Smear campaign

I know smear campaigns are usually reserved for the Boston media running an athlete or coach out of town, but that’s not what this is about.

It’s actually about a TTM success!

New Yankees 3B coach Phil Nevin signed two cards I sent to spring training. Nevin is a fantastic TTM signer, returning signatures to nearly anyone who writes to him.

Unfortunately, one of the cards became a bit smeared as the result of wet ink. It looks like Nevin signed the Topps card first, then the Pacific Online, and placed one on top of the other before it dried. Much of that signature was absorbed on the back of the Topps card. It happens. That’s what I get for sending two cards. It's ok though, I'm still happy to have it.

Early in the season, I expect it to come up at least once per game that Nevin was drafted 1^st overall by the Astros the same year that the Yankees took Derek Jeter 6^th overall. I’m sure he’s tired of hearing that, and we all be as well. Nevin ended up having a solid 12-year career, including being a 2001 All-Star for the Padres when he hit .302 with 41 homers and 126 RBIs.

He’s been in coaching since he retired, and is one of the many new coaches brought in by Aaron Boone. Thanks for the autographs, Mr. Nevin!

Stranger Things Strawberry

Recently, my pal PK Steinberg of Baseball Every Night sent me a few dupes from his impressive Darryl Strawberry collection. I appreciate these because I love Strawberry cards from his Yankee years, and his time in Pinstripes coincided perfectly with some crazy card designs.

1997 Metal is one weird set, complete with robotic arms, mechanical gadgets, and some weird slimy monsters. Case in point, this Strawberry.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this card? Whatever the heck was grabbing people in the upside down tunnels in season 2. 

 

See where I’m coming from, right? If this card were made in 2018, I’d expect Straw’s bat to have nails sticking out of them, just like Steve Harrington’s.

There, that's better.

 The second card that caught my attention was a 1998 Bowman Chrome International parallel. These cards had the player’s birthplace on a map. In this instance, Strawberry’s butt is making a bubble around Los Angeles.

And here’s the base card with no map behind him.

Lastly, a sweet Topps base from ’99 Topps. Straw looks like he just yanked a double down the line.

Thanks, Peter!

A tremendous TTM success from Tino Martinez

Each spring, I send a TTM request to Tino Martinez at the Yankees spring training facility. Each season, he has served as a guest instructor, so I figure it's worth a shot to send to my all-time favorite player.

It worked in 2012, when I got this back:

I'm certain I've sent every year since then, although I've had zero success.

Then on Saturday, I received one SASE back from Tampa. I was overjoyed when this was the first card I saw:

BOOM!

The same day I struck out at Target looking for Heritage, this comes back.

I can't image a signature on a more perfect card than the inaugural Topps Heritage set. I've wanted this card signed for a long, long time. I know I've lost a few of these in the mail on previous requests, but this really makes it worth it. The signature came out great.

I was a bit greedy and included a second card - a 1999 Topps Gallery. Tino was gracious enough to sign it, and the card looks perfect as well. I love the big, bold signature. It really pops against the white border.

I'm still batting a pretty low average as it relates to my spring training TTMs thus far, but honestly, it feels like it's all gravy after this.

Thanks, Tino!

Jeter progress!

A few of you have sent me some of the 2018 Topps Jeter Highlights. Thanks for help me piece together this set!

I now need:
1, 7, 11, 17, 18, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 30

First up, Twitter user @billy2580 sent me #10, a nice shot of Jeter's last game:

A second Twitterer, Matt at @mj_dub80 was gracious enough to send three my way, including a blue parallel. I didn't know these existed until he told me.

 

He also tossed in a Deion Sanders and spring training MVP Miguel Andujar RC.

Last but not least, blogger Bryan of Golden Rainbow Cards sent me a few. Admittedly I hadn't stumbled upon his blog, and gladly added it to my blog roll. Please do the same.

 

Side note - Bryan, I still owe you a return package.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Oops, sorry Gavin

I knew it was going to happen.

A few weeks ago, I posted that I was officially calling itquits on my Michael Pineda collection. The problem with publicly doing something like that is that we have all these amazing people in our collecting community who are always picking up cards for each other to hold to for future trades.

In this instance, Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown proves the point. He commented the following on my post:

I've been sitting on a Pineda 1/1 (just a "blank back" gimmick), waiting for an excuse to send it to you. I guess I was waiting for him to turn things around first, but looks like I waited too long. Lol

Shut up, Lost Collector. I definitely felt a bit guilty. I’m sure Gavin was pumped to snag this card to send my way at some point, and then I ended up raining on the parade a bit.

But of course I still wanted to the card! It’s a 1/1 of Yankee, and I will never get tired of such things. Even the gimmicky ones! And I will never turn down a Pineda card in a Yankees uniform. I have an excellent collection of his that ranges from autographs to printing plates to other 1 of 1s. I’m just going to turn away my focus, that’s all. But I will never say no. 

As luck would have it, just a few days later I pulled a Rhys Hoskins manu-relic from 2018 Topps, a card that piqued Gavin’s interest, and a very fair trade was made for the Pineda. That made me feel good and a bit redeemed.

And as he has been known to do, Gavin sent a few of his dominant custom cards. He really creates some of the best out there that I’ve seen, so much so that I’ve actually flipped past them in trade packages only to later realize they were customs.

Respect for taking the time on the card backs too. In the few times I've made cards on the Rookies app (which is total cheating compared to Gavin's originals), I was too lazy to do card backs and just used the generic logo one they have.

Gavin also sent a Tino insert. I love this card! I think it looks great, and commemorates Tino's 3-HR day in 1997, which I actually remember very well. That set the stage for his 44-HR season.

Lastly, a surfer dude! And one named AJ!

Thanks, Gavin!