Talking points: Gardner's injury, Jeter's career, A-Rod's resurgence, Soriano's spark and the wild card

There's so much to talk about in Yankeeland right now I just want to jump right in.

Bye Bye, Brett

This just in: The Yankees leadoff hitter Brett Gardner has a Grade 1 left oblique strain and is likely out for the year. Putting the Yankees' 2013 injury epidemic in perspective, the Yankees have used 54 players this season. The most players used in a season by any team ever? 59.

Honestly, he hasn't had as good a season as I'd hoped for (.273 AVG, .344 OBP, 24/32 SB/CS), but it's still a crushing loss because the Yankees don't have a good replacement for him. Ichiro is the next closest thing to Gardner, but Joe Girardi has selected Curtis Granderson to hit leadoff—at least for tonight. 

Knowing When To Quit

Mike Mussina left the game on top with his first 20-win season. Was it too soon? Probably. Rickey Henderson swiped 11 bases in his final two seasons combined, adding to his comfortable all-time lead. Was 1,406 his lucky number growing up or something?

After Derek Jeter was recently declared out for the season, Brian Cashman said that no one has seen his last game. The Captain is 39 years old, and, following a season in which he led the league in hits and plate appearances, he'll end 2013 with just 17 games played.

Mickey Mantle Featured Card of the Week

I had to save the best for last.

Judging by the live listings at VintageCardPrices.com, this 1961 Topps Mickey Mantle card is by far the most valuable one passed down to me in this collection.

Putting the value of the card aside, it still gives me shivers down my spine just looking at it.

My dad always tells me how his mother threw out his baseball cards when he went to college and how upsetting it was to lose them forever. If she didn’t throw those cards out and he didn’t put any in between his bike’s spokes, my dad would have had a very, very valuable collection.

This card isn’t from my dad; it’s from his good childhood friend Neil Wernick. Since I believe this completes the set, I want to send a big thank you to Neil once again for passing down his sacred treasures to me. I can’t even begin to fathom what they must mean to him. But don’t worry, Neil, I’m taking great care of them!

Roger Maris Featured Card of the Week

If you’ve never seen the movie 61*, I advise you get yourself a copy from the video store tonight.

The movie details Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle’s race to 61 homers in 1961. A lot of it shows how the media treated both players differently and how fans felt about both too.

For your information, I have two more cards left from this era. Click here for a full archive of all the old cards I've featured this summer and fall.

Hector Lopez Featured Card of the Week

Hector Lopez played alongside Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (keep those two players in mind later this month) in the Yankees’ 1961 outfield. Lopez never hit .300 in 12 major league seasons, eight of which with the Yankees.

Lopez is also well known for being the first black manager in Triple-A. Here are his career stats (B-R):

Phil Linz Featured Card of the Week

Phil Linz was a utility player for the Yankees in the 1960s and might be most remembered for his harmonica playing.

Fittingly, this quirky fact about Linz was made known through Ball Four by Jim Bouton, last week’s FCOTW. Here’s the famous harmonica story from Wikipedia:

On the team bus, after a Yankee loss to the Chicago White Sox, Linz was in the back playing a plaintive version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on his harmonica. Yankee manager Yogi Berra thought the sad cowboy style mixed with a children's nursery rhyme was mocking the team. He told Linz to pipe down. Linz didn't hear and kept playing. Berra became infuriated and called back from the front of the bus, "If you don't knock that off, I'm going to come back there and kick your ass." Linz couldn't hear the words over the music, so he asked Mickey Mantle, "What he say?" Mantle responded, "He said to play it louder." This led the famous confrontation when Berra stormed to the back of the bus, slapped the harmonica out of Linz' hands, and the instrument hit Joe Pepitone's knee.

As you can tell, Linz is not well recognized for his baseball playing. Although, judging from his career stats he seemed like a serviceable backup infielder and outfielder.

Mickey Mantle Featured Card of the Week

Because it’s my birthday, I felt like giving you guys a treat. Above is a 1964 Topps Mickey Mantle. Don’t fret, the best is yet to come.

Looking on eBay, the card is valued at anything between $70 and $800. The $800 one is in perfect condition. Mine is clearly not.

Mickey Mantle’s widow, Merlyn, passes at age 77 to Alzheimer’s disease

Seventy-seven-year-old Merlyn Mantle died Monday in a hospice in Plano, Tex from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Merlyn was Mickey Mantle’s high school sweetheart, and were married after Mickey’s rookie season in 1951.

Mickey Mantle had passed to cancer in 1995, and he was my father’s favorite player.

Mickey Mantle Featured Yankee Card of the Week

Mickey Mantle played in the most All-Star Games (16) in a Yankee uniform in all time. Of course, the first ASG wasn’t until 1933, so Babe Ruth was selected just twice.

This is another Upper Deck Legends of New York card featuring another legendary outfielder for the Yankees. Mantle cards are usually pretty hard to come by — especially the originals — but this is a fairly common card from the set.

11th Featured Yankee Card of the Week!

Sadly, I don’t have any original Mickey Mantle Cards from the ‘50s and ‘60s, but I do have a number of remakes.  This is a cool card because it is one of 500 different variations.  There is a card for each one of his homers, but this one happens to be his 500th – making it more valuable.

My dad is a huge Mantle fan, and apparently had several cards of him.  However, he is one of the thousands of kids that had his baseball cards thrown out by his mother.