League Of Extraordinary Bloggers Assignment: My Prized Possession

For this week's assignment, The League had to post which of their possessions is considered their most prized. Which would be the one thing that you would fight off a couple of killer ninja's for, or run into your burning home to retrieve or fight Freddy, Jason, Preditor, an Alien, Mike Myers and Adam Lambert over. For me, this was a pretty easy one.

No, dear readers, it's not a Spidey object or one of my Batman Megos or my Patrik Elias game used hockey stick. It's not anything from my Beatles, KISS, Monkees or Back To The Future collections either. This one item is something that can actually fit into my pocket so I can attempt to grab a few more things if need be. Heck, this is something I think EVERYONE would consider a prized possession.

For your consideration, I give to you my most prized possession. A Babe Ruth cut autograph from the 2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set. I actually bought a tin of the product at a card show a few years ago. I went on line to get an autograph and decided to bust the tin. I was looking through the cards, saw the Ruth and actually passed it by thinking it was an insert. When I didn't get the 1 autograph I was promised, that's when I realized what I had. I went back to the card and looked it over and indeed, it was a cut signature card of Babe Ruth.

To say I was overjoyed would be an understatement. I was doing cartwheels, jumping jacks, running in place and whooting at the top of my lungs, drawing weird looks from people. Ok, I didn't do that. I did allow myself a Holy S#%t! The guy next to me saw what I pulled and said "This guy pulled a Babe Ruth Autograph!" A couple people asked to see it and congradulated me over the pull. I had a few offers for the card right there and then and I turned them down.

I didn't turn them down because the offers weren't high enough. They were plenty high. I turned it because I never really thought I would be lucky enough to ever own a Babe Ruth Autograph at any point in my life. As a Yankees collector, it's the Holy Grail of most Yankee fans and to say I own a Babe Ruth auto is actually something else. Plus, it's something that I would love to hand down to my son or daughter if I am ever lucky enough to marry and have a child.

So, I would let my Spider-Man Comics go up in flames. The Warlocks can take away my collection of Batmobiles and Dr. Doom can steal my Beatles Yellow Submanrine figures. The Babe Ruth? That's coming with me. Big Whoop. Wanna fight about it?

Marvin Washington TTM Autograph

Yesterday, the first of my New York Jets requests came back. I had sent out about 5 letters to former Jets players a couple of weeks ago and Marvin Washington was the first to respond, sent in care of his home.

Marvin Washington is a former defensive end who was drafted by the Jets in the 6th round of the 1989 draft. He went on to play 7 seasons with the Jets before moving on to San Fransisco twice and Denver, where he won a super bowl in 1998.

Mr. Washington signed these two cards in silver ink.

I'm very please to add the autographs to my Jets PC. I just wish they weren't signed in silver, but what can you do? No complaints here.

Recent Adds to the Jets Collection

I was recently able to add some new cards to the Jets PC. I have actually been ignore it for a while and while I was looking through the collection, I noticed I was missing a lot of players I've wanted in the PC.

I went on ebay, placed some bids, winning one and made a deal with a football card collector on sportscardforum.com.

Here are the new additions

I have been wanting a Vinny Testeverde auto for sometime now and I was happy to be able to add this card. Testeverde is one of my all time favorite Jets and Now I can cross him off the want list.

I used to collect Chad Pennington. This card will be a welcome addtion to the PC

For some reason each time I participate in a group break, I always seem to pull a Dustin Keller game used card, but never an autograph. With this ebay purchase, I was able to rectify that and cross Keller off the want list.

This is a nice one for the PC. I love to collect the patch cards and this one has a piece of patch, as you can see.

This card covers my love for patches and autos. It was a must have as I don't know if Edwards will be a Jet this season. He's a free agent and although his drops have considerably, well, dropped, I think Santonio Holmes is a must sign. Glad to add Edwards to the Jets auto PC with his beauty.

The trader threw in this Leaf Certified Red card. Nice add to the collection.

I have another card coming in off ebay soon. Hopefully, it will arrive today.

I was glad I could add to the Jets collection, especially since I have been working on organizing the Jets base cards I have. Will probably add more in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned.

J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!

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.

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.

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!

Yankee IP Auto-Graig Nettles

I was able to get Graig Nettles to sign this card at a Long Island card show at Hofstra University a few years back. I was very excited to meet Nettles because, growing up, he was my favorite Yankee. Unfortunately, he was the prime example of how disapointing it can be to meet your idols.

Graig Nettles was traded to the Yankees from the Cleveland Indians before the 1973 season. He was a main clog in those 1970 Yankee teams, appearing in the World Series 3 times and winning 2. He was considered one of the best defensive third baseman at that time. He also set an American League record for career home runs by a third baseman. His best season was in 1977 when he had 37 home runs, 107 RBI's, won the Gold Glove and won the World Series. He was traded to San Diego and appeared in one more World Series in 1984, losing to the Detriot Tigers. He retired in 1988 as a member of the Montreal Expos.

As a kid, his diving stops on ground balls thrilled me. Whenever I played baseball, I would always man third, my number was 9 and I would dive for ground balls, even if they were routine grounders. I remember being so upset when he was traded and rooted for San Diego in the World Series. I always wanted to meet him and when I found out he was appearing on Long Island, I jumped at the chance. My girl friend at the time lived in Brooklyn, so driving from her apt to Hofstra was not a problem.

I remember waiting on line, being real nervous too. I finally got to the front of the line and handed him my card. I told him how big a fan I was and how much he meant to my childhood. He looked at me and said, "Great, kid." and looked back down at the card. Signed it and passed it back to me and I was hurried away by the attendent sitting next to him.

Great, kid? That was all he could say to me? What a rip! I was so upset by it. My girl friend tried to cheer me up, but it was no use. I got the brush off from my favorite childhood ball player. Not even my favorite cheeseburger could cheer me up. Since then, I have soured on Nettles. I have met him twice after at diffrent functions and he was always the same crabby guy each time. Kinda stinks when you expect a person to be one way and you get something totally diffrent. I never heard any horror stories regarding Nettles, so it was a huge surprise to me. I had met a lot of players before him and they were all nice to me, so having your first bad experiance at a signing and getting it from your childhood idol really sucked.

Needless to say, I won't be going out of my way for Nettles anymore.

New Add to Yankees Auto Collection:Enos Slaughter

I was finally able to add this HOF'er to my Yankees autograph collection, Enos Slaughter. Slaughter played 19 years in the majors, from 1938 to 1959. Although he spent the majority of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, he had 2 stints with the Yankees from 1954 to 1955 and from 1956-1959. He also played with the Kansas City A's and finished up with the Milwaukee Braves.

Slaughter was a 10 time All Star and won 4 World Series championships, winning 2 with the Cardinals and 2 with the Yankees. He is best known for his "Mad Dash", scoring from first on Harry Walker's single during the 1946 World Series against the Red Sox. It turned out to be the winning run of the World Series that year. For his career, he batted .300, with 2,383 hits; 169 Home Runs and 1,304 RBI's. He might have gotten to 3,000 hits had he not missed 3 years due to his military obligations during World War II. His number 9 has been retired by the St. Louis Cardinals and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985 via the Veteran's Committee.

I checked this auto against other Slaughter autographs I seen on ebay, including some cuts and it looks like the real mccoy. I got this for under 5.00 dlvd. Very pleased to be able to cross off another Yankee off the autograph list.

IP Autograph: Jesse Barfield

One of the things I'd like to start showing off in this blog are some of my autographs and tell the stories behind how I aquired them. I love autographs and one of my goals is to try and get as many autos of players who played for the Yankees, Devils, Knicks and Jets. One of the main requirements I do have is that the player must be pictured in the uniform of the team I collect. I do realize it might be hard to do that as the player might have played only a handful of games and not had a card made in that particular uni. Thankfully, I can find a pic on the internet, use photoshop and make a quick custom. Good way to build the collection.

Today, I have this auto from Jesse Barfield to show off. When Barfield came to the Yankees, his offensive skills were diminishing. His best season as a Yankee was in 1990 when, after being traded for Al Leiter (a trade that still doesn't sit well with me), hit 25 home runs.

To me, what defined his brief Yankee career (he retired in 1992), was a play he made against the Indians that summer. I was at the game, sitting on the 3rd base side when the Indians hitter, who's name escapes me, hit a screamer past a diving Mattingly toward rf, geting an easy double. The hitter, feeling a bit froggy decided to go for three, especially after seeing Barfield slip and fall on the grass. Barfield, from his knees, gunned the ball to 3rd and got the runner out by a mile. His bat might have slowed, but the arm still had a few bullets left.

I was able to get this card signed by Barfield outside Yankee Stadium in Sept of '90, I think. Could have been '91, not too sure. The card was given out by the Yankees in a set made by Score. Barfield was a real nice guy and still is. I recently saw him at a card show in Westchester. He was passing me by and I put up my hand and he gave me a high five. Still has some strength cause it hurt like hell as well.

Nice to see some players still appreciate their fans.