New Statue Add

With everything that has been going on recently, to my laptop getting a virus, to my grandmother being hospitalized, to work just getting backed up at the office, it was nice to be able to buy myself a few things that would make me smile as well as add to the Yankees collection.

It's not a bobblehead, but I will place this in my bobblehead bookcase. This is a 2010 All Star Mickey Mouse Statue, painted in New York Yankees colors and logos. This is a replica of the statues made for the 2010 All Star Game, which was played in Anaheim last year, home of Disneyland. For the past few years, MLB has been releasing replicas of the statues made for the All Star Game. In NYC a couple of years back, there were Statue of Libertys painted in the colors of every team in baseball, placed all around NYC. Those were made into figurines and sold to the public. Of course, I didnt get one, thinking I could get it later only to see them going for 30.00 and up on ebay. I have an All Star bobblehead coming in from a few years back. I'll post a pic of it when it arrives.

This was something I've wanted for a long, long time. I wasn't willing to shell out 50.00, plus shipping for it, so I bidded my time. I saw this one with a starting bid of 10.00. I made my bid and got it for 25.00, free shipping. Winner!

There is a Mickey figurine that was released this year and is selling at all ballpaks in the majors. I've seen the Yankees one at the Stadium and will be picking it up very soon. This one needs his brother to hang out with on the shelf.

R.I.P Macho Man Randy Savage

Very saddened to hear of the passing of WWE legend, Macho Man Randy Savage, who died today after suffering a heart attack while driving his Jeep Wrangler and crashing it head on into a tree in Seminole, Fl. Savage's wife, was with him and escaped with only minor injuries.

I have been a huge wrestling fan since 1982 and continue to follow it to this day. Randy Savage was always one of my top 5 favorites. One of the most intense wrestlers ever, no one combined speed, agility and brawling like Savage did. He was a 2 time WWF Champion, 4 time WCW Champion, an Intercontinental Champion and won the 1987 WWF King of the Ring Tournament.

Savage wrestled in some of the most memorable matches in WWE history, including his classic against Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania III. He also had memorable feuds with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, The Ultimate Warrior, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. He was also a part of the NWO while in WCW.

For much of his career, he was bought to the ring by his real life wife, Miss Elizabeth and came out to Pomp and Circumstance. I cant hear that song at a graduation without wanting to scream OOOOOOH YEAH!

Thanks for the memories, Randy. Macho Madness will live forever.

New Adds to Yankees Autograph PC

I attended the Westchester County Sports Card show last weekend. I initally went just to meet former Yankee Stan Bahnsen. I didnt want to spend too much money and thanks to the dealers there, I didnt. Almost everything was overpriced so I didnt buy much of anything except vintage New York Jets cards from the 60's, 70's and 80's for 10 cents a piece. The most I spent was 2.00 on a 1969 Don Maynard card. I have been meaning to try and put together all the Topps Jets team sets and I'm now on my way to doing that. I also came to the conclusion that if I am going to come home with a nice haul, I better stay away from game used and autographed cards. Not that there arent any deals to be had. There are. It's just that the Yankees are always over priced, the Jets are on their way to being and finding Knicks and Devils stuff is pretty hard.

I did manage to add 2 hard to get (well, for me anyway) autographs to my Yankees autograph collection. First up is this signed Matt Nokes card.

If you have been a regular reader of my blog, you would have seen an earlier blog where I wrote about how Nokes had sent back my request RTS. It was the third time I had sent out to Nokes and he didnt sign. So I found this signed card in a pile with other signed cards for a buck. Now, I finally got you Nokes, mwhahahahahahahahaha!

In the same pile was this signed card by another former Yankees catcher, Don Slaught. He was another who I wrote to and never got back. With Slaught though, I wrote to him when he was coaching the Pirates and he got canned right after I sent in the request, so I'm guessing he just never got the request. I was never able to find another address for him, so I was happy to pick this up for the PC for a buck as well.

1 new add to the Yankees signed baseball collection, 2 new adds to the Yankees autographed card collection and a bunch of new Jets Topps cards. All in all, a pretty successful day for my collections and I barely spent 10.00 for the day.

Yankees TTM-Austin Kearns

Another add to the Yankees PC arrived today from Cleveland. Austin Kearns signed this 2010 Topps Series 2 card for me in about 3 weeks time. It was sent to him in care of Progressive Field. As you can see, it's signed in blue sharpie, which got a little smudged in the envelope.

The Yankees obtained Kearns from the Indians in a trade on July 30, 2010 for pitcher Zach McAllister. In the time he was here, Kearns was used as a 4th outhfielder, batting .235 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI's in 36 games. He resigned with Cleveland in the off season and hasn't gotten off to a great start, batting .149 with 0 home runs and 2 RBI. Hopefully, his year will get better for him.

I've always liked Kearns from his days in Cincinnati and Washington. I wanted him to resign with the Yankees and I'm rooting for him to put it together in Cleveland.

Happy Birthday Yogi

Happy Birthday to the greatest living Yankee, Yogi Berra. Born May 12, 1925, Yogi is considered one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. Yogi is a 13 time world champion (10 as a player, 3 as a coach for the Mets and Yankees), a 18 time All Star, a 3 time MVP and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Rightfully, his number 8 has been retired by the Yankees, although he did share the number with former Yankees catcher and HOF'er, Bill Dickey.

This game used card is from Upper Deck Ultimate. I picked it up at a card show a few years ago. I wanted to show off the two autos I have of his, but alas, they have not been scanned yet nor has the other game used jersey card or Yankee Stadium seat card I have. The only thing I'm missing is a signed baseball from Yogi and I hope to have that in June when he makes an apperance for the New Jersey Jackels in Montclair University in Monclair, NJ.

Happy Birthday Yogi. If you come to a fork in the road, take it.

My Favorite Teixeira

It's been so hectic for me as of late. With work, gym, spending time with family and friends, I haven't had the time to devote to this blog. I've been wanting to post, but other obligations have kept me away.

Tonight, I decided I wasn't going to watch WWE Raw (quit laughing, I bet some of you still watch WWE). I was going to finally scan some cards using the scanner/copier/printer I got for my birthday a few weeks back. I scanned all of my Mark Teixeira game used and certified autographed cards. I really didn't realize it was going to be a few hours for me to scan all those cards, but I finally did. Finished at 12:30 AM, eastern time.

I guess I'll show off some of my favorites:

From 2010 Topps, I have this Topps Peak Performance game used jersey. Yankee jerseys really don't have much to offer other than a piece of the interlocking NY on the chest or number off the back, so I really prefer my Yankee gamers to have the pinstripe on the jersey. This one has a real nice pinstripe, so that makes me a happy camper

I love patch cards, a lot. This Teixeira card from 2009 Upper deck SPx has a sweet piece of patch from one of Tex's Rangers jerseys. I got a sweet deal on it off ebay. Too bad I can't afford a Yankee patch.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Sweet Spot has the best autographed cards. I really love this one from 2005 Sweet Spot. I actually had this card once before. I wanted to put together this set and bought this card for 7.00 at a card show. I later realized that alot of the autos in this set were going to be a bit pricey so I gave up on it and traded this card for one that escapes my mind. When I started collecting Teixeira, I had to rebuy this card. The second time around, it cost me 25.00, plus shipping. Morale of this story, when that voice in the back of your head is screaming, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!, maybe you ought to listen to it. Unlike me.

Another beautiful autograph card. This one comes from 2005 Ultimate. I, like most of you, can't afford the high end cards, so I have to scour the secondary market for the ones I need. And besides, I'm not paying 300 bucks to pull a Josh Tole autograph and a Kyle Davies game used jersey. So, I am more than happy to pay 10.00 for this beauty.

And finally, I have this card. It combines my two loves: Autographs and patches, all in one card. To get this 2005 Reflections Dual Patch Auto of Teixeira and Hank Blaylock, I had to trade some hockey autos, but its well worth it. This card has a prominent spot in my Teixeira collection.

If you guys want to see more of the collection, I'll post the links to the buckets here:http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/maniabeatle01/Mark%20Teixiera%20Collection/Autograph/

and here:http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/maniabeatle01/Mark%20Teixiera%20Collection/Game%20Used/

Let me know what you guys think.

I still have to upload all of the base and inserts. I'm not looking forward to that. Just thinking about uploading those, as well as my Yankees, Tino Martinez and Martin Brodeur collections hurts my tummy.