My second Slade Heathcott card

I recently picked up my second Slade Heathcott card, this time a 2010 Bowman Platinum rookie card. Heathcott was the Yankees 2009 1st round draft pick. He is a toolsy outfielder that projects well. As a 19 year old in A ball at Charleston, he hit .258 and swiped 15 bases. However, despite the low average and high strikeouts, he showed a great ability to get on base at a .359 clip. Not bad for a 19 year old in his first full pro season. I'd love to see him take a leap this year - pick up the BA and OPS while striking out less and showing a little more power. I assume he'll head back to Charleston to start the season, but he could definitely find his way to High A Tampa pretty quickly.

A&G relics are cool

I've wanted a Yankees framed A&G Relic for a long time, and I finally picked one up. I recently grabbed this Johnny Damon on eBay for $2.49 delivered. Great deal. Upon receiving the card, I even realized that there is a Pinstripe on it...you can barely see it, but it's there, mostly covered by the boarder. Pretty cool card!

Purchase Review: My first CC relic

I really like the 2011 Topps 60 Relics. It started when I pulled the Cano from a Jumbo pack. Since then, I've been trying to acquire the other Yankees in this set (minus Babe Ruth, Gerhig, etc). Outside of the useless foil print which doesn't pop against the background at all, I think they are nice cards and I love where the relic is placed. I picked up my fourth Yankee in this set, grabbing a CC Sabathia on the cheap.

It's my first CC relic of any kind, so I'm pretty happy with it. I'd love to grab a CC relic with a pinstripe, but for now, I'm loving this card.

Purchase Review: Elston Howard Game Used Jersey

Right now I don't have any real collecting goals. There are a few insert sets I'm trying to collect, as well as keeping up with my TTMs and my project. Since my want list is minimal, I'll always ask for Yankee cards in a trade. Love getting them. Lately while surfing eBay, I've been gravitating toward Yankee relics and vintage Yankee cards. My newest acquisition is a bit of both.

Four a couple bucks, I picked up this 2005 Donruss Greats Elston Howard Clippings jersey card. I love getting older Yankee relics. This jersey was worn in the '50s or '60s! Cool, right? It's road gray, and it's a pretty dark gray. The picture isn't great - it's darker than it looks. I'll have to compare it to the current road jerseys, but I think it's quite a bit darker. It's not quite as cool as the cream-colored home jerseys, like the Mize I have, but it's a great swatch of a Yankee great.

Purchase Review: another Tino relic

I need to slowwwww down. I keep finding Yankee relics I want, so I need to chill and stop pulling the trigger. Anyways, I picked up this card for a few bucks - a nice 2009 SP Legendary Cuts Tino jersey relic. Would I prefer a pinstripe? You bet. But this gem is numbered 35/50, so it's definitely cool and a great addition to the Tino PC.

Joba relic, yes please

I've been on a Yankees game-used kick lately after pulling the Robinson Cano Topps 60 relic from a jumbo pack. I then bought the Phil Hughes Topps 60 relic and a Mussina 2008 jersey card. Then Matt sent me the Tino jersey card. Just when I thought I was going to relax for a while, I picked up this guy on eBay for a few bucks.

Unlike the Hughes, this Joba is from a home jersey with a lovely pinstripe. I love when my Yanks relics have a pinstripe showing. I think this is the last of my eBay Yanks game used splurge for a while. I'm still going to try and track down the complete Yanks Topps 60 relic set...minus the vintage guys like Ruth and Berra...out of my price range. For now, I'll enjoy the current guys, and this Joba is awesome.

Fist pump.

A Piece of the World Series - O'Neill and Maddux

I love the 2000 UD HoloGRFX A Piece of the Series set. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's an 11 card insert set featuring a piece of a game used base from the 1999 World Series. The first card I got in this set was the Tino Martinez. I had wanted that card from the moment I saw it, and I liked it so much, I've decided to try and collect the set.

Now, 11 cards seems odd for a set, no? That's because John Rocker was originally on the 12-card checklist. And then we went crazy and UD pulled him from the set, rather than replace him. A few weeks ago, I picked up the Chipper card, and I'm proud to add two more of these cards to my collection, both courtesy of my eBay addiction.

First up is Paul O'Neill. Paulie only hit .200 in this World Series, but contributed 4 RBIs, including two in Game One. I got this card for just under $3, with another $3 for shipping.

Next up is my second Brave in the set. One of the best pitchers to ever take the mound, Greg Maddux. It's hard to believe that Atlanta only won one World Series with their great pitching staffs. Anyhow, Maddux got the ball for Game One, and went 7+ innings - giving up four runs (two earned) and striking out five. It wasn't quite vintage Maddux, but he was still pretty damn good. The problem was, El Duque was better, going 7 innings, only letting up one run on one hit (a Chipper homer) while striking out 10. I got this Maddux card for $6.54 plus $3 shipping. A little more than I wanted to spend, but the opportunity was there so I pounced.

Four cards down, seven to go in this set.

Purchase Review: A slew of game used

A few weeks ago, I pulled a Robinson Cano 2011 Topps 60 Jersey relic. It really wet my appetite for more Yankees game used cards. I like the Topps 60 relics, so I started my search there and found a few others along the way.

The first card I nabbed was this Phil Hughes 2011 Topps 60 Relic. I want to try and collect all the Yanks in this set, so I bought this Hughes as a starting point, and I have Joba on the way. Part of me wishes I could have found a Hughes home jersey with a pinstripe, but pretty much every Topps 60 I found of his was an away jersey. Anyways, I got it for $1.79 (plus $2 shipping).

Next up, a sweet relic of Mike Mussina from 2008 Topps. This card is still in the shrink wrap, so I assume it came in a box of some sort. The Pinstripe looks awesome...usually they are vertical on jersey cards but this one is horizontal. I think most of the game used Yankees that I go after should have a Pinstripe. I paid $1.99 for this (plus $1.50 shipping). It could have gotten out of hand from there, as I had won a Giambi and Joba relic as well, so I've put myself in a time out and suspended my purchasing power on eBay for the time being. I could have dropped a lot more money.

Last but not least, I picked up this Tino 1999 Pacific Paramount Holo-Gold (which is written in silver...weird). I didn't love this card when I saw it, but it was #'d/199, so I figured the buck was worth it.

I have a few more relics on the way in the mail. I'm quickly becoming a game used addict and it's starting to worry me. This could get out of hand. One card I bought was part of a lot which included a few other teams, so I may very well have some good trade bait in the near future.

Purchase Review: Tino bat relic

I got an email from ebay saying that I had won an auction for the following card:

Honestly, I don't remember placing a bid...but I did and I won. $.99 + $2.00 shipping for this 2003 Stadium Club License to Drive card, complete with a piece of game used bat. I have a few Tino bat cards, but I didn't have this one, so for the price it was a nice addition to my personal collection.

The card design itself is kind of a cheesy concept. I guess it's supposed to be a drivers license...and since Tino was a power hitter at the time...driving the ball...ok you get it. The seller was nice enough to send it in a nice screw down case, so that made the price even better.

Purchase Review: A smattering of Yankees

I like that word. Smattering. Anyways, a few days ago I made a purchase on SportLots to for about 50 Yankee cards. If you don't know SportLots, it's a great resource for player collectors and set builders. Anyways, a lot of these are older cards that I am going to send out for my Topps Yankees Project. I also picked up a few Tinos for my personal collection, and a few Yankees prospects simply because I didn't have cards of these guys yet. I'm talking about you, Cito Culver, Adam Warren and Slade Heathcott.

Anyways, here are a few of the highlights from my lot. I won't list out every card, that would be boring. But a few cards stand out.

1973 Topps Fritz Peterson. I love this design. I actually think it's my first and only 1973 Topps card. It's a cool action shot of him having just finished delivering a pitch. He is wearing old school stirrups, and you can just tell that the field is so dusty. The grass looks like my old little league field. I like seeing old videos where the infields just aren't as well kept as they are today. The dirt was powdery and flew everywhere.

1981 Topps Bob Watson. Dwight Schrute called. He wants his glasses back.

1961 Topps Joe DeMaestri. Check out that collar under the jersey. Is that denim??

Otherwise, I got a bunch of old Yankees cards - assorted named like Hegan, Reniff, Downing, Womack. Some of the prospects I got include David Phelps, Hector Noesi, JR Murphy, and David Adams.

The Tinos I bought are all ones from his second and final stint with the Yankees: 2005 Topps #655, 2005 Topps Chrome #464, 2006 Topps Heritage #199 (sweet card), and 2006 Fleer #400 (I had never seen this set. Yuck.). I have a bunch of free time this weekend, so I'll do my best to update my Tino collection on this site.