Listia Autos - Part 7

I haven’t posted one of these in a while, but I still have a ton of Listia autos to show that a seller included with a few cards I won from him. If you’re interested in past editions, here you go:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4 
Part 5
Part 6

We’ll start with Rex Hudler. "Rex" is a sweet name. He was a first rounder with the Yanks and actually played parts of two seasons with them – 1984 and 1985. He played for six teams over a 13 year career, not including a 1993 pit stop in Japan. His best year was definitely in 1996 with the Angels, when he hit .311 with a career-high 16 HRs. After his playing days, he’s done a lot of broadcast work, first with the Angels and then with KC, where he currently works as a color analyst. Rex also has a foundation called “Team Up For Down Syndrome”, as he has a 12-year-old son with Down Syndrome.

Journeyman Scott Hairston makes an appearance here. Hailing from the famed Hairston baseball family, Scott has been with 6 teams in his 11-year career, including the Nationals in 2013-14. Like his brother, Jerry, he plays all over the diamond. Scott has shown some pop too, belting 20 HRs with the 2012 Mets. He’s one of those guys that I’m surprised to have never seen on the Yanks. Scott has two sons, so I’m sure we’ll see more Hairstons in the Majors in years to come.

Edgardo Alfonzo! This guy was a good player. I watched him in the minors in Binghamton for a while, and he had a very nice career for the Mets. He was an All-Star in 2000 after hitting .308/.425/.542 with 25 HRs. He put up Cano numbers for a Mets team that made with World Series. A 2B that does that now would be no joke, but in the 2000s, basically every 2B put up numbers like that. Hmm, wonder why. He ended his 12-year career with a very respectable .284 lifetime average and over 1500 hits. Just a solid, solid career. He recently served a coach from the Brooklyn Cyclones, and had been rumored as a candidate for Mets hitting coach before they hired Kevin Long. I like his signature too, although it's weird how legible "Edgardo" is, while "Alfonso" is a few loops. I also like the Fleer Gamers card. Cool set.

Four-time All-Star closer Troy Percival is a solid auto. It’s a shame my memories of him are in these awful Mo Vaughn era Anaheim jerseys. Seriously, they got away from themselves, but it didn’t last long. I remember Percival as being lights out at the top of his game. Yanks couldn’t touch him. He ended his career with 358 saves, which is a ton but I would have guessed more, but he had a lot of 30+ save season and only eclipsed 40 saves twice.

Andy Benes had a nice career, winning over 150 games. I was surprised to see that many. But throw in a bunch of 10+ win seasons, including 18 wins once and 15 twice, and it adds up. He spent half of his career in San Diego, winning 69 games there. He was solid in St Louis as well, winning 52 in five seasons. He finished third in the 1996 NL Cy Young race. One thing I have no recollection of was him starting two games for Seattle in the 1995 ALDS vs. the Yanks. Just had no clue he was on that team and started twice in that series. Selective memory.

A pink Leaf

A pink Ty Hensley Leaf auto, that is.

Numbered to just 25, I nabbed this on eBay for a little under $5 shipped. There are a TON of Leaf autos of Ty out there, and I've been slowly gathering them.

This is my 44th different Hensley, and my 17th different autograph.

Keep 'em coming!

Facemask! JBF. 15 yard penalty. Automatic first down, Lost Collector!

So my Bengals are on tonight! They always crap the bed in nationally televised primetime games.

Yesterday, I came home to a bubble mailer with familiar black Sharpie handwriting on it. It was from my buddy Was (aka Jaybarkerfan aka JBF).

Now, I am two flat rate boxes and one bubble mailer behind in sharing some great stuff JBF has sent me, but I had do show a pretty damn cool Corey Dillon card that arrived yesterday:

See that little round spec? That, my friends, is game-used facemask!

Now, I don’t have many football cards, so I have no idea if this is a common relic or not, but damn it’s cool. It’s just so much more unique than jersey swatches. Has there ever been a catcher’s mask relic like this?

I also applaud whoever thought to chop up the mask in little pieces like this. Seriously, it must have been a pain.

Oh, and speaking of facemasks…JBF also included one of his 1987 Topps Blogger customs. I’ve been waiting for one of these!

Wes, thanks my friend.

PCs and Tweets

I haven’t been shy around these parts on how awesome Ty Hensley is. From his TTM generosity, to his mother answering a few questions on my blog, Ty has quickly become my favorite player in baseball. Add that to the fact that he’s a former first round pick of the Yankees with massive potential to be a rotation anchor, and it’s a no-brainer for me to collect his cards.

In one of my Twitter show and tells, I featured three new Hensley cards that all arrived on Halloween. As he has been known to do, Ty replied to one of my Tweets, which was cool, even despite my bad Halloween joke which should have turned him off.

Hey, if making his big league dream come true wasn’t enough motivation, he now has the added pressure of making it so that my card collection can continue to flourish. I’m sure that will drive him all off-season.

Oh yeah, the cards. Here are the other two brand new Hensleys (the Red Ice above is new as well), bringing my total to 43 unique cards, not counting dupes and whatnot. I’m hoping to hit 50 before the end of the calendar year.

RIP Brad Halsey

I just found out that former Yankees pitcher Brad Halsey died at the age of 33. That's so sad. He hadn't pitched in majors since 2006, but I have a fond memory of him.

Halsey's first career start on June 19, 2004 was against the Dodgers. He went 5.2 innings and picked up the W, his only win with the Yankees. That game stands out to me because I remember where I was. I was in the car listening on the radio, driving back to my hometown from Connecticut.

You see, my sister, her husband, and my niece had been living in CT for a few years. We were heartbroken when they moved away, but his job required him to spend a couple of years there. Although just a 3-hour drive, it was the first time anyone in my immediate family had moved away. We only say them a couple of weekends per year after living just a few minutes from them.

However, after their three year stint (may have actually been four years), my brother-in-law landed a job back in our hometown, and the family moved back. We headed to CT early that morning to help them pack the U-Haul (they lived in a small apartment, wasn't a big move), and that afternoon, I drove one of their cars back to my hometown, bringing my little brother and my niece along with me. My sister drove their other car, and my dad and brother-in-law drove the moving truck.

I remember listening to the game as we drove, although I'm sure my little brother and niece would have preferred music. I remember listening to John Sterling talk about how young Halsey looked (he did have a baby face), but also how poised he was on the mound.

That offseason, he was sent to Arizona in the Randy Johnson deal. He played one season for them, and then one in Oakland. Since then, he has bounced around the minors and independent league ball.

RIP, Brad.

The Michael Pineda stock market

With the two new Michael Pinedas above, I'm sitting at 85 unique Pineda cards. My goal was to get to 100 by the end of the year. I could probably do that easily on COMC or Sportslots if I wanted to, but I've been picking up one or two at a time through trades or on eBay. Maybe I should just go through and make a cheap purchase of 15-20 that I don't have.

But it's hard.

Pineda's cards fluctuate in price more than any player I've ever focused on.

He has had a weird career, card-wise. His prices were high when he was first dealt to the Yankees. I'm assuming they were pretty high during his 2011 rookie season, but he was a Mariner and never crossed my mind as a possible PC guy. Once dealt to the Yanks, I picked up a few of his cards.

But then he got hurt.

His prices dropped. They dropped even more when he spent two years injured and/or in the minors. Many wondered if he'd ever pitch for the Yankees, myself included. Then he made the rotation in 2014, and pitched very well out of the gate. His prices went up. Quickly. Then there was pinetargate, a 10-game suspension, and ultimately a shoulder injury set him back once again. Thinking his early season success was just a blip, his prices went back down. I swooped in.

Then he came back toward the end of the season, pitched very well again, and was pine tar free (or at least he hid it like a normal pitcher). His card prices went up again, somewhat unreasonably actually.

So what's the future hold for Michael Pineda and his volatile cardstock? I have no idea. He's showed that when healthy, he's one of the best pitchers in the game. But he just seems like a guy who won't stay healthy.

It's going to make for a very interesting PC over the next few years.

It's a major award! I won it!

Fra-gi-le. It must be Italian!

It's a baseball, you nincompoop! It's a major award. I won it!

Ok, so I didn't win a sexy leg lamp that will light up my neighborhood this holiday season. However, a few weeks back, MLB Fan Cave had one of those Twitter giveaways where all you had to do was RT to be entered to win something. I usually participate when I see such an offering, as a RT takes about one second. I never expect to win.

Then, one day, I receive a DM from MLB Fan Cave saying I had one a Josh Donaldson autographed baseball! Sweet! A few days later, it showed up at my door.

I have no connection to Donaldson, other than knowing he has become a hell of a player and his WAR has been really high the past couple of years. Still, it was free, so I am very thankful that I am such a good retweeter that I won.

Have you ever won a Twitter contest? If so, share in the comments! I'd love to hear about it.