Jordan really is the GOAT

I've always loved the term "The G.O.A.T." when describing a player. For those that don't know, it's actually a positive! It stands for Greatest Of All Time. And while it's usually reserved for NBA players, recently a collector named Jordan dropped a surprise PWE on me.

Jordan reached out around the new year saying he wanted to send me a few Yanks. I totally forgot about it, so it was a nice surprise when I came home to an unexpected envelope of cards.

I certainly appreciate any and all Luis Severino RCs. This guy is going to be criminally under-collected over the next few years. He finished third in the AL Cy Young as a 23 year old. Folks, he's a good one.

There was definitely some shiny cards included too! Sadly James Kaprielian is now in the A's organization as he was part of the Sonny Gray trade. I've always liked this card of Cito Culver doing a jump throw, and the X-Fractor effect makes it even cooler.

Jordan, such a nice gesture. Thank you!

Cito's Jeter impression

These were each $.50 on SportLots, so I grabbed them as part of a larger purchase. I think it’s a great photo – very Jeter-like for the eventual heir at shortstop for the Yanks. That's being optimistic, but I like Culver a lot as a prospect.

I think both of these refractors are sharp. The green is a nice color, although I’ve never been a fan of serial numbers on the front. The X-Fractors are really pretty this year as well.

Some new players I'm collecting

I’m always looking for new ways to keep me interested in collecting. I tend to go in lulls sometimes, as I don’t have a ton of disposable income to spend on cards. In a perfect world, I’d break boxes on a weekly basis, but it’s just not the case. However, I still need something to keep me going.

In addition to Tino Martinez and Yanks in general, I’m adding a few Yankee prospects to my list. CLICK HERE to check out who I’m after and what I have. 

Here are the new players:

Jesus Montero

Manny Banuelos

Dellin Betances

Gary Sanchez

Dante Bichette, Jr

Mason Williams

Cito Culver

Angelo Gumbs

I don’t expect it to really impact how I collect, but it’ll be fun for me to track the new cards I get of these players.

TTM Success: Cito Culver - 2010 First Rounder

On Tuesday, I sent a TTM request to 2010 Yankees First Round draft choice Cito Culver. He has been in extended spring training, but via his Twitter account he mentioned he was being assigned to short season Staten Island, who start their season tonight. Knowing it would only take one day to get there, I quickly packaged up a card and letter to Culver, one of my favorite Yankees prospects. In just four days, he signed and returned my card! I like him even more now!

The signature didn't stick that well, but it's not bad. I'm very happy to add Culver's auto to my collection and look forward to seeing him play in person this summer. Between him, Mason Williams, Angelo Gumbs and Ben Gamel (brother of Matt), they should be a lot of fun to watch.

Trade Review: My Sports and Sports Cards

A week ago, Jeff from My Sports and Sports Cards reached out about a possible trade. He explained that he is new to online trading, so we set up a small deal. He collects White Sox, Colts, and Michigan Wolverine cards. I sent him a stack of White Sox cards, and he sent me a stack of Yanks. Quick and easy!

Well, Jeff went above and beyond for our first trade. While I sent about 25-30 White Sox I had laying around, Jeff sent me a GREAT lot of Yanks totaling about 50 cards. Totally lopsided. The first two cards were especially awesome - a Robinson Cano Bowman Platinum /999 and a Javy Vazquez 2010 Topps Chome GOLD Refractor #'d to 50! Wow wow wow! Now, both of Javy's stints in NY didn't work out at all, but this card is truly awesome looking. And the Cano? I love getting a numbered refractor of the best second basemen in baseball (sorry, it's true).

Here are some pictures of the other cards. Love getting a Cito Culver Bowman Chrome, and a great assortment of Mantles (I had none of these!) and Bowman Platinums. I wonder how many Mantles I have? Probably close to 100 - all reprints of course. Still, I should figure it out one of these days just for fun. The Zach McAllister card is cool too. Unfortunately, he is no longer a Yankee, as he was used to acquire Austin Kearns for the summer last year.

Jeff, I'll gladly trade with you again! Thanks for a great selection of cards. Go check out Jeff's blog and trade with him1

My second Gary Sanchez card + some other pickups

I placed a small order on SportLots to pick up a few shiny Yankees prospects cards. I'm happy to grab my second Gary Sanchez card - a 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition. This is a really cool looking card - very shiny and mirror-like. It's still weird for me to see "Panini" on the back instead of the Donruss logo, but I don't mind at all because I feel like Panini is bringing a lot to the table and are a very fan-friendly company.

I also grabbed six other cards - a Slade Heathcott Bowman Platinum (already had it but it was only .18), a Cito Culver Bowman Draft Pick, a 2010 Bowman Chrome Graham Stoneburner (sweet name) Bowman Chrome, a Dellin Betances 2007 Donruss Elite extra Edition (really cool card), and two more 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Editions - Rob Segedin and DeAngelo Mack. Both of those will probably be used for TTM.

Purchase Review: A smattering of Yankees

I like that word. Smattering. Anyways, a few days ago I made a purchase on SportLots to for about 50 Yankee cards. If you don't know SportLots, it's a great resource for player collectors and set builders. Anyways, a lot of these are older cards that I am going to send out for my Topps Yankees Project. I also picked up a few Tinos for my personal collection, and a few Yankees prospects simply because I didn't have cards of these guys yet. I'm talking about you, Cito Culver, Adam Warren and Slade Heathcott.

Anyways, here are a few of the highlights from my lot. I won't list out every card, that would be boring. But a few cards stand out.

1973 Topps Fritz Peterson. I love this design. I actually think it's my first and only 1973 Topps card. It's a cool action shot of him having just finished delivering a pitch. He is wearing old school stirrups, and you can just tell that the field is so dusty. The grass looks like my old little league field. I like seeing old videos where the infields just aren't as well kept as they are today. The dirt was powdery and flew everywhere.

1981 Topps Bob Watson. Dwight Schrute called. He wants his glasses back.

1961 Topps Joe DeMaestri. Check out that collar under the jersey. Is that denim??

Otherwise, I got a bunch of old Yankees cards - assorted named like Hegan, Reniff, Downing, Womack. Some of the prospects I got include David Phelps, Hector Noesi, JR Murphy, and David Adams.

The Tinos I bought are all ones from his second and final stint with the Yankees: 2005 Topps #655, 2005 Topps Chrome #464, 2006 Topps Heritage #199 (sweet card), and 2006 Fleer #400 (I had never seen this set. Yuck.). I have a bunch of free time this weekend, so I'll do my best to update my Tino collection on this site.