Just Checking In...

Hey everyone, Drew back here (finally)! I can't even begin to tell you where the last few months have taken me, and I have to say that while I missed all of my fantastic following; I don't know if I've ever been happier. My life has really taken a turn for the best thanks to letting certain people into my life and moving away from others that did nothing but simply cause me pain. But, I'm back for now, and I can't promise how often, or if this will be anything like it once was, but this is my way of saying hello, while also giving a special shoutout to my great friend William! While I've been gone, I hope you all have been catching up with him over at foul bunt, because he's had an awful lot of awesome stuff to share lately. Me on the other hand, not so much, other than what he recently spoiled me with! Speaking of which, let's take a look at some of what he surprised me with over the past month!

First are some really nice cards out of the new 2014 Bowman baseball product! He must've opened quite a bit of Bowman this year, since he sent me just about all of the Yankees base and prospects! I never would buy Bowman back in my card prime, however I always enjoyed looking back at the prospects a few years later and seeing which ones would pan out. The Yanks' new 3: Beltran, Ellsbury, and McCann have been really disappointing so far this season, but there is still plenty of time for redemption. It's a long season.

Next were some more cool Yankees (and Cano) out of this year's Series 2 set, mostly of the new offseason additions. I love getting cards of the new players regardless of whether I like them or not, because I tend to get kinda bored with the typical CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova cards (like the ones above), and I enjoy fresh faces on my cardboard! I still can't get used to seeing Robby as a Mariner, oh well.

Ahhhh, I didn't realize how horribly I cut off the bottom of this scan. We just got a new printer and scanner since the last one died out on us, and I'm still getting the hang of it. Anyway, these are some other 2014 Yankees (and again, one Cano) that I'll be adding to my Yankees box soon. The 1975 Topps Rudy May is a buyback, and I have to say they really serve no purpose in the hobby. It'd be nicer without the stamp on it, because if I was collecting the 1975 set I wouldn't be able to use that as May's card. I don't know, I'm a stickler like that. Boy, it was fantastic seeing Yogi at Old Timer's Day this past weekend. He always makes me smile, and I wish I could get the chance to meet him but its looking increasingly unlikely as days pass on.

Here are some more assorted Yankees, most from the newest Gypsy Queen. I love the look of the Gypsy Queen cards, but I feel like they're overdone also at this point. It's hard to argue with the look of that Jeter insert though (Happy 40th Jete, by the way!). It's sad seeing where Mason Williams is at at this point of his career, especially after meeting him and thinking so highly of him. He got a DUI last year, and ever since his hitting hasn't been nearly as consistent. But, just like Dellin Betances proved so far this year, there is always still a chance.

Wow, I love this guy. Tanaka has become my second favorite current Yankee (behind The Captain), and without his remarkable consistency I don't know where the team would be, but it certainly wouldn't be in the playoff hunt. It isn't looking likely that we'll see him pitch in the All Star game due to the Yankees scheduling conflicts, but it sure has been fun to watch him thus far! I got to see Tanaka pitch in person with my girlfriend on May 3rd, which didn't turn out to be his best start this season, but it resulted in a win nonetheless. Here he is from that day:

Again, he's awesome. And thanks to William, I now have his rookie card, so thank you so much for that! But, on top of it all, he decided to get me a graduation gift, one that I didn't see coming at all.

This beautiful Thurman Munson triple relic has a nice story behind it. William had pulled this out of a pack 4 years ago and has been taunting me with it ever since. We had planned on making a trade in which I'd give him a Ripken autograph in exchange for this card, but ever since I met Ripken I've had a hard time letting it go. Sure enough though, for my graduation, William hooked me up with this beauty, and I'm so excited to add it to my small Munson collection. I never got to see Thurman play obviously, but I loved ESPN's Bronx is Burning special and my dad always talked about how much he loved him, so it's really cool to have a piece of his history!

Thank you so much William for all of the great stuff, and especially for that Munson! I know you really liked it, so maybe one day I'll have to get the guts to give up my Ripken and complete that trade! I hope everyone is doing well, and I'm looking forward to trying to be more active, as I've lately been transferring a lot of my computer files over to my brand spankin new MacBook Pro I received from my parents as a graduation gift! Yeah, it's pretty sweet!

Since I didn't quite get the chance, I also wanted to offer my condolences to the Gwynn family. He was far too young, but Tony Gwynn's legacy will last forever.

See Ya!