My Best Yankees Cards

Along with the Red Sox and Cubs, it seems that I have a natural ability to both purchase New York Yankees cards and pull them from packs. Because of that, I'd go as far as to say that the Yankees are the 3rd most represented team in my entire collection, behind only the 2 previously mentioned clubs.

While I don't quite know if this is a positive thing or not, it's somewhat odd for a collector like myself to actively collect cards of the Red Sox's arch-rival. But, with the seemingly endless number of Yankees cards out there, it's pretty difficult to avoid them. 

Whether you're opening a pack or making your way through a dime box, Yankees cards seem to be everywhere. After all, there are my Yankees cards listed on COMC than any other team, and I believe that to be a fair representation of all the cards out there to collect. 

Regardless, the abundance of Yankees cards has resulted in some pretty major cards making their way into my collection, either via a pack of cards or a direct purchase at the Baseball card show or online. 

As a result, this Red Sox fan has been left with a plethora of various Yankees cards, some of them even proving to be among the best cards in my entire collection. Today, I'll be taking a more in-depth look at the greatest Yankees cards that I own.

To commence this Yankees-centric post, I have a classic-looking card of one of the most underrated pitchers of all-time, Whitey Ford. Despite career stats that include a 2.75 ERA, 45 shutouts, and nearly 2,000 strikeouts, Ford isn't as widely recognized as other Yankees legends that you'll see later on in this post.

I have an older card of Whitey Ford from the 1958 Topps set, but the condition and the centering are pretty lackluster. Because of that, I went with my 5.5 Beckett graded card of Ford from '66 Topps instead.

The grade may not be the best, but this 1958 Topps All-Star card of Mickey Mantle is tied for the oldest Mantle card in my collection. Personally, the 2.5 grade doesn't matter as much given how fabulous these original All-Star cards from '58 are. 

My original look at these classic All-Star cards was from the 2007 Topps Heritage set with guys like David Ortiz and Albert Pujols. Nothing can truly compare to the originals, much less a Mickey Mantle card from this memorable set.

Tied with the previous card for my oldest card of the highly-collectible Mickey Mantle is another card from the 1958 Topps set, this one a World Series Batting Foes combo card, showcasing 2 of the greatest hitters in Baseball history.

Because base cards tend to possess a higher value than combo cards like the one above, the Batting Foes card isn't as valuable as Mantle's iconic base card from '58. Still, this card has been in my collection as long as I can remember, so you can definitely say I've grown attached to it. 

Even though I understood that the card wouldn't receive a high grade, getting this card graded was an easy decision to preserve this fabulous piece.

Finishing up with these combo cards, here's the final big one in my Yankees collection, this one from the wood-bordered 1962 Topps set. Originally, I had 2 of these graded, and I sold the one graded at a 4 on eBay. I saved the other card, graded at a Beckett 5, because, like the '58 card, it features 2 of the greatest players in Baseball history.

It certainly would be a "Managers' Dream" to have either one of these guys on your team, and it's still pretty surreal that I even have this card in the first place. Similar to the World Series combo card from '58, this card has always been a part of my collection. Getting it graded at a 5, however, was something totally unexpected.

In terms of my major modern-day Yankees cards, the best place to start would be the cards that were most recently added to my collection, a quartet of printing plates from the 2016 Leaf Babe Ruth Collection product. 

An entire set composed solely of Babe Ruth cards, Leaf did the best that they could without licensing rights and created a memorable and unique product. However, I didn't pull these 4 cards from a pack of cards. 

Rather, I grabbed this 4-card lot from a vendor at a major card show last year for a very fair price. At just north of $15 per card, this will go down in history as one of my greatest Baseball card show finds of all-time.

And as a result of that very same card show, I added this unbelievable card to my collection, and for the very first time throughout this entire post, the card I'm showing is one that I pulled myself from a pack of cards.

Though that feat will become more common over the next couple of cards that I show, pulling this Mickey Mantle warm-up jacket from a pack of 2010 Topps 206 was incredibly surreal. I certainly wasn't expecting anything close to this good to come from the box that I opened. 

It was simply supposed to be a fun and relatively inexpensive box break, and I ended up with a card that could pay for the entire box that I opened and then some. At some point in the near future, I could see myself submitting this card for Beckett grading as well.

Another card that I pulled from a pack myself, this one from a $10 rack pack of 2017 Topps Chrome, we have this Aaron Judge image variation rookie, a card I've likely shown here on the blog before today.

Back in August of 2017, Aaron Judge was at the peak of popularity, even making the cover of the 2017 Topps Chrome set. Because of that, everyone was looking to cash in and pull a valuable Judge card, including me. I just didn't expect that hit to come out of retail.

Flash forward roughly 1 and a half years and that card is now graded at a 9.5 and is easily the greatest Judge card that I own. Certainly, Topps Chrome retail was kind to me in 2017, and the same could definitely be said for the 2018 set as well.

If the Judge image variation was a major hit, I don't even have the words to express what this Gleyber Torres autograph pull meant to me, especially since I pulled it out of a blaster of Topps Chrome at last years' National in Cleveland. 

Numbered out of 250 copies, this Torres card is a purple refractor auto of one of the biggest rookie names of 2018. I made the decision to get this card graded as quickly as possible, while at The National, and I'll definitely be holding onto this stellar autograph, hoping Torres continues to progress as a talented and young player.

But honestly, none of these cards can truly compare to the beauty that is this 1962 Topps graded Mickey Mantle card, the one and only Topps base card of Mantle that I own, graded at a 3.5. Like all the other vintage cards showcased on this post, this Mickey Mantle card didn't receive the highest grade for the same reason that many vintage cards fail to do so as well. 

Even though the condition is obviously important for vintage cards, it doesn't matter all that much to me considering the fact that, like the rest of the cards shown above, I'll be holding onto this Mantle card from '62 Topps and not selling it.

If I wasn't convinced beforehand, this post did its job and changed my mind. All of a sudden, I'm not so certain that having too many Yankees cards is such a bad thing after all.

That still doesn't mean I like the team, though.

One Last Hurrah

I'm very certain that in the distant future, I'll look back at this particular week as one of the most exciting weeks for Baseball cards in my entire life.

Including this one, my last 7 blog posts have been devoted to new cards that I've acquired within the last 10 days or so. Trades, Baseball card show trips, eBay packages, and LCS pickups have all been present as of late, and I still have one more group of cards left to go.

In a way, it'll be nice to go back to a calmer week where I'm not adding new Baseball cards to my collection nearly every day. With that being said, Topps Heritage's impending release this Wednesday means things won't settle down completely, and I'm totally fine with that. 

After all, Heritage has consistently been my favorite overall product for years on end. Even though I've never completed a Heritage master set in my life, the variations, SPs, and simply the recreating of a vintage Topps design makes this product extremely appealing.

I'll have more time to talk about Heritage next week, but in the meantime, I have one final group of new Baseball cards that I added to my collection during this action-packed week. 

These cards, courtesy of my LCS, are from the dime bins, though I could expect to see a majority of these cards for a far greater price than simply a dime.

Included in the owners' dime box this time around was an impressive stack of 2017 Topps Museum base, including 9 different players that I collect. It's not uncommon to spot high-end cards in the dime bins, but typically, I stumble upon 2 or 3 of them. Never have I spotted so many cards of guys I collect from a product as expensive as Topps Museum.

Better yet, the lot featured far more retired players than current MLB stars. Of the 9 players shown above, only Ichiro and Anthony Rizzo are currently playing. All the others, including my largest player collection, Nolan Ryan, are retired MLB legends.

After picking up the base card, bronze parallel, and serial numbered red parallel of Greg Maddux, card #84, I could see myself going after the complete parallel rainbow. If I can track down a sapphire blue (#/150) and an amethyst (#/99), I'd have my first ever parallel rainbow completed, assuming I'm not forgetting any other colored cards from the product. 

Update; there's an emerald 1/1. So, unless I can track that card down and for a reasonable price, my hopes of obtaining the entire rainbow will be unsuccessful. 

For a dime each, I have zero complaints about these holo blue parallels from 2018 Panini Donruss, even if the logoless hats are rather obvious. I was able to spot 4 different cards of players that I collect, including my 2nd Nolan Ryan card of the trip so far. 

I think I acquired somewhere between 3-5 Ryan cards at this trip to my LCS alone, making my goal of reaching the 500-card mark for his player collection in 2019 much more achievable. 

The very moment that I spotted this Roger Clemens card in the dime box I was searching through, I found a strong resemblance between this card and the holo blue Donruss parallels. 

Even though the similarities appear far more evident in-person, I wouldn't be shocked to hear that Panini took inspiration from this Ultimate Victory parallel when designing their holo blue parallel cards.

While Baseball fans are continuing to wait for marquee free agent Bryce Harper to sign his much-anticipated max contract, I wasted no time in adding these 2 high-end base cards of the 2015 NL MVP to my stack of dime box cards. 

I realize that neither Triple Threads nor Museum revolves around the base set design, but I still must commend Topps on creating 2 well-executed and elegant base set designs, both from the last few years.

This duo of dime box pickups, like the 2 Harper's shown above, also appears very elegant with the border color and photo choice. However, the Ozzie Smith and Ernie Bank's cards are not from a high-end product like Museum or Tribute. 

Instead, I believe these cards are inserts from a certain set of cards. Titled "The Elite," these could be a rare inclusion in Flagship or some sort of special insert from an actual high-end product. If anyone recognizes where these cards are from, don't hesitate to let me know.

As if I hadn't already picked up enough retired players' cards from this particular dime box, a duo of early 2000s Upper Deck cards boosted my total even more. The Gibson card is classic-looking while the Fingers, featuring a gold uniform and yellow/orange border, is a far more unconventional choice from the 2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970s set.

There's something about 2011 Topps that enhances these retired players' short prints even more than any other Flagship product to date. Alongside a plethora of fellow legends, Mike Schmidt was included as a retired player SP in 2011 Topps. 

Sharing card #50 with Alex Rodriguez, the Phillies' 3rd baseman is shown in the classic powder blue Phillies uniform while perhaps making a call to one of his fellow infielders.

Even if I spent the next 20 years focusing on it, I doubt I'd be able to complete the 2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium legacy set no matter how hard I tried. That doesn't stop me from adding new cards from the 6,227-card insert set. At this point, I've probably acquired around 50 cards, so on the bright side, I'm 0.008% of the way there!

Similarly, Mickey Mantle has an insert set from 2007, consisting of, I presume, 1 card for every home run ever hit by the 3-time AL MVP, afar easier set to complete than the Yankee Stadium Legacy. I've seen yellow, red, and blue-colored cards from this product, but I'm not sure if the colors are different just for the sake of it or if there are actual different-colored parallels in this insert set.

Card companies never fail to get me hooked on shiny cards and refractors, something that's proven every time I return home with a stack of dime cards. This time around, in addition to plenty of others not shown on this post, a Craig Kimbrel refractor and a Jim Thome Bowman's Best insert are among the many shiny cards that I landed thanks to some well-stocked dime bins.

While I'm on the topic of bright and shiny Baseball cards, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the duo of cracked ice parallels of Cleveland Indians' ace Corey Kluber that, somehow, are not serial numbered at all. I honestly have no clue how Panini can produce enough of these cards without serial numbering them, but that's not to take away from the gorgeous parallels that these cards are.

Considering that both the cards I picked up are inserts, I'm guessing that the cracked ice cards also appear in the base set. Now that's a parallel worth chasing down, especially if you're looking for a particular player's cracked ice card.

Another high-end product that I was able to locate some dime cards from, Topps High Tek was also quite prominent during this trip to my LCS. In this case, for almost every player who had 1 card in the dime box, there was a different pattern card of that same player right near it. 

Among some of the parallels, the various black pattern parallels take a standard pattern and change the background to black rather than white. This enhances the card quite a bit, especially when there's a colorful uniform to counter the black background like there is for deGrom and Bagwell.

It's going to take me a while to find this specific Ken Griffey Jr parallel on COMC and list it on my player collection inventory, but if that's the price I'm forced to pay in addition to the mere dime that this card cost me then so be it. 

This parallel of The Kid is serial numbered out of 250, and he is shown on my favorite team that Griffey Jr played for, the Cincinnati Reds.

Here they are, the 2 rookie phenoms from 2017 who cleared out retail shelves and caused hobby prices to soar at a nearly unprecedented level. As if this box improve any longer, I spotted not 1, not 2, but 3 rookie year cards of Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger towards the end of my time at my LCS.

Along with another holo blue parallel from 2018, I found a Bellinger insert from 2017 Bowman's Best along with both players' Rookie Performers inserts from 2017 Topps Heritage High Number. Thanks to the retro design, the Heritage High Number inserts are definitely my favorites of the bunch.

Finally, the greatest card I found in the entire dime box, and one that I certainly would never expect to be there; a 2014 Bowman Chrome prospect card of none other than the previously mentioned, Aaron Judge.

I don't care that the card isn't his 1st Bowman card. I couldn't care less about the centering. I understand the surface isn't perfect, but none of this is a big deal for me. Finding this card in a dime box was nothing less than shocking, and I couldn't add it to my stack fast enough. 

Judge is currently entering his 3rd season, and even as a Red Sox fan, I don't hate seeing him do well so long as it's not against Boston. In addition to the rookie cards that I have of #99, I now have my 1st ever Judge prospect card, giving me even more incentive to hope for his success.

But regardless of how I feel about him or any of the other cards that I purchased from this dime box, the Judge card alone makes the entire trip completely worth it.

(Technically) My First Pack of the Year

If you count the silver pack that I opened yesterday as an actual set and not just a promotion than I suppose that quick pack opening would claim the title of the first pack I opened of the year. 

However, if we're going strictly off of sets and not counting promotional items than I suppose I'm actually opening my first pack of cards of the year today with my first 14-card pack from 2019 Topps Series 1 hobby.

Topps changed the number of cards per jumbo, hobby, and retail packs as well as blaster packs, hanger boxes, and likely value packs as well. This is likely due to their increasing of production of the Flagship set, resulting in fewer cards per hobby and jumbo box than there were in years past.

The difference wasn't too big of a deal for me, and I've been eager to get my hands on this release for months now. This year, I went for a whole hobby box of the set for a very good price at my LCS where, in previous years, I've simply purchased a couple blasters at the very most.

I'm trying to make the 24-pack hobby box last as long as I can since it's not every day that I get to open new packs of cards. Therefore, I'll be saving the full box recap for tomorrow while opening pack #1 today, allowing me to give my complete thoughts on the set design, photography, card backs, and more. 

It's always somewhat of a big deal to see whose card I pull first from Series 1, and I happen to remember the last couple years though not much before that. Here's a quick list of the first card pulled from the last few years.

2017; Andrew Cashner

2018; Adieny Hechavarria

And the first card pulled from 2019 Topps is...

#150 Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge! As you can tell from my 2017 and 2018 first cards, I'm not too used to pulling big names with my first card of a Series 1 pack. I had pretty great card collecting seasons in the years where I pulled some middle of the road names, so I'll be interested to see what 2019 has in store for me now that I've pulled Aaron Judge as my first card of the year.

#183 Freddie Freeman

As for the set design, I like it a lot more than I originally thought I would. Many people have pointed out how the cards are reminiscent of the 1982 Topps set which is something I definitely notice as well. 

With that being said, there are a few unique elements that help 2019 Topps stand on its own. Some, like the stellar photo variety, are great. Others, like the last name being on top of the first, don't really make much sense

#77 J.D. Martinez

The card backs are definitely one of the strongest points of the entire set. With full career stats making a return for the first time since 2016, Topps is relying less on the head-scratching social media usernames that they still feel the need to include. Instead, the dynamic card backs somewhat resemble the fronts while also reminding me slightly of the backs from 2018 Topps Big League.

#188 Matt Davidson

The half borders are definitely better than no borders, so Topps is at least making progress by steadily improving the design after the disaster that was 2016 Topps. I still don't quite understand why Topps can't just leave the picture alone and not have a weird disco pattern underneath the border, but I'll give them a break for improving on the Flagship set once again.

#50 Mookie Betts

Just like last year, I landed 2 different Red Sox cards out of my first pack of Topps Series 1. While this year features the 2 best hitters on their 2018 World Series team, Martinez and Betts, last year featured an insert of Mookie as well as a card of starting pitcher Rick Porcello. 

So far, Judge, Martinez, and Betts have come out of the first 5 cards of the pack. It's looking to me like 2019 will be a great year for card collecting.

#324 Logan Morrison

One thing I instantly took notice of was the improved quality and creativity with the photos on many of the cards so far. While past years would feature the same, boring pictures time and time again, I'm already seeing more landscape cards and more unique images than I have seen in many years. 

Pack #1 wasn't a fluke, by the way. The rest of the box features even more incredible and creative shots.

#220 Alex Colome

As I mentioned earlier, the card backs are truly something special as they feature just the right amount of color, less than 2017 and more than 2018. Full stats are back, finally, but my one issue with the card backs is the same concern that I have about the fronts. I'm struggling to see why the last name would be placed above the first. Simply put, it just doesn't make much sense.

#51 Michael Brantley 150th Anniversary Parallel

To celebrate 150 years of professional Baseball, Topps, among other things, is featuring 150th-anniversary parallels that can be found in 1 in every 6 packs. The gold foil Topps logo and the 150 years stamp are the only differences between this and a base card. 

Nothing for nothing, but either go full out with a gold foil design or something special with these cards. Otherwise, don't bother with a parallel that's merely a stamp in the bottom left corner.

#216 Bring It In

And just like that, we're back to base cards. Last year, I could open 10 or 12-card packs and expect 2 or maybe even 3 inserts or parallels. Now, the cards per pack, at least for the hobby packs, have been increased to 14, yet only 1 parallel card was found in the pack. 

I understand their need to produce more of the set, but it's unusual to only find 1 insert or parallel in a 14-card pack. I can't help but wonder if it's the same for retail as well.

#331 Cesar Hernandez

This year, the Phillies cards feature a new logo, the blue liberty bell with the Phillies team name in front. The new logo looks like a near-perfect fit on the cards and is definitely an improvement over the insignia they'd been using in past years. 

Also, notice the excellent image on this card. If nothing else, Topps is stepping up their game as far as the pictures go.

#239 Christian Yelich League Leaders

This is the 3rd year in a row that Topps has included individual league leaders cards rather than a combo card with the top 3 in major stat categories for each league. The more I think about it, the less a fan I become of the individual league leaders cards. 

It just doesn't seem all that necessary, for example, to have 3 different cards for the 2018 NL batting average leaders. Last time I checked, it worked out just fine when they were all combined onto 1 card.

#296 Lewis Brinson

The Marlins are another team to feature a new logo on their 2019 Topps Series 1 cards. Considering the total rebuild that the franchise is going under, I suppose they need something to excite the fans they have remaining. I personally didn't have a problem with the old logo, but I suppose I'm partial to the new one as well.

#337 Mychal Givens

I don't have anything to say about Mychal Givens. I don't have anything to say about this card either. Moving on to the 14th and final card of the pack.

#200 Jacob deGrom

2018 AL MVP, 2018 NL MVP, and the 2018 NL Cy Young award winners all in my first pack from 2019 Topps Series 1. Things appear to be looking up in 2019, and it's not just thanks to the cards I pulled in my first pack.

The design is definitely an improvement over the 2018 set which basically put you to sleep after 1 pack. Topps has been gradually making the sets better since 2016 by featuring better photographs, borders, and a cleaner design.

One thing I'm certainly excited for is 2019 Topps Chrome. These cards look awesome, and I'm stoked to see the chrome versions come late July or early August.