Arpsmith gave me the blues

Blue cardboard, that is. I hashed out a little trade with ARPSmith for one of his 2013 Topps Silver Slate Yanks. He sent me ARod, who appropriately has the Yankees blue-balled with his massive contract and health issues.

Anyhow, the cards are fantastic looking. Really sharp. The blue is vibrant and attractive. It's really a nice card. Well done, Topps.

ARPSmith also sent me two 2013 Bowman Blue Parallels, each #'d to 500, of Yankees prospects Mikeson Oliberto and Pedro Guerra.

 

Thanks for the trade!

Pictures of Puig

To update yesterday’s post, here are a few pictures of the Yankees-Dodgers game I attended last night. I went to see Puig, and he didn’t disappoint. While my tickets said “row 10”, it turns out that row 10 is actually the first row along the right field wall, so I was just feet from Puig. Very cool! He's the opposite of small. Just a thickly built dude.

He was definitely taunted a bit in both English and Spanish, but didn't really acknowledge the crowd. Only once did he throw a ball into the stands after pre-inning warm ups.

In his first AB, he singled and promptly stole second. He followed that with a strikeout and a HBP. In his fourth AB, his HR went directly above my head, but was probably six or seven rows behind me. I was able to see myself on the highlight.

The Yanks sucked, as expected, but it was a fantastic night for a game. Perfect conditions to enjoy a game, have a few beers, eat some nachos, and relax.

 

More goodies from Zippy Zappy

A few weeks ago, I completed a trade with Kenny aka Zippy Zappy. He definitely sent me a sweet haul.

Out of the blue, another package from Kenny arrived at my door. We hadn't been working on any deal or anything. Upon opening it, there was a note from Kenny that said he was downsizing his collection a little bit, and no need to send anything in return. Certainly a very generous gesture.

There was no shortage of shiny or ink in the cards he sent. First off, there were two...yes TWO Dellin Betances certified autos. I had a Dellin auto from TTM, but nothing official. Dellin has finally been moved to the bullpen, and he's been a lot better. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yanks get something out of him this year.

There was also a 2011 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor autograph of Hector Noesi, the second part of the famous Montero-Pineda swap.

Here's a sampling of what Kenny sent, including a bunch of prospects I collect. That is also my first Youkilis card as a Yankee. Thanks for nothing so far, Youk.

Kenny, both packages have been a blast to go through, especially with all the prospects cards. Thanks again!

A Yogi '57 Topps? Don't mind if I do...

Over the last few weeks, I've pulled a few all-nighters for work, like many of the bloggers out there. We're just finishing up a very busy time by nature of the season we're in, and I'm exhausted. To stay up while waiting for certain deliverables from others, I found myself cruising eBay and Listia.

Then one day, I got an email from eBay saying that I had won an auction for a 1957 Topps Yogi Berra. Shit, what did I do on one of my states of exhaustion? Did I bid on a Yogi thinking it was a good idea. Turns out...yes, I did. But then it came back to me. I came across a decently priced 1957 Topps Yogi with some surface damage. I put in a fairly low bid, forgot about it, and it held up.

The card actually is pretty solid other than being off-centered. No creases, which surprises me. the surface-wear does suck, but the card is over 50 years old. It's life. For the price, I think it's a pretty damn good score. This is my third original Yogi, as I also have a 1959 and 1960 Topps.

Off to see Puig!

Tonight, I’ll be hitting up Yankee Stadium. I definitely wanted to make it to one of the Yankees-Dodgers games to see Yasiel Puig. Maybe he’ll hit a HR and I can sell my ticket stub on eBay for $300. That’s what his Bowman mini refractors are going for these days, right? I’m sitting 10 rows up in right field, so I’ll probably catch the Puig oppo-field homer. It’s my only chance since I don’t expect the Yankees to hit any HRs, or score any runs for that matter.

It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to go to a Yankees game to see an opposing player. I think the last time I did that was toward the end of Ken Griffey Jr’s career.

There are some good storylines too. Donnie Baseball’s return to the Bronx, as well as Hiroki Kuroda facing his old team. I wish I was there this afternoon for Mattingly’s “official” return, but I’m sure he’ll still get a warm welcome tonight.

Michael Pineda 'have' list

I took inventory on my Michael Pineda cards, and here is what I have. My PC is off to a decent start considering he hasn't been a focus of mine.

2011 Bowman's Best #BBP8
2011 Topps Finest Refractor #86 (303/549)
2011 Topps Kimball Champions #KC-140
2011 Topps Update #US179
2012 Bowman Chrome #37
2012 Bowman Chrome Refractor #37
2012 Bowman Platinum #1
2012 Bowman Platinum Gold #1
2012 Topps Allen & Ginter #57
2012 Topps Chrome #7
2012 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor #7 (032/199)
2012 Topps Chrome Dynamic Diecut #DD-MP
2012 Topps Finest #3
2012 Topps Gypsy Queen #32
2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Future Stars  #FS-MP
2012 Topps Update #US198

Tino Tuesday #63: 1999 Upper Deck Wonder Years #WY18

I showed this card yesterday, but like it enough to feature it as this week’s Tino Tuesday card. From 1999 Upper Deck, the Wonder Year insert is a bit trippy. It’s got some of that crazy 1970’s bubble font, plus has some wacky colors going on. It feels like it should be featured on “That ‘70s Show”, except it already has the name of one of my favorite shows ever, which also happened to be set in the ‘60s and ‘70s, The Wonder Years.

While I wouldn’t want to see a lot bright cards like this, a few here and there don’t hurt. This one has always popped off the page when I flip to it in my Tino binder. The Tino photo isn’t great, as it’s just a pretty standard BP-near-the-cage picture, but it works.

There are actually numbered parallels to these cards as well, and they have different color combinations.