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!

An old Habit returns to my mailbox

It had been awhile, but I completed a small blogger to blogger trade with Judson of My Cardboard Habit. Judson and I go pretty far back swapping cards. We made out first swap back in 2014, according to my blog posts. This was the first card he sent me back then, if my blog records are to be trusted:

My how times have changed!

Judson does more Tweeting than blogging these days, and recently had the stroke of luck of pulling some Yankee relics out of 2020 A&G. He thought it was misfortune. I disagreed. So we struck up a deal and these came my way:

James Paxton and the 'stache look hilarious!

Judson also threw in a few relics from A&G past. Tex = cool. Ellsbury = fool.

Always good to make a small swap here and there, Judson. If you want to find this cat on Twitter, he's @cardboardhabit.

An ugly card of meh player

The last few weeks, I've been trying to go through a few monster boxes of Yankees in an effort to divide the cards by a few notable players. I've also been setting aside dupes in hopes of selling a Yankees lot on the online marketplaces before Christmas.

This exercise has led me to see a lot of cards. A lot of ugly cards. But one sticks out, so much so that I'm pretty sure I have refused to even keep one copy of it.

Here it is:

This card is ugly on so many levels. I'll start with the player. I don't think there is a more disliked Yankee than Jacoby Ellsbury. Now, I don't blame him one bit for taking the Yankees contract offer. It was a bad deal and they likely blew everyone out of the water for his services. We'd all take 7 years, $153 million. Seriously, can't fault the dude for that.

He never made himself endearing to the fanbase the way former Boston players did, including Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Johnny Damon. He just never really connected with the fans or did anything on the field to make you forget his past life.

He really had one good year in Boston. Many acknowledged at the time of the deal that he likely wouldn't stay healthy. And by and large, that has been true. Games played during the contract: 149, 111, 148, 112, 0. Two out of five seasons over 140 games. Two years left to go on the deal, and a crowded outfield. Hopefully, for the sake of both player and organization, the Yankees can find a way to send him elsewhere, maybe taking on a bad contract in return, preferably one that can eat some innings.

Aside from the player, the card is u-g-l-y.

First, the design. This was Panini's first foray into the Donruss baseball brand, and the base set is brutally unattractive. The borders are tragically massive, cutting off much of the player's photo.

The font in which the city name is written feels out of place. Not quite script. Not quite italics.

And the logos. Now we all know Panini can't use team logos. It's what has prohibited some decent looking sets from really gaining traction with collectors. But in this instance, Ellsbury is seen still wearing red from his Red Sox days (understandable, but come on), with his name scrawled across the back of his jersey. If you're going to try and Yankeefy him a little bit, at least remove the name during the airbrushing process.

This card is ugly. The player has no role on a team that has no room for him. He rarely stays on the field, and when he does, he doesn't show the game-changing skills he possessed earlier in his career.

And for those reasons, this might just be the ugliest card I own.

Here's what I'm thinking

Accidentally, I haven’t posted since Friday. I don’t love a few-day absence, but I haven’t gotten many new cards lately, am still working on my re-organization (or rather, just “organization) project, and have been a bit busy in both my personal and professional life. So the blog took a back seat.

And while I still haven’t gotten too many new cards, I do have a few thoughts as Opening Day is just two days away. I’m very excited, and it’s hard not to be when seeing things like this:

Still, I know everything won’t go perfectly. It never does, and the Yankees (and every other team) will need to adjust on the fly. Case in point:

Greg Bird. I really like the guy. I love his personality and I think he has the sweetest lefty swing in the game right now. Just look at his homer in the ALDS versus lefty Andrew Miller. It’s a thing of beauty.

Bird has been dubbed the Yankees 1B of the present and future, yet has missed three straight Opening Days, including this one. He should be out 6-8 weeks after foot surgery today. Hopefully the comeback is smooth and he rejoins the lineup in June and takes his place in the middle of the order, but it’s getting a bit hard to count on him. I really, really like him and want him to be part of this Yankees core over the next few years. But it also wouldn’t be unreasonable for the Yankees to start thinking about the post-Greg Bird solution at 1B, whether it’s drafting one in the first round or trading/signing for one in his prime.

Hey Bryce Harper, any interest in playing 1B?

Starting at 1B on Thursday will probably be Tyler Austin, especially against lefty J.A. Happ. Austin has always hit in the minors, and should get an extended look to be a part of the every day lineup. I’ve always liked him a lot, and would love to see him see some prolonged success in the Majors. Plus, I have a lot of cards of his!

Jacoby Ellsbury.

I’m not sure what to really say about him. He was signed to a very large contract and hasn’t lived up to it. As Brian Cashman always says, he’s the one to blame for the contract, not Ellsbury. He’s right. I would have taken the money. You would have too. Still, it’s hard to believe he’s got three years left on his Yankees deal.

What’s harder to believe is that he still keeps finding his way into current card releases. I know he’s a Yankee and all, but I can’t imagine he has a big card market. Red Sox fans likely soured on him after the Yankees deal. And Yankee fans likely wouldn’t want his Red Sox cards, nor his current cards. Personally, I wouldn’t mind is he was omitted from future releases in 2018 and beyond, but I don’t see that happening.

One guy I’m happy to see returning for his 10^th year in Pinstripes is CC Sabathia. He has now got 10 years in NY, and then 8 in Cleveland and part of 1 in Milwaukee. That makes me feel better about his chances of wearing an NY hat into Cooperstown if that day comes. I think he’ll be a HOFer – a Cy Young, a World Series, 60+ WAR, 2800+ Ks, 3.70 ERA (mostly in the AL), 7 All-Star selections, 237 wins, 10 post-season wins. It’ll be close for sure, but the numbers are there. Maybe he'll win 13 this year and get to 250. That sounds a lot better than 237.

And if you haven’t taken a listen, I recommend his R2C2 podcast with Ryan Ruocco. It’s really good. The episode with A-Rod was terrific.

Lastly, I’m excited for year 2 of Jordan Montgomery. All winter, the Yankees were thought to be seeking another SP, whether it was Gerrit Cole or a free agent like Alex Cobb. They stood their ground, and in turn, Montgomery once again joins the rotation. Maybe he’s not the sexiest name, but he had a very good rookie year and think he can be a mid-rotation starter for a long time. And he throws with his left hand!

All-in-all, should be a fun season. Can’t wait!

My card of the year - 2017

Thanks to P-Town Tom for once again running the Card of the Year Contest.

I was torn this year.

I really wanted to choose the 2017 Topps Jacoby Ellsbury Lightning Butt card. It's awesome. But Ellsbury and Yankee fans have a bit of a tough relationship, and while the photo is awesome, I'm not going to remember cards in 2017 because of him.

I'm going to remember cards in 2017 because of this guy, and because of how many Topps NOW cards I bought of him. So, my card of the year, is one of my newest additions: Aaron Judge Topps NOW Rookie of the Year.

Last year I chose a Topps NOW as card of the year - Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin homering in their MLB debuts. I didn't want to do it again, but it's really what my 2017 collecting was defined by. I bought a lot of Aaron Judge cards via the Topps NOW program, although most came from eBay versus directly from Topps.

It was hard to choose just one. There were many moments and instances to be commemorated, but on the whole, it was a record-breaking rookie season for Judge, and the card that simply states "Rookie of the Year" sort of encompasses all of that.

So here it is again, Rookie of the Year, and my Card of the Year.

And here is my Topps NOW Aaron Judge year in review. I spent a lot on Topps NOW cards this year. Sheesh.

Maybe I'll switch it up in 2018, but considering I already bought a Giancarlo Stanton Topps NOW from his press conference, I highly doubt that.