My three prized possessions

It’s really hard to say what the three most prized possessions in my collection are. Only two things jumped out, so I really had to think hard about the third.

The first is my Tino Martinez TTM collection. He is my favorite player of all-time, and I’ve gotten him to sign twice for me TTM, about 12 years apart. Here’s the latest.

My second most prized possesion is this beat up 1967 Topps Mickey Mantle. I wanted an original Topps Mantle for years, and finally splurged on this one. Yeah, it’s beat-up, but how else could I afford it? I still think it’s super cool to own.

Hmm, what to choose for third? There’s my Topps Yankees Project. That’s pretty damn cool and unique, in my opinion. However, I went with my ticket stub from the 2009 World Series Game Six. The Yanks clinched their 27^th World Series Championship that night, and I was in attendance. Not many fans are fortunate enough to see their team clinch a championship in person, and this is a moment I’ll never forget. Being at the game was surreal, and I’ll always remember the feeling as the outs started to tick away, especially as it got to single digits. Nines to go, eight, seven…I just kept wishing for the Yankees offense to make outs so the defense could get back out there. When the final out was made – a ground ball to Robinson Cano who threw to Mark Teixeira, I remember not jumping up and down right away because I wanted to see the players all mob each other. Once they did, I let myself go a bit and celebrated with fellow fans. I stuck around and watched the team take a victory lap. When I made it outside, the fans were everywhere in the streets going crazy. I remember a shirtless guy climbing a telephone pole…and it was about 30 degrees out. I finally made my way to the subway and headed home, but didn’t sleep well that night from all of the excitement.

There you have my three most prized pieces in my collection.