Frank Luna (right) has worked with Yankees pitcher Luke Weaver and other players on signing and appearance opportunities. (Frank Luna)
Frank Luna has been working with young New York Yankees players for a couple of years, helping them with signing and appearance opportunities.
With those appearances, he likes to find one meaningful card of the player to potentially give to them.
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This time around it was Yankees relief pitcher Luke Weaver, who made a name for himself as New York’s closer last season.
While recently working with Weaver at Brandon Steiner’s CollectibleXChange, Luna found the perfect card to give to the Yankees pitcher — a valuable card that hasn’t appeared on the secondary market often.
It was Weaver’s 2014 Bowman Draft Chrome Autographs Superfractor, which is numbered 1-of-1, and graded a Gem Mint 10 CGC Cards (formerly CSG).
“I was paying attention to Weaver’s market and I saw that pop up,” said Luna, a New Jersey native. “When his Super popped up on eBay, I hit up the guy and we worked out a deal for it.”
Luke Weaver signed an orange parallel card (left) for Frank Luna in return for Weaver’s 2014 Bowman Draft Chrome Autographs Superfractor card (right). (Frank Luna)
Luna has been holding on for a little while waiting for the day he could trade the card to Weaver. He finally got that chance last week.
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“He was stoked,” Luna said. “Just the way things are going, he said he would love to share this with one of his kids. It was cool.”
Luna did get back a card in the trade. Weaver signed an orange parallel from the same set for Luna with a special inscription.
“Frank Thanks for the Super!”
And Weaver even signed it “1/1” – making the card with the inscription a truly one of a kind.
Even though Luna has gotten to work with a number of baseball players such as Aaron Boone, Paul O’Neill and Oswaldo Cabrera, these moments are special and important to him.
When it came to Weaver, Luna was inspired by his story. Weaver has been pitching in MLB since 2015 and has struggled at times, going from a starter to a reliever while trying to find the right role. It all clicked last season when Weaver had the best season of his decade-long career.
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Luna was laid off not long ago and didn’t know what he was going to do. However, he didn’t let that setback keep him from pursuing amazing opportunities. He used his passion and connections to dive head-first into working with athletes.
It’s not just special for Luna; he also helps the players grow their roots in the community by connecting them with Little League teams and similar organizations.
Then, he gets a card for the player, which will never leave their collection.
“The cool thing is I bought it last year with the thought that it would get back to him one day,” Luna said. “Weaver’s story has been so unique and different. He’s grinded through the majors, and being able to return something like that for a player is cool to do.”
