Tampa Tyme

That was a tough pill to swallow.

From the Rule 5 Draft side, Zippy Zappy did a great job providing his POV on his favorite player, Luis Torrens, getting selected in the Major League Rule 5 Draft. He’s obviously invested a lot of time, effort, and money into his Torrens collection. Luckily, there is a strong chance that Torrens will be returned to the Yankees given that he’d be clogging up a 40-man roster spot in likely Single A this season if the Padres were to keep him. You never know, though.

I was not quite so fortunate. I was shocked to see Ty Hensley get plucked in the minor league phase of the Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. Unlike the Majors portion, when a player is selected in the minor league portion *poof* he’s gone. So Ty Hensley is no longer a Yankee.

It’s a tough one. I have enjoyed collecting Hensley cards for the last four years. He’s been very generous to me on number occasions, from providing autographs to Twitter interactions to his mom doing a Q & A on my blog.

For those reasons, I’ll continue to collect Ty Hensley cards, and root like hell for him to make it to the Majors. Even if it’s not with the Yankees, knowing what he has gone through over the last few seasons, I’ll always be in his corner. Plus, he hasn’t had new cards in a few years – I wouldn’t mind adding some fresh ones, even if they are of him in a different organization. I hope this opportunity is what he has needed, and provides him with the fresh start to get his career back on track.

Plus, I’ve got a history of collecting a small portion of Rays cards, because this guy spent some time playing for them. Maybe it was fate.

Regardless, best of luck, Ty. I’ll be pulling for you, and I wish you nothing but the best. I’m not abandoning ship now…unless you start shutting down the Yankees.

Happy Birthday, Tino!

Man, Tino Martinez turns 49 today. That makes me feel old. He was acquired by the Yankees exactly 21 years ago, to the day.

I remember the day very well. I was at a friend's house, and we found a 1993 Upper Deck of Tino to look at the back of the card to see how old he was. That was his 28th birthday. Pretty insane, as I remember that moment vividly.

To celebrate, here are three new Tinos Johnny sent me as part of the last batch of cards for my kids.

Johnny does it again

Not long after Johnny sent me a flat rate box, another one showed up.
While there were a few Tinos in there for me (to show at a later date), nearly everything else was for my kids.

There was a set of Snow White cards for my daughter, and a bunch of sportflics and Power Rangers pogs for my son. And the sportflics, aka "moving cards", have become quite an incentive for good behavior. If Joey comes home from school with zero timeouts, he gets a sportflics card.

In addition, John contributed to Joey's growing HOF collection too:

 

There were also a few guys who will never make the HOF, but were once worthy., These cards will make for a good history lesson one day.

Johnny, I can't thank you enough!

Eamus in the morning

P-Town Tom is not only a World Champion fan of the World Champion Cubs, he’s also a World Champion blogger and trader. Recently it looks like he did a little pre-holiday cleaning, and sent some Yanks my way with a most appreciated “I don’t need anything back” note. Now, I’m sure I’ll hit him back at some time, but I am depleted of Cubs inventory right now (and Red Sox), so I need a while to stock back up.

First and foremost, Tom sent an awesome “moving card” for my son, Joey. He knows that Joey loves sportflics types card, and this one is particularly cool. It’s a little more advanced than the 1980s set, and shows a bit more animation. It was hard to scan, so I apologize.

Enough about my 4-year-old. Time to show cards for ME.

Tom sent me some great Jeters, which I’m guessing might have come from the big estate sale haul a few months back. The Ultra Pizzazz is especially cool. There are so many amazing Jeter cards out there, as his prime coincided with endless amounts of base and insert sets from every brand. From 1996-2005, Jeter easily has the most cards out there, I’d assume. Maybe Griffey has more, but Jeter is definitely up there.

 

Any package with a hologram wins extra points.

Also, any package with Don Mattingly tenderly holding Lou Gehrig’s bat also wins major points.

Tom also included some nice autographs. Peter O’Brien was in the trade that brought Martin Prado to the Yankees in 2014. I was kind of annoyed by it because O’Brien has massive righty power, but doesn’t really have a position. He has made it to The Show with Arizona, and has 6 HRs in limited ABs. He’s probably always going to be a minor league mashers who doesn’t enjoy a ton of ML success, but I would have liked to see the Yanks stick with him in hopes of turning him into a solid DH. However, the Yankees didn’t really have that luxury with so many veterans needing time at DH. Oh well! Here’s to wishing O’Brien the best of luck and hope he finds success.

I’m not sure where this Jose Valdez auto might have come from. It’s not the same Valdez that is currently a reliever with the Angels…at least I don’t think it is.

Vintage! Just a great, great Elston Howard. Not the best choice with the yellow font, Topps, but an iconic card of an iconic player, and I'm always really thankful for cards like this that come my way.

Lastly - a Mick from Starting Lineup Baseball Greats. The action figure was not included, but I did a search and here's what it looks like.

Thanks, Tom! I hope your Christmas is filled with Cubs Championship gifts.