New Cards And A Challenge

Whooo Hooo, problems fixed with my laptop. I can now blog again. Hallelujah! Praise The Lord!

Now that I'm done with the cartwheels and screaming, I can continue on with the blog post.

I've been neglecting my Mark Teixeira PC. That's not to say I've done it purposely or anything. I've not been able to add to the collection for various reasons. The other day, I was flipping through the Teixeira box where I keep my game used cards and autographs and thought there was a bit too much room in this box. So, I decided to challenge myself.

By the end of 2015, I want to have at least 100 different game used cards and 20 different certified autographed cards in my Teixeira PC. I decided to give myself an obtainable goal because I know myself. If I don't obtain a goal I may give up on it and woe is me and all that garbage. I mean, who wants to put themselves through that? I have enough going on in my life that makes me want to close my door and wallow in the dark. My card collection is supposed to bring me joy, so I say let it.

So, I have been adding some new cards to the Teixeira PC, trying to inch it closer to the numbers I set. If you read the last blog post, you may have seen that I did add a new certified autograph to the PC:

A 2003 Donruss Signature Series Teixeira autograph. I explained why this card means so much to me in my last blog post. I do wish that the card companies never decided to use sticker autographs on the cards back then. I'm glad we are seeing more on card autographs again. This is autograph number 12 in the PC.

I was also able to add 2 game used cards to the collection as well:

I received this 2007 Ultimate Collection Dual Prince Fielder/Mark Teixeira game used card from a friend in my team collectors group. It's numbered to 75 and I'm thrilled to have it. This is number 64 in the PC

Number 65 arrived today. It's a 2004 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Game Patch. It's a 2 color patch that's numbered to 75. I seem to have a thing for cards that are numbered to 75. Regardless of that, I got this card off eBay for less than seven bucks. I love me a deal. When I find one, I pounce.

I'm hoping that 2015 is a big year for my collection and for Teixeira. I want to see him stay healthy and return to numbers that us Yankees fans are used to seeing. If he can hit .250 30 HR and 100 RBI's and play a gold glove caliber first base, I will be very happy. Having a healthy Teixeira back will help the Yankees immensely in their quest for the AL East crown this season, especially with Boston and Toronto getting better. If I can reach my goals for my Teixeira PC, that would make me even happier.

All this talk is making me want baseball back, now! Hurry up spring!

There Are Just Somethings You Just Don't Do...

Sometimes I just don't get us as humans. We say stupid things, we don't care about each other as a whole and we act like we are better than everyone else. Why? I understand that if we don't look out for ourselves, who will but there has to come a point when we need to step back and think about what we are doing.

Case in point. During last night Yankees/Red Sox game (and I don't mean the Michael Pineda incident. I have been hearing about it all day), Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox flipped a ball toward a young man in the stands. Check out what happens.

Really? Really? Dude, you couldn't let the kid have the ball? That gesture would have meant the world to the boy and your selfishness ruined the experience for him. Oh, you wanted a baseball that you could have gotten at a sporting goods store for 15.00? Well, why didn't you say so? That makes all the difference then.

And this isn't the first time I have seen such lousy behavior from adults at a baseball game either. Check out the behavior of these fine upstanding citizens:

It's things like this that make me pray that they trip over the steps on the way out of the stadium.

 I don't understand it. You have to know that there is a young kid right next to you that the ball was obviously tossed to. I understand that you might have lost your manners in the thrill of seeing that baseball come toward you, but if you see a sad kid next to you, just be a sport and make the kid happy. There is nothing special about a foul ball or a ball that was tossed in the stands by a coach, bat boy, the 3rd short stop or umpire.

In the video from last night's ball game, you clearly see the guy who stole that baseball look in the kids direction after he caught the ball, so you have to figure he knew what he did. The couple in Texas that claim they knew nothing, I'm not buying it. The kid is crying right next to them. And that dude in Florida ran away as soon as he caught the ball.

I'm not going to sit here and say I never got in a shoving match for a ball. But that's with adults who tried to push me out of the way when a ball came near me. Your competitive juices start to flow and it's on like Donkey Kong and I usually win those shoving matches.

However, I always look around to see if there was a kid in the scrum. I would much rather hand off the ball to a kid that tried to get the ball than keep it myself. I know when I was at a young age, catching a ball meant everything to me. It never happened, but if I could make a child's visit to a baseball park memorable and all it took was to give up the baseball, then I'm all for it. I've done it before and will always do it. It's just the right thing to do. Especially if you caught multiple balls. Keeping one is fine, but do you really need 3 or 4? Make believe you're the Santa Claus of baseball and start handing baseballs off.

But, for every overbearing adult I see that tries to get a ball, I see things like this that make me reaffirm my belief in mankind.

Too bad some adults just don't have the manners that Ian obviously has.

Tuesdays With Teixeira: 2005 Donruss Zenith Patch Card

So, the 2014 season has started out like the 2013 season did. Teixeira winds up on the DL. Thankfully, it's not his wrist, just a hamstring issue and thankfully it's not for the whole season, just 15 days. Still, I was really hoping for a bounce back season from Tex. Not that his spring training numbers left me with a whole lot of confidence, especially when he said his wrist may never be 100% again. Sheesh.

I haven't really been picking up any game used cards as of late, with the whole rumor going around that some of the jerseys may not be game used at all. But when I saw this 3 color patch card on eBay, I knew I had to have it. It's also numbered to 100, so that made it even more appealing to me. Plus, I loved the Zenith cards. The foil can be an issue though. They peel off rather easily, so you have to handle these cards with kids gloves.

The Yankees got slaughtered at home today, 14-5. Ivan Nova was rocked early and the bullpen just couldn't stop the Orioles onslaught all day long. Hopefully, Teixeira can get back soon because the Yankees are going to need him in the middle of that lineup sooner than later.

Teixeira Tuesday-2009 Topps Heritage

One of my favorite releases of the year is always Topps Heritage. I love vintage stuff. Cards, toys, comic books, magazines, old black and white movies, 1950's and 60's Rock N' Roll are just some of the things I love. My buddy claims I have an old soul. It's either that or I just realize some things were better back in the day. That isn't to say I don't love the modern conveniences we have today. I guess you can say I love classic with a modern twist.

That's why I love the Heritage sets so much. A classic card design with modern ball players. Ever since Topps introduced the line back in 2001, I have tried to complete the Yankee team sets of this series. I do have some work on some of the sets, but I do love the thrill of the chase and I will continue to chase the cards I need to complete my Yankee sets.

The past few weeks I have been doing a lot of card organizing. I am creating binders for certain sets and on Sunday, I worked on my Heritage binder. Looking through the binder once it was done was pure enjoyment. To a lot of people, organizing can be a chore, but when it comes to my cards I find that it's a relaxing way to spend a weekend day. Put on some music and it makes the day that much better.

The 2009 Topps Heritage set was based on the design of the 1960 Topps set. 2009 was Teixeira's first season with the Yankees after signing a 8 year, 180 million dollar contract with the team. Usually, you get your first glimpse of a player in new duds in the Heritage set where the company will super impose the team colors, logos and whatever else on to the player. You can clearly see it in the photo above. The New York looks small and funny as well as the interlocking NY on his cap. I don't care how funny it looks, I love this card.

The moment Tex became a Yankee, I knew I would be collecting his cards. I was a fan of his when he was in Texas but I never collected him. The moment he put ink to paper I was on eBay looking for cards of his to buy. When this set came out, I was thrilled to have my first Teixeira card in pinstripes.

Even if the NY was Photoshopped.

New Swag For The Sports Room

God, I love a packed Postal Box. Makes my day a heck of a lot brighter. This past week I have gotten some pretty sweet swag for the Sports Room. Some are things I bought, some are TTM autographs and 2 packages were from some very generous collectors.

Enough typing! Time to show off the goodies!

First up are these 2 pictures I got back signed by the recently retired Jason Kidd. I was very please when I got these back. Kidd was a great addition to this year's Knicks an played real hard during the regular season. Unfortunately, he slumped really bad during the playoffs and was benched when he went 10 games without a field goal. I had a feeling he was retiring at the end of the season, but I was happy I could see him play for the Knicks and still play well. These pictures were sent to him in care of The Knicks and took almost 4 months to come back.

Picked up this 1997 Topps Finest Wayne Chrebet Dominators insert card for my Chrebet PC off eBay for a buck shipped. Of course, it came in a plain white envelope and was not in a toploader, just a penny sleeve, but the seller did add 2 1989 Mets Topps cards of Dave Magadan and Lenny Dykstra. I should give the seller negitive feedback just for that alone.

I got an email from a football card collector over on Sports Card Forum, asking me for my address as he had some Jets cards he was unloading to downsize his collection. A week later I got a bunch of very nice cards.

For the Chrebet PC. #'ed 10/10.

I think these are steps that was inserted into the card. That's different.

And he included autographs, my favorite cards to collect.

Anyone who knows me or is a long time reader knows that the Jets are my favorite team, right after the Yankees. I am probably just as passionate about the Jets as I am the Yankees. So to be able to add these cards to my Jets collection was a real thrill for me and I hope I can repay the collector in some way in the near future.

Another collector on another forum offered these to me as well and I jumped at the chance.

This is my first Scott Stevens autograph and I am so glad I could finally add him to my collection. I have been trying to get a Stevens autograph forever.

Martin Brodeur is my favorite hockey player right along side Mike Bossy, so to get a free Brodeur signed 8x10 into the Brodeur PC was pretty sweet. Once I am able to, this will get framed and put up in the Sports Room.

Also added some cards to my Teixeira PC. Got this 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Ultimate Team Marks for under 10.00, shipped.

 2011 Framed Topps Gypsy Queen, #'ed to 999. It came with the Jets cards. There were other Yankees included, but I will show those off in another blog at another time.

I haven't been able to pick up any new things for the Sports Room as of late, so to be able to get a nice full mail box was a nice feeling. My pick ups will be slowing down as I am trying to rebuild my bank account, but I should still be able to pick up some things here and there. As long as it's cheap, lol.

New Teixeira Cards For Me

This week, I was able to add 5 new game used cards to my Mark Teixiera collection. 2 of them came off eBay, while the other 3 came from one of my team collectors, so a big thanks to you Todd for the the new additions.

I picked this up this 2005 Donruss Prime Patches Triple Game Used Portraits card off eBay. The card has game used pieces of his glove, shoe and bat and is numbered 71/150. I got this bad boy for under 10.00 shipped.

Here's another eBay purchase for the Tex collection. I picked up this 2012 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection game used card with pinstripe for under 5.00 shipped. There is a slight problem though. If you look at the card, right under the lower corner, above his name, you will see a crease. There is a matching crease running right through the Clubhouse Collection wording. This might have happened because the seller shipped the card in a plain white envelope and in a penny sleeve. What a dork. I'm contemplating leaving negative feedback on eBay for him. I know I paid less than 5.00, but maybe the seller will learn for future reference in case they ship a high dollar card out.

The next three cards came from my buddy Todd. He sent me a bunch of stuff and these were for the Teixeira PC. Up first is this 2002 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Freshman Fiber bat card.

Next is another Donruss 2005 Prime Patches Portraits card. This bat card is numbered 12/100.

And finally, this sweet Leaf 2003 Certified Materials Blue Mirror bat card numbered 34/50. I have been eyeing this on eBay, as well as one similar for my Tino Martinez PC. This card is a great addition. Thank you so much Todd. Hope I can add more to the collection in the upcoming weeks.

New Teixeria Additions

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Mark Teixeira fan. So much that he is the focus of one of my player collections. I'm currently collection Tex, Tino Martinez and Roberto Clemente for baseball, Wayne Chrebet for football, Mike Bossy and Martin Brodeur for hockey and David Lee and Patrick Ewing for basketball. A lot of player collections, I know. But it makes collecting that much more fun because you not just limited to cards. There are other stuff like bobble heads, figurines, magazines and other oddball items you can add to your collections.

Right now, my Teixeria collection stands at 281 different cards in my collection. I believe there are a few more that I'm sitting on that I haven't scanned yet, so that number may grow. My goal is to have 400 different Teixeria cards by the end of 2013. I believe that's a goal I can easily attain if I keep spending money, lol. 

Here are the newest additions:

These are from different members in my Team Collectors community

My buddy Kerry sent me these Tex cards as well as a Braves schedule with Teixeria on it's cover

I'm hoping Tex will be back this season. The wrist injury he suffered while hitting off a tee while with Team USA seems to be more serious than initially thought. The Yankees will need his bat nd glove at first base if they have a shot at repeating as AL East Division Champions. Maybe one day I will post my favorite Teixeira cards in my collection. I just wanted to update this blog as I have not done so in a while, concentrating on other things. With baseball season coming soon, I will be posting more often on here. Hopefully, it will be a great season for Tex and the Yankees.