Welcome, Ty Hensley!

Welcome, Ty Hensley!

With the 30^th overall pick in the draft, the Yankees grabbed a prep righty from Oklahoma named Ty Hensley. He was expected to go in the mid-first round (most thought the Dodgers would nab him), but he fell to the Yanks at #30. It sounds like he’ll sign quickly, which is great.

The Yanks haven’t grabbed a prep arm since they drafted Phil Hughes in 2004. They did draft Garrett Cole in ’08, but were unable to sign him.

From what I’ve read, Hensley throws in the low 90s and touches 97 or 98 occasionally. His curveball seems to be a good out pitch, and he’ll probably look to develop a change-up.  He is the son of former Cardinals farmhand Mike Hensley. I’m all about bloodlines. Speaking of which, the Yankees took Jose Ramon Mesa, son of Jose Mesa, in the late rounds. Not sure if he’ll sign, but pretty cool.

Ty, welcome to the Yanks. I look forward to tracking your progress on the way to the Bronx!

Adam "don't call me Pacman" Jones

Adam Jones. I always chuckle when I get a card of him. For whatever reason, I always associate this name with Adam “Pacman” Jones, unfortunately because of the negative connotation that comes along with it.

But this Adam Jones of the Orioles is really making a name for himself the last few years. He already has 16 homers this year and just signed a nice little $85.5 million dollar contract extension. The Yanks play the Orioles so frequently, it’s actually been really impressive to watch his rise over the last few year. His improvement has been very noticible to a fan such as myself.

He was one of the key pieces to the Erik Bedard trade, and the O’s showed great patience with him while he developed at the big league level. I’m envious.  It’s something I wish could happen more in NY, but the team/executives/fanbase doesn’t show that kind of patience. It’s win now, and that doesn’t offer youngsters the chance to learn, grow, fail, then succeed.

I pulled this Adam Jones 2012 Archives relic out of a blaster the other day. Pretty cool card, and certainly for trade.

Tino Tuesday #43: 2012 Panini Limited Greats #16

I didn’t expect to have to find any 2012 Tino Martinez cards. He wasn’t a big enough player to make it any of Topps current sets, even the reprint heavy ones. Then the other day I was surfing eBay, and up pops a 2012 Tino from Panini/Leaf Limited. Argh, the unlicensed stuff! Of course!

I’m going to say that this is actually a picture of Tino from the late ‘90s. They didn’t photoshop out the stripe on his left sleeve, usually worn by the Yanks as a tribute to a player who has passed away. I’d say it’s a road uniform since that is probably a lot easier to doctor up than a pinstriped jersey.

The back is pretty boring. No stats and not much color. The card is numbered 11/299, so I’m guessing there are other versions I need to track down.

First trade with "All The Way To The Backstop"

I recently completed my first trade with Marcus from All The Way To The Backstop. If you haven’t checked out his blog, head over there. He collects Padres, as well as a few specific players.

Our trade was focused around some 2012 Bowmans, including a cool purple Greg Bird. 

 

Marcus also sent a bunch of 2012 Heritage cards too.

Thanks again, Marcus. And don’t forget to check out his blog!

Denny's - 1996 Instant Replay set

I've always loved the Denny's Hologram sets. I've talked about them a few times on my blog. I'm going to try and buy all the sets here and there. I recently got a great deal on the 1996 set, these ones done by Pinnacle.

The 1996 set was called Instant Replay. Now, it's no so much a still hologram like years past, but a short movement. It's sort of a mini video. Boggs actually swings in his card. Barry Bonds slides. Ozzie Smith flips.

Here is the checklist, courtesy of  baseballcardpedia.com:

1 Greg Maddux
2 Cal Ripken, Jr.
3 Frank Thomas
4 Albert Belle
5 Mo Vaughn
6 Jeff Bagwell
7 Jay Buhner
8 Barry Bonds
9 Ryne Sandberg
10 Hideo Nomo
11 Kirby Puckett
12 Gary Sheffield
13 Barry Larkin
14 Wade Boggs
15 Tony Gwynn
16 Tim Salmon
17 Jason Isringhausen
18 Cecil Fielder
19 Dante Bichette
20 Ozzie Smith
21 Ivan Rodriguez
22 Kevin Appier
23 Joe Carter
24 Moises Alou
25 Mark McGwire
26 Kevin Seitzer
27 Darren Daulton
28 Jay Bell

Taking some Yanks off of Night Owl's hands

Night Owl does not like the Yankees. I love them. When he came across a few odd 2012 Topps Yanks, I was able to pry them away for a wrinkly old Dodger card.

These cards are tricky to figure out. They are basically 2012 Topps Opening Day cards, without the Opening Day logo. They don't have any foil, and they look nice. I actually wish this is how the base set looked. The cards are numbered NYY1-4, numbers usually reserved for the team set. But these are past players, so that doesn't quite make sense. I did a quick Google search (very quick) and still couldn't find anything.

As much as I love him, it's odd seeing O'Neill next to Mantle, Berra, and Reggie. Maybe in terms of how much he was loved by fans, but certainly not in baseball ability. Anyhow, these are cool cards, and as perplexing as they are, they are equally cool.

N.O. also sent me this Roger Maris 2012 Gypsy Queen. He is the first blogger to send me any 2012 GQ, which means that not many people bought it, or that I haven't done many trades lately. I'll go with a combo of both.

Greg, enjoy the Preacher Roe. Thanks for the Yanks.

A plate of Bowman

Brian from Play at the Plate sent me a bunch of Bowman Yanks recently. I'm one of the few who likes Bowman every year since I'm a big Minor League Baseball fan. Here is what Brian sent:

Parallels woop woop! I actually have the Swisher Silver Ice, so I have a mini rainbow type thing going of sorts.

Chrome prospects. That's what I'm talking about. Tyler Austin is on his way to becoming a Top 30 prospect. Jose Campos was awesome before his arm injury. Greg Bird has a funny name. Rookie Davis...what happens if he is a 10 year MLB pitcher? Will his name change to Veteran? Vet? Now pitching, Vet Davis. That could work.

Dellin! You walk too many guys. You're like Ubaldo, and it's annoying because you have a chance to be so, so, so good.

Brian, thanks for the cards. Rangers heading your way soon.