TTM Success

It has been a crazy few days since I last posted. My apologies for the delay. With work and other commitments, its been hard to find time to post.

Anyway, today I show offf a TTM auto that was 2 years in the making. I sent this card out to Xavier Nady when he first signed with the Cubs in care of their spring training facility. I actually gave up on this card and was sent to try and make a trade for one when lo and behold, I find an envelope in my PO Box with an AZ postmark.

I'm very pleased to be able to add Nady's auto to my Yankee autograph collection. I have been working on a list of all the Yankees autographs in my collection and hope to be able to post a link sometime soon.

Other Recent Yankee Adds

During the past week and a half, a few of my fellow team collectors sent me some packages of Yankees goodies. Here are some of the highlights included in the packages

Here's a 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature card of Ryne Duren. Duren was a fixture in the Yankees bullpen in the late 50's/early 60's. He was a 4 time All Star with the Yankees and led the American League in saves in 1958 with 20. He won a World Series with the Yankees in 1958. For you Heavy Metal fans, his nephew is Blackie Lawless, lead singer of WASP. Duren passed away this past January at age 81.

I also got an Upper Deck Piece of History Juan Miranda auto

And from Upper Deck Timeless, this sweet Jorge Posada game used jersey card with a pinstripe. When collecting Yankee game used cards, I always prefer the home swatches to have a pinstripe in it. Patches, especially Yankee patches, are pretty expensive. This is a low cost alternative to adding some color to the white swatches.

Last night, The Yankees beat the Orioles 7-4, backed by home runs from Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada. Mark Teixeira had 2 hits as well as Derek Jeter, who is now 65 hits away from 3,000. AJ Burnett pitched a good game, although he did allow a pair of home runs to Matt Weiters and Brian Roberts in the 7th. The bull pen trio of Dave Robertson, Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera finished the game.

Tonight, Phil Hughes (0-1 16.50 ERA) will try to get his season back on track as he opposes Jake Arrieta, who is 1-1 with a 8.68 ERA so far this season. Game time is 7pm at the Stadium.

Let's Go Yankees!

Tonights Yankees Starting Line Up

If the game is played, here is the line up Chris Tillman will see: Gardner Lf Jeter SS Teixeira 1b ARod 3B Cano 2B Swisher Rf Posada DH Granderson CF Martin C -Arod is back in the line up tonight. Hopefully, the offense will wake up. -The Yankees called up Hector Noesi from Scranton to replace Luis Ayala, who is been placed on the 15 day DL Lets Go Yankees!

2011 Topps Heritage Break Part 2-Inserts and The "Hit"

Yesterday, I showed off the base cards I pulled from a group case break of 2011 Topps Heritage. Today, I will show off the inserts and the one "hit" I got from the break Lets start with the New Age Cards Performers- CC SabathiaRobinson CanoAlex RodriguezThen and Now-Juan Marichal and CC Sabathia Sporting News All Star Robinson Cano. Don't ask me why, but I love these Sporting News All Star InsertsAmerican League Wins Leader Card. Love the creepy heads only card.Another of my favorite inserts are the Flashbacks. Here's The Real Single Season Home Run King, Roger Maris (I know I'm gonna get some flack over that remark)

The Chairman of The Board, Whitey Ford

My favorite all time Yankee (even though I never seen him play), Mickey Mantle

Here are the In Action cards

Derek Jeter

Mark Teixeira CC SabathiaThe Duo cards

Jeter and Cano

Teixeira and Arod

Next up are the Chrome cards. Here's one of one of my favorite current Yankees, Nick Swisher. I just love this guy's additude. He always seems to have a smile on his face. I really hope he has a good season and the Yankees resign him next year. This was one of Cashman's better trades.

Phil HughesCC SabathiaCC Sabathia Green chrome

Next up, is this insert set about the life and career of Babe Ruth. I like these cards. I especially like the first one here as it's almost exactly the same card Topps put out in the original set.

And here's the hit of the break, if you want to call it that. A Mickey Mantle card with an original 1962 coin enbedded into the card

It's cool. Would have rather had a cut signature or even a game used jersey card of his from that year. My friend who did the break told me that he saw one of these on ebay go for over 100.00. Pretty cool, if true. It's a unique add to my Yankees PC and I am lacking in Mantle stuff, so this will be a permanent add to the collection.

Overall, it was a fun break. I think I'm pretty close to having all the Yankee stuff that came out of this set. I'll go for any game used or autos via the ebay route. I would like to see a check list to see what I am missing though. I'll google for one later tonight.

Last night's Yankees game was rained out. No make up date has been set as of yet. The O's come back to the bronx a few more times during the season, so we could see a day/night doubleheader at some point. The pitchers from last night, AJ Burnett and Chris Tillman, will be starting tonight, 7pm game time. Let's Go Yankees!

2011 Topps Heritage Case Break part 1

I was a part of a 2011 Topps Heritage case break in my Team collectors group. Of course, I got the Yankees. It was a pretty fun break. I am going to show off the cards I got, but break it into 2 parts. Today, I'll show off the base and SP's and tomorrow, inserts and any hits I got. Heritage is now my favorite product to bust. I love the throwback designs Topps uses each year and always look forward to seeing new pics of it before its release.

Here are the base and SP's

Mark Teixeira baseMark Teixeira SP. Good thing I got doubles for the Teixeira PC, which I'll show with other new adds later this week.Alex RodriguezNick SwisherRafael Soriano who, aside from one game, has looked great in that 8th inning role

Our DH, Jorge PosadaThe recently retired Andy PettitteEdwin Nunez rookie card. I still, for the life of me, cannot understand why Cashman refused to include this kid in the Cliff Lee deal, which ultimately broke off talks. For Lee, I would have given up Nunez and his brothers if he has any.New catcher, Russell Martin in his photoshopped best.The Sandman, Mariano RiveraJoba Chamberlin baseJoba Chamberlin SPThe Captain, Derek Jeter, who is 67 shy of 3,000 hitsPhil "what happened to my velocity" Hughes. I'm not worried about him. He will get back to where he was last season.Curtis GrandersonManager, Joe Girardi, sans braces.Brett Gardner. I still think he will be Crawford lite.CC Sabathia. Didn't have it against the Sox on Sunday night, but still kept the Yankees in the game. A Warrior.It's Cano, dontcha know?A.J Burnett. Hopefully, he will keep pitching well. Not just in April and May either

Tomorrow, I will show off the inserts and any hits I got. I need more binders and 9 pocket pages. I think it's time to think about buying those in bulk, lol.

Tonight, The Yankees start a 3 game set against the Orioles. AJ Burnett (2-0 4.09 ERA) goes up against Chris Tillman (0-0 3.38 ERA) Game starts at 7pm. Lets Go Yankees!