Christmas Gift from William! Woah!

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, as you saw in the last post, William already did a good enough job helping my dad out with those 2 awesome pickups, in the Jackson auto and the quad Yankee relic, but he couldn't hold back in wanting to do more for me! So he sent me a bunch of loose Yankees mixed cards, along with one huge Christmas gift. And when I say huge, I mean huge! Take a look at some of the stuff he's sent me lately:

These actually came in a package he sent me before the Christmas gift, but I never got around to post them. Pathetic, right? Yeah, believe me, I know. I love adding any new Mattingly cards to my collection, and I needed all of the cards on the bottom row because I've been far too lazy to go out and buy any Bowman Chrome and Topps Lineage. 

Also, he sent me a few nice Cano cards I didn't have yet. Each card is chrome: his 2011 Bowman Chrome; 2011 Topps Finest base cards; and his 2011 Topps Chrome refractor parallel! All 3 cards are very nicely designed, but still they don't seem to have the kind of pop that cards had for me a few years ago. This card sure did though...

I don't even know where to start on this one! This dual bat card is just insanely incredible! From the set I'm attempting to put together, William got me the Lou Gehrig card out of the set! LOU GEHRIG! Not only is this a huge set wantlist helper, but man this is something I've always wanted to add to my collection! Gehrig is one of my favorite old Yankee players even though he was often overshadowed by Babe Ruth. It's hard for anyone to argue; however; who the best 1st baseman of all time is, and it's clearly the man on the card right above this paragraph.

Dude. You didn't have to do this. This is way too much! Thank you so much William! You're as classy as it gets and it's hard to find better friends than you out there. When I one day finish this set off, I'm going to think of you for the big help you gave me in the process of the set. It means a lot.

See Ya!

Merry Christmas Everyone! 3 Sweet Gifts to Share!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I know, it's been forever and a half years since I had any activity on this site whatsoever. But it's Christmas, so I decided to find the time to wish all of you a happy holidays! Another year has gone by and I'm still so fortunate at the love I've received from all of my friends in the hobby, and that no matter where life takes me, I'll always have you guys as a strong childhood memory. Hopefully I'll be able to continue on sharing with you all the journey through my card collection growth (yes, it's not dead, just the blog), but things are going to be a lot slower on here than ever before. I hope you all understand that, but I do want to try and throw a post out there every few days, or maybe once a week. We'll see.

However, getting back to the Christmas spirit of things, I received 3 card related gifts this Christmas morning from my parents, and I wanted to show them to you all! According to them, they couldn't have found the right ones without the great help of one of my best friends, and fellow blog-mate William, who actually bought 2 of these cards for my parents at his recent card show in Raleigh, NC! William also sent me a Christmas package last week that will NEED to be posted soon, because it was simply incredible. To say the least, well, he's a heck of a guy and I'm so glad to consider him my friend! Anyways, getting to the cards, well, we'll start with the guy who always wants to be first...

Out of 1995 Upper Deck, it's none other than an on card autograph of "Mr. October", Reggie Jackson! This is part of one of the first certified autograph sets ever produced, and it just looks incredible! Attached with the card is a separate COA that has a matching code on it with the code on the back side of the card. Reggie was among the top 5 overall in guys I wanted an autograph of, and to be able to knock one of, and it being a card of this caliber is just too awesome!

Card number 2 was purchased by my mom on eBay! She changed her password to shoo me away from getting into the account, and boy do I miss buying things for myself! However, she did a great job choosing which card to knock off the Tier One relic set, in Ty Cobb! The Georgia Peach himself! Cobb is the oldest subject in the checklist, and the card has a piece of his very own bat! Talk about awesome! Sure, it's numbered pretty high (/399), but nonetheless, it's a card I would have never thought I would own! However, I think the last one is pretty darn good also...

From 2009 UD SPX, check this quad relic out! Not only is it the newest addition to my growing Robinson Cano PC, but it also features jersey relics worn by Derek Jeter; Jorge Posada; and um... Joe DiMaggio? Anybody know him? Someone told me he happened to get a hit in 56 straight games... he must be pretty good. Kidding aside, this card even beats out my Berra/Jeter/Posada/Cano quad relic I already had, and it's the first nice DiMaggio card I've gotten yet! Pretty darn sweet!

So, first of all, thanks SO much Mom and Dad for buying these for me! They're going to be 3 cornerstones of the collection, and I'll be proud to show them off one day! Also, again, thanks William for having such good taste in Yankees cards! Your post is coming soon man, but you know how much this means to me.

Merry Christmas Everyone! See Ya!

A New Set Idea! First 3 Out of the Way!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So recently I've dug my head into yet another set, but this one, unlike the 1961 Topps Set, is a modern day product. I am going to attempt the 2011 Topps Tier One "Top Shelf" relic set! Each card I am attempting to pick up is numbered out of 399 and features one piece of game used memorabilia from some of the best players the game has ever seen, to players that could get to that level at some point! There are 50 cards in the set, and due to the higher numbering, even some of the all time legends in the set's cards are selling dirt cheap! So, I was able to buy 3 of the cards recently, and they all came in within the past few days! Take a look:

The first card I bought was the bat card belonging to "Stan The Man", Stan Musial! I didn't have any memorabilia cards of Musial until this card came in, and I'm glad I do now. It would take an awful lot of money to finish off the trifecta and pick up a rookie card of his, so I probably shouldn't consider a Musial trifecta anytime soon! But the card cost about $12 and I feel like I did well on the price!

Relic number 2 is of current Giants ace Tim Lincecum! Lincecum has been one of my favorite pitchers in baseball over the past few years, and a lot of that respect came from having him in fantasy baseball last year, even though it wasn't his best year. It was all good though, because Verlander did most of the work in my rotation! Anyway, this one was numbered 394 of 399, and it's a piece of his jersey. A lot of the cards in this set have bat relics, which is okay, but I do sort of wish some of the older cards had some wool in them!  

The final card is an absolute beauty, even for a Red Sox card! It's the Jimmie Foxx bat relic! I literally probably had under 10 cards of Foxx in my entire collection, but this one certainly is a step up from anything else of his that I own. The bat piece in the card probably is the oldest piece of game used memorabilia I own, as Foxx played mostly through the 20's, 30's, and 40's! Fortunately, this set also contains a lot more old memorabilia, in Cobb, Sisler, Speaker, Hornsby, Ruth, and Gehrig, so I'm going to have my hands full! And oh by the way, I don't mean to brag but this card cost me $8.

So, 3 down, 47 to go! This set is absolutely beautiful, and when it's complete I will cherish it to say the very least! So, if anyone has any of these cards, for trade or for sale, please consider shooting me an email and letting me know if you want to try and work something out! Thanks everyone!

See Ya!