And the Derek Jeter 1993 Upper Deck Autographed buyback Rookie Card goes to …

In recent issues of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly, we asked readers to tell us who is the greatest New York Yankee of the Upper Deck era. The winner gets the 1993 Upper Deck Autographed Buyback Rookie Card seen above.

The deadline has passed and we’ve examined all of the entries from around the country, who made solid cases for Jeter, Mariano Rivera and even others like George Steinbrenner as the most important Yankee since 1989.

The answer is debatable, but the best effort and case for the player got the card.

And the winner is …

Michael Lee from Chicago, Ill.

Here’s what he wrote in making the case for Rivera …

When you mention the greatest ballplayers to ever don the heralded pinstripes of the New York Yankees, the iconic Babe Ruth representing baseball itself, or the quite humility and heroics of Lou Gehrig, or the raw man-child talents of Mickey Mantle, or the statesman-like class exhibited by Joe DiMaggio come to mind – all having two things in common; (1) the ability to transcend the game of baseball and connect with the American public and (2) add to the lure of the Yankees franchise and its dominating 26 world championships.

When asked to name the greatest Yankee of the Upper Deck Era, immediately Donny Baseball, the post-season heroics of the Captain Derek Jeter, class of Bernie Williams or the intensity of Paul O’Neill come to mind. But as a kid that grew up in the shadows of Yankee Stadium in the 1980s and 1990s, playing stickball I always pretended to be one player and one player only –- a man that simply went by a single name … Mo.

He’s the ultimate Yankee, the embodiment of the Yankee myth, and for
15 seasons he has played the game with class, dignity and dominance the Yankee pinstripes demand (and so few can deliver). He comes into a game with Metallica’s Enter Sandman blaring over Yankee Stadium sound system and takes the mound – it suddenly becomes a game between men and boys.

Jeter is the Captain, but Rivera is the Closer – the last man with the ball representing the last out and the bridge to Frank Sinatra’s New York New York as John Sterling screams “Yankees win! The Yankees win!”
And as a kid that used to stay up way past his bedtime to quietly sneak glimpses of Yankee baseball using headphones too big for his head, those words were the perfect ending to any day.

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Congratulations to the winner. This contest courtesy of Upper Deck was found only in the pages of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly and there are all kinds of cool things up for grabs in seemingly every issue.

For example, want to win one of five boxes of Topps’ T206 100th Anniversary Edition cards when they come out in November? Get the latest issue of Beckett Baseball. More of a football fan? In Beckett Football, there were contests for autographs of top NFL rookies that just closed courtesy of Panini America.

Oh, and, in case you missed it online …

Over on Beckett.com we’ve got a contest for a free $600 box of Exquisite Collection basketball cards — and a contest for a Gene Simmons Cut autograph found in a Press Pass Kiss 360 box.

What’s next in store? You’ll just have to wait and see.

Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.