa, where he's still adjusting. Either way, I am really happy to add this nice autograph from a promising young player.

Is Robinson Cano hobby irrelevant?

Is Robinson Cano hobby irrelevant?

I figured once he left the Yankees he wouldn’t be as top of mind, no matter what type of success he had in Seattle. It’s no knock on him or the team, it just seems like par for the course when leaving a major media market for a smaller one.

He, along with Roc Nation, have done a great job of getting some endorsement deals with Pepsi and New Balance (among others), but in terms of baseball cards, I don’t see a hot market for his stuff right now. I just picked up this refractor for $.24 shipped on eBay. While it’s from an older set and features him with a team he no longer plays for, I couldn’t imagine scoring this for less than a quarter when he was still a Yankee.

It’s also a fair point to say that his cards during his Yankee days were never in huge demand. He had guys like Jeter and Rivera playing at the same time, so he always seemed like a 3^rd option to collect, despite being a better player than those two over the last couple of years.

Cano had a huge first year in Seattle, and while he’s off to a slow start (something he frequently had in NY), I expect him to have another big year this year. But even with another great season and Top-5 MVP finish, do you think his cards have peaked in value and in demand? It kind of looks that way from my perspective.

This is not meant to slam him for leaving NY. He took the biggest paycheck and he should have. That’s over with. I have no qualms about that. It’s merely a trend I’m noticing purely within the hobby.

What do you think?

What about Gary?

Gary Sanchez is easy to forget about. He’s been in the Yankees organization since he was 16. He’s been rated in Baseball America’s Top 100 since 2011. He’s in his second full season at AA, yet he’s just 22, nearly four years younger than the average age of guys he’s playing against (according to Baseball Reference).

When a guy has just been consistently good, as well as around for a long time, he gets overshadowed by shiny new toys. Players like Aaron Judge and Luis Severino have injected much-needed life into the farm system, but Sanchez is still one of the crown jewels.

He’s a righty-hitting catcher with power, and his defense has become a strong point, notably his arm. I think people are weary of getting too hyped about him because of Jesus Montero, but he’s a better defender than that. His bat is good as well, as he should be a solid middle of the order guy in his prime. He hit 13 HRs as a 21-year-old in AA last year, after hitting 15 in 2013 and 18 in 2012. He’s off to a slow start this year, but I expect him to heat up as the season goes on.

So while Yankee fans are excited over Judge and Severino and Lindgren and Bird and Refsnyder, I, for one, am anxiously awaiting Gary Sanchez’s arrival, likely sometime next year or maybe even this September. It’s been a long time coming. There's no need to rush him, and I hope that he and John Ryan Murphy form a solid 1-2 catching combo in the next few years.

It's raining Hensleys!

My 58th Ty Hensley has arrived, and it's a cool one. These days, I get excited when I see one pop up on eBay for a decent price. I won't pay outrageous prices, but there are still a lot of parallels I need and pounce on when the price is right.

The 2013 Bowman Cream of the Crop mini is sweet. I had the regular one, but the blue version blows it away. It's just a pretty card. It sort of looks like a refractory rainbow rain in the background.

I have a couple more new Hensleys that I have yet to show, so I'm getting very close to 60, which I'm very proud of.

Pretty neat Leaf Valient auto in the old Crusade design (still one of the best sets ever). The fact that these are on-card are great. I needed the orange one pictured here. It's numbered to 99.

This fancy blue refractor came in a Zippy Zapping (which I'll show the contents of in a future post). It's still one of my favorite Hensleys, as this is from the year he was drafted. I didn't have this blue refractor, so it was welcome, for sure. Kenny is awesome at finding Hensleys that I don't have.

A new Tino by way of San Fran (Fuji)

A while back, everyone's favorite Fuji sent me a PWE. But it wasn't just any PWE, it was a PWE stuffed with Tinos and only Tinos!

I can't say how much I appreciate guys pulling Tino (or Hensley or Big Mike) from their collections and sending them my way. I always enjoy getting them!

I actually needed that 2000 Bowman on the bottom right. I was surprised to see that I didn't have it, but I had the Chrome and the Retro/Future parallel. That was a nice surprise!

Although he's not in a Yankee uniform, I'll always love that 1996 Fleer Metal.

This Upper Deck Special Report talks about Tino's historic April in 1997. I always loved seeing the shot of him and Bernie together.

Fuji, thanks so much. With 675 different Tinos, it's hard to find ones I don't have, but you managed!