The New Season is Almost Upon Us!

As we sit on the eve of a new MLB season, hope springs eternal. It's the time of year when fans of every team can still have hope for a playoff run to culminate in a World Series Championship(no matter how unlikely it may be). I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I have this exact feeling about the Yankees this season. It's an exciting time to be a fan of that team from the Bronx. The addition of Giancarlo Stanton via offseason trade is one reason of course, but the team is also stocked with young, homegrown talent. In fact, my hope is that this year will be the dawning of a brand new 'Core Four'. Much like Jeter, Posada, Pettite, and Rivera were just coming into their own in the mid '90's, there are currently four youngsters that are establishing themselves as some of the best players in the league.

First, the starting pitcher:

Sevy had quite the season last year. He logged just shy of 300 innings, won 14 games, registered 230 K's, and finished among the league leaders in ERA. I was beyond fortunate to pull this blue parallel of his Chrome RC auto from a discounted retail hanger I found at Walmart a few months back. The auto is on card and one of the cleaner looking examples I've seen.

Next up, we've got the relief pitcher:

Betances came up through the Yankees system and began making an impact as a setup man, much like Mariano Rivera. Dellin had a brief opportunity as the closer, but has taken the backseat to Chapman since his return from the Cubs. Even back in the setup role, Betances has been pretty dominant. I picked this blue Chrome RC auto up a few years ago before he really had his breakout season. I really love the Yankee Stadium facade in the background. I feel like it makes for quite an iconic RC.

Lastly, we've got the backstop and the humble superstar in the making.

These guys aren't Jeter and Posada, but they sure have been fun to watch over the past two seasons. It should be really interesting to see these two continue to develop over the next few years. This is perhaps my best pull of the year thus far. I was in my local Target and there was a single hanger box of Heritage left sitting behind a few blasters of Series 1. When I opened the cello pack inside, I was a bit bummed that there wasn't a Deckle edge insert in the stack of cards. However, when I reached the middle of the stack, this card was peeking out at me. At the time I didn't know the details about these parallels(except that I really like the gold stamp). I thought they were serial numbers, but when I flipped it over, there was no numbering to be found. After a bit of research I found that they have a print run of only 25 copies.

So, therein lies my hope(s). Not only that the current group of young guys can sustain a high level of play like their predecessors, but also that this year is the beginning of their success. After all, the original Core Four made their initial playoff debut as a wild card in 1995, didn't make it to the World Series that year, and won their first championship as a group the next year. Hmmm, the Core Four Redux team was a wild card entry into last season's playoffs...perhaps history does repeat itself. I guess we will see in about 8 months. Thanks for reading.

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.