Yankee Announcing

A great come from behind win by the Yankees put me to bed with a smile on my face. My favorite player, Mark Teixeira crushing a pitch over the Right Field fence which gave the Yankees back the lead and ultimately the game had me giddy like you wouldn't believe. However, something about that home run made me queasy. In fact, the whole game kinda bored me and it had nothing to do with the actual game it's self.

TNT had the brilliant idea to put Ernie Johnson, it's in studio basketball host, to be the main play by play announcer during it's coverage of the playoffs and, lucky me, he gets to work the Yankees-Twins series with John Smoltz and Ron Darling. Now, on paper, it's an upgrade from last seasons announce team of Chip Carey and Ron Darling. Darling was not the issue. He's quickly surpassing Tim McCarver as the best color guy in the game. I enjoy listening to him and will on occasion, watch the Mets so I can listen to him, even if I have to deal with the ramblings of Keith Hernandez. Chip Carey, on the other hand, was nauseating. I intentionally went to bars to watch the games, just so I couldn't hear him speak. when I heard that TNT fired him, I was beyond pleased. Then I heard Ernie Johnson speak. Now I'm wishing I was deaf. The home run call of Teixeira sounded like he was either not paying attention or just didnt care. I'm not asking for John Sterling over the top home run calls, but jeeze, it came at an important part of the game, at least make it seem like it. I wanted to reserve judgement on Johnson for another game, but it got me thinking about the Yankee Broadcasters.

If you watch, or listen to a Yankees game on either YES Network or the Yankees Radio Network, you will probably know that Yankee broadcasters are not really considered top notch. I miss the days of Bill White, Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer when Yankee games were enjoyable to listen to. Bobby Murcer was a good one too, God rest his soul. The some of the announcers the Yankees have arent easy to listen to. If I owned the Yankees, heres who I would have doing the games:

TV Broadcasters

You can't go wrong with having Bob Costas as the lead announcer. He doing basball games for MLB Network now and is doing a great job. I always enoyed his announcing from when he was calling NBC Games of the Week. He's a Yankees fan since his childhood and it makes perfect sense for him to call the Yankees. He's the only one I would give a blank check to and work around his schedule, even if it means him calling only Yankee home games

If Costas turns me down then Kenny Albert would be my next choice, followed by Gary Thorne.
Yes, I will admit, it took me a while to warm up to Ken Singleton, he of monotone voice. But once I got past that, I realized he's a terrific color man and knows the game very well. He's also good for a fill in as play by play guy when needed.

Another who is one of the games better color men, Al Leiter is one I always enjoy listening to. I enjoy how he explains the game from a pitcher's view and often shows the views how a pitch is thrown. He is the perfect third man for my TV Booth

Radio

Michael Kay is currently the Yankees main TV guy. My problem is I feel he's a radio man, trying to be a TV announcer and it just doesn't work for me. I liked Kay when he was calling the Yankee Games on the Radio and that's where I'd stick him, but as the main guy, not John Sterling's sidekick.

Paul O'Neill is getting better as an analyist as each season goes on. I like his knowledge, humor and the chemistry that he and Kay have together. That's why I would stick O'Neill in the booth and hope that he continues to grow as a broadcaster.

I would keep the studio with Bob Lorenz (just keep him away from calling a game. Those of you who watched him fill in on games in Toronto and Seattle this past season know what I'm talking about) and Kim Jones/Jack Curry as roving reporter. I would love to hire Rachel Nichols to replace Nancy Newman as Lorenz's fill in and move John Flathery as in studio anylist.

I would let go of John Sterling and Susan Waldman. Frankly, I have had enough of the cheesey home run calls and missed calls. Waldman would be a hard decision, only because she has been with the team for so long and is a NYC staple, being she was on WFAN and worked Knicks games on MSG. Maybe I can give her an interview sgement for pre and post games on the radio. If not, then I would let her go as well. Originally, I also had Flathery going out the door as well, but watching him as in studio analyist, I think that would be the way to go with him.

I think this lineup works. It's not perfect, but I think it's a serious upgrade over what we currently are subjected to every year. And if it doesn't work, I'll be in cemetary's looking to bring Mel Allen back from the dead.

A New Blog Name and Random Thoughts

I finally came up with a new name for this blog. It's one I had originally thought of for it, but went with the previous one instead. Makes sense though. I collect cards and live in New York City. Why not just go with it. I admit, it doesn't have the comedic zing that Mike's Box of Junk has, but I think it fits pretty good.

Well, now that the Yankees made the playoffs, my only question is, how often will we see this sight? I'm not feeling too confident in this team right now. Seems that they have made too many mental errors on the field, the timely hitting hasn't been there and the pitching after CC and Hughes in the rotation has not left me with much confidence.

So, what am I hoping for during this first round?

1-This team is going to need the Alex Rodriguez from last years post season. It seems that since Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Melky Cabrerra left this team, we haven't had that come from behind magic like last season. Granted, Marcus Thames and Nick Swisher has come through with some big hits when we have needed them, but I just don't feel confident that if the Yanks are down by 2 in the late innings that they will pull it out, like last year. A-Rod showed last season that he's capable of carrying this club when it mattered and he going to some how need to find that player and just demolish the Twins pitching.

2-We need Mr.November. Derek Jeter has never had as bad a season as he had this one. Batting just .270 durimg the regular season, he's going to have to step it up a notch and show that it's just an abberation and not a sign of serious decline. He's in his walk year and if he is going to be able to get the contract he wants as he matches toward 3,000 hits, he has to show he's still the man when the spotlight is at it's brightest.

3-AJ Burnett shouldn't be making a start until the ALCS. Seriously, does anyone have confidence in him right now? I sure as heck don't. He gave up we over a hit per inning, seems like his head is not in the game once he's hit and gets frustrated way too easily. Unless Pettitte's back is not good enough to go, Burnett needs to be in the pen. I have even less faith in Javier Vasquez, so he needs to be left the post season roster all together.

4-Joe Griardi needs to show some guts. I don't care what anyone says. He did not want to play Texas in the first round and managed for the wild card. How else do you explain Dustin Mosley pitching in yesterdays season finale with the AL East title on the line. If he really wanted that title, Phil Hughes would have been on the hill instead.

That said, I still think the Yankees will beat Minnesota. Won't be the dominating sweep like last years ALDS, but they will move on to the ALCS. My prediction, Yankees in 5 games.

Changes are a comming!

I took some time off to step back and look over the blog. I want to write a blog that is intresting, informative and fun. I would like to grow my readership and so far, that's not happening. So, I will be making some changes to the blog.

First, I will be concentrating on coming up with a new name for the blog. Mike's Box of Junk doesnt seem like a good name. It was the best I could come up with and, quite frankly, still is. I also think I need a better banner. I'm not so great at Photoshop and that was the best of my efforts. So, I will be thinking heavily about what I call the blog or what banner I'd like to use. If anyone has any ideas, I welcome them.

Secondly, I decided to concentrate my collecting efforts to two teams; the Yankees and New Jersey Devils. I will still add Jets and Knicks stuff to the collection, but with time and, most importantly, money, at an all time low, I feel I just can't do all four sports. My love for the Yankees has been with me since I was 5 years old and watched Chris Chambliss hit them into the World Series. Dropping them was never a thought. I have been watching the Jets since 1980, the Knicks since 1982 and the Devils since 1991-92. For some reason, The Devils has grown on me and hockey is rapidly becoming a favorite sport. I will admit that my hockey knowledge is not as high as baseball. There is still alot I want to learn about the rules and history of the sport. I feel an excitement watching the game that I only feel when watching baseball. Maybe it's the hitting, the prepetual movement of the game or the feeling I get seeing Marty Brodeur stop a shot or Zach Parise score a goal. That's why I added the Devils to my collecting concentrations next to the Yankees.

Last, but not least, I need to address the lack of posts on my part. Lately I have been working longer hours. Add that to my workouts and my participating on the company softball team, it doesn't as much time as I'd like to post. Plus, when I don't have anything new to show, I kind of get brain cramps about what to write. What I'm going to do, even if it's a short paragraph about the Yankees or Devils, is I'm going to have up at least 3 posts a week. That is my goal.

I want to thank my followers for reading the blog and occasionally commenting. I want to make this the best possible blog for you guys to read and appreciate all feedback given. Keep on reading, I promise it will get better.

Martin Brodeur =$$$$$$$$$$

Anyone who knows me, knows my favorite sports star is Martin Brodeur. I have been a huge fan since his rookie year and the man crush only grew after the '95 season, which saw the Devils capture the first of their 3 Stanley Cup championships. Baseball is my favorite sport, but my favorite athlete is a hockey player. When I returned to card collecting, I decided I was going to start a player collection of Brodeur. As of today,I have 273 diffrent and unique Brodeur cards. I have magazines, pucks, posters (one of which was given to me as an xmas presentof the 2003 Championship team...signed by Brodeur), figures, bobbleheads,Tshirts, a jersey, his book and even had the chance to meet Broduer at the NHL Store here in NYC where he signed a 5x7 for me. Heck, I was even at the game he broke Roy's record for wins all time by a goalie. I called out sick from work, stood in line for hours and was able to get a pair of tickets to the game. Watching Brodeur take the record that St.Patty's Day ranks as my favorite game I've attended. I will be matting the ticket, the autographed 5x7 and the poster given out by the Devils later that season commerating the win in a frame first chance I get.

Collecting Broduer is a tough task. As I mentioned before, I have 273 of Broduer's thousands of cards. Most of them came from participating in box breaks,trades, card show pick ups or gifts from friends and other collectors. About 90% of my collection are base and inserts. I have maybe 10 game used cards and just 3 autographed cards. Maybe it's the fact that he holds every record a goaltender can own or his 3 cups or the fact that he may go down as the best goalie ever (Roy fans will beg to differ, I'm sure). Whatever it is, Brodeur is an expensive player to collect. A search on ebay showed me that while his base cards are still pretty reasonable, his game used cards are creeping up in price. I have seen a lot start at $9.99, 29.99 and even 49.99 for sticks from Between The Pipe. If there is a patch, that's extra. Autographed cards are even more. Most signed Brodeur cards start at 50.00, going up past 100.00. For someone who's on a budget, that's a bit much to spend on cardboard.

I made a decison a while ago that if I was going to have a nice collection, I would forgo the autos and game used stuff unless I was either getting it through a trade or find a steal on one. I have been able to get some gu cards for under 10 bucks dlvd. I also supplement the lack of premium cards by going after the non-card Brodeur collectables, which I plan to display once I have the room. My collection may not be the largest, but I'm pretty proud of it. Here are some of my favorite pieces:

06-07 Hot Prospects Hotagraphs. This is one the few autographs I have of his.

Brodeur's first McFarlane. I had this figure when it was first released, but I managed to lose it. Had to pay 40.00 at a comic con for it. I just need the Team Canada figures, The box sets and the variant to complete the collection.

This is a SGA from 2003. I love the classic pose bobbles and AGP did a great job on this one. Plus, the cage on the mask lifts up.

I love that my collection is a hodgepodge of diffrent things. As much as I drool over the 500.00 patch auto, picking up really cool pieces makes me feel better about thelack of autos in my collection. Who knows? Maybe one day I will be able to afford the stick or jersey he wore in a game. Until then, I'll just admire the awesome collection I have now.

The Oldest Cards in My Yankees Collection

As I have been organizing my Yankees collection. I have found some neat cards I completely forgotten I had. Since I am still working on my Topps base sets, I managed to find these two beauties in the Topps box and are the oldest cards I own. Both cards are well loved, but are in pretty good shape for being over 54 years old. Again, my apologies for the terrible pics as my camera is still MIA and I had to use the crummy camera on my blackberry (Me thinks it's time to upgrade to an EVO)

Here is a 1956 Topps card of Yankees 1st baseman Joe Collins. Collins was a member of 6 World Championship teams in his 10 years in the Majors, all with the Yankees. He was a first baseman most of his career, but did play the outfield as well. Collins batted .256 with 86 home runs and 329 RBI's. Collins did hit 4 home runs in his World Series Career, including 2 during the 1955 World Series that saw the Brooklyn Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in 7 games. Collins finished his career on September 29, 1957 going 0-4, with a strikeout, in a 3-2 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies at the start of the 1958 season, but decided to retire rather than play in Philly. He passed away on August 30th 1989 in Union Township, NJ.

Here's a 1956 Topps card of Jim Konstanty. Konstanty was a relief pitcher who played for the Reds, The Braves, The Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals. He was an important member of the 1950 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies "Whiz Kids" appearing in a then ML record 74 games, winning 16 and saving 22. He started game one of the 1950 World Series against the Yankees, losing to Vic Raschi 1-0 pitching 8 innings, allowing one run and 4 hits. During the 1950 season, he was named to the NL All Star team and won the 1950 National League MVP award. He was traded to the Yankees during the 1954 season and played 2 seasons in New York. He then pitched for the Cardinals before ending his career with the San Fransisco Seals of the PCL. Konstanty passed away on June 11th, 1956 at the age of 59.

When I came across these cards, I extremely excited as I didn't think I had any that were older than 1962. I did find some cards from the 1959 set, which I will blog about at a later date. To me, the Topps cards from the 50's are some of the most beautiful cards ever produced, with the '55 set being my personal favorite. These two cards, aside from dog ears and relitive age, are in pretty good condition. There are no stains or creases on either card. I have them in top loaders untill I can find pocket sleeves that will fit the cards, as they are larger than most card sets.

Wonder what else I'll find during the organization.....

8/2/2010-The organization continues

So, I'm a week into the card organizing and I have to say, it's more work than I imagined and I'm only working on Topps main sets. It's a bit frustrating, but fun at the same time as I am finding cards I didn't even know I had.

I had decided to start off with just organizing the Topps sets I have. I have cards from these sets that go back to 1956. Mind you, not all these sets are complete, nor do I have cards from every year. But completing these set will be a fun challenge. Only problem I see is that not all these sets will ever be complete. Unless I hit the lottery or find a very generous benefactor, I will not be adding a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card to my collection or any of his cards for that matter. Heck, all his other cards would put a serious hurting on my bank account, so unless I find a deal, Mantle's 1950's and 1960's cards will probably not be added to my collection anytime soon. Doesn't mean I can't have a nice collection. Right now, my main focus is on cards released from 1970-present. whenever I can add a nice vintage card, at the right price, I will.

I started looking through all my boxes and pulling out all Topps main set cards. and organizing them in piles by year. After pulling the duplicates, I placed the cards in 9 pocket sleeve pages and placed them in order by year. So far, I have most of the 1970's done. I have cards from the 80's, 90's and new millenium already put in pages, I just have to go through them and make sure there are no inserts or dups. Then I have some 60's cards to organize. I hope to be done with all this within the next week or so.

After, it will be on to the other Topps sets like Allen & Ginter, Heritage, etc. That will take a while. I'm so not looking forward to tackling Upper Deck. at this rate, it will be the start of the 2011 season before I'm done.

Stay tuned....

Bobbles, Bobbles and More Bobbles

Well, since my last bobblehead update, I managed to add 7 new bobbleheads to the Growing collection. All, with the exception of one, were ebay purchases. I gotta tell you, I loved going to the post office and having the clerk behind the counter give me a box with my latest treasure securely inside amist the packing popcorn, bubble wrap and newspaper. Let's see what I got:

This is a Bernie Williams retail bobble head made by American Global. This was sold in 2001 and has him decked out in the Yankee home uni on a green base. The likeness was ok on this one. Not as good a likeness as on my next bobble.

Bernie Williams SGA bobble. This was given away in 2002 and it was sponsored by Land O'Lakes. The bat is held with his left hand, as opposed to his right on the retail version. Also, he's holding his batting helmet and his skin color is a more lighter tone. The facial features are more in line to what he actually looks like.

This Martin Brodeur bobble is also a giveaway. It was given out during the 2002/03 season at Continental Airlines Arena and was sponsored by JP Morgan Chase. The visor on the helmet flips up to show his face. I love that this bobble is in the classic pose and has Marty's old style helmet design, which I never thought he should have changed.

This was a SGA bobble of Reggie Jackson. It was given away in 2004 by the Columbus Clippers, who at that time was still the Yankees Triple A affiliate. I love the cheesy grin on Reggie's face here. The glasses are awesome as well. One of my new favorites.

Here's another of my new favorites. Lou Gehrig. No Yankee collection is complete without a Gehrig in it. This is actually one that I feel looks just like him. I seen a few Forever bobbles that didn't capture the facial features that this one does. It was also given out by the Clippers in 2004 and shows him in his classic swing, no doubt knocking in another run. If you haven't seen Pride of The Yankees, I strongly urge you to.

Another classic Yankee in from the 70's got a SGA bobble as well. Catfish Hunter is in his set pose decked in classic Yankee home uni. Another of the Legendary Yankees bobbles that was given away by the Clippers in 2004.

Finally, there's this little guy. This is Scooter, the Holy Cow. He is one of three mascots of the Yankees Single A short season affiliate Staten Island Yankees. This is a mini AGP bobble, which I believe was a SGA. I had wanted the full sized bobble ever since I saw it on display at the ball park. I asked my Ticket rep where I could get one and he showed up at one of the games I attend with Scooter. I have actually seen a diffrent verson of Scooter on ebay with his hands out streached. I placed a bid , but alas was outbided at the last minute. Don't you hate when that happens? I'll keep looking for the other mini, as well as the full sized Scooter.

I have another bobble coming in, as well as 2 possible pick ups within the next few days. I'll post pics when I get them.