Twins sign Phil Hughes to 3 year deal

The news hit Rotoworld and all over twitter saying the Twins will indeed sign Phil Hughes, but not to the 2 year deal it was rumored. Instead, he will be with the Twinkies for 3 years (barring any trades).  I'm excited for Phil.  His last season in the Bronx was brutal to watch.  I always rooted for him, things did indeed get rough but I stuck by him.  Things just didn't go our way and I begrudgingly knew his time in the Bronx was up.

At least Hughes walked away with a ring in 2009 being the setup guy to the greatest closer to ever play the game.  How many pitchers can say, "I was the guy that got it to Mo in the season where we won the World Series."

It's tough to see him go.  I always wondered where he would end up and I feared the worst: Mets, Angels, or even *GASP* the Red Sox.  But I do like the Twins organization, they have an amazing history and have put together some pretty good teams over the past few years.  They've had their troubles but it seems like they're trying to get a team together that could give them a shot.  They will be tied with the Dodgers as #2 on my list of favorite teams.  I'm still waiting for Mattingly to get his ring as a manager.  But I can still hope Hughes catches fire and helps his team to a WS of their own.

And who will I be rooting for when the Yanks play the Twins with Hughes on the mound?  Well, I'll be rooting for an 8 inning no hitter for Hughes...but Yanks win off Perkins in the 9th.

Good luck Phil.

A Very Important Phil Hughes Auto

I've recently picked up what I would consider the cornerstone of my Phil Hughes collection. Actually this may be the cornerstone of my entire non-Mattingly collection. It's an on-card auto of one very well known Phil Hughes and some other guy. Never heard of this guy but I think he might go far.

But seriously, I've seen this card two times on eBay and I've been in the market for a Derek Jeter auto. I figured I would only have one Jeter auto in my collection so I wanted an on-card auto. The Jeter card I was interested in was this one which commemorated his passing Gehrig as the all time hits leader in the old Yankee Stadium.

But I found this gem and I HAD to have it.


The back should read "HOLY S@#$! YOU PULLED A FLIPPIN' DEREK JETER AUTO. YOU LUCKY BASTARD!" because that's how I would've felt if I pulled this.

I hope Topps is reading this because this is what a cool on-card auto looks like.

Opening Day for 2009 Yankee Collecting

It's spring training and the start of the collecting season. As a player collector and set building you learn to pick your battles. I'm one card away from finishing my '09 Topps Series 1 set. And I've given into temptation and got 2 blasters of 2009 Upper Deck base. So I'll work on that set as well. And I know for sure I'll be working on Heritage this year.

But for those other sets I'll be looking around for some of my favorite Yankee players. And maybe jumping on the Teixeira bandwagon due to his Mattingly connection.

But I'm really excited that there will be a bunch of cards of Xavier Nady in a Yankee Uniform. I know 2008 Updates & Highlights, 2008 Documentary and 2008 Ultimate(?) had him in a Yankee uniform but there's nothing like pulling your favorite player from a good ol' fashioned regular set.

Also Phil Coke has made his mainstream debut in both Topps 2009 and Upper Deck 2009. I know he has an auto card in Spectrum which I hope to pick up when my eBay hiatus is over. I've seen his Heritage rookie card which looks great. I actually own a Jim Kaat rookie from the 1960 set and the rookie cards are similar in design except they have that ROOKIE CARD MLB logo in the middle of the ribbon as shown here. I'll have to dig into the 2009 checklists and see what sets he's in.

And my man Phil Hughes is a hobby regular in this year's sets. I have a feeling I'll be tracking down quite a few Phil Hughes cards this year. I've seen the 2009 Heritage Hughes card and I love it. I want it! I hope he somehow finds his way into the rotation this year. I'm really rooting for Hughes to do some great things in his major league career. Which is pretty unheard of for me. I'm used to sticking with players that are established and Phil Hughes is a pretty big gamble. The odds that he'll be traded within the next 3 years is probably extremely high given the state of the rotation at the moment. I held my breath this off season hoping to not see his name in the hot stove reports and I've been lucky. I don't know how I'd feel if he got traded.

I really like Upper Deck's Game Used Jersey insert for this year. The letters are a bit more exciting than putting a big square swatch or X shaped swatch (I'm talking to you Upper Deck X) in the middle of the card. And it's better than that stupid UD thing they had in 2008. I never liked that.

So in summation, if you find yourself with a bunch of Phil Hughes, Xavier Nady and Phil Coke cards that you don't really want. Just drop me a line and I'll see if we can work something out.

Oh yeah, if you have any of those YSL thingys hangin' around, I'm interested in them too.

Confessions of a player collector

I haven't been faithful.

I have lusted after another player's cards.

I hope Donnie Baseball can forgive me...

But I collect Phil Hughes cards. I think he's a nice guy and I'm very hopeful that he'll have a great career. For the sake of our rotation, I hope he lives up to all the hype. I got to see him pitch in the Governor's Cup in Durham earlier this year. I was extremely excited to see him pitch and he didn't disappoint. He pitched 5 innings and struck out twelve batters.

As for collecting his cards, I try to go after autographs and parallels on eBay. But if you have any Phil Hughes cards that you'd like me to take off your hands, by all means let me know. Phil Hughes cards are fairly affordable on eBay except for some of the scarcer autographs, numbered parallels, or By the Letter cards. Then you have the occasional seller who thinks their stuff doesn't stink and charges an astronomical amount for a parallel that someone else has at a starting bid of 99cents.

I hope to continue to grow my Hughes collection moving forward. I dread the Hot Stove trade rumors about the Yankees dealing away Hughes in a package for a pitcher who will be expensive and may not pan out. I really would like Cashman to keep Hughes and let him grow into either a #1 or #2 rotation guy. But he's still young and he has a shot, I hope he gets that shot playing for the Yankees. Until then, I'll just keep collecting them as I go.

These are the cards I've accumulated so far:



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Yankees I Collect

These are cards that have a special place in my collection or that I actively persue on eBay. This list is in order from most interested in to least interested in.

Don Mattingly cards (I have over 400 Mattingly cards)

Phil Hughes cards (I have some but not a whole lot)

Xavier Nady Yankee cards or Autos (I have very few)

Joba Chamberlain (I have some but not a whole lot)

Phil Coke cards (I have none, looking for some)

Other Yankees I collect (Jeter, ARod, Mussina as Yankee, Rivera, Joba)

Yankee Stadium Legacy cards(I'm on page 2 of the collector list @ Upper Deck with 180 cards)

I'll probably have to create a trade or purchase disclaimer soon just to set up some ground rules. My rule of thumb is if you're interested just ask. I'll try to be as accommodating as possible but if a trade doesn't fit or the price is too high then both parties have a right to say so and either reorganize the deal or walk away. No use cryin' over spilled Brien Taylors.