The Summer of PWEs

Holy moly. This summer is going fast.

For being stuck at home, the summer is sure finding a way to move quickly, as most summers do. I expected this one to drag, but here were are, mid-August.

Since it's really been the summer of PWEs, I thought I'd show off a few that have tricked in over the last few weeks.

Coach Tom sent a good one with a few different fun cards. The highlight for me was this Aaron Judge Syracuse Orange parallel from Big League.

A few other Big Leaguers. I love getting Gerrit Cole Yankee cards!

A couple Tinos! The diecut Retrospectives is a sweet design. I love the colors, too.

And as he tends to do, Tom sent me a few HOFers for my sons binder!

Thanks, Coach!

Kerry from Cards on Cards hit me up with a good PWE as well. I always like his, as they tend to be a mixture of Yankees and Knicks.

I wish the Knicks were in the Bubble since Kevin Knox cards would be worth like $50 a pop if he had a good game.

I like this CC from Big League, as well. Why didn't Topps give him a tribute card in flagship? That seems like an odd omission when a future HOFer hangs 'em up, right?

And finally a quick swap from Bru! I like the Defensive Wizards insert set as well. Players in outer space always goes over well with me.

I hope a lot of stuff from Covid time goes away, but I hope the PWE momentum continues to stay.

CC returns home (to my mailbox)

CC Sabathia is returning home to the Yankees, as he signed a one-year deal a few weeks ago. It'll be his 11th season with the Yankees and the 19th overall of his borderline Hall Of Fame career.  He said that 2019 will be it. With four more wins, he'll get to 250 for his career. With 16 Ks, he'll eclipse 3,000 strikeouts. He's got a World Series and a Cy Young Award to his name, as well as six All-Star appearances. He's got another 10 Ws in the post-season.

Yes, he should get some serious consideration in a few years when his name is on the ballot.

He's already a HOFer in my book because for the second time in three years, he returned a card signed to me that I sent him.

I saw a few successes popping up on Twitter, some from spring training 2017. I was hoping that would mean mine was on its way back, and luckily, today brought one little SASE.

When I cracked it open, this card was staring back at me:

Looks beautiful, doesn't it?

CC has been a great TTM signer, scrawling his name on cards for over two decades. Hopefully the HOF voters are the ones checking his name off the ballot six years from now.

Here's what I'm thinking

Accidentally, I haven’t posted since Friday. I don’t love a few-day absence, but I haven’t gotten many new cards lately, am still working on my re-organization (or rather, just “organization) project, and have been a bit busy in both my personal and professional life. So the blog took a back seat.

And while I still haven’t gotten too many new cards, I do have a few thoughts as Opening Day is just two days away. I’m very excited, and it’s hard not to be when seeing things like this:

Still, I know everything won’t go perfectly. It never does, and the Yankees (and every other team) will need to adjust on the fly. Case in point:

Greg Bird. I really like the guy. I love his personality and I think he has the sweetest lefty swing in the game right now. Just look at his homer in the ALDS versus lefty Andrew Miller. It’s a thing of beauty.

Bird has been dubbed the Yankees 1B of the present and future, yet has missed three straight Opening Days, including this one. He should be out 6-8 weeks after foot surgery today. Hopefully the comeback is smooth and he rejoins the lineup in June and takes his place in the middle of the order, but it’s getting a bit hard to count on him. I really, really like him and want him to be part of this Yankees core over the next few years. But it also wouldn’t be unreasonable for the Yankees to start thinking about the post-Greg Bird solution at 1B, whether it’s drafting one in the first round or trading/signing for one in his prime.

Hey Bryce Harper, any interest in playing 1B?

Starting at 1B on Thursday will probably be Tyler Austin, especially against lefty J.A. Happ. Austin has always hit in the minors, and should get an extended look to be a part of the every day lineup. I’ve always liked him a lot, and would love to see him see some prolonged success in the Majors. Plus, I have a lot of cards of his!

Jacoby Ellsbury.

I’m not sure what to really say about him. He was signed to a very large contract and hasn’t lived up to it. As Brian Cashman always says, he’s the one to blame for the contract, not Ellsbury. He’s right. I would have taken the money. You would have too. Still, it’s hard to believe he’s got three years left on his Yankees deal.

What’s harder to believe is that he still keeps finding his way into current card releases. I know he’s a Yankee and all, but I can’t imagine he has a big card market. Red Sox fans likely soured on him after the Yankees deal. And Yankee fans likely wouldn’t want his Red Sox cards, nor his current cards. Personally, I wouldn’t mind is he was omitted from future releases in 2018 and beyond, but I don’t see that happening.

One guy I’m happy to see returning for his 10^th year in Pinstripes is CC Sabathia. He has now got 10 years in NY, and then 8 in Cleveland and part of 1 in Milwaukee. That makes me feel better about his chances of wearing an NY hat into Cooperstown if that day comes. I think he’ll be a HOFer – a Cy Young, a World Series, 60+ WAR, 2800+ Ks, 3.70 ERA (mostly in the AL), 7 All-Star selections, 237 wins, 10 post-season wins. It’ll be close for sure, but the numbers are there. Maybe he'll win 13 this year and get to 250. That sounds a lot better than 237.

And if you haven’t taken a listen, I recommend his R2C2 podcast with Ryan Ruocco. It’s really good. The episode with A-Rod was terrific.

Lastly, I’m excited for year 2 of Jordan Montgomery. All winter, the Yankees were thought to be seeking another SP, whether it was Gerrit Cole or a free agent like Alex Cobb. They stood their ground, and in turn, Montgomery once again joins the rotation. Maybe he’s not the sexiest name, but he had a very good rookie year and think he can be a mid-rotation starter for a long time. And he throws with his left hand!

All-in-all, should be a fun season. Can’t wait!

PK sends the 2018 goods

Our favorite Darryl Strawberry collector, Mr. PK Steinberg of Baseball Every Night, was kind enough send me a whole bunch of 2018 Series One Yankees he pulled, many of which I needed. I did happen to a pull a Darryl Strawberry insert which I think (hope) he still needs, but he certainly delivered the goods.

This is my first Topps Gold of a Yankee this year, and it's a good one of the big man. I love the hat tip, although can't tell if he's just adjusting it or walking off the mound after being removed from a game.

Two Judges! Yes, please.

Actually, there were two more Judges here from the Topps Now insert set. I don't mind having these cards in the set, but I think not limiting to the 10 most popular in terms of print run was the way to do it. I wonder if it was broken into five sets of three, if it would have more appeal? Something like top 5 copies, top 5 least sold/scarce, and then top five editor or fan's choice moments. At least there would be a bit more diversity in the set and likely be appreciated by more collectors.

Great Superstars Sensations card of Gray Sanchez. I love how under the radar he's going to fly this season with all of the Judge and Stanton hype. He might be the best pure hitter of the three.

Last but not least, there was a nice stack of Jeter Highlights I needed. Love the Bobby Murcer appearance. I'm going to try to put together at least one of these sets - maybe 2 - so am willing to take these off anyone's hands.

PK, thank you sir! I'll get that Straw out to you one of these days.

Baseball cards on cards

Yesterday, I showed some cool basketball cards Kerry fromCards on Cards sent me. Of course, the package also included a healthy amount of baseball cards too, because duh!

I’ve seen Gary Sanchez cards come to a screeching halt in card packages, and Aaron Judge is headed for the same treatment. I don’t blame any of your guys, as their cards are fairly valuable right now, and can be moved to acquire things that fit your collection better. However, that didn’t phase Kerry, as he sent me a few of each of those guys:

I really like 2017 Gypsy Queen. Just a cool looking set, and very different from the past few years.

This is the first 2017 Topps Stickers card (err, sticker) that I’ve gotten. I always like the simplicity of the design, and wish Topps would make a full-sized set that looks like this.

I won’t lie, I literally LOL’d at this Robin Ventura card. It’s from Upper Deck Game Face, and that’s the best you could find of Ventura's "game face"? Hilarious.

Kerry was kind enough to turn these team-issed cards over so I knew they weren’t regular base cards. Much appreciated!

A few cards from some mid 2000s sets. Godzilla has always made for some fun cards.

I’ll close the post with a high-end basecard of CC. I can’t imagine how many of these get tossed because they aren’t juicy hits.

Kerry, thanks for another great package!

TTM Success: CC Sabathia

Recently, I've been feeling a little bummed. In a few of the forums I follow, I've seen some CC Sabathia TTM autos rolling in from guys who sent to him a year or two ago. I sent him a request last spring, but as I mentioned yesterday, mail forwarding hasn't been very kind to me. I was worried I'd never get it back.

However, in the stack of mail that the current tenants graciously put aside for me, there was one lone TTM SASE. I really, really wanted it to be Sabathia, and was thrilled when this fell out:

Yessssss!

I couldn't remember which card I even sent to him, but I think I made a good choice. The signature looks great, and you really can't argue with a Topps Heritage of any kind. The surface is ripe for an auto, so there was no bubbling or anything of the sorts.

This is my first Sabathia auto, as I don't own any certified autos of his. I'm very, very happy to add this!

SuperTraders #28: A Cracked Bat

Rarely does a blogger re-enter the blogging world with such a fury of trade packages, but that’s what Julie of A Cracked Bat recently did. Hey Napkin Doon, take notice.

I was one of the lucky recipients of Julie’s #SuperTrader packages, and it was certainly packed with some great stuff.

I’ll start with an EBAY 1/1. Julie, I don’t think you knew you had an EBAY ONE OF ONE on your hands. You could have retired! In all seriousness, a sweet CC mini #’d 1/50. There were a couple of other cool minis too – Greg Bird and Tanaka. I can’t wait for Greg Bird’s return this season.

A couple of PC guys in Sanchez and Big Mike. The Big Mike is the green back of the Heritage ’51, which I did not have. The Sanchez card is blurry – not sure why. It’s not the scan. I think Topps just used a low res image. If anyone ever forgets Gary’s last name, SANCHEZ is tattooed across his arm. FYI. 

I have no recollection of this Fleer Tradition set. Randy Johnson’s tenure in NY seems to be looked at as a failure, but his first season was pretty good: 17-11, 3.79 ERA, 211 Ks, and a 5.7 WAR. As a 41-year-old! I guess compared to other seasons, that was pretty subpar for him. Admittedly, he was not good in the playoffs. 

Diamond Kings! Including a Diamond Kings Optic. This actually looks pretty sweet, I won’t lie.

National Baseball Card Day! These cards look great as well.

I’ll finish off with a couple high-end base cards. These have graced past packages from Julie as well. I never get these products, so appreciate receiving them.

Awesome stuff, Julie. Thank you!