Wee Willie & The Highlanders

That sounds like a great band name doesn't it?

So recently Bob Walk The Plank sent me what's most likely the last card I receive via trade in 2015.

BWTP sent me this 1/1 printing plate of the legendary lumberjack himself, Wee Willie Keeler.

I knew that something was coming my way because BWTP said he found something cool for me. I never thought it'd be something THIS cool though.

What's really cool about this is that the card says he's from the NEW YORK BASEBALL CLUB.
During Keeler's 19 year career he was a member of the NY Highlanders, NY Giants and BK Dodgers. I choose to believe that this is a Highlanders card because if it was a Dodgers card it would've said BROOKLYN BASEBALL CLUB. And the New York could also be the Giants but the Giants stink, so this is a Highlanders card by default. And I refuse to think otherwise. Any argument you bring up will be repelled by my "Keeler spent more time as a Highlander than with any other team" argument. So there.

So now that my inner 7 year old has confirmed that this is a Highlanders card. I thought this would be a good enough time to revisit my Highlanders collection.

This Keeler is the latest addition to that stagnant collection in months. I was hoping the first Keeler added to this collection would be of the tobacco card variety but my limited impulses called for other things.

A few months ago this was sent to me by Nick The Dimebox King. I've been meaning to give this a proper post but that's for a future Revisiting Profiles post I guess.

This is from the 1980 Nostalgic Enterprises set commemorating the 1903 NY Highlanders. And it's freaking awesome.

I believe Nick sent me all of the Nostalgic Enterprise cards I have (all two of them). Which is no surprise since he's probably the only guy who can find these.

And after that we have my Jack Chesbro PC. Unlike Keeler there's no mystery which team Chesbro's supposed to be on, because almost nobody remembers Chesbro as a Pirate or as a Red Sock. And that suits me just fine.

And now back to Willie Keeler. A guy who should be in monument park but isn't. Hard to say what 2016 has in store, but hopefully my Highlanders PC takes a few steps forward somehow.

Big thanks to BWTP for the plate, Nick for the Deering and AJ for the unscanned Chesbro (the felt thing was excluded because the Highlanders did not last until 1914).

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Estradin' Up Cards

Like P-Town Tom I have what I'd consider my two most favorite prospects in my favorite team's organization.

Like PTT, both of my favorite prospects are liable to be traded away at any given moment. But unlike PTT I haven't had to say goodbye to either of them yet.

Obviously my number one guy is Luis Torrens. I've completed two rainbows of him. I've been in touch with his father. I named my freaking blog after him.

But there is another prospect I like that's not too far behind Torrens in my personal favorite rankings.

Hell yes, Thairo Estrada.

Like Torrens, Estrada is a Yankees prospect who has yet to celebrate his 20th birthday (Estrada & Torrens were both born in 1996) who also hails from Venezuela. And like Torrens he made a big impression on me and also gave me his batting gloves.

Unlike Torrens I don't really see myself going all gung-ho over Thairo Estrada's cards. At least not all of them. I have a superfractor that's been signed by him personally. Which, for the record, was the only card to make it onto my Prime 9, most important binder page. I don't really think I need to go after much else.

Although I do have to admit that he'd be a lot easier to super collect (he's only been in two mainstream sets so far).

The card above is a special card distributed solely at the 2015 NYPL All Star Game in Aberdeen this year (note the logo on the bottom right). The picture used is the same exact one used for Thairo's card in the 2015 SIY team set, but the different back (well it's sort of different) makes up for it.

Personally the way I'm not 100% into super collecting Thairo Estrada is why I like collecting him. As a guy who feels obligated to collect everything Torrens, I've felt burned out (or close to it) several times. Of course I'm not burned out because cool Torrens cards pop up only once every other month.

I like having a PC guy who I can just be like "no, I don't need to scoop up all of his cards and I'm okay with that." Although I probably will make a small effort to pick up Thairo Estrada's MiLB issued cards in the future since they're the coolest.

So in conclusion. In the event that Luis Torrens gets traded away (God forbid), I'll either end up switching allegiances to whatever team he goes to, or switch to Estradin' Up Cards. As of this moment they are both very likely.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care ;).

Weekend TTM Roundup: 12/21-12/26

Received On: 12/26/2015

The only return I've gotten these past two weeks came courtesy of none other than THE Aaron Judge.

Judge was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2013 as one of the compensation picks between the first and second round.
Since then he's ascended as one of New York's top prospects and a guy who has quite a fair number of people excited.

I've spoken about Judge in the past and for the most part nothing has changed. He is NOT going to be Giancarlo Stanton. His ceiling is an everyday right fielder who can hit 20-ish home runs. That's not Stanton (who hit 3 home runs in only 12 at-bats against the Blue Jays in 2015), but that's incredibly good compared to what the Yankees have produced in recent memory. And that's pretty much going to be a perfectly suitable replacement for Carlos Beltran.

Judge's 2015 didn't exactly end on a high note as he struggled after a promotion to triple-A but there is still plenty of time and potential for him to be in the big leagues as early as next September.

Anyway big thanks to Mr. Aaron Judge for what could potentially be my last TTM return of 2015.

And as always thanks to you (the readers) for stopping by :).

Take care.

2015 TTM Count: 239

Go, Go, Go!

So something pretty odd happened. I completed a rainbow.

Yep, I completed another Luis Torrens rainbow just in time to say that I completed TWO rainbows in one year.

It's really interesting (to me) how this all came together. Prior to this month I had four of the seven colors of the rainbow (the 1/1 on the left, the red, the refractor and the base). But then I was browsing eBay when I noticed that the VERY elusive green prism refractor had popped up.

For those of you who don't know the green refractors were retail only parallels. Making them quite difficult to find due to how they weren't easy pulls to begin with in addition to how it's unclear how many people actually bought the retail version of 2013 Prizm Draft.

Anyway I managed to win the auction for the green prism refractor. At the same time I noticed that the very rare gold refractor was also up on eBay, this time as a Buy It Now listing.

#'d 08/10

The price was fairly reasonable so I pounced on it. Now I had three of the BIG pieces (the 1/1, the /10 gold and retail refractors) out of the way, there was only one more parallel keeping me from completing the rainbow.

#'d 01/75

The blue refractor which had happened to be available on COMC for a reduced price. Naturally I swooped in and bought it (along with a few other cards). Earlier today it finally arrived.

And here I sit. Looking upon the SECOND Luis Torrens rainbow I've completed. And this time this is really complete as 2013 Panini Prizm Draft didn't release printing plates. It begins and ends with these seven cards. #Blessed

I'm still quite surprised that this managed to come together. On the same day (technically) no less. But then again, I live in the 21st century with the internet.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

What A Deal

So the other day I finally got my first official Jeff Degano baseball card.

Well okay I didn't just get one Jeff Degano card.

I got two. Both for the price of one (shipped) at that. I was quite pleased that the only bid I put in won.

Jeff Degano was the 2nd rounder in the 2015 player draft who I met in Staten Island. I'd say more but I'm sure I'll have plenty of things to talk your ears off regarding Degano these upcoming years so I'll leave it at that.

With this I have official cards of the first five Yankees 2015 draftees and I'd suspect that the fifth rounder Chance Adams is due to receive some sort of card soon. In the meanwhile I'm now down to 12 2015 Yankees draftees I need an official card of.

Hopefully that number will go down in like a week from now when Bowman Draft finally comes out. I'm getting excited :D!

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

How'd He Know?

Fuji over at the Chronicles Of Fuji sent what appears to be everybody something this past week. I myself was one of the people he sent a few cards to, and like everybody else I was overwhelmed.

Mainly because Fuji appears to have read my mind and managed to pinpoint one card I really needed.

Fuji knows that I like Yankees prospects and I have to assume he also knew that I was looking for a Rony Bautista Bowman Chrome autograph since I've (unofficially) started trying to build the 2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects autograph Yankees team set. Since I gave away my previous Rony autograph to his buddy Domingo, I went back and forth looking at various eBay listings before Fuji sent this my way.

Fuji sent along a note saying I don't need to send him anything because his reserves are at an all time low. But saying "don't" to me is a great way to make sure that I do ;). Especially when you knocked off a critical need.

Fuji also sent along what became my first 2009 Bowman Chrome autograph of a Yankee with this Pat Venditte refractor (#'d 492/500). I remember Fuji showing off a Pat Venditte BoChro autograph a while back and I kind of hoped that this wasn't that one since I'd feel really guilty if it was. Well I went back and yes it was the same card. Now I feel like a douche for taking a card away from him.

I had a small stack of cards prepared for Fuji's next Zippy Zapping. After this recent development I've decided that it isn't enough and I'll have to beef up my own reserves. *Grins evilly*

So I kinda broke my own rule and blogged about a trade. Sort of. This wasn't really a trade per-se, none of the transactions I make with people are "trades" anymore. More like I send people cards I don't need and they send me cards they don't need. But when a package you get hits a bullseye (I'm serious Fuji, how'd you know I needed Rony?) you blog about it.

So yeah, thanks a bunch Fuji.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

The Saga Continues...

It's just the yellow plate for the MINI Bowman Chrome, but it'll do.

It's my 8th 1/1 LUIIIIISSSSSSSSSSS card. And now I only need two more of the mini Bowman Chrome plates ;).

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

A Little Help

So a little while back I got some more 50/50's. For those of you who missed my first post on it, 50/50's are when you send cards to another person who has a shot at getting them autographs and you usually send along extras for that person to keep for themselves (usually to get signed as well).

Well this wasn't quite a 50/50 but it was another case where I had help from people in high places.

Through Twitter I've met several wonderful people and I'll keep most of them anonymous for privacy's sake but they have helped me and my PC. I usually don't like to bother this person and I definitely don't ask this person for help obtaining autographs either, but they offered to help so I sent along a couple of cards I was hoping could be signed along with a few SIY programs for them to keep.

I guess it paid off because this time I obtained autographs of two players I didn't have a chance of obtaining otherwise.

One of them is a really good infielder (primarily third baseman) we mortals all refer to as Miguel Andujar.
Andujar is a top prospect in the Yankees organization. He's a solid defender over at third (although there are still kinks he needs work out) who projects to be able to stay at the hot corner for years to come. His biggest asset is his said to be his arm which can throw mid-90's heat if he wants it to. Offensively he projects to be a solid hitter with a fair bit of power. This season he's left mixed results with the bat (some insanely good stretches and some insanely bad stretches) but through it all he still has a ISO over .110 (according to Fangraphs) showing he has a ton of power. He won the Florida State League Home Run Derby after all. The guy is still only 20 years old at high-A (he's very young for that level) and there is still plenty of time for his bat to come around. If he takes that next big step forward, he could make Eric Jagielo a very expendable piece for the Yankees.

And the other autograph was of Ericson Leonora.
Signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Yankees back in 2008. He finally came stateside in 2012 and he's done fairly well since then. Although he's been dangled back and forth between rookie ball and full season A-ball a few times, he's finally been able to stay with the Tampa Yankees all season long this year and he's already appeared in more games as a pro than ever before. Although his numbers don't exactly leap off of the page, he's work in progress. In a system with a glut of outfielders in the upper levels (and the lower levels) Leonora has his work cut out for him, but I'm looking forward to seeing how he develops from here.

So thanks again to the gentleman who helped me get these. For privacy's sake I won't say your name but just know I really appreciate these.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

The Future Beast Of The AL East Has Awoken...

So during these past few months I've come to "know" a lot of people who know Luis Torrens a lot more personally than I do. They include a man named Peter who is good buddies with a lot of Yankees farmhands from Latin America, and Torrens' very own father Jose Torrens.

Now I used the word know in quotes because I don't know these people personally either. Although we do have mutual acquaintances and do follow each other on Twitter (does that count?).

Anyway both Peter and Torrens Sr. have been supplying me information about LUIIIIISSSSSSSSSSS and his rehab process after having shoulder surgery earlier this year.

Torrens will start throwing at End of Month

Like back in early June Peter informed me that LT would start throwing at the end of June. This was the first piece of information I had gotten about his recovery in months.

Un gran placer y un orgullo que así sea. Pronto lo veremos en acción recuperandose muy bien y capitalizando otros aspectos
— jose torrens 

Later I came in contact with Torrens' own father who himself told me that Torrens was recovering very nicely.
Jose Torrens is Luis' biggest fan (of course) and is really proud of his son's achievements far. Watching him support his son (going so far as to visit him in Charleston AND Staten Island all the way from Venezuela last year) is really touching. If I ever get a chance to meet the elder Torrens I'm probably going to just give him some of my Torrens cards. I'm pretty sure he'd love it.

Aside from that I didn't get much else about LT's progress. All I really knew was that he grew a beard at one point (why not?) and may or may not have gone back to Venezuela for a little while.

Volviendo a Lo Que me Apasiona 🙏🏻Thanks God pic.twitter.com/UJuq8vaJtq

— Luis Alfonso Torrens (@LuisTorrens13) July 2, 2015

And LT himself posted this video of him throwing at the Himes Complex. It was a joy to behold. The future greatest catcher of all time has finally returned (sort of)!

Now this was a post I created two weeks but I had to wait before posting because I was waiting for a certain Torrens card to come in.

And oh what a card it was. This here is the red paper parallel from 2014 Bowman Draft.

It's the third Torrenator I own that's numbered to five. And this red card perfectly represents what every other team in the AL East is thinking. Code Red: Luis Torrens Is Back. Every other team in the AL East (and the MLB for that matter) had a nice run, but it's all over now. Torrens is back on his road to the majors, and the AL East is the Yankees' to lose for a good 20 years.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

OT: Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

Welcome to the first installment of One of My Favorite Songs of All Time.

A post dedicated to a song I really like and have over 500 play counts (and counting) on my iPod.

Today I thought I'd start with what I considered to be the best mainstream pop song in 2012, Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know.

Looking back on it, it's pretty hilarious that this song was one of the biggest chart smashes of 2012. After roughly a decade of very vapid and very shallow club/party music stinking up the Billboard Charts, we suddenly found ourselves with this pretty well crafted song listed uncomfortably alongside Pitbull and Ke$ha.

Now prior to 2012, there were a handful of these kinds of acts that managed to find some mainstream success. Foster The People and Owl City immediately comes to mind, and even after/around the same time as Gotye, acts like Imagine Dragons, Fun., Lorde, Bastille, The Neighborhood and Nico & Vinz managed to find some success. If only for one song.

And yet this song, it's quite different from them all. It doesn't sound like anything you'd hear on the mainstream radio. Especially not the year that brought us all this.

And honestly, that's what I like about it. It's different. It's got substance. It's better than that party rock noise everybody was obsessed with the year before.

Now the lyrics and the story they present is quite clear and pretty much spoon fed to us. So much so that I suspect a big reason why this song got big is because even casual music listeners who don't know how double entendres work could follow it. It's a post break-up song where a guy is sad and depressed and obviously not over it and is trying to portray his ex has some heartless savage.

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

I say trying because it's quite clear the person Gotye is portraying is sort of in the wrong, intentionally. When most people break up, they often do cut the other person off and treat them like a stranger. There are exceptions (of course) but it does happen. The last bit where the ex changed their number might indicate that they did out of spite, but more likely they changed it because the narrator kept calling/texting/annoying them. Or at least I think it's more likely. I mean just look at how the narrator is being melodramatic at the beginning. Talking about he's totally okay even though he's not.

Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over

The song then gets a big boost when the guest performer Kimbra shows up as the ex in question and provides a whole other perspective on this.

Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know

Their relationship didn't work because narrator kept screwing his ex over and was manipulating her into believing it was her fault. But she couldn't take it anymore and when they split it was her understanding that the narrator wouldn't make a big fuss about it.

Basically the ex destroyed the narrator with this verse. The way the song has Gotye signing the hook one more time probably indicates that the narrator tried to defend himself by throwing the same BS at her again but at the same time we all know that they got BURNED.

Despite how the song doesn't lend itself to interpretation I quite like it. It's direct and to the point. And it's interesting. Gotye was smart enough to create this song and give the two different perspectives it needed to work. An idea he apparently had after writing the hook and finding that his character was pretty much in a corner.

Now I have pretty much no clue what the instruments used for this song were - I understand a xylophone was used at one point - but the music is pretty great IMO. It's the kind of indie-pop that you'd be hard pressed to find have mainstream success in pretty much any time period.

Unfortunately this has pretty much been Gotye's only hit and he joins a long list of musicians who were quite talented (seriously, Making Mirrors is a great album) but yet only had one hit. Who knows though, he might have a cult following and he himself has said that he's fine with his legacy.
And no I will not make that joke about how Gotye became somebody that we used to know. I just did didn't I? DOH!

I can't say that this song was the best song in 2012 (I heard a lot of great music that didn't do jack on the charts that year) but as far as mainstream pop songs go it's probably my favorite song on the Billboard Top 100 list. It's a bit unfortunate that this didn't become the standard for pop music in the 2010's and the pop charts went to having awful dribble like this and this be what sells. At least we have this song to remind all of us that occasionally we can find a diamond in a great big pile of garbage.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Lyrics Courtesy of AZLyrics

Gray Whales

During my time as a baseball card collector there have been numerous cards I "wanted" but didn't really feel like forking over the money to get.

I surprisingly bought this one

I'm sure we've all been there at least once. You find that card you're sort of interested in but you see that $3.99 BIN plus $2.99 S&H on eBay and just go "it's not worth it" and leave it.

Sometimes you can justify it by making sure it's a card you absolutely need or by adding more to make the shipping cost worth it (add more to save more). Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the cheapskate/lazy asshole in me just prefers to leave whatever it is that sort of drew my interest rather than take on more and inevitably pay more. That could change if I finally have a steady source of income (although in this/the foreseeable economy I doubt it), but right now these cards remain what I like to call Gray Whales. They're not white whales because they aren't cards that would cost an arm and a leg or have limited print runs. They're in the gray area where I could easily find them, I sort of I want them and in the grand scheme of things they aren't really that expensive but yet I have reservations about paying over one dollar. And yes I know this is a #FirstWorldProblem. Everything on this blog is ;).

4 - Joaquin Arias 2003 Just Minors Just Stars Autograph

Scan Courtesy of COMC

The thing about the second base prospects the Yankees had in the 2000's is that the one really good second base prospect became pretty much the only Yankees prospect to actually pan out, Robinson Cano. There were other notable second basemen in the org like Corban Joseph and David Adams but I already have Corban Joseph's Bowman Chrome autograph and David Adams unfortunately never got to see a mainstream Bowman Chrome card. That said there was one other notable second base prospect who was briefly in the Yankees org, that man was two time World Series Champion Joaquin Arias. Arias was a top-ish prospect for a brief while before being sent to Texas in the Alex Rodriguez trade, over Robinson Cano, and along with Alfonso Soriano. Now for these Gray Whales I often skew towards Bowman cards from the mid-00's but to my knowledge this JM card is the only card showing Arias as a member of the Yankees. Considering how there are almost no photographs in existence showing Arias in Yankees gear, this card is one I should make more of an effort to obtain, yet I almost never do.

1 - Phil Hughes 2005 Bowman Chrome Autograph

Scan Courtesy of COMC

This card is exactly what inspired this post. I've wanted this Phil Hughes Bowman Chrome auto in my collection for a millennia, yet I've never pulled the trigger. And no, it doesn't have anything to do with Hughes' "legacy" as a Yankee. A lot of cards I want are of players who achieved far less. It has everything to do with how Hughes' BoChro autos are still priced relatively high. The lowest price I can remember in recent memory is $7.00 with free shipping. $7 for a Phil Hughes BoChro is not an amount I'm willing to spend. Especially when the price will drop to $2.50 (shipped) after Hughes retires as a pro and everybody's pipe dream of his cards making them rich is officially over. Until then, I'll scour the bargain bins at the card shows I go to and be happy with the not-BoChro but was still cheap sticker auto from Topps Unique.

Anyway, those were my gray whales. Do you guys have any cards that are easily accessible, cheap and affordable but you just can't pull the trigger?

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

A Game To Cap Off The Week

Yep, I went to another SI Yankees game yesterday.

I decided to stay home on Independence Day because going to NYC on that day is a fool's errand. I'm not sure how the turnout was on July 4th, but I was expecting the day after to have a lot less people.

And I was right.

Regardless, it was still a beautiful day for some afternoon baseball and it was an enjoyable game.
As always I'll start with the autographs but before I start I'd like to say something I've been neglecting/downright forgetting to do for three posts. For my customs a lot of the photographs were taken by Robert Pimpsner, the man who covers the SI Yankees for Pinstriped Prospects. I got his green light to use these photographs for these customs. The non-Pimpsner pictures where pictures I took myself with my iPhone, hence why they suck compared to the ones that Pimpsner the pro took. Thanks again Robert!

My first autograph this day was from Hudson Valley Renegades (the opposing team) catcher Taylor Hawkins.

I originally wanted to get a couple more Renegades but because they didn't appear to come out I decided to go over to the Yankees side. Those of you who saw the ticket above might've noticed that it was signed. Yep, I got this ticket signed by Cody Hamlin, who was just promoted to Staten Island a few days ago. I've yet to create a custom for him but just in case he's sent down (or up) before I have a chance, I got this.

Next I got this autograph from Griffin Gordon.
Gordon and I had a brief chat about some of the Staten Island Yankees hats that had the American flag designed on them.

After Gordon I managed to get one more autograph before the game started, from reliever Mark Seyler. A lot of the relievers this team are going the extra mile in terms of preparation. I've seen Seyler, Roeder and a few other guys run out to the field before the game to prepare well before anybody else.

It was after the game that I really got most of my IP auto haul on this day. First up was Josh Roeder. I managed to snag an autograph from his as he was returning from the bullpen to the dugout. I was kind of surprised since I saw Roeder already pitch in the game but I guess he left something behind. On a side note, I saw him boarding the SI ferry after the game as well.

My first post-game autograph in the garage was from Domingo Acevedo. His velocity continues to reach 100 mph and he's improving with every outing. It won't be long before Domingo ACEvedo becomes a thing.

I've been to enough SI Yankees games now to know that when Acevedo exits the stadium, De Oleo isn't too far behind. I managed to get him after Domingo on, IMO, a custom with a pretty nice play at the plate (sort of) shot.

A little afterwards I managed to get Kevin James Alexander. He follows JR Murphy in the grand tradition of the organization shortening his first two names to two letters for the sake of convenience.

Next I got Junior Valera. Like ACEvedo and De Oleo I already got an auto from Valera back on Opening Day, but this time I got one on an custom that actually depicted him as an SI Yankee.

After that I managed to, by good fortune, get another Renegade/Ray I was looking for, Roel Ramirez.
This was one of the times where the card showing the player posing with his face clearly visible came in handy.

And my last autograph was courtesy of Ethan Carnes. I got to meet Carnes last year and he actually remembered me as the guy who made his own cards for everybody. He's a super cool dude who takes the time to talk to kids whenever he's sitting in the bullpen (although this year he's being stretched out as a starter), and even took the time to write a bible verse on my card. BTW, he recently did a brief but good interview for the Staten Island Advance.

So with the autographs out of the way, here's everything else.

The SI Yanks finally won a game I went to and stayed every inning. The Renegades tried making things interesting later on but the Yankees hung on and won 3-2.

The Yankees farm system boasts a host of guys named Luis. On this day Luis Cedeno was the starting pitcher. I'd love to see a day where Luis Torrens catches Luis Severino and Luis Cedeno on two consecutive days.

Oh and the starting pitcher for the Hudson Valley Renegades (who're the Rays' NYPL affiliate BTW) was Travis Ott. I actually got Travis Ott's autograph last year when he was a member of a Auburn Doubledays. He was traded to the Rays in the three team Wil Myers trade in the offseason and he's back in the NYPL this year. He got hit with a come backer but stayed in (most of) the game.

I can't quite put this into a picture but I've been to enough games this season that a handful of players have gotten to know me or at least recognize me. They include Thairo Estrada, Travis Hissong, Yoel Espinal, and I'm pretty sure a few other folks. Maybe I should to stop going to two games every series and just attend one. NAH!

Other than that the only noteworthy thing that happened was that I used up all of my data and all of my data overage on my phone. Meaning I can't use it again unless I'm connected to Wifi or my current period ends. I shudder to think of what the bill is going to be later this month.

Anyway that was my latest trip to Staten Island.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2015 IP Auto Count: 49

To Free Or Not To Free

So throughout the blogosphere people have been freeing their cards from their grading case tombs.

I usually stay away from cards that have been graded in the first place since if they're deemed so valuable that their owners got them graded, they're not worth my time.

However, I do have one graded card in my collection.

My T206 Jack Chesbro.

I've had this card for over a year and I've gone back and forth between keeping this Chesbro in that accursed case or letting it out.

I only bought this card graded because I wanted to know that I was getting a genuine T206 Chesbro. Although Jack Chesbro isn't the first name you'd think of when you think of vintage players with counterfeit cards, it's not out of the realm of possibility either.
Also because raw ungraded Chesbros go for a lot more than the ones that were graded poor do.

Now I'm a cynical sob so there is a part of me that wouldn't be shocked if this was fake anyway (I do not trust any grading company completely, only to a certain extent). For now I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt and saying it's real (looks good to me anyway). And quite honestly I don't think I could've gotten a T206 Chesbro for a cheaper price.

Here's the #firstworldproblem though. While I didn't buy this Chesbro as an investment (none of my cards are investments), I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be it's last owner.

The thing with me is that almost none of my cards are nailed down. Any Yankees card I have could be shipped off to The Lost Collector or The Dutch Card Guy or Draft2Dynasty or really anybody at any moment and these T206es are no exception. Even if I don't just give it away I could very well trade it or even sell it.

I suppose I could free it and, if I wanted to, regrade it later if/when I decide to part with it to sell it but here's another #firstworldproblem.

"How do I know that it's going to get graded as a Good 30 grade again?"

For curiosity's sake I did ask some T206 vendors at the card shows I've been to for their thoughts on this Chesbro. The crease on the upper left side is distracting and could push the grade down to a poorer one. So much so that one has to wonder how this got a Good grade in the first place.

Well okay, after typing all that out I've come to realize that the big issue for me isn't resale value or whether or not I plan to keep Chesbro around long term.

No, the real issue is that I'm too lazy to bother cracking open this case. I'm the lazy bum who says no to a card just because the other guy put it in a screw-down case that I'll need to open later with a screwdriver. Do you think I'd bother going through the trouble of trying to crack this plastic open?

And for that matter, how does one successfully open these things anyway? Is there a weak spot on one of the corners? Do I just bang on it with a hammer? What if the card gets damaged when I release it?

I'd love to be able to insert this Chesbro into a mini top loader and then put it into my prized Yankees cards binder, but not if it means actually having to put in effort and risk the card getting damaged in the process. I'll just have to hold out hope that one of my go-to guys for T206es at my next card show will have a raw ungraded Chesbro they'd be willing to swap for this one.

What do you guys think? Do you think it's not worth the effort too or do you think I should get off my behind for once and free Chesbro? And if you do think I should free Chesbro, do you have any ideas on how to do so? I'd at least like to know how people bust these things open with little damage to the cards.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

The Legend Of Big Hirok: Putting On Pinstripes

After four years of pitching in Los Angeles, Big Hirok became a free agent. He wanted to play for a contender and came to the big apple to pitch as a New York Yankee. Signing with the Bronx Bombers on a 1 year $10 million deal.

News of Kuroda signing with the New York Yankees was largely overshadowed by a trade the Yankees had conducted with the Seattle Mariners which sent then-top prospect Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to Seattle in exchange for budding ace Michael Pineda and Jose Campos.

While many were busy analyzing what Pineda would bring to the table long term, the fact that the Yankees had acquired Kuroda went somewhat unnoticed.

Those that did notice naturally had concerns. Kuroda had been pitching in the inferior National League in the mostly pitcher friendly confines of the National League West. Now he was moving into the best division in all of baseball where there wasn't an automatic out every eight batters and the stadiums are joke ballparks smaller.

Initially things did not go as well as Hirok and the Yankees would've liked. His Yankees debut did not go well and naturally the New York Media and the New York fans weren't pleased. His first half was a bit of a mess.

According to Kuroda himself, there was a point where he would've been worried for his life if his home in New York had had a veranda (which it didn't). After all we are dealing with New Yorkers.

However, as time went on the calendar turned to June, Kuroda started to turn into the starter everyone expected. According to Brooks baseball the release speed on his sinker started to go up from the 90-91 mph range to the 92-94 range. And the rest of his arsenal followed suit.

The game of baseball has always been a mental challenge as much as a physical one for Kuroda. In an interview Kuroda claimed that at the beginning of his Yankees tenure there was some teething troubles about adjusting to the AL East and that he wasn't exactly 100% confident. However he also stated that he took things one game at a time and as the season went on his state of mind changed to (to paraphrase) "This is going to be my last season/game/pitch, make it count."

With his #YOLO mentality motivating him and his velocity starting to tick up, he went on a tear and Hirok'd the AL.

Some notable moments from 2012 would be the game where he had 11 k's against the Chicago White Sox, the game where he threw a complete game shutout against the Texas Rangers, and the game where he held the Boston Red Sox to two runs in route to his 16th win of the season that also clinched the AL East for the Yankees.



Kuroda's 2012 was arguably his best season in the majors. He posted a career high 3.8 fWAR and pitched a career high 219.2 innings pitched.

According to Brooks Baseball he used his sinker 1428 times (more than any other pitch) and held opposing batters to a .273 batting average against and a .280 BABIP.

He used his slider the second most with 1071 sliders thrown and held opposing batters to a .228 batting average against and .289 BABIP suggesting that he may have been a tad lucky with his sliders.

His curveball appears to have gotten hit the hardest in 2012 (.438 BAA and .462 BABIP) which probably explains why he used it the least out of his pitches (he only used it 169 times).

All in all, Big Hirok laid any worries people had about him going from the NL West to the AL East to rest by the end of the season. He was arguably the Yankees' ace in 2012. Best of all, he would return for two more years on one year deals. A huge steal for the Yankees.

Hiroki Kuroda himself said that he chose to play for the Yankees and that he was going do everything he could to help his team win even in the most dire circumstances. In that respect Kuroda reflected on his 2012 season and considered it a success, and I do too.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Sources:
*http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kurodhi01.shtml

*http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3283&position=P

*http://www.brooksbaseball.net/landing.php?player=493133&b_hand=-1&gFilt=&pFilt=FA|SI|FC|CU|SL|CS|KN|CH|FS|SB&time=month&startDate=01/01/2012&endDate=01/01/2013&s_type=2

How I Got Into Baseball...

During my time in this hobby, I've heard a lot of the stories people have about how they entered the hobby. A lot of the time it tends to have the same theme.

The person used to collect when they were younger, stopped when girls and college entered the picture, reentered the hobby after getting a job and a steady income, struggles to make sense of what the hobby has become today, and you get the idea. I'm pretty sure this applies to a large chunk of this blogosphere and collectors in general.

However, I entered this hobby from a pretty different route and under pretty different circumstances.

I grew up in New York and was a Yankees fan (sort of) but only because being a Mets fan means you're doomed to a life of disappointment, anger, self-loathing and failure. Any Mets fan will confirm that this is true.

I didn't really like or care about baseball until I was a sophomore in high school, in Japan. If you're wondering how I got there, it's an ugly and long story. One day I was under the influence and lying on my grandma's couch when I saw a Mariners vs Athletics game (because Ichiro) on TV. Because this was 2010 it meant I had to suffer a pretty bad game played between an awful Mariners team and an even worse Athletics team. And it was a horrible game. I only kept watching because I was too in dispose to reach the remote.

Well okay the game wasn't that bad. Ichiro (of course) was still good in 2010, and King Felix was manhandling the A's. Then after the game ended some MLB highlight show came on. It was usually just some recap on how the Japanese players in the MLB were doing and some notable highlights. Going from mediocre baseball to some of the best baseball had to offer (for that day) was quite something.

I started watching these highlight videos every day and then one day I happened to watch Stephen Strasburg make his MLB debut and see him Strasburg the Pirates. I got my first taste of the exciting youth movement in MLB and it was sweet.

The next year is when I really started getting into baseball and this hobby. I was high again one day and started remembering how baseball cards used to be a thing. I did a little google search and found that there were four card shops in my city. FOUR CARD SHOPS IN A CITY IN JAPAN! WTF?

I went to one store and picked up a bunch of 2011 Topps cards.

I dunno if it's because I was just getting into the hobby but in retrospect 2011 was a great year to be in the hobby.

Topps was celebrating it's 60th anniversary and they did a ton of fun things like the online codes that helped you dig up random Topps cards, exclusive die cuts and virtual rings (those memories are flooding back to some of you aren't they?).

However I was still trying to "find myself." I didn't think I'd become the prospect-guy I am today, and because the thought of returning to America was so far removed from my mind I could've never imagined that I'd turn into the TTM/IP/T206 collector I've become either. So at the time I was just buying loose packs and hoping to pull something cool. Yeah, I wasn't a singles collector back then, to my detriment.

It also helped that in 2011 baseball had what seemed to be the second coming of Jesus Christ Mickey Mantle with Bryce Harper developing in the minors.

Then in 2012 when I was about to get out of high school, I opened my first box. Fittingly it was a box of 2011 Bowman Chrome baseball. I had seen a few box break videos on Youtube and Harper autos seemed to be seeded at 1 per case so I took a shot with one hobby box.

I opened it with a friend of mine at a McDonalds that was a block away from the card shop. I didn't pull a Harper autograph but I did pull a Harper base card, a really cool Jesus Montero gold die cut numbered to 50 (that I've since shipped off to The Lost Collector), a Khris Davis autograph (that I've since shipped off to Tony) and a Ryan Pressly superfractor (traded for something, I can't remember).

I was new to the whole hobby so I didn't know what the heck I pulled at the time but I can safely say that I'll never have a box as great as that one. The Harper Bowman Chrome base cards are still really popular, Jesus Montero was a top prospect (at the time), Khris Davis became an actual hitter on a major league baseball team and Ryan Pressly even made it to the big leagues as a member of the Twins. It was the kind of box investors would've loved to have. One that provided immediate impact and a pleasant surprise later down the road. Beginners luck indeed.

After that I became hooked. I dropped all of the priorities I had at the time like girls, drugs and preparing for life so I could focus more on the hobby. In all honesty it couldn't have come at a worse time since I was just graduating from high school and was about to go to college as a pharmacy major.

In early 2012 I conducted my first trade. It was with Ryan of This Card Is Cool. It initially started out online but by good fortune Ryan was coming to work in Japan. We got to meet on a day when I had to go to Tokyo to take a college entrance exam and my first trade was made. BTW, I overslept and missed that college entrance exam lol.

Later in 2012 I went "all in" on a player for the first time. That player was my boy Dellin Betances. In 2012 Betances was awful. He pitched his way down from triple-A to double-A and his future in the big leagues had seemingly vanished. Because he had just made his MLB debut the year before, he was the token Yankees rookie that appeared in almost every Topps set in 2012. I took advantage of Betances' fall from grace and picked up a bunch of cards that had just come out for pennies on the dollar. In the process I gave up a lot of nice cards like 1/1 cards of Troy Tulowitzki, a 1/1 Will Middlebrooks RC printing plate, a Bryce Harper team USA jersey relic, and various other things but I had accumulated a LOT of Betances cards.

At the time I was just really happy to have these cool Betances cards in my collection. Two years later I became even happier when Betances emerged as the best set up man in all of baseball.

After I flunked out of medical school I decided to come back to the states and after some fumbling around I eventually turned into the Luis Torrens supercollector/TTM requester/IP autograph hound/T206 bargain hunter/Zippy Zapper you all know today.

So as you can see, my story is pretty much as different as they come. I'm not sure where it'll go from here. But this blog is here to record where this road leads me next. I hope it'll continue to be as crazy and hectic as it's been up to this point.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Oooh, Pretty

No, not that.

This!

2013 Panini Prizm Draft

This, my friends, is a Black Finite parallel of Luis Torrens from 2013 Panini Prizm Draft. It was the first Torrens card I had bought in well over a month, but boy was it one that made the wait worthwhile.

As you can see it's a 1/1 card and is the seventh 1/1 Torrens in my collection.

Ever since I took on being a Luis Torrens super collector I've slowly started to stop buying singles/cards altogether (except when I'm at card shows) to allocate resources to my Torrens super collection.

The thing is that rare stuff like this can pop up at any moment and I want to be ready when they do. I managed to get this for a relatively okay price but the price I paid for this would've been way out of my budget had I been spending my money on other cards.

This just leaves me with the gold (#'d to 10), blue (#'d to 75) and green (retail only, no serial number) Prizm refractors for the non-auto rainbow. Oh boy, another project...

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Too Early To Judge

At my local post office there's this one clerk who I chat regularly about baseball/Yankees/baseball cards about. For privacy's sake I'll call them S.

S grew up collecting baseball cards of their favorite Yankees players like Mantle, Ford and Maris. So as you can imagine they're an elder statesman. Most of the time we talk about flavor of the week topics (mainly garbage the New York media puts out) like whether or not the Steinbrenners are going to sell the Yankees.

S knows that I'm a big fan of minor league baseball. So they sometimes ask me how the future Yankees are doing down on the farm. The guy they're really interested in the prospect every Yankees fan is obsessed with, Luis Torrens Aaron Judge.

The supplemental first rounder's work so far has been nothing short of astounding. He pretty much demolished the Florida State League and is continuing to terrorize the Eastern League.

His performance has been so great that Yankees fan are clamoring for the front office to call him up.

Now S asked me the other day why the Yankees don't call up Judge. I had a few ideas and most of them had to do with money.

The biggest reason is Carlos Beltran. Regardless of Beltran's performance, his contract guarantees that he'll continue to be in the lineup. That's not changing until the Yankees find someone dumb enough to take both Beltran and his salary.

Also, keep in mind that these are the Yankees who are trying to start spending money wisely (sort of) and figure Judge to be a huge part of their future. For all we know when Judge is actually ready the Yankees could keep in the minors for two weeks for that extra year of arbitration (ala Kris Bryant) or a little longer for super-two status (ala Wil Myers).

The more important reason is Judge himself. Mike Axisa, over at River Ave Blues, was asked when the Yankees'll promote Judge to triple-A (as of this post he's currently in double-A). Axisa brought up an excellent point that the league needs to adjust to Judge so that Judge can show that he can adjust to league that adjusted to him. If he can do so at double-A and then triple-A (which would theoretically put his ETA sometime in 2016 at the earliest) he'll probably be ready.

At any rate, it's never a good idea to promote a prospect when they're not ready for the big leagues yet. And although Judge's numbers may prove otherwise, I haven't heard too many scouts using the phrase "big league ready" to describe Judge yet.

I suppose it's also worth mentioning that Judge isn't exactly the first outfield option the Yankees have should they seek some help in-house. The Yankees still have Ramon Flores and Tyler Austin ahead of him on the depth chart at right field. Although Austin's off to a slow start, Flores has been doing fairly well at triple-A. Or at least enough so that in the event of an emergency Flores will be called up instead of Judge.

GIF courtesy of GIPHY

Back to Judge himself though, a lot of people seem to have misconceptions about what exactly Judge will be. That's not all that surprising since baseball fans in general are horrible at having realistic expectations, but it certainly doesn't help that there's this ongoing narrative that Aaron Judge is going to be Giancarlo Stanton.

The reality is that Judge is not going to be Giancarlo Stanton, no matter how much anybody wants him to be. BTW, I'd totally love it if Judge became Stanton even if I know it's not possible. Aaron Judge is going to be Aaron Judge, period.

GIF courtesy of Pinstripe Alley

And who is Judge going to be? It's too early to tell but a scout told The New York Post that they see him as a middle of the order threat who'll hit in the .250's with 25 HRs. That's not Giancarlo Stanton but I'd still take that and consider it a reasonable expectation for Judge.

Of course the future is not set in stone and Judge could very well exceed that ceiling or he could fall short and be even worse.

Currently he's absolutely destroying double-A putting up (as of this draft) a 151 wRC+. Some people are worried about his strikeouts but I'm not as worried considering that pitchers have just started to pitch differently to him, and because he still has a .373 BABIP (as of this draft) which is absolutely great. If he struggles to make adjustments and goes into a slump near the end of the year well into next year, that is when you worry. Both stats courtesy of Fangraphs BTW.

So to everybody wondering why Judge isn't up yet, I say slow down. He's not ready for the big leagues yet and there's no need to screw him up by forcing his way up (the Yankees did that a lot in the 00's). He'll come when he's ready, and there should be a boatload of puns ready at everybody's disposal when that happens.

GIF courtesy of Pinstripe Alley

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).