The King of second-guessing

 

File this under: not sure why I bought this.

I already have two Jim Leyritz TTM autos, so I'm not sure why I decided to buy a certified auto. Really, I don't. It's an ugly shiny sticker. It's not that great of a card. Maybe if it was a "World Series heroes" card or something that would have been different. I don't know.

However, for some reason, I grabbed it.

Leyritz was a guy I didn't appreciate until after he left the Yankees. He had that weird post-pitch bat twirl that would probably get him banned from baseball now. He was a solid contributor in the early to mid 90s as the Yankees were turning into a good squad. He played a key role on the 1996 team, and will forever be known for the bomb he hit in the World Series.

He then left and bounced around a bit amonst a few teams from 1997-1999. Then in 1999, he was reacquired by the Yankees and hit a big World Series homer once again.

Post-baseball hasn't gone particularly smoothly for him, as he was the subject of a vehicular manslaughter case. No good.

Here are the aforementioned TTM autos:

TTM Success: Jonathan Holder

Yankees 2014 6th round pick Jonathan Holder signed my card in just 14 days c/o Tampa Yankees.

Holder's teammate in college, Jacob Lindgren, made his MLB debut yesterday. Holder actually pitched in the pen at Mississippi State, but he's started 16 of his 20 career games in the minors. Thus far, he is 3-2 with a 2.86 ERA and 36Ks in 44 innings for A+ Tampa. If he keeps these numbers up, I'd expect a bump to Trenton mid-season given his age and his performance.

I was a dummy and apparently didn't prep this chrome card for a TTM. Usually I'll use an eraser to remove some gloss, but I must've just forgotten on this one. The signature definitely bubbled, although not as bad as it could have.

Thank you to Mr. Holder for the autograph, and best of luck as he climbs through the Yankee system.

T-t-t-t-t-today, Junior.

Junior Junkie is the man.

The dude is one of the best out there. He takes any mundane topic, and makes it worthy of being read. It beats the shit out of my “look what I got posts.” He’s creative as hell, constantly throwing out new concepts and things to try on his blog. His #WalletCard posts were all epic. His Junior collection is second to none. His organization skills bring a tear to my eye.

Oh, and he sends me Tinos and Yanks. 

First of all, did Donruss really do this? Did they really pull out the Rated Rookies and sell boxed sets? Tino is in there, but that's a pretty uninspiring group. I hope no one bought a lot of these as an investment. Invest now, get your Bernard Gilkey rated rookie!

Ok, these are two guys hopefully worth the investment one day. Dermis Garcia and Nelson Gomez are the big bats the Yanks spent on in last year's international spending spree. They are super young, so it might be awhile before you hear more about them.

A lovely Andy Pettitte relic with a damn fine pinstripe.

Here's a great assortment of cards I did not hate. I know he's hurt and his UCL will snap at any second, but damn it's still special for me to get a Tanaka.

 

 

Last but not least, JJ sent me this sweet Aubrey Huff card!

In addition to the one above, these next five Tinos were all new to my collection! That's a big number! I had no idea 1996 Collector's Choice had an Update/wrapper redemption set! That's sweet.

Thanks again, TJ!

 

Not to get all Zappy on you, but...

I'm going to get sappy on you for a second. Actually, no. I'm going to get ZAPPY on you.

Every, let's say, six to eight weeks, I'm on the victorious end of a Zippy Zapping. Kenny, of Torren' Up Cards, loves (at least I think) hitting me with these epic card packages.

One thing I always enjoy, almost as much as the cards, is the creative way that Kenny packages. Last time, it was the re-created Bowman box. This time, it was a large stack of cut 9-pocket pages. It was like a PWE on PEDs. He could get a job in product packaging in a second if he ever wanted.

See? Good stuff.

So what did he send? Everything. I don't even know where to start.

I'll start with Eric Jagielo. Jagielo gets a little overshadowed by Aaron Judge now, but let's not forget that he was drafted ahead of him. Oh, and he's at .287/.382/.558 with 7 HRs so far in AA. Not shabby. I know Zippy likes Jagielo a lot, so I appreciate the autos.

I wish Jose Contreras got a longer leash with the Yanks. He wasn't awful with them, he just wasn't as expected. He still put up some decent numbers, especially in his first year. They traded him away for Esteban Loaiza, who sucked. Plain and simple. Contreras then went on to be an All-Star, and play a key role on the White Sox World Series team. Sigh.

I like Angelo Gumbs mostly because of his sweet ass name.

Peter O'Brien is interesting. The Yanks turned him into Martin Prado, then turned him into Nathan Eovaldi, among others. So they essentially turned an all-bat prospect into a 25 year old starter. Not a bad swap. O'Brien can hit and hit and hit. He had 34 HRs last year, and nine already this year. He just can't catch. But his power is going to carry him to the Bigs. He'd be a good DH.

What in the world? Ren and Stimpy Mojo?

Vintage! How did I take this long to get to these? National effin Chicle of a dude named Dixie? That's the '30s for you. How great is the back of the card? I mean, what a batting tip! Except, no, you can't step out of the box anymore. Oh, the PURISTS must be livid at this new rule since you could step out in the 1930s!

This card isn't that old compared to the Chicle.

Fast-forwarding a bit to new author Jorge Posada.A 1994 Bowman's Best RC. This ain't no reprint, son. This is the kind of card from the kind of set I would see in Beckett growing up. The ones I never saw in person or ever dreamed I'd own. They didn't sell these at CVS.

 

My first silk, and it's sooooo smooth!

I can't really mention Posada without Andy Pettitte, and here's a lovely rookie of the lefty.

From one ace to another! #BigMike! I needed this one. I'm up over 100 different Pinedas right now, and it's getting tougher and tougher. His prices are going up, up, up on eBay.

I don't think I've met any one collector who knows as much about the Minors, especially the Yanks' affiliates, then Zippy Zappy. He loves his minor league baseball, and his dedication to the Staten Island Yankees is admirable. He's also got, hands down, the best Luis Torrens collection out there. I can't imagine any collector out there has a better one. I am fortunate that he has probably acquired dupes and can spare ones like these for me.

And here are a few more prospects that we both like a lot, especially Jacob Lindrgen!

 

Jeter, on a Sega Gen? Yes, please. I really need to count my Jeters. I want to know how many I have. If it's less than 500, I am going to try and get to 500. If more, I may go for 1,000. Because, well, why not?

 

And a couple more fun ones that I love...

 

I think this is a great way to end it. Thanks, ZZ!

 

Big Blue Big Mike

Over the past couple of years, some of the nicest parallels out there have come from Topps Opening Day.

See what I mean?

The blue foils have been gorgeous. Last year, I pulled the Jeter, and it might just be the nicest looking Jeter in my collection.

This year is no different. Kerry from Cards on Cards sent me this Blue Foil Michael Pineda, the 103rd different Pineda in my collection.

The only difference is that it is not numbered to 2015, nor does it have the date of Opening Date. I wonder why Topps changed this? Either way, it's a stunning card, and I hope Topps keeps the tradition of these blue foils in Opening Day.