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Where is Mr. October when we need him? If you are like me, in your late 40s, you remember all too well your childhood of Reggie Jackson’s World Series wins. The excitement of your house, your block and NYC itself.

The team spirit was palpable – sports newscasters screaming on the TV, adults walking a little taller down Madison Avenue and kids teasing Mets fans whenever they’d spot someone sporting the orange and blue. For the entire decade of the 1980s, and most of the 1990s, we would walk around with heads down and shaking in dismay from the losses. We perked up a little when the Mets won in 1986, but would never let those fans see that we were so desperate to celebrate SOMETHING that we were actually rooting for their team.

And then it happened. In 1996 we came back, and came back with a vengeance, winning the first AL East title in 15 years.

From there, we had 5 Championship seasons in 13 years and got to watch legends like Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera play night after night to both glory and failure – but it was dazzling baseball. Our hopes and dreams of a dynasty were catapulted into the stratosphere with every W, like a fastball off of the bat of The Captain himself. There were also times where hearts broke across the city, the sighs of weary fans echoing in the streets. However, they brought it home in stellar form in 2000 against the Mets in the famed Subway Series, where households were divided between the pinstripes and the orange and blue. Their star continued to rise in the aughts but has since fallen and it has been 12 long years since they have seen a World Series win. Fans are thirsty for a title and broken by this drought, starting to feel like it is a curse. Every time our hopes rise in October, they’re dashed away and our hearts get broken.

But for the last few weeks we have been watching Aaron Judge’s quest for Roger Maris‘ AL single-season homerun record with unbridled enthusiasm. It has been memorable to witness but it isn’t a championship ring from the Fall Classic. We need the Bronx Bombers to give us a glimmer of hope and go all the way. I cannot go to family Thanksgiving and listen to my nephew gloat about how the Boston Red Sox have won a title twice since 2009 and we have not.

So, let’s take the series back to New York, brush ourselves off, be Reggie Jackson and give our kids the feeling of what it is like to win it all – for old time sake.

Signed,
Lifelong Yankee Fan, No Matter What

Find all of the best New York Yankees and MLB League Championship Series Team and Player memorabilia today at SportsCollectibles.com! From autographed baseball jerseys to signed baseballs and baseball bats and helmets – you can build the ultimate baseball fan cave today! Be sure to check out our custom framing options for jerseys and photos and acrylic baseball cases to store your prized memorabilia from the diamond.

This post brought to you by Sports Collectibles Blog Dog, Shimmer!

-Shimmer is an all-around sports lover. Her and her hooman mom love all things NYC including baseball and the food. Shimmy is well known for chasing her mom Fancie around the house and having a larger-than-a-yorkie bark. Don’t even think of taking anything out of her mouth!

Card collecting is a pastime that many of us remember beginning in our childhood and possibly staying with us as we grow into adults. Whether you collected sports cards like baseball trading cards and football cards, or, depending on your age, Pokemon and Garbage Pail Kids cards, the excitement of opening a new pack is something many have experienced. Over the past few years, the trading card industry has exploded and some found themselves in a search to begin or add to their collection and some began going through their inventory and getting them graded or authenticated to prepare for and get the best price for their treasured piece of memorabilia. When looking to valuate and get your cards on the market, one of the first things experts recommend is to have them graded.

What is card grading? Card grading is often defined as the practice of submitting a trading card to a third-party service. The card is then inspected for authenticity and ranked, usually on a 10-point scale, for the condition. The card is then assigned an overall grade, sealed in a tamper-proof holder or slab, and finally given a catalogued serial number. What does all of this mean and why today have companies like Beckett and PSA graded over 75 million cards? Card grading started in the mid-1980s and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Well-known companies like PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) and Beckett have set the industry standard with smaller companies like SGC (Sportscard Guaranty) and CSG (Certified Sports Guaranty) picking up steam during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each company offers a little something different for collectors and each has their very specific methods of grading to put out the best product. Collectors the world over have used the cards graded by these companies to set market prices, see how rare cards are with pop reports, and preserve their most wanted and most valuable cards in slabs. How does it all work though? While each company has its own formulas, cards are generally graded on four points. Graders look at the corners, the surface, the centering, and the edges. Each assessment works with the other to give the grader an overall grade usually on a 1-10 scale.

When it comes to corners, graders will look for any bend or white from under the main cardboard picture. For the surface, graders will look for imperfections on the front or back. It could be a small dent in the card from a finger pushing too hard or a slight print line. Sometimes the card has these imperfections by no fault of the collector but from the manufacturer. The centering of a card is where most cards will lose grades. Centering of the card refers to the position of the picture on the overall card based on the top/bottom and left/right. The final aspect they look at are the edges which are graded similar to the corners. Graders look for any bend in the edges or maybe some slight lifting where a card was shaken or put into a top loader too hard.

Once they have grades for each of these categories, they then use company-specific formulas to give the card a number or sometimes a letter grade. The card is then passed to a finalizer who will check the work of the individual grader to see if anything was missed, or if the card needs to be re-graded. When the finalizer signs off on the card, it is then sent to slab where it is encapsulated and photographed. The card is then shipped to the consumer where it can be admired in their personal collection.

Graded cards can be autographed or unsigned and you can find an extensive array of Autographed MLB Trading Cards, Autographed NFL Trading Cards, Autographed NBA Cards and more at SportsCollectibles.com!

This post brought to you by Sports Collectibles Blog Cat Card Expert, Meecko!

-Meecko is mischievous and loving. His favorite things include climbing his tower and breaking into his food container. You can usually find him in the evenings cuddled up next to the newest addition to his family.