Monday, November 28, 2011

A Wonderful Hall of Fame Autograph Surprise from JP's Sports!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, about a month ago in the Long Island National card show, JP's Sports organized a large 1986 Mets World Series reunion show, featuring about 32 Mets players, plus Ralph Kiner and Bill Buckner. While most of the players are often attainable, one player lately hasn't been so attainable. Over the past year, he's suffered through a severe case of brain cancer, and has scared the baseball world with his survival chances. Fortunately, he is somehow recovering from the awful disease, and was doing well enough to sign at the show. Unfortunately, he cancelled about a week before the show, because while he was doing well, he wasn't ready to go to the signing. At that point, my card was off in the mail order, so it was too late.

Somehow, a week ago I received a special surprise in the mail...


It looks like the mail order items were able to be signed by "The Kid", Gary Carter! And, while it does have a little bit of a smearing issue, it sure does look great! You can tell Carter's signature is a little shaky but I'm so lucky and fortunate I was able to pick this one up for the collection! It was worth every penny for sure!

Before I go I want to wish Mr. Carter the best of luck on his battle with cancer. Cancer is the devil, and I really hope someday soon a cure will be discovered. Watching someone suffer with it is depressing and gives you images in your head you will never forget. 

Also, a big thank you to my good friends at JP's Sports and Rock Solid Promotions for the help getting this autograph! See Ya!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Triple Threads Addition to the PC!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, I hope everyone had themselves a nice Thanksgiving, filled with amazing food and some good football! Now we're on the road to Christmas, and it should be a nice way to cap off 2011. Anyways, getting back to what I normally do here, let's have a look at the most recent card I spent my money on off of eBay!


I saw this card with a few minutes left a couple weeks ago, and I knew immediately it would fit nicely into the collection. Out of 2011 Topps Triple Threads, this is a triple relic card numbered out of 36, featuring jersey relics from Boston's Jon Lester, New York's CC Sabathia, and Tampa Bay's David Price. All 3 of them are considered one of the top two pitchers on their respective teams, and they all play in the AL East, as shown by what the relics spell out. It's a really nice card to look at in person, as Triple Threads never fails to disappoint in appearance. I picked it up not only for my Yankees collection, but also because I like Price a lot as well. As for Lester, well, I respect him more than most Red Sox, but still, he's a Red Sox player. 

Anyways, I got the card for around $10 and I'm glad I purchased it to add to the collection! If you were a fan of either of these teams, would you buy the card even though it also features relic pieces from a rival team? 

See Ya!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Trade with James!

Hey everyone, Drew back here. Boy has it been a while. Getting back to the old form though, here is some mail I've been meaning to post for a while, courtesy of a loyal reader of mine named James. James contacted me recently asking about a possible trade, and I loved the offer and he sent me the cards a few weeks ago! Check them out:


We start with a few of the 1980 Topps Yankees cards he sent me. I've always liked the 1980 Topps set. Why? Absolutely no idea. But some of the photos, like on the Guidry, Randolph, and White cards, are very nice. It's a set that I probably will do at some point or another, but you know how slow and lazy I am. 


Next were a few more mixed 80's cards. I like the 1980 Guidry/J.R. Richard League Leaders card a lot. I read up on Richard one time, because he was on almost every league leader card for pitchers for a certain time span, yet nobody ever talks about him. He was unbelievable for a few years in the 1970's, but after that he had a stroke which basically caused his career to end. Following that he invested in unsuccessful businesses, got divorced multiple times, and went completely broke. He was actually homeless at one point. He now is a minister and has rose up from nothing again. His story is really interesting. 


Next were a whole bunch of 70's goodness! Oh, and the 1964 Topps Yankees "Young Aces" card featuring Al Downing and Jim Bouton! Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the 1974 Bucky Dent is a rookie card, and I also really like the Goose Gossage card from that year. And nothing is better than a few Hall of Famers in Kaline, Frank Robinson, and Bob Gibson!


Getting more modern; here are a few cards from the recent years. My favorite is definitely the Heritage card celebrating Ruth hitting 60 home runs. To me, besides Maris' 61 home run season, that season for Ruth is definitely the 2nd best year ever for a power hitter. 


The final card is pretty darn sweet, and was the main part of our trade. Out of 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee, here is a triple relic of Derek Jeter; Robinson Cano; and Jorge Posada! Three of my favorite Yankees on one card? How sweet is that? The Jeter piece has a pinstripe, while the other two relics are from away jerseys. This is a card that isn't seen often, and when it's been on eBay it has held a little bit of value. Overall, I'm really glad to add this card not only to the growing Cano collection, but for the Yankees collection in general!

So thanks so much for the trade James, I really appreciate it! Alright everyone, in case I don't have anything up tomorrow I just want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! See Ya!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Cano Collection Heating Up!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, today started off extremely rough, with some very sad news regarding my family. However, while I have a little time to kill, lets take a look at some of my newest additions to my Robinson Cano collection!


Out of the new Topps Update series, I picked up this All Star game workout relic of his. Cano put on a clinic in the Home Run Derby this past season, and as soon as I saw that this card existed, I needed to grab a piece  of his jersey. I'm not quite sure when he wore this jersey but if its part of the jersey hes wearing in the picture on the card, well, that would be pretty sweet! I bought this one off of the bay a week or so ago, and I love the design of it for sure. For only a couple bucks, why not?


The second of my two recent pickups came courtesy of the good guys over at the Sports Card Haven! They get one box of majority of the newest products, and Ryan (pinetarsports on YouTube) breaks them live on video. I watch most of the breaks, and sometimes they pull some nice stuff. The catch is that they give away the best card in every box they open on the website, and all you have to do is leave a comment with a short review of the product they opened. Well, after they used some randomization tool, I ended up walking home a winner of the 2011 Allen & Ginter contest! And my prize you ask?


Just a bat card of my favorite player to collect. No big deal! Kidding aside, I love winning contests, they're great for the community and I like to support most of the people that run their own contests here and there. The best feeling is when you win something cool, and this certainly qualifies, as it adds yet another relic to my growing Cano PC! So, thank you so much to the guys at Sports Card Haven, I really appreciate it!

FYI, my contest should be coming within the next week, I've just been very busy and stressed out so I haven't gotten a chance to start it up yet!

See Ya!

Friday, November 4, 2011

A Few Recent eBay Purchases!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Dang, the last couple weeks have been awful on here, I haven't had time for anything! But I'm glad to be back here for now, because I have a couple of recent additions I'd like to show you all! Take a look:


First off, I have to say that I absolutely love the look of 2011 Topps Marquee! This here is a rookie autograph card from that very product of Rays phenom rookie Jeremy Hellickson. You all know my love for some of the Rays that came through the farm system around here in New York, such as Longoria; Shields; Hellickson; and even Josh Hamilton in his short minor league stint with the Devil Rays. This card was at a fairly low price, and for what I figured, a great price for one of his rookie autographs. It's on card, numbered out of 185, and I think it just looks incredible in person! 

Of course, many of the big offseason awards have started to be announced, and that means that this guy could come home with some hardware soon. Hellickson's great rookie season (13-10 W-L, 2.95 ERA, 117 Strikeouts) may give him a chance at taking home the AL Rookie of the Year award! I feel like the biggest 3 contenders for that award are him, as well as Royals' Eric Hosmer and my beloved Yankees' Ivan Nova. I'd be happy for either Hellickson or Nova, because either way they rank pretty high on my favorite players list!


The second and final pickup to show and tell for today is this 2011 Topps Triple Threads Unity autographed relic card of 2011 Silver Slugger winner Aramis Ramirez! This card was dirt cheap, only at a couple bucks, and for the year he gave me in fantasy baseball, I owed him a quick little $4-5 dollar pickup. I never really was a big fan of his, because he always seemed so injury prone and overrated. Well, he certainly proved me wrong in 2011, batting .306 with 26 home runs and 93 RBI. At this point I would take him over the ridiculously over expensive Alex Rodriguez, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. Maybe the Yankees should've put an ounce of thought in before they signed him to a 10 year contract.

Triple Threads has always been a nice looking product to me, although some people may disagree. Sure, it's very similar year in and year out, but with the new addition of the addition autograph and autographed-relic in these "Unity" designs makes for a cool chase. Plus, there are 3 different photo variations for each player in the checklist, which can be put together to make the Unity part complete. Although it's a sticker autograph, it's really shiny and just looks great in general. Nice job, Topps!

So, hopefully this will put me back on the blogging map, but we'll see! See Ya!