2009 Postseason memories...

I can't exactly say I was a true Yankees fan back in 2009. At the time I was only 8 years old, and although I kept up with the Yankees, trying to watch every single game wasn't one of my top priorities.

I was actually on a cruise with my family in 2009 when the World Series was going on, so I never got to watch any of the games. I DID see some live action at some bars on the cruise ship, but that was as close as I got to experiencing World Series baseball. Yankees, World Series baseball that is. 

They actually did sell some Yankees merch on the ship after the Yankees won the World Series, and ironically enough, we had a layover in Philadelphia coming home. So of course my dad and I had to wear our Yankees shirts in the Philly airport. 

Alex Rodriguez's performance in the 2009 postseason was unforgettable. Some could make the argument that the Yankees wouldn't have won the World Series if it wasn't for A-Rod's heroics, and that still remains true in my eyes. Was it worth all the extra baggage that he came with? Some really horrible seasons?

When A-Rod re-emerged in 2015, he still remained one of my favorite players to watch. A couple years later I got the opportunity to meet him at the National Sports Collectors Convention, and although it wasn't exactly an ideal interaction with A-Rod (And J-Lo), I still admire A-Rod for how he virtually turned his entire career around.

2016 was a rather forgettable season, but being at A-Rod's last game on that stormy Bronx night remains engraved in my mind. 

Package From Angels In Order...!

When I first started blogging again, Tom over at Angels In Order reached out and decided to send a little package over my way. Being that it's been about half a decade since I've made a trade with anyone on here, it was a warm welcome and I sure appreciate the cards he sent over!

I'll start off with my favorite of the bunch. I have yet to even see a card with Ottavino in Pinstripes, so it's definitely cool to finally own one. Ottavino was lights out this year for the Yankees and if all goes well, we'll get to see another year of his filthy slider in the Bronx.

 

No longer a huge fan of Eovaldi after he shut down the Yankees... But Stadium Club has some cool photography!

I'm not too familiar with the products that the next couple cards are from, but they're both cards that I've never seen before. Can never have enough Tanaka!

Despite Severino being shut down for an undisclosed amount of time, my collection of him is still fairly large.

Big thanks to Tom for sending over the cards! Your package should be arriving shortly!

Did You Have ANY Doubt?

The picture on this card says it all.

I remember how badly I wanted to go to that game on September 25th of 2014. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what stopped me from going to that game, but I ended up setting the night aside and watching the game in the living room with both my parents. In a year where the Yankees had virtually no shot at the postseason, the biggest, most important game of the year ended up being the one in which Derek Jeter would play his final game in pinstripes in the Bronx.

Everything had been set up so perfectly for Jeter to have been in that position in the bottom of the ninth. Derek Jeter had stretched his playing career as far as it could possibly go, getting a final shot at sending every single Yankees fan into a frenzy one last time.

I vividly remember sitting with my parents in the living room, our eyes fixated on the TV. I couldn't possibly imagine a scenario in which Jeter didn't finish his career in the Bronx with a walk off hit. 

And of course, Jeter finished his career with a walk off single; with me jumping up and down in my living room to the sound of Michael Kays voice. A moment in time that will forever be locked in my mind.

Cinco de Mayo!

So school in New Jersey has officially been cancelled for the rest of the year.

Obviously the only solution to doing online classes is to give a 90 to everyone who scores above a 65!

Yep, that's actually the grading policy for the rest of the year. Not that it matters a whole lot to me, being that I'll be graduating in just a couple months anyways. I just thought it was a little bizarre and rather odd.

Anyways, I was revisiting some of my Yankees collection that I have stored in a box and sorted out the "larger" relics that I own. I'm a sucker for jumbo relics and think they're way cooler than the flimsy standard relics that come in most products. 

Am I the only one who absolutely loves 2013 Five Star? The quality and "stock" of the cards is unbeatable, with the jumbo relics being relatively cheap.

Ah, JR Murphy. I enjoyed his short tenure with the Yankees and I'll never forget his 3 run home run against the Twins all the way back in 2015 when the Yankees had their magical little run.

I loved quite a few different products from 2013, possibly because that was the year I started collecting. Nonetheless, these cards are enjoyable to look at.

A product that's not so enjoyable to look at? National Treasures, obviously! The concept of the cards is pretty cool, but the colorless, logo-less, dull design of the cards definitely make them less desirable. 

The Next Dynasty...

Back in 2017 after the Yankees had made their unexpected run to the ALCS, virtually the entire Yankees fan base had their hopes and dreams set on another dynasty. Led by Aaron Judge, everyone believed that the Yankees had all the pieces put together to compete for a long, long time. Not to mention, their 2017 run was pretty fun and was probably one of my favorite seasons to watch as a Yankees fan. 

Judge winning the home run derby...

The BIG HUGE acquisition of Sonny Gray at the deadline...

The return of Tommy Kahnle & David Robertson...

Gary's big year...

Winning the wild card game...

Completing the reverse sweep against the Indians...

...

Well, what the hell happened?

2017: Yankees get skimped out of a shot at the World Series.

2018: Yankees get eliminated by the Boston Red Sox

2019: Yankees lose to the Houston Astros, once again.

2020: Global Pandemic

2020 2: Yankees chance at a World Series...?

Who knows! It's still fun to think back on that 2017 run and hope for something similar in 2020.

On a side note, it's quite a shame that Matt Vasgersian can't announce the entire postseason.

Nolan Arenado 7 Years Later

I started collecting Nolan Arenado back in 2013 when the Rockies first brought him up and he was nothing more than an elite defender. By no means was he a bad hitter, but his glove was certainly the better of the two. It wasn't until a couple years later that I seriously started collecting Arenado, when he solidified himself as a true power hitter.

Fast forward a few years, Nolan was still hitting 40+ bombs a year while playing elite defense, so his prices had both the fortune and misfortune of skyrocketing. As his prices climbed higher and higher, I slowly started to sell off some cards of his that I had. I kept a good portion, but I enjoyed making a small profit off the ones that I did sell.

Hopefully in a couple months all of us will be able to enjoy watching Arenado perform some magic tricks at the hot corner.

This is a card that did end up staying in my collection, as I simply could not muster up the courage to let go of it. The "RADO" logo on the right side of the card more than makes up for the uninteresting sticker auto.

Jeff Passan Says...

That there WILL be baseball this year, and that it's just a matter of when, where, and how. Obviously those are still three big unanswered questions, but simply just hearing that there would be baseball at some point this year is enough to put a smile on any baseball fan's face. Actually going to a game might not be plausible for some time, but eventually... It will be. Which is all that counts

I did some collecting in my short hiatus, but I never went out of my way to look for a specific card. It was just a matter of me buying a couple packs every now and then for my entertainment. Even though I've been out of the loop for quite some time, Topps Tribute has been a staple for Topps for the better part of the past 2 decades.

On another note, did you ever wish Topps would release a product with a checklist full of some really easy-to-forget-about players? Imagine seeing Travis Hafner in a product like Tribute...

Anyways, here are my tribute acquisitions from this years product. As always, the design is oh-so-appealing to the eye, with a number of super stars on the checklist. 

April 2020

WELL.

It's been about a year and a half since I've written anything on here and just about 5 years since I first started this blog. In that "short" period of time, I have graduated middle school, gone through three full years of high school, and I am now preparing to finally graduate high school. 

Certain hobbies and interests have come and gone, with some simply taking priority over others. As I grew older I found myself not wanting to spend as much money (in this case, none) on baseball cards, so naturally, I had nothing to write about on here. As much as I had loved, and wanted, to blog, my interest in baseball cards had diminished and my mind was no longer being filled with things to write about.

Well, look where we are now! Just the thought of watching a Yankees game on TV or going to a sports card show makes me just as eager and excited as it did just a few years ago. After being trapped inside for so long, I'm sure most of you are just as excited as me to finally be able to watch a baseball game on TV.

I still haven't been collecting a whole lot, but I did get the chance to open a pair of 2020 series 1 packs, which netted me some interesting cards as well as a few Yankees. It was certainly fun to open up some packs of baseball cards, as its been quite some time. 

ANYWAYS... I hope you're all well and healthy and I look forward to reading all of your posts again just as much as I look forward to writing more on this blog.

MLB's Terrible Free Agency

Remember when big free agents didn't sign with a team until right before spring training? Not the case this year! Or last year as a matter of fact. The free agent market has stalled the past couple years and many "would be" popular free agents aren't signing until the middle of spring training. This leaves most baseball fans uninterested. Bryce Harper AND Manny Machado are BOTH still left without a team and it's almost February. Everyone is sick of hearing a different Harper or Machado rumor every week. 

That being said, where do you think Harper and Machado will end up?

I paid a whopping $65 for this card back in 2015. I'm not sure how Harpers prices were still that low in 2015, but I was sure happy to pay $65 for a Harper auto.

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Arenado To The Yankees?

One of the more interesting rumors floating around in the baseball world is the Yankees and Rockies discussing a trade that would send elite third baseman Nolan Arenado to the Yankees. The Rockies are in the same position as the Orioles last year, except the Rockies have actually been good the past few years. 

What would the deal look like if the Yankees decided to pull the trigger? To start, Miguel Andujar would absolutely be in the deal. But what about Greg Bird, Jonathan Loaisiga, Clint Frazier, or even Gleyber Torres? Just how much would the Yankees be willing to part with? As a Yankees fan, I would have absolutely no problem sending Frazier, Andujar, and Loaisiga over to Colorado for Arenado. Now I may be slightly biased because I'm a huge Yankees and Arenado fan, but I believe that Arenado to the Yankees is the best move for the Yankees right now. Andujar is good, but he's not Arenado. Yankees fans are dying for a blockbuster move. The Yankees could move Andujar and a few other pieces while still keeping their future in tact.

There would be nothing to hate about this move from the Yankees perspective if it did happen. A lot of different things would have to fall into place in order for the Yankees and Rockies to make this trade happen. 

Even if the Yankees didn't get Arenado before the season started, who's to say they won't make a push for him at the deadline? Machado will already be with another team at that point and Arenado will be the best third base option on the market. This isn't a move the Yankees need to make, but it would certainly push them over the top in 2019.

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Are YOU A Believer in Gary?

In the short period of time that Gary Sanchez has been in the league, he has received a ton of hate for just about everything he does. The Austin Romine/Miguel Cabrera incident, bad defense, not hustling on a close play, and of course his atrocious year at the plate. 

Gary had great years in 2016 and 2017, and I'm a firm believer that he'll get it back together in 2019. Now Sanchez is injury free and has a full season of Yankees baseball laid out in front of him. Many people thought Gary would out hit Judge and Stanton last year, but he hit a minuscule .189 in 89 games. The power wasn't missing though, as he would've been on pace to hit well over 30 home runs if he had played a full season.

This is just one of the many Gary Sanchez cards I've picked up over the past few weeks. I'm hoping to show the rest in future posts, but one can only write so much about Gary Sanchez.

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Collecting Once Again

I have decided that the year or so break that I took from collecting was long enough. I went to my first card show in years on Sunday and I had a blast. I didn't end up buying any cards (just browsed), but I ended up getting O'Neil, Singleton, and Cone on my jersey which is coming along very nicely.

I'm hoping to get some more posts this week (and hopefully beyond), and I'd love to reconnect with whoever is left of this community.

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Ending This Blog, Starting A New Project

I've been writing this blog for a long time. It's been almost exactly 4 years, which is pretty crazy to think about. I've come to the point the content that I write is pretty boring, bland, and repetitive. Every now and then I'll get a fresh idea, but it's nothing like when I was writing 3 years ago, when I would write every single day. I starting back up again at the beginning of 2018, but it just didn't feel the same.

Will I ever write on this blog again? Probably. Most likely when I get back into baseball cards, which I'm sure is bound to happen sometime soon.

I started another blog on wordpress

https://coronathepug.com/

And I can't wait to write about my other hobby/passion; animals. 

It would mean a great deal if you could all give it a follow.

Thanks!

Is The Pressure Of New York Too Much For Stanton?

I wouldn't know how to answer that question. It's obvious that Stanton has gotten off to a terrible start in pinstripes. It seems all he does is strike out. In fact, he's the first player in the live ball era to have multiple games with 0 hits and 5 strikeouts EVER. Stanton is already being put in the history books! 

I understand it's only April 8th, but Stanton has been having some really really bad games. I don't think it's the end of the world yet, but I definitely am worried. I also think it's time to move Stanton down in the lineup. 

Drury got off to a hot start, but just like half the team, he was placed on the DL because of blurred vision. Andujar stepped in his place and he's been struggling, but he's only had a handful of games in the majors so I'm not too worried.

Sabathia was also placed on the 10 day DL, but he'll be missing only 1 start which is great news. You can't expect Sabathia to start 30+ games anyways.

Surprisingly, Tanaka is still healthy and dealing. 

Needless to say, it's been an opening week from hell for the Yankees. Oh, and they head to Fenway now.

Boone Or Bust

The first two games went great for the Yankees; Stanton showed off his power, Wade and Austin came up clutch, and of course the pitching performances. Then came Betances. As expected he blew the game. That was Boone's first mistake; leaving Betances in too long. Then the very next day he decides to intentionally walk Donaldson, someone who was struggling all series and had a weak shoulder, to pitch to Justin Smoak. Robertson eventually gave up a grand slam to Smoak and that was the game. It's safe to say Boone has already made a few very questionable decisions. 

Girard's binder was better I guess.

On the bright side, Sonny Gray looked good even though he only went 4 innings. I think now that he's settled into New York he's going to have a big year. 

I only own two Sonny Gray autos, one of them being his first bowman autograph. 

The second one is an inceptionized auto from 2016 bowman inception. For whatever reason he's wearing #72 on this card, compared to #2 in the original card. Fishy Topps business.

Ronald Acuna: The Real Deal?

There has been so much hype surrounding Ronald Acuna and the Braves. Acuna had a ridiculous year in AA and AAA, and then continued his hot hitting in the Arizona Fall League. He eventually rose to the #2 overall prospect right behind Ohtani. He didn't make the major league roster due to the extra year of service time, but come mid April there's no doubt that he'll be in Atlanta. 

His card prices have also sky-rocketed, rising to nearly $600 for a BASE chrome auto. He hasn't even played a major league game yet and his prices are already higher than Lindor, Bryant, and many other solidified stars. Fortunately for me, I bought in at a good time and it's sure been fun watching his prices rise. 

Do you think these prices are reasonable for someone for someone who hasn't even reached the majors yet? Do you believe in the hype surrounding him?

Another Gem For Severino

Yesterday was opening day and Severino was lights out, allowing only 1 hit through 5.1 innings. Severino is certainly capable of putting up cy young numbers and he showed that yesterday. Stanton stole the show from Sevy though, hitting 2 home runs in his first game as a Yankee. Today I decided to show off two more of my favorite Severino's. 

It's sure going to fun watching Severino the rest of the season 

Opening Day 2018

It's been almost exactly one year since I last posted. I've still been collecting, but I lost interest in blogging at the time so it was tough for me to write out posts. One year later I'm looking to give it another shot. I'm hoping some people are still following this blog so I have an audience to write to, even if it's just small.

 Anyways... IT'S FINALLY OPENING DAY. There's no better feeling than waking up to a full day of baseball and that's what tomorrow is. Finally. 5 long months of boring winter. Nothing says spring more than baseball. In the time that i've been a Yankees fan, they've never looked this good. 2012 was good, sure, but this team is young and ready for a championship. 2017 was awesome to watch, with Aaron Judge leading the Yankees into the postseason, and absolutely tearing the cover off the baseball. Game 7 of the ALCS was an absolute heartbreaker especially since the Yankees had a 3-2 lead before heading to Houston, but I have even higher hopes for the 2018 Yankees. Judge, Stanton, and Sanchez hitting back to back to back... Is that even fair?

Yes, I still collect Arenado, but during the 2017 National my main focus was Luis Severino and other young Yankees studs such as Gleyber Torres. I have around 70 autos/relics of Severino, but I'll only be showing off two today. They happen to be two of my favorites:

Same card, different numbering. Although I rarely buy Panini, immaculate and national treasures are two exceptions. These cards are too unique to pass up. 

Hopefully there are a good amount of bloggers still around. It's been too long for me to be able to tell who's active and who's not. Let me know if you're still around!

Another Box Of 2017 Topps Tribute - Absolutely. Speechless.

Just about 2 weeks ago I broke my first box of 2017 Topps Tribute and it did not disappoint. I pulled a 1/1 to go along with autographs of both Trea Turner and Paul Konerko. In case you didn't read my last post, here's what I pulled out of my first box.

Yep, a redemption. It seems like there's a redemption in every box I open, but all of them are pretty good (Kris Bryant, Sandy Koufax, Jose Abreu, the list goes on). 

I ordered this box from blowout, and after ordering it I had second thoughts about whether I should rip it or not. Long story short, I decided to break it. I patiently awaited my mailman to deliver my package. I had plans on opening the box while I was watching the Yankees game, but my postman came at 12:00 (an hour before the game started) and I wasn't able to wait any longer. I noticed one pack was really thick, and another was really thin. I decided to save the thin pack for last since it was most likely a redemption, and there are some pretty good names for the redemptions such as Bryant, Harper, Tanaka, Kershaw, and also possible booklets. A booklet would be awesome.

I opened the fattest pack first. I thought it was a patch card at first, but it was just a thick relic card along with a rookie card, which is a case hit.

The rookie, which only fall 1 per case, David Dahl. I'm hoping to complete the set so it was nice to get a head start on the rookie set as well as the rest of the base.

My second hit? Would you look at that it's George Springer again! My initial thought was that it was going to be one of those boxes where 6 cards of the same player show up in the same box. The autograph definitely could have been worse though, as Springer is baseballs hottest player with 5 home runs in his first 9 games.

If I'm going to hit a Red Sox card at least let it be David Ortiz. When I say I get a Red Sox hit in every box, I mean I get a Red Sox hit in every single box. Well this time was no different.

To go along with that David Ortiz relic, here is a David Ortiz purple parallel /99.

The third relic of my box was a Felix Hernandez stamp of approval relic /199. I really like how Topps now has the sticker of authenticity on the relics, it adds a little extra sentimental value, especially when it's of a favorite player.

My second autograph was Sonny Gray. Gray may be a good pitcher, but he's in about every product so it's not very exciting to hit an auto of a pitcher who signs just about everything. I had just 1 pack left. I purposely left the thinnest pack for last since I knew it probably had a redemption.

I open the pack and I can clearly see that there is a redemption in the middle of the two base cards. It wasn't your typical blue background redemption though, it was white. 

I slowly slid down the card hiding the redemption...

...

DEREK. JETER. I'm still shocked that I pulled this. Jeter did not sign much at all in this product (less than 70 I believe). This is the second lowest parallel, the only one lower being the black (1/1). I absolutely cannot wait for this card to come in.

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