It's (Half)Core Four Weekend in the Bronx!

These are two of the greatest Yankees of my generation. You can hate all you want because they're Yankees or because of the PED link that one of them has, but this weekend is all about celebration as far as I'm concerned! 

Saturday was Jorge Posada Day, so we'll start there.

I can say right now that I'm going to love seeing this picture over and over(with the players in different spots) as each of these guys gets their day(or has gotten their day, like Bernie)!

Jorge was the greatest, homegrown catcher since Thurman Munson and he was nearly as good.

This is my favorite Posada rookie year card. It may be hard to tell, but it is the refractor parallel of his Bowman's Best RC. As a hobby related side note, it's pretty crazy to me that three out of the Core Four have only 2 or fewer official RC's to chase. It just goes to show that at the time they were rookies, the card companies didn't think enough of them to try to include them in every product.

Today, was Andy Pettitte Day! When all was said and done, he was one of the most dominant lefties to ever throw the ball, especially in the post-season.

I haven't seen the version of this one that includes Bernie, Mo, and DJ yet. I'm sure it exists somewhere. I thought it apropos that his was the pic I found since I'm celebrating these two in this post.

He had the best pick-off move in the game and he was the go-to guy if you needed a win. I'm fortunate that the only time that I've been able to watch a game at the new Yankee Stadium, Andy was on the mound! I'm thrilled he wore pinstripes for most of his career!

I know it's not an RC, but his is one of my favorites. Pettitte's lone RC hails from 1993 Bowman. It's not a pretty set and is fairly easy to come by. However, one of the sets to have in '93 was the first go 'round of Topps Finest(the other being the first go 'round of SP). If this was a real 1993 issue, this would be one heck of an RC! Beyond that, the search for one of the refractor versions would be super tough since the stated print run for the refractors in '93 was only 241 copies. While it's true that in today's hobby it's common to find RC parallels numbered significantly lower than that, check out the prices on 1993 Finest refractors on eBay. Those prices are still going strong, even on commons. Fortunately, I was able to pick this up only twenty years after the fact. It serves as a wonderful 'what if' reminder in my collection.

That was a lot of celebrating to do in a weekend! Two more plaques in Monument Park, two more numbers retired, and countless memories rehashed! Congrats to Jorge and Andy, two of the Core Four, I'm truly fortunate to have been able to watch them play the game.