Recapping Derek Jeter Night

Yesterday was a great day to be a Yankee fan. Despite the score from the second half of the doubleheader against Houston, there was a great deal of celebration. It was Derek Jeter night. The Captain's number '2' jersey number was retired in a great pre-game ceremony.

His family, former teammates, scouts, and coaches from all points in his career were all in attendance for the festivities. Additionally, Jeets' plaque for Monument Park was unveiled.

Ahhh, the Core Four(plus Bernie Williams)! It doesn't get much better than that for Yankee fans of my generation. Now that these honors are in his rear view mirror, the next stop is Cooperstown!

Of course, this is a card blog so I do have a cardboard tie-in to this theme. During a recent trip to the local Target card aisle, I was surprised to find this team set staring back at me from one of the pegs.

Here's a quick look at the checklist.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this, not only because the Target's around me didn't carry any team sets last year, but more importantly because there was a Jeter in 2017 flagship design staring back at me! Here are a few faves from the set.

Across the top, despite his outing in the second half of yesterday's double dip, Tanaka is the clear ace of the rotation. Castro and Gregorius have quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the diamond(and in the batter's box). Along the bottom, Judge is the hottest rookie since Gary Sanchez in the second half of last season. I really like this pic better than the one that appears on his flagship RC(this one is shared by his Opening Day issue). Speaking of Gary Sanchez...and then we've got Greg Bird. He's been hurt quite a bit, but his showing in late 2015 and throughout this spring sure has me hoping he can bounce back, stay healthy, and be a highly productive player for a long time. These were great, but the star attraction of the team set, for me, was the new Derek Jeter on the front of the set.

It's not the most exciting picture to grace cardboard, and honestly pales in comparison to his most recent flagship offering, but I'll overlook all of that simply because I'm excited to own a new Jeter. If anyone is in need of this team set, send me a message. I can definitely arrange to send one (or more) your way. Thanks for reading.

Yay for Opening Day

I love this time of year! After an extremely long winter, it's finally time to play baseball once again. In honor of MLB Opening Day, I've got to post some favorites from my newly acquired 2015 New York Yankees team set. The set consists of 17 cards, with most of the ones not shown being essentially carbon copies of the series one cards. There are two differences: the Topps logo on the front of these is not done in foil, and as in previous years, the card numbers on the back are NYY-1 through NYY-17. 

Across the top, we have a great rookie cup of Betances, my long awaited Jose Pirela RC(I hoped it would have been in series one), and A-Rod. Across the bottom, a horribly photoshopped Eovaldi, Drew(only shown since he wasn't in series one), and a horribly photoshopped Gregorius. Here's hoping that the first official flagship cards of those two guys sport different photos of them where they are actually wearing a Yankees uni. Overall, the set was well worth the $4.99 plus tax. 

Too bad my Yankees lost their 4th straight Opening Day game, at least I had the excitement of breaking this team set today. Good thing there are 160+ more games to go this season!