TTM Success: Mason Williams

I've been slow on the TTM's lately. I hope to send out some over the winter to retired players, mainly some '80s and '90s players. However, I did send a few TTMs to some of the Yanks in the Arizona Fall League. The only one I got back is my former TTM nemesis, Mason Williams:

For the longest time, I couldn't get a success from Mason. Then I finally got two, and now this one. This will probably be the last I send to him until he's (hopefully) in the Bronx and in a Topps set for the my Topps Yankees Project.

Welcome, Brian McCann

Honestly, this one caught me a bit off-guard. I should know by now not to be surprised when the Yanks acquire a new player, but I definitely wasn't expecting Brian McCann to agree to terms on November 23rd. Perhaps I was expecting a player of his caliber to wait until the Winter Meetings, but it looks like both sides wanted to wrap this up quickly, and boy did they.

I'm bummed to lose a valuable first round pick, but I'm sure the Yanks will at least get a high pick back if/when Curtis Granderson signs elsewhere, so it doesn't sting quite as much.

And I do know that McCann will be on the wrong side of 30 once the season starts, but his number have been remarkably consistent, and I think his power will play out nicely in Yankee Stadium. And from what I've read, he's a very positive influence in the clubhouse.

The deal is perhaps a tad too long, so here's to hoping for a a few good years behind the dish, and then a seamless transition to 1B/DH at the end of the deal.

Nice Mega Box Pull

Yesterday I was at Target running an errand. I swung by the card aisle, and was going to limit myself to just one pack. However, I noticed the Topps Update Mega Boxs (5 packs of Update, 2 packs of Chrome Update), so I decided to press my luck.

The five packs of Update were pretty boring. The first pack of Chrome was boring. On the very last pack, I was redeemed.

The first thing I saw when I opened the pack was a card #'d 12/99. Not bad. I couldn't see who it was yes.

Upon peeling the wrapped back a bit more, here was the back. Boom!

And upon flipping the front of the card over:

Nice! A Black Chrome Refractor of Bryce Harper! Not bad. I was hoping this would go for about $50 on eBay, bit unfortunately it goes for around $15-20. Still not bad. I've already got it listed, in fact. Half of me wants to keep it...I get attached to nice pulls. Ultimately though, this card is better served helping me get cards I really want. It's been fun owning it while it lasted.

Listia adds to my Pineda PC

I think we all know by now that Listia has been sucking more and more by the day. One junk wax common for 499 credits. It's silly and tiring to sift through the crap for gems. But gems there still are!

It's not often I get to add to a living, breathing PC through Listia, but when I do, it's glorious. I snagged this 2012 Bowman Chrome Green Refractor of Michael Pineda for 399 credits. I was prepared to go higher, but I was the only bidder. I'll take that every time.

The card is nice, but I was expecting it to be numbered. No difference, just surprised it wasn't. Thanks, Listia, for only sucking 99.9% of time.

Brad is rad...to trade with

I recently completed my first-ever trade with Brad of the rad blog Brad's Blog. I won't lie, love the simplicity of the name. All one has to say is "Brad" and everyone knows it's Brad of Brad's Blog. He's kind of like Pele or Madonna. They don't need two names.

Anyhow, I reached out because I had this ginormous Ryan Howard bat barrel card. It was one of the Topps manufactured barrels. It was the size of like 12 cards all together. Brad is an avid Howard collector, so I figured it'd fit better in his collection than in mine.

In turn, I selected a few cards from Brad's trade bait page. The first was this sweet Lou Piniella relic. It's my first jersey card of Sweet Lou.

Next, I picked two numbered cards for my Michael Pineda PC. Maybe Big Mike will actually throw a pitch for the Yanks this year.

Brad rounded out the trade with a nice stack of Yanks. Here are a few highlights, including two sweet Pineda die cuts and my first 2013 Chrome Refractor (ARod):

PWEs are the best

Seriously. There's not much better than coming home, checking the mail, and seeing an unexpected PWE fall out. Jeff from 2x3 Heroes is a consistent PWEer and even runs a club. Pretty cool.

Jeff knows how to maximize the amount of cards that fit without having to added the dreaded postage. It's a science, really.

Here are the cards Jeff sent. Nice mixture of prospect, legends, and current players. I actually just PWEed him back to return his top loader. You know, like when someone gives you a lasagna and you return their dish with cookies inside.

The Great Wall of Cardboard

Yesterday, I had a meeting at a fairly prominent office in NYC. I won't bore you with the details, but upon sitting down in the conference room, I look at the wall opposite me, and stop in my tracks. The wall was completely littered with iconic basketball cards. Now, I no longer collect basketball, but from 4th-8th grade, it was my primary focus. Therefore, I knew a lot of the iconic cards just by seeing them in Beckett and what not.

Needless to say, it was tough to focus. I did snap a few pictures, and figured it wouldn't be that tough to build a similar wall for my son. It was essentially just two pieces of plexiglass, with small horizontal plexiglass strips that served as shelves. The cards were no cheapies either. It was basically every iconic RC in basketball history.

Pretty freakin' sweet. I'd love one of just iconic Yankees cards, or iconic baseball cards in general.

Not a sushi guy, but I like this kind.

Spiegel over at Nomo's Sushi Platter and I recently made a swap. He saw a Dodgers card on my blog, claimed it, and sent me a great stack of Yanks chock full of shinies, shimmeries, minis, and parallels. It was a blast to go through.

While I won't scan everything, I would like to thank Spiegel for sending such a great batch of cards. Here are the highlights:

Greg Bird is a really exciting prospected. He started as a C but primarily played 1B last year. He mashed, hitting .288/.428/.511 with 20 HRs and 36 Doubles in Low A Charleston. I'm anxious to see if he can follow up with similar numbers between A+ and AA. If he does, he'll get a lot of attention. Here is a card of him I didn't have:

A little tradin' with P-Town Tom

I'm not sure if I can call this a trade yet since I haven't sent P-Town Tom his portion of the trade yet. I stink at sending packages lately. However, Tom did send me some sweet Yanks which I'm always a huge fan of.

First off, Tom wrapped a few of the cards in this Panini bag. Pretty cool.

Next, we have some oversized oddball Mattinglys from the mid-80's. I love the embossed cards. Super cool.

And a Mattingly that I saw in a Beckett once growing up, fell in love with it, and was convinced I'd never own it.

Here's the card that started the trade. Tom scored it off Listia, I believe.

Vintage is the way to my heart, Tom. You rascal.

And a few others I particularly enjoyed:

 

Tom, I swear, your cards are going out ASAP. Thanks again.