You've Got Mail, Some Patriotic Lumber & a Lawyer From Puerto Rico Named Laura

Spent a few moments with the USPS kiosk this morning.   Trade packages of cardboard goodness are headed out to the following zip codes:

• 34270
• 13601
• 60706
• 07446
• 33065

Thanks for your patience, guys!   How about a quick cardboard stream-of-consciousness?

This card is interesting to me.   It's a relic card for Yankee great, Jorge Posada - so yeah, I know, of course I love it.   But it's a bit different from your every day relic card.   Upper Deck mixed things up a bit in 2001 with this SP Milestone bat card by paying tribute to Jorge's Puerto Rican heritage by branding that Commonwealth's flag into the wood.   I think it turned out pretty cool:

My iPhone picture probably doesn't do it justice, but considering the size of the bat chip and remembering my woodworking disasters as a Boy Scout - I think Upper Deck did a great job.   Not only is this something different (variety is the spice of life) for the collection but it encouraged me to do a little extra Internet reading about one of my favorite Yankees.   A few quick factoids:

- Jorge's father fled to Puerto Rico from Cuba in order to escape Castro's communist rule

- Posada Sr. worked in the Rockies' organization as a scout while his Uncle Leo (Yes!  Seinfeld reference!) played for the Kansas City Athletics back in the day.   Leo was traded to the Braves in August of 1962 but never played int he majors again.

Posada finished his career with four World Series rings, five All-Star selections and five silver slugger awards.   He is always a fan favorite for how hard he played on the diamond but some of his best work might be his charitable efforts to fund cure research and care for families affected by the disease, craniosynostosis.   His own son Jorge Luis was diagnosed with the disease shortly after birth and has followed his daddy's lead in fighting hard against this foe ever since.   His fight continues.

As a Dad myself, that's pretty good stuff.

Jorge is also well known to be a close, personal friend with the Captain, Derek Jeter.   So much so that Derek was best man to Jorge in 2000 when he married lawyer, actress and supermodel, Laura Mendez.   Gratuitous blog post picture, please:   

By all accounts, a smart and beautiful woman.   I guess we share a similar taste in women with one glaring difference:  my wife is NOT from Puerto Rico.

So there you go!   Who knew my first little Jorge Posada bat card could lead us here?   I kind of went all over the place with that one.   I love this hobby.

Thanks for reading!