JBF Week: Can we have Mike Lowell back?

In 1999, right before spring training, the Yankees acquired lefty SP prospect Ed Yarnall from the Marlins for 3B Mike Lowell. It honestly wasn't a bad trade at the time. Yarnall was a highly rated SP prospect, and Lowell was an up and coming 3B. The Yanks had just extended Scott Brosius, and didn't have an immediate need for Lowell.

Top prospect for top prospect. Not a bad deal, right? Plus, I had seen Yarnall when he was in AA (played for the Binghamton Mets before going to the Marlins in the Mike Piazza deal) and was a big fan of his.

Well, Yarnall never really amounted to much. He had a handful of appearances with the Yanks in 1999 and 2000, and then was sent to the Reds in the Denny Neagle deal.

Lowell, meanwhile, went on to be an All-Star, Gold Glove, and World Series winner in Florida, then was sent to Boston, where he was a key cog on the 2007 World Series team. Who knows what would have happened if he stayed in NY, but man, did that trade come back to haunt the Yanks!

JBF, thanks for the memory with this sweet auto!

Is Jaybarkerfan Jolly Ol' St. Nick?

Wes over at Jaybarkerfan's Junk is quickly becoming the St. Nicholas of the blogging community. He has his summer of giving in full swing, and I was somehow the recipient of even more Yankee cards from him. I returned home from a business trip to find a bubble mailer from Wes once again filled to the brim with Yankees. I was surprised since we hadn't discussed any trades or anything, but it just shows the type of guy he is.

There were two team bags packed with Yanks. I pulled a few favorites below. The Mantle card is sweet - I believe it came as part of a 5-card set in 2010 Topps/Bowman Chrome Value boxes, along with a Jackie Robinson, Starlin Castro, Strasburg and Heyward. Pretty cards for sure. Very shiny.

Wes, thanks again for sending these over. I really appreciate it, and I'll keep my eye out for some 1969 Topps cards for you.

Jaybarker passes me some Yanks

A while back, I heard about Jaybarker's Summer of Giving in which his goal is to send out 25,000 cards by summer's end. Craziness! I mentioned I was a Yankee fan, and he graciously sent me a package of about 100 Yankee cards - no charge. I at least owe him a few 1969 Topps cards for the set he is trying to collect, so a few of those will be going his way. If you have any 1969s to spare, head over to his page and let him know.

Here is what the packaged cards looked like when I opened the bubble mailer:

Oh boy! Let's jump in and take a look at each team bag and see what my favorite cards are. First off, we start off strong with a Phil Hughes Topps Chrome RC and a cool Hideki Mastui Goin' Deep. Those were my favorites, but there were some other cool cards as well...a few David Wells and a Jimmy Key 1994 Flair to name a few.

Next up, we have some mid-90s shiny cards - Boggs Upper Deck SP and a Bernie Williams Leaf Limited. I always like cards like this because they were cards that were out of my price range growing up. They still feel special to me for this reason.

A pair of Wade Boggs cards were my favorites in the next team bag. The SportFlix card actually looks cool in this picture - you can see some of the movement. I was thrown off by the 1993 Topps, as I remember buying packs and packs of these growing up...but I don't remember Boggs. I turned it over and it was a Topps Traded card. Of course!

In the last team bag, there was a handful of 1998 Score cards - but look at the logo! Oh yeah, team edition cards! There were dupes of the Cecil Fielder, so I'll actually be passing that on to Ryan over at This Card is Cool for his Super Set.

Mr. Jaybarker - thanks a lot for thinking of me and sending these through. They were a blast to sort through.