Young love

If you're here hoping to read about teen angst or first love, you're in the wrong place.  Of course that subject matter might get more hits from these internets I keep hearing so much about.

No, I'm here to remind you all that I've still not gotten over Michael Young leaving the Rangers.  Sure, you Phillies and Dodger fans don't care about Michael.  Dodger fans don't want him and I get that.  You don't have the history with Michael that I do.

Michael was Mr. Ranger for a long time.  Young has played 14 years in the Majors and 13 of those were with Texas.  He had 2230 hits for Texas.  He had 415 doubles and 177 homers for Texas.  He drove in 984 runs and scored another 1085 runs for Texas.  He had a .301 career average in Texas.

You'll have to forgive me for not being happy that Young is in the process of finishing his career with other teams.  Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that the Dodgers are still talking to Young and would like to have him as a backup infielder, but that Young is considering retirement.  I hate to hear that because he was my favorite Ranger for a long time.  I would also hate to see him end up in New York where the Yankees have apparently expressed an interest in having him as a backup.

I still pick up Michael Young cards where I can and the place where I can pick them up most often is on Ebay.  I picked up a pretty interesting lot of Young cards for a great price last week.

Here we have a 2004 Donruss Elite Status Gold #20/24.  Get used to that shot.  You're going to see it a few more times.

This is a 2004 Elite Extra Edition Aspirations Gold #12/25.

Who needs a card #/25 when you can have one #/10?  This is the Blue Status parallel #2/10.   It's all die-cut and stuff.

Blue not your favorite color?  You can have the gold status die cut #7/10 if you prefer.  Well, not really.  It's mine.

Hey look, it's a different picture.  This is a 2005 Donruss Studio proof #7/25.  There's that building I used to work in again.  You can just see the tip of it under the barrel of the bat.

I like the info on the back of this one.  It says in 2003-04 that Young only went more than two consecutive games without a hit only once and that was a three game hitless streak.  That's a pretty consistent hitter if you ask me.

Moving on, we come to a 2005 Donruss Signature Century parallel.  The design isn't great, but it is a card I didn't have.

It also just happens to be #4/10.  

I just noticed Michael is listed as a shortstop on this 2005 Donruss Team Heroes Showdown gold parallel.  Michael moved from 2nd to short to 3rd to facilitate other players moving into those positions.  He didn't always like it, but he did it for the team.  

The Team Heroes parallel is #3/10.  

Of all the cards in this lot, I have to say this one is the ugliest.  It's a 2009 Topps Authentic Ticket Stub Jersey gold parallel.  It has an authentic ticket stub from the August 5th game against the Yankees.  The Rangers won that game 8-6, but Michael was 0-3 with a couple of walks and a run scored.

The Ticket stub card is #8/10.

My favorite card from the lot is this 2011 Finest purple refractor.  It complements the Young Mosaic Die Cut #10/10 I have in a box somewhere.

The purple refractors are #/5 and this one is #2/5.

This lot set me back a whole $10.  Not to bad for so many low numbered cards.

I'll be assembling some packages today for a trip to the post office tomorrow.  You feeling' lucky?