Do you know the way to San Jose?

A few weeks back, I got a nice mailing from San Jose Fuji.

I'm sure many feel the same, but to me Fuji is the ultimate blogger. Thoughtful posts, kind gestures, and always something nice to say.

For me, he's been a constant in my nearly eleven years with this blog.

Fuji sent me a nice rigid envelope of cards a few weeks back, highlighted by two Yankees relics from 2019 Topps Holiday:

I have to think that's my first Aaron Hicks relic, but I'm not totally sure.

Topps Holiday is always a fun set with fun relics, and I always seem to miss out on it. I don't have a Walmart nearby, and even if I did would I ever find boxes of these? I rely on TCDB for the singles, but Fuji certainly helps with the relics.

A couple Tinos were also included, include a fairy rare 1998 UD Authentic Sheer Dominance Gold (/2000).

Lastly, can never go wrong with a triplet of HOFers, including Jeter, Mantle, and Rizzuto.

Fuji, thanks so much for the 'blog friendship' over the years.

Sup, JediJeff?!

It has been a few years since we had traded, but JediJeff of 2x3 Heroes dropped back into my DMs asking for my address. The last correspondence I had with him (according to gmail) was 2017, so it was awesome to hear from him this past November. 

And, let's just say Jeff brought it. Not sure if he had just been setting some cards aside or what, but what a great package it was. Two team bags full of goodies.

Where to begin? Let's start with Yankees legend Bert Campaneris. Just kidding, but I always enjoy the opportunity to show Campaneris as a Yankee because I know many find it appalling to see him in pinstripes. Hey, he hit a career high .322 with the Yankees. Like I said, legend. I have the 84 Topps, but the 83 Traded is new.

Ok, on to some more of the traditional hits if I didn't offend you too much. My favorite - easily - was an Aaron Judge rookie card. But not just any RC. Topps Chrome Refractor RC! That is so so pretty, new to my collection, and a really generous card for Jeff to send. That card immediately goes in my "good box."

There were a couple card with pieces of jersey or metal in them. The Yogi coin is really cool. I live about 10 minutes from the Yogi Berra museum and I have never been. That's pretty lame. Once this all clears up I am going to go.

Three A&G jerseys of, sadly, former Yankees. Well, I believe Tanaka will be a former Yankee, as it doesn't look like the Yanks are bringing him back. Jacoby Ellsbury is a free agent...dude doesn't even have a minor league deal anywhere. Is he done?

This is a little but of an odd one, but gladly will add it to my Jeter collection. It's a Sage Sportkings jersey. The card is...of a jersey. The limits of no MLB or MLBPA license! But of course I'll count it as another Jeter relic. It's definitely unique.

Here's a few other cards that really jumped out at me. No one pimps a homer like Aaron Hicks.

Thanks, Jeff! Appreciate reconnecting and appreciate the awesome package!

A rare easy Twitter trade

I tend to not trade on Twitter very much. While I (sometimes) enjoy discussing and viewing cards on the site, trading just hasn't been something I've found very satisfying. Via retweets and whatever other algorithms Twitter users, it exposes me to many more collectors. Sometimes this is a good thing, often times it is not.

I've had countless interactions that go something like this:

"Yo, whatchu want for X card?" or "No thanks. What else u got?" or "I PC Harper, Trout, Judge, Bellinger, Lindor,  and Vlad Jr."

Many conversations aren't even worth the effort. Other people collect differently than me, and that's fine. But I feel like many can't grasp that I just don't have a buttload of sick hitz and mOjO laying around to swap.

Anyhow, I'm thankful for nice, easy, and efficient transactions like the one below. I posted a few cards I pulled from my Heritage blaster, and a follower by the name of Thomas was interested in an Edwin Diaz SP I pulled. He offered up a Stanton Stadium Club insert, and a quick PWE trade was agreed upon.

So simple! No annoying back and forth. We each got something we wanted.

Thomas was also kind enough to send a card of $70-million-man Aaron Hicks.

Will this make me trade more on Twitter? Unlikely. But it's nice to know there are collectors like Thomas who can make trading so simple.

Circa March, 2019

I came home from a work trip last week to find a PWE from one of NJ's newest and Finest, PK Steinberg from Baseball Every Night. I think he mailed out around 30 PWEs last week, and I'm thankful to be on the receiving end of one of them.

While two cards were from 2019 Topps, my favorite was this oldie but goodie from 1997 Circa:

This definitely looks like 1995 Fleer's older brother, but I didn't mind these at all. I had some basketball cards from this set as well, which had the same design.

The two 2019s were one of the Gleyber inserts, as well as a base card of $70 million dollar man Aaron Hicks.

PK, thanks for thinking of me!

2018 Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day! Very exciting. The Yankees stink on Opening Day, so I fully expect a loss. In fact, they've lost 6-straight Opening Days. That's bad!

But I'm excited. Hopefully this is the year to get in the W column on day 1.

Here's the lineup the Yankees will trot out there today. Best of luck to all of your teams - except the Red Sox.

LF - Brett Gardner

RF - Aaron Judge

DH - Giancarlo Stanton

C - Gary Sanchez

CF - Aaron Hicks

SS - Didi Gregorius

3B - Brandon Drury

2B - Neil Walker

1B - Tyler Austin

SP - Luis Severino

Not the best end of summer

This post comes to you from the pediatric ward of our local hospital, where my three-year-old daughter has been since Wednesday. She has pneumonia. I feel so bad for her little body going through all of this, and feel terrible that summer is ending this way for her. I feel for my son too, as he's been dragged back and forth to the hospital and hasn't gotten much attention.

She'll be ok and we'll survive! There are a lot of people going through their own challenges right now, especially my blogging friends down in the Houston area. I wish them all the best.

I will say that I've been trying to keep up with everyone's blogs, as there is a lot of downtime just sitting here, so thank you all for your posts.

In between some of my trips home for clean clothes and to walk the dog, yesterday's mail contained just a single card:

This was a pretty neat feat, actually. All three players hit their 40th career homers in the same game. While 40 isn't an elusive number or anything, what are the chances three guys on the same team would accomplish the feat in one night?

That's baseball, Suzyn.

Hopefully I'll be back with normal posts soon. Until then, I hope everyone can enjoy their holiday weekend!

Surprise mail is the best mail

Yesterday, I had a long day at work.

Part of it was my fault for refreshing Twitter non-stop from about 1pm-4pm leading up to the trade deadline. I definitely could have used that time more productively and done actual work.

When I finally got around to a stopping point around 7:15, I headed to Port Authority, hopped on my commuter bus, and walked in my front door at around 8:25. Thank goodness for Fox Sports Go, as I was able to watch the first few Yankees innings on my phone on the bus.

Side note - 2017 really is amazing. I can watch a baseball game live (well, with a slight delay) in HD on my telephone as I commute home from work.

Once I walked in, the dog attacked me, jumping all over me as a way to say hello. He needs to stop that.

I went upstairs and gave the kids a kiss, then made my way back downstairs to eat dinner and turn the game on. On the counter was a welcome site - a bubble mailer I wasn't expecting!

It was from my good buddy Robert of $30 A Week Habit. He sent me four cards, and it definitely was welcome when I was feeling pretty fatigued from a long day.

Apparently I commented on this Aaron Hicks card before. I'm glad Robert remembered, because I definitely did not.

This is my first in-hand 2017 Stadium Club. I've liked this Whitey since I saw it.

Jeter! What a great card. I liked how Series 2 showed All-Stars MVPs and HR Derby champs, although mad that Tino wasn't included. I don't think he has a current deal with Topps.

I'll end the package with this guy. Love getting cards of him!

Thanks, Robert!

PWE-Town Tom does it again

It's always nice to get a PWE from P-Town Tom. I know he's been busy with the end of the school year and his baseball team's advancement through the playoffs, so I appreciate the time he took to send two cards my way.

I sent him a few Bunt Cubs, and he returned the favor with this 2017 Bunt Blue Parallel of Masahiro Tanaka.

It's been a weird season for Tanaka. He went nearly all of spring training without giving up a run, then has basically been the worst starter in the AL during the regular season, despite a couple of dominant starts. It's like he and Pineda switched places. As long as he's healthy, I fully expect him to go on a roll at some point.

Speaking of going on a roll, Aaron Hicks is having a phenomenal, All-Star caliber season. Last year's trade for John Ryan Murphy is now looking like a complete heist. Hicks was not great in 2016, but showed some life at the end of the season with regular playing time. This year, he has really come into his own as a player.

This cool RC is from Panini Prizm. I hope Hicks has some Yankee autographs on the market soon, as I'd love to snag one.

Tom, thanks for taking the time to send me a couple great cards!

105.5 MPH

Aaron Hicks has a cannon.

When the Yankees acquired him, the book on Hicks was that he was a great defender, but hadn’t reached his potential with the bat. From what I’ve seen in a 25-day sample size, I get it.

To be fair, he hasn’t had regular at bats, so it’s tough to get in a groove. But his defense is elite.

Last week, I was actively rooting for the ball to get hit to him to see his arm in action. He threw several guys out in spring training, and carried that over into the season. By now, most of you may have seen his 105.5 MPH cannon to throw out a runner at the plate:

Before that, he had another strong through that Brian McCann didn’t handle. Then, the next night, he gunned down a runner trying to go for a double. I don’t think it was even his best throw, but he nailed the runner by a good 6-8 feet.

Next month, the Yanks should have two players who throw well over 100 playing at the same time – Aroldis Chapman and Hicks. That should be fun.

I picked up a cheap auto of Hicks on COMC during a recent splurge, and look forward to eventually adding a Yankees auto of him. I really hope he develops into a solid everyday OFer.

Opening Day 2016

Ok, so tomorrow is probably going to be Opening Day because the weather in NYC looks bad. It makes so much sense for Houston to start to season in NY in April, right? I mean, it's not like it's 80 degrees there and it's not like their stadium has a roof. Noooo, let's play in frigid, rainy NY. Smart.

Regardless, I'm excited for the season. The off-season wasn't quite as long as usual. Perhaps it's because I was lucky enough to see my alma mater unexpectedly make a Final Four run in the NCAA basketball tournament. That killed some time during the dog days of spring training.

I'm cautiously optimistic for the Yankees this year. I'm VERY concerned about the starting pitching staff. I can't see a single member of the current staff giving the team 200 innings this year...but if they can all give 150 or so, we'll be in business. Still a big IF.

I'm excited to see year two of Nathan Eovaldi and Luis Severino. Eovaldi showed a lot of promise as the summer wore on, although his season ended prematurely with a forearm injury. I'm even more excited to see a full season from Luis Severino. He proved he belonged last year, and I hope he realizes his ace potential. He could be next year's Opening Day starter.

Big Mike and Masahiro Tanaka are question marks Both are injury prone, but both can be dominant when things are clicking. I'd love to see them both stay healthy. Tanaka gets the ball for his second straight Opening Day start, although it was more by default than anything else.

In terms of the lineup, sure there are still a few old farts, but man I'm excited to see some youth sprinkled in. I love the Starlin Castro pickup. He grew up with a lot of pressure in the Cubs organization, and that's gone now. He's free. It wouldn't surprise me if he had a monster year. He is just 26, and already had 991 career hits. That's insane.

There is also a ton of young players finally ready to help. At some point this season, the Yanks could have Severino on the mound, Gary Sanchez catching, Didi and Starling at 2nd and short, and Aaron Hicks in center. That's an exciting group up the middle, and all 26 or under. The youth movement is here.

Your guess is as good as mine with how it's all going to shake out. This team could win 95 game. Or 75. But baseball is here, it's time to start the grind again. Let's do it.

Lastly, in the spirit of Opening Day, here's my first and only 2016 Topps Opening Day card, and it's of Michael Pineda, naturally. He wasn't in Series One, so I'd imagine this is what his Series Two card will look like.

One thing I don't get is why they numbered these with "OD", especially when Opening Day is above the number anyways. Seems redundant. Oh well, I won't lose sleep over it, but it's an odd choice. Also, the light gray numbering from Series One is back. Good luck with that, set collectors.

That wraps it up. Rain rain go away so we can PLAY BALL!

A middle infield I'm excited about

I really like what Brian Cashman is doing right now. He's trading from areas of strength - catcher and relief pitchers - and bringing in high upside players who have yet to hit their prime.

In many instances, he's buying low. It doesn't always work, but he's a big fan of "change of scenery" moves. Namely, he's improving the roster with young, athletic, controllable (in terms of service time) players that will ultimately complement the prospects that are set to arrive in NY shortly (or already have).

Now, I know all these moves won't work out. Law of averages. But that doesn't mean they can't be useful players. Maybe Aaron Hicks never develops into an All-Star, but if he can become a solid, above average everyday player, that's quite important.

As a result of a trade this week, Starlin Castro became the Yankees everyday 2B. He has 991 career hits before his 26th birthday. He's a three-time All-Star. He finished the season on a tear. He's been awful two of the past three seasons, so it will be interesting to see where he falls into place. Will he be a 200-hit threat? Even if not, he's probably better than the Brian Roberts/Stephen Drew experiment of the last two seasons. Robert Refsnyder's bat has always had potential, but when you can get a guy just a year older than him with about 975 more hits to his credit, you do it.

Castro's DP partner will be Didi Gregorius. Didi's numbers may not look like much to non-Yankee cans, but his transformation was impressive to watch. He played much better as the summer went on, and he seemingly made a highlight reel play every night. He probably should have won the Gold Glove, but I have a feeling that's not too far off.

Regardless, I think it'll be exiting to watch these two. There will inevitably be a game where the Yanks run out Didi, Castro, Hicks, and Gary Sanchez up the middle. Everyone 26 or under. That's exciting as a fan who has watched old guys run around the field for far too long.

Welcome to NY, Starlin Castro. Here's to solving the 2B problem for the next few years.