Opening Day: 2011 Bronx Hopes

I usually do one of these when Pitchers and Catchers leave for Spring Training, but I forgot about that back in February, and am doing it now. Today is the official Opening Day for MLB, even though Philly plays their first game tomorrow. That's when I'm wearing my Halladay jersey, because if I wear the Yankee one, I'll probably get booed, being that I'm 20 minutes from Philly. But usually, at the beginning of the year, I list the players added and subtracted to the New York roster. Like so...

• Gained Rafael Soriano in Free Agent deal


• Gained Russell Martin in Free Agent deal


• Gained Eric Chavez in Minor League deal (was later promoted, yay)


• Gained Bartolo Colon in Minor League deal


• Gained Freddy Garcia in Free Agent deal


• Gained Mark Prior in Minor League deal


• Resigned Mariano Rivera


• Resigned Derek Jeter


• Signed Andruw Jones to a Free Agent deal

But there were also losses.

• Andy Pettite retired.


• ...yeah, that's it.

Still, it looks like an interesting season ahead of us. The insiders are saying we won't get very far, but hopefully, 2011 will prove them wrong.

Custom Card of the Day: Experiment Edition

Remember how I used to just have expansionists in post 1993 designs, just so I could customize them. Well, now, if the design's easy enough to customize, I can literally make expansionist customs, just by changing the teams. This is great for Marlins, D-Backs, Rays, Rockies, maybe even Nationals fans, if they want vintage customs of their players. Nationals fans...I could just make the cards Expos or Senators cards, and it would still be good. But with this pretty cool Josh Johnson, the expansionist cards are officially on.

Tomorrow- Gotta customize some more. Probably not another expansionist, but maybe a Yankee favorite.

Custom Card of the Day: Wells Edition

I don't know why I reserved this guy for the first few weeks of customs. Maybe it has to do with his star status in Toronto for ten years. Maybe it's because of the fact that something about guys in new uniforms excites me. Maybe it's because I needed an excuse to try to make a 1970 custom. But still...I think it's pretty nice.

Tomorrow- Experimenting with a post-vintage expansionist, in an old design.

Custom Card of the Day: Dodger Edition

This is probably one of my all time favorite customs, because it's so...artistically beautiful. The colors around Matt Kemp glow and shine, like they're the subject of the photo. And every detail seems to be crystal clear, anywhere from Kemp's uniform to right there on his face. It's a remarkable custom, and I think I should use this as a standard for all my customs in the future. It even looks kinda like a 1966 card...just a bit more actiony.

Tomorrow- A Toronto star in Anaheim

Custom Card of the Day: Cliff Edition

When this guy was playing for us in 2009, we thought we had hit a gold mine. The playoffs seemed easy to get through thanks to him, and with Pedro, Cole and Blanton, that made for a pretty damn good rotation going into the World Series. Then, Cliff Lee was traded to the Mariners, and the Rangers soonafter, where he made the World Series for the second time in a row. Now, he's rightfully back with the Phils, and hoping to actually take home a ring this time. And with that epic rotation, this seems like a plausible quest.

Tomorrow- A Dodger Favorite in all his glory

Custom Card of the Day- O-Hud Edition

I love that shot of him making that play on Matt LaPorta. That's really all I have time for this morning. I need to make some more customs tonight.

Tomorrow: Most likely a member of the toughest pitching staff in the NL.

Custom Card of the Day: Matsui Edition

This is an extremely cool card, especially for fans of Hideki in his Yankee years. There are some players that play for my favorite teams, that even if they're traded or resigned somewhere else, I'll still never root against them. Chien-Ming Wang is like that, although he hasn't really played since the Yankees released him. Abreu counts as another one, I guess. But Matsui was always a fun player to watch, and will always be fun no matter what uniform he's in. He's just a great player. I don't care if he's a hall of famer or not- he's a great player.

Coming Tomorrow- A prominent basestealing king, now stuck in San Diego.