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 :).
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.
— 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 :).
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 :).
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
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.
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 :).
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 :).
