Joltin Joe DiMaggio Came In A Tin Case

As a Yankees collector, I get a lot of Yankee related gifts from some very generous people. One of my team collectors, I forget who at this point, sent some pretty interesting Joe DiMaggio cards a few years back. I had put them in a drawer and forgot that I had them. While I was doing some cleaning, I found the cards and took a close look at them.

Back in 1993, Score released an exclusive 30 card set of Pinnacle Joe DiMaggio cards. It was limited to 209,000 sets and comes with a certificate of authenticity. The tin these cards come in is very nice. I can see myself putting the tin on display with my Yankee statues or figures when I do put some shelves up. I really like it a lot.

When you open the tin, the first thing you see is the felt that protects the cards while they are in the tin. Then you see the authenticator lens. What you do is put the lens on the back of one of the cards and you should see the word "DiMaggio" on the bottom. Also, without the lens, all you would see is a blurred image. Score really went the fancy route with these cards.

Here's a shot of the lens, which is just a piece of plastic. Also, my certificate of authenticity. I have number 140,038 of 209,000.

And what about the cards?

There are some very nice shots of DiMaggio in all stages of his baseball career, not just with the Yankees. The top middle card is a picture of Joe in his San Francisco Seals days.

I love the picture of Joe with Lou Gehrig. When they played together in the mid 30's they were every bit as good as when Gehrig played with Ruth. Check out the color photos on these cards. There are some crystal clear shots on there.

There's are some pics of Joe with Bob Feller and Dizzy Dean. I really like the one of Joe signing autographs for the kids hanging around the Yankee dugout. I like it a lot better without the flash from my phone shining right on Joe's face though.

I love that card on the bottom right corner. DiMaggio wore number 9 during his rookie year before switching to his more familiar number 5 the following season.

Finally, you have a couple of cards that show DiMaggio sliding into home. Every time I see anything of DiMaggio sliding, I always hear Daffy Duck in my head screaming "Slide DiMaggio, Slide!"

As much as I like having these cards in my collection, I am trying to figure out what is so special about them. They feel like a normal card would in weight and size. The lettering isn't made of gold or anything, so I don't know why this set came with the fancy tin, lens and certificate of authenticity. Just knowing that this is a numbered set would have been good enough for me. I'm guessing that, since numbering was still kind of new at that time, Score made a big deal about this set and it was probably sold for a higher price at the time as well.

Even still, anytime I can add some nice Joe DiMaggio cards into my collection, I will always do so. DiMaggio was one of the greatest players to ever play the game and should be represented in any baseball collection, if you collect the Yankees or not.

Yankees 2014 Topps Series One

I recently participated in a case break of 2014 Topps Series One with my group of team collectors. I had the Yankees and the Rays. I decided to send the Rays to our Rays collector as well as a set of Yankees as I had gotten triples of each card I got.

So, what did I get?

I was pleased to get Jeter since it will be his final season. I know that there will be other Jeter cards made well after he retires, but I will make it a point to enjoy each Jeter pull during his final season as an active player. I've watched Zoilo Almonte since his days with the Staten Island Yankees and also got a Gardner.

One current Yankee and two former Yankees. Logan's in Colorado and Wells is still available, I think. He played well for the first couple of months of 2013 then teetered off.

Hoping that Soriano continues to play well this season. He will be the DH this season. Assuming the Yankees keep Ichiro, that will be the only spot Soriano plays this season. I would assume that Ichiro and Almonte will be the back up outfielders.

I'm betting that Murphy will start the season in Scranton since the Yankees seem to want Cerveli to back up McCann. I'm not a Cerveli fan, but as long as he is not the starting catcher then I'm fine with it. Just keep the hot dog antics to a minimum. I feel Nunez needs to step it up this season and hit more constantly as well as keep the errors down. I'm seriously going to miss hearing "Enter Sandman" and seeing Rivera come out to save another game.

My favorite moment of last season. Watching Jeter and Pettitte come out to get the ball from Mariano and seeing him cry on Pettite's shoulder was very emotional for most Yankees fans, myself included.

Got some very nice Jeter inserts. I love the look of the "Before They Were Great" cards.

More Yankee inserts of Donnie Baseball, Cano and Joe D. I love the vintage picture of Dimaggo as well as the picture of Mattingly they used for these cards. I watched Mattingly from the very beginning of his career and that is how I remember him. Peppering balls all over the place and making outstanding plays at first. People say Keith Hernandez was the premier first baseman in the 80's, but Mattingly was just as good, in my opinion.

I love the 1989 mini's. This will be a fun set to chase.

Got Red Hot Foils of A-Rod, Jeter and Wells. These are not numbered.

My lone Gold parallel, which is numbered to 2014.

Pulled a Andy Pettitte Game Used Jersey card.

I even scored a couple of Roberto Clemente cards for my Clemente PC.

I really love that Rookie Class Of 1955 Pin card. I'm really glad to have it.

I liked this years Topps release, although I think the design looks more "Bowman-like" than a classic Topps design. I really like the inserts in this years set, especially the "Before They Were Great" cards. I will have to chase the inserts I am missing like the "Super Veterans" set on comc.com or through trades. I was a bit disappointed that we did not get players such as CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeria or David Robertson in this series. Also, no first Yankees cards of Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann or Carlos Beltran. Oh well, I guess you have to leave something for Series 2.

Joltin Joe Dimaggio

Normally, I don't buy bobbleheads from other teams. Yes, I have been to a few Mets games solely for the purpose of attending their bobblehead giveaways, but for the most part I stick with Yankee bobbleheads. I would like to one day start a bobblehead collection of players who are in the Hall Of Fame, but that's for when I have the room and most importantly, the money.

However, there was one bobblehead that was given out by a team not located in NY (well, they were at one time) that I really wanted and thanks to a fellow member at the bobbleboard.com, I was able to land this awesome piece.

Back on August 28th, 2010, the San Francisco Giants gave out a Joe Dimaggio boblehead. Now, I know you guys are probably thinking, why would the Giants give out a Joe Dimaggio bobblehead when he never played with the Giants. Well, you are right that he never put on a Giants uniform, New York or San Francisco, but he was a native of San Francisco and the uniform that he is wearing on the bobblehead is that of the San Francisco Seals, a team in the now defunct Pacific Coast League. Dimaggio played with them from 1932 to 1935 until he was acquired by the Yankees for $50,000.00 and 5 players. Dimaggio once hit in 61 consecutive games for the Seals in 1933. It was a great decision by the Giants to give out a Joe Dimaggio/San Francisco Seals bobblehead as it celebrates a San Francisco icon and the city's baseball past.

The front and back of the box looked exactly the same. A picture of the bobblehead with the Giants logo next to it.

Also, both of the side panels had the web address for Joe Dimaggio's official site, the sponsor and the Giants secondary logo.

Out of the box, I can tell you this bobblehead looks brilliant. The bobblehead has him wearing the 1933 Seals home whites with pinstripes. He is captured in his classic follow through as well as his classic over bite.

As you turn the bobblehead so that it's facing forward, you can see that he is smiling as if he knows that no one is going to get the ball he just hit. Also notice that the paint job on the sleeve trim isn't the greatest, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker. The uniform looks exactly how it did from pictures I've seen of it. I always thought there was a logo on the cap, but upon further review I've learned that there wasn't in 1933.

The back of the bobblehead shows Joe wore number 10 with the Seals. As we know, Joe wore 9 when he broke in as a Yankee, then switched to his now famous 5 the next season. Knowing he wore another number with the Seals is very interesting to me as I always thought he wore 9 or 5 with them. I also love the baggy bottoms the players wore back in the day.

The base looks likei t's made of wood and has gold lettering on it stating that you indeed have a Joe Dimaggio of the San Francisco Seals bobblehead.

On the top of the base, right by Dimaggio's feet is the Comcast logo. No, the base isn't dusty or anything. It just looks that way.

I think this is a real fun bobblehead to own. It's a different Dimaggio piece to add to the Yankees collection. I don't own the Columbus Clippers Joe Dimaggio bobblehead they gave out several years back, so this is my first Dimaggio bobblehead. I'm tempted to hunt down the variant, which has the Italian flag painted on, which I think was given out during a Giants Italian Heritage Night. I'm just thrilled that I was able to add this one to my bobblehead collection and will have a permanent spot on my Yankees shelf.