ZZ sends a BG

The mail in my neck of the woods has been unusually fast, at least for PWEs. It's easy to crap all over the post office, and I know they often cause headaches. But during these last few weeks, I give props to them for role as essential workers and for dominating, at least in my neck of the woods.

On Saturday, I made a trip to the post office where I sent three different PWEs, as well as three bubble mailers.

I know he probably lives only about an hour away, but in that time, my PWE reached Zippy Zappy, and by Wednesday - just five days later - a return PWE from him was in my mailbox.

That is crazy efficient!

Props goes to ZZ as well for an unnecessarily quick turn around.

Anyhow, I recently picked up a Kei Igawa autograph, as they don't pop up very much in Japan, so thought it might give him some collateral next time he made the trip to Japan and visited their local card shops.

In a lightning quick show of gratitude, ZZ sent me this:

It's only my second Gardner autograph, I believe. This is from 2008 Tristar Projections, and is a gold numbered 24/25. He noted that Gardner is a bit like Igawa in the fact that there just aren't a ton of their autographs floating around out there.

Gardner's signature is very uninspiring here, just a straight up BG. His autograph has evolved over the years a bit - still not great, but better!

Thanks, ZZ. And thanks, USPS.

A nice PWE from Georgia

Last week, a nice PWE showed up from Georgia courtesy  of John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.

One of the highlights was this Luis Torrens diecut. While something like this should be in ZZ's collection, I do need to hang onto it so I can take down Gavin on TCDB.

My next favorite cards were these Inaugural Season Yankees Stadium cards. I had never seen them! What perfect looking Yankees cards with he Pinstripes in the design.

Johnny also hit me with a couple Hometown Heroes of Tino!

Lastly, a couple of 1989 Baseball America cards. This is a sneaky fun design, the more you look at it.

Thanks for thinking of me, Johnny!

My favorite Yankee born in the '80s

In his latest contest installment, Collecting Cutch asks who our favorite player born in the '80s is. I had no answer off the top of my head. Tino was born in the '60s, and Ty Hensley + all the current Yankees I admire were born in the '90s. Tough choice.

Ultimately, the decision came down to a coupe of older Yankees, and I think I chose well:

Plus a pink card!

Brett Gardner was born in 1983, and is the longest tenured Yankee, making his debut in 2008 at the old Stadium. Since then, he's been a constant part of the Yankees over the last decade. He seemed to be always overlooked or pushed aside for shinier new models, but somehow, no matter what, he always ends up playing more than expected and contributing to the team in never-ending ways.

Gardner started his career has a slap-hitting, fast-running leadoff type hitter. Somehow he has developed into a 20-HR guy, learning to yank balls into NY's short porch.

He is a fiery dude, although I can't say I agreed with his recent binge of dugout bashing with his bat. I don't mind emotion, but I didn't like that.

Still, it's hard for any Yankee fan not to appreciate what he has given the team over the last 10+ seasons. He's been a consistent force, and someone who I'm sure I'll appreciate more once he's no longer around.

Luckily others have a better memory than I do

My memory stinks.

I'm only in my mid-30s, but seriously, it's shot. My wife tells me things and I completely forget. Constantly, I run an errand, and forget to pick up what I actually went for. I'm not sure if it's just age creeping on me, inattentiveness, or what, but I really stink at remembering simple things. Luckily I'm much more focused at work, but likely because I am a notorious note-taker.

Lucky for me, others are far better when it comes to the memory department. I recently received a package from Tim over at I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning. Back when Series One first came out, Tim mentioned he could help me with some of the Derek Jeter Target-exclusive set. I totally forgot, but luckily Tim didn't, and an unexpected package landed on my doorstep.

Here is the Jeter that got it started:

Tim was kind enough to throw in a bunch more awesome cards, including a Tino I didn't have:

Sweet! Numbered to just 76 copies, this is one of the rarer Tino cards I now own. This marks Tino #852 for me.

And a Tino from his USA Baseball days.

I love this card! Jorge Posada 1994 Bowman rookie card.

I had never seen this Topps Chrome Roger Clemens. It's pretty cool and I think it scanned decently for what it us. Neat looking effect with the years and text on the card.

There was some other nice shiny too!

These Ring Masters cards are neat. I was duped into one before thinking there was a fabric material within the text, but it's just an image. Still a neat card though.

And I'll end the way I started, with a great looking Jeter from Topps Hertiage.

Tim, thanks for having a much better memory than 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 all Yankee fans are bad

A few weeks back, Judson of My Cardboard Habit asked me on Twitter if I minded sticker autos. Of course not, I said. While I prefer on-card (who doesn't?), there are plenty of places for stickers in my collection.
He agreed.

That was followed up by an email that simply said "It's coming" with a collection of numbers. Those numbers, of course, were a tracking number.

Fast forward a few days, and this card showed up:

Whoa! Now, as you'll see in my most-wanted section on the right hand side of my blog, Brett Gardner is an autograph that I didn't have in my collection, and really wanted. He's been a very good Yankee since 2008, one of the few that has actually had an impact from the horrid drafts of the mid-2000s.

I'm not sure why I didn't have his auto. I guess they aren't that easy to come by, and he doesn't sign TTM. So it just sort of escaped my collection. Until now.

However, that's not all. Equal to the kind gesture of the card was a post-it note. I've only pictured a snippet, but man, how powerful is that? The truth is, I feel the same way. Some of my best trading friends have turned out to be from rival teams. Judson is a Rangers fan, the same Rangers that knocked the Yankees out of the 2010 ALCS. And it's not just the Rangers. A few of my favorite traders are fans of the Boston Red Sox. I've found guys like Matt Perry and Mark Hoyle to be some of the best card-collecting dudes out there.

On the flip side, I know Yankee fans are despised all over the country, but hopefully you've been surprised that some of us are a civil bunch, and that your experiences with me, Zippy, Drew, Tim, etc. have made you realize that not all Yankee fans are bad.

Judson, thanks for not only the awesome Gardner auto, but also for being my friend.

JBF Week: I shall call him Mini Me

I've grown to like Topps Minis over the last few seasons. I like this type of mini a lot more than A&G or Gypsy Queen minis.  I actually don't really know why. It's the same card, just smaller. I guess I've always liked to see the same thing, just downsized. After all, I loved Topps Micros in the early '90s.

The above Brett Garnder and CC Sabathia were from 2013 Topps Mini. The Gardner is #'d to 63, while the CC is #'d 5/5, which is awesome. I've actually found that these are fairly affordable online, and I've picked up a few for trade packages from time to time.

Here is another batch, courtesy of the same JBF package. I might need to try and complete this team set!

Contest loot from Bob Walk The Plank

A few weeks back, I was fortunate enough to be one of the winners in a contest held by Matt over at Bob Walk The Plank. The prizes were fantastic! Matt took the time to tailor each prize package to the four winners, which he really didn't need to do.

However, his attention to detail and really shopping for cards that each person would like shows what kind of guy Matt is. I was thrilled with my winnings, and I really appreciate each of them.

Matt sent me five cards, all of of which I needed and more importantly, all of which I love.

The first is a Ty Hensley auto. Hensley cards don't grow on trees, so I'm going to guess that Matt went out of his way to find this one. It's an auto #'d to just 10, and is a really stunning card.

Next, my first Jeter home uniform relic. I did a post a few weeks ago about having three Jeter relics - one away gray swatch, and two of bases. I didn't have a home jersey/pinstripe, so this instantly becomes my favorite.

1/1 of mojo!!! And not just a nobody, but Mr. Brett Gardner. I love this because it shows how Gardner would look as a righty. The fun of printing plates!

This John Wetteland auto is a beauty! I didn't have a Wetteland auto in my collection. In  fact, I was telling Matt that just a few days before this came, I was checking to see if Wetteland was coaching anywhere so I could shoot him a TTM request. I love this set too!

 

Finally, a Tino that is new to my collection and needed!

Matt, this package rocked. Thank you so much!

Robert went to the #NSCCShow!

If you follow his blog, you know that Robert of $30 A Week (not Day) Habit attended The National. Besides picking up cards for himself, Robert kept in mind his fellow collectors who were not as fortunate to attend. Luckily, I was one of those collectors.

Robert sent me five really nice cards, along with a note that said, "You may not have gone to the National, but a piece of the National has come to you." So awesome!

First, a Tino! I admit, I do have this one, but a 1994 Finest is always welcome.It's cool to me that when someone comes across a Tino, they associate him with me.

Two really nice relics that I didn't have. Brett Gardner is having a terrific year and is making his contract look like a better deal by the day. Back in 2011 I tried to put this Topps 60 Yankees relic team set together. It's still on my wantlist, so I'll keep trying. And Cano...well, I miss him. But hey, at least he still looks like a Yankee on 2104 Heritage Clubhouse Collection cards.

Finally, two 2013 Topps Gold cards. I love the Mo. I can never get enough Rivera tribute cards. And CC! He was dominant in the 2012 ALDS...man, that feels like forever ago.

 

Robert, thank you so much for thinking of me!