Vintage Mailday from Paul at Wrigley Wax

Before I share this brilliant mailday from Paul at Wrigley Wax. I have to mention that I finally, after thinking about all last year, bought a subscription to MLB Gameday audio. It will mainly be the 1.05pm (being 6.05pm in the UK) and 3.05pm (9.05pm) games that I will be able to listen to and the odd 7.05pm (12.05pm)on the weekends.
At present I am listening to the Red Sox v Bay Rays bottom of the 8th. The Sox are being outclassed by the Bay Rays 12-4. The commentator from 1250WIN Rays Network seems more obssessed about the Sunburnt Red Sox fans than the game. For me it is very interesting to listening to the radio advertisments.
Onto the package that arrived in the week and what a surprise it was. If you read his blog Wrigley Wax, Paul talks about coming back to collecting after a 15 year lay off. I sent him a pile of Cubs cards for trade. Paul sent a magnificent selection of Red Sox from every year from 1969 to 1975.
The cards sent from Sturgis Michigan were:
1969 Topps #3 RBI leaders Ken Harrelson
1969 Topps #21 Jose Santiago
1969 Topps #52 Mike Andrews
1969 Topps #89 Russ Gibson
1969 Topps #109 Jim Lonborg
1969 Topps #148 Lee Strange
1969 Topps #189 Red Sox Rookies
1969 Topps #215 Rico Petrocelli
1969 Topps #287 Jose Tartabull
1969 Topps #498 Juan Pizarro
1969 Topps #521 George Thomas
1970 Topps #104 Gerry Moses
1970 Topps #144 Ray Culp
1970 Topps #163 Syd O'Brien
1970 Topps #251 John Scholfield
1970 Topps #340 Tony Conigliaro
1970 Topps #489 Eddie Kasko
1971 Topps #31 Eddie Kasko
1971 Topps #89 Ken Brett
1971 Topps #114 Billy Conigliaro
1971 Topps #473 Gary Wagner
1971 Topps #678 George Thomas
1972 Topps #2 Ray Culp
1972 Topps #30 Rico Petrocelli
1972 Topps #144 Marty Pattin
1972 Topps #314 Luis Aparicio
1973 Topps #592 Lew Krausse
1973 Topps #40 Carl Smith
1973 Topps #69 Phil Garliano
1973 Topps #96 Doug Griffin
1973 Topps #131 Red Sox Leaders
1973 Topps #165 Luis Aparicio
1973 Topps #365 Rico Petrocelli
1973 Topps #491 Bob Montgomery
1973 Topps #541 Bobby Bolin
1974 Topps #33 Don Newhauser
1974 Topps #113 Dick Drago
1974 Topps #118 Bill Lee
1974 Topps #204 Stolen Base Leaders
1974 Topps #219 Doug Griffin
1974 Topps #301 Bob Montgomery
1974 Topps #331 All Star Catchers
1974 Topps #427 Bobby Bolin
1974 Topps #495 Dick McAuliffe
1974 Topps #523 Cecil Cooper
1974 Topps #590 Rogelio Moret
1974 Topps Traded #151 Diego Segui
1974 Topps Traded #175 Reggie Cleveland
1974 Topps Traded #330 Juan Marichal
1975 Topps #8 Rogelio Moret
1975 Topps #80 Carlton Fisk
1975 Topps #489 Cecil Cooper
1975 Topps Mini #22 David Cash Phillies
1976 Topps #365 Carlton Fisk
1976 Topps #550 Hank Aaron Brewers
1977 Topps #430 Fergie Jenkins
2008 Allen + Ginter #US37 Jacoby Ellsbury

My first ever Hank Aaron card. Thanks Paul for the huge lot of Vintage -sorry- 1960's and 1970's cards. Brilliant!

Trade with Eric from The Pettitte Pursuit Part 1

I like nothing more than oddball cards from the 1980's.
Eric of The Pettitte Pursuit sent over a huge stack of Red Sox cards, in particular a wide and varied selection of Wade Boggs cards. Eric is sorting out his collection of baseball cards. Something I think we may have all undertaken in our collecting past. Whether it be to keep a companion happy, in my case my wife, who felt that a large cupboard full of baseball crap (as she called it) was alright, but drew the line at 'TWO' cupboards. Or you may have moved into a smaller place, a different place, or someone else's place. Maybe it was a spring training spring clean! Whatever it was, there has been a sorting and slimming of the collection at some point. Eric decided to narrow his collection to a Yankees select few .
Here is the first part of the contents of a large box Eric sent from Bloomington Minnesota:
1984 Ralston Purina #11/33 Wade Boggs
1984 Topps #786 Wade Boggs/Bob Ojeda
1985 Topps #350 Wade Boggs
1986 Topps #510 Wade Boggs
1986 Topps #661 Roger Clemens
1987 Fleer All stars #2 Wade Boggs
1987 Kaybee #4/33 Wade Boggs
1987 K-mart #23 Wade Boggs
1987 Topps #150 Wade Boggs
1987 Topps #608 Wade Boggs
1988 Donruss #BC-7 Wade Boggs
1988 Donruss #65 Wade Boggs
1998 Donruss #153 Wade Boggs
1988 Fleer #345 Wade Boggs
1988 Fleer All star #8/12 Wade Boggs
1988 Kaybee #2/33 Wade Boggs
1988 Topps #21 Wade Boggs
1988 Topps #200 Wade Boggs
1988 Topps #269 Ellis Burks
1988 Topps #388 Wade Boggs
1988 Topps Sticker #253 Wade Boggs
1989 Classic #152 Ellis Burks
1989 Donruss #12 Ellis Burks
1989 Donruss #68 Wade Boggs
1989 Donruss #280 Roger Clemens
1989 Fleer #81 Wade Boggs
1989 Fleer #83 Ellis Burks
1989 Fleer #633 Wade Boggs/Carney Lansford Athletics
1989 Kmart #14 Wade Boggs
1989 Kmart memorable Moments#2 Wade Boggs
1989 Score #9 Ellis Burks
1989 Score #175 Wade Boggs
1989 Score #654 Wade Boggs
1989 Topps #2 wade Boggs
1989 Topps #399 Wade Boggs
1989 Topps #600 Wade Boggs
1989 Topps mini #45 Wade Boggs
1989 Upper Deck #389 Wade Boggs
1990 All American Team #3/24 Wade Boggs
1990 Bowman #281 Wade Boggs
1990 Donruss #68 Wade Boggs
1990 Donruss #86 Wade Boggs
1990 Fleer #5 Wade Boggs
1990 Fleer #268 Wade Boggs
1990 Fleer #632 Wade Boggs
1990 Kmart #19 Wade Boggs
1990 O-Pee-Chee Premier #11 Wade Boggs
1990 Score #100 Wade Boggs
1990 Score #245 Wade Boggs
1990 Score #683 Wade Boggs
1990 Score #704 Wade Boggs
1990 Starline #22/40 Wade Boggs
1990 Topps #387 Wade Boggs
1990 Topps #760 Wade Boggs
1990 Upper Deck #555 Wade Boggs
1990 Upper Deck #687 Wade Boggs
1991 Donruss #55 Wade Anthony Boggs
1991 Donruss #178 Wade Boggs
1991 Donruss #235 Ellis Burks
1991 Fleer #86 Wade Boggs
1991 Leaf #273 Wade Boggs
1991 Score #8 Ellis Burks
1991 Score #12 Wade Boggs
1991 Topps #450 Wade Boggs
1991 Upper Deck #546 Wade Boggs
1992 Donruss #23 Wade Boggs
1992 Fleer #32 Wade Boggs
1992 Fleer Ultra #311 Wade Boggs
1992 Topps #10 Wade Boggs
1992 Topps #399 Wade Boggs
1992 Score #434 Wade Boggs
1992 Score #889 Wade Boggs
1992 Upper Deck #658 Greg Harris
1992 Upper Deck #646 Wade Boggs
1993 Baseball Enquirer #45 Wade Boggs
1993 Donruss #619 Wade Boggs
1993 Topps #390 Wade Boggs

Thank you to Eric for these Red Sox cards. Please don't ask me a question as the answer will be Wade Boggs.

Trade with Chris from Sac Bunt

There have been a number of newer blogs arriving on the scene lately and they raised the bar on blogging. The great looking site Sac Bunt Baseball is one one of them. Chris and John, Orioles and Twins supporters respectively, not only write very well but add, what I think, are some stunning photos. Where do they get those fantastic stadium shots? Their banner is particularly impressive and have me exploring for a better picture of my own blog. We recently undertook a trade, a first with these two, and I had my first helping back. What a brilliant selection of cards, including my first 2009 card, arrived from Vienna Virginia. Included was:
1980 Topps #40 Carlton Fisk
1987 Score #625 Jody Reed
1990 Post #2/30 Roger Clemens
1991 Stadium Club #459 Phil Plantier
1992 Donruss #23 Wade Boggs
1992 Donruss #523 Mike Greenwell
1992 Fleer #4 Roger Clemens
1992 Fleer #33 Tom Bolton
1992 Fleer #34 Tom Brunansky
1992 Fleer #35 Elleis Burks
1992 Fleer #40 Joe Hesketh
1992 Fleer #44 Phil Plantier
1992 Fleer #45 Carlos Quintana
1992 Score #21 Roger Clemens
1992 Score #58 Jeff Reardon
1992 Score #156 Greg Harris
1992 Score #187 Jeff Gray
1992 Score #189 Carlos Quintana
1992 Score #294 Steve Lyons
1992 Topps #59 Mo Vaughn
1992 Topps #677 John Marzano
1992 Upper Deck #505 Matt Young
1992 Upper Deck #676 Kevin Morton
1993 Fleer #12/18 Eric Wedge
1993 Fleer Excel #2/20 Joel Bennett
1993 Leaf heritage Series #BC3 Wade Boggs
2008 A piece of History #FM4-8 David Ortiz
2008 A piece of History #CSC-PS Curt Schilling /Jonathan Papelbon
2008 Allen + Ginter #US37 Jacoby Ellsbury
2008 Baseball Heroes #92 Jon Lester Green 143/499
2008 Baseball History #177 Carlton Fisk/ Carl Yastrzemski Green 191/499
2008 Masterpieces #31 David Ortiz Green
2008 Upper Deck SP Authentic #RE-CB Clay Buchholz 61/99
2009 Topps #50 David Ortiz

Wow, fantastic cards Chris. A 1980 Topps, three numbered cards, my first green Masterpieces and a Jacoby. I really appreciated the trade and look forward to more in the future.

1985 Topps Super Baseball

This is the third different pack of baseball cards from Dayf. The 1985 Topps Super size pack is big, real big.You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to these cards.
I'm really not sure whether to open them or not.

Update 23rd February 2009

I took dayf's advise and won't expect to die in the vacuum of deep space!

The cards were:

The behemoth Mario Soto

The Herculean Carl Ripken

The gargantuan Dwight Evans.

Not that scary after all and a nice Red Sox card to boot.

Trade with Steve from The Easy Life

Well just have a look at this impressive white Topps Co-signers cards that recently arrived on my doorstep. It came from Steve, a Mets fan, at The Easy Life. In the middle of a move and writing about the 'body count' on 24, we had time for a trade. Steve not only sent along this Jacoby Ellsbury loveliness but these as well:

1986 O-Pee-Chee #320 Jim Rice

1988 Topps #1 Roger Clemens

1988 Topps#614 Roger Clemens

1989 Topps #188 Dennis Lamp

1989 Topps Cap'n Crunch #18/22 Roger Clemens
1990 Topps #375 Dwight Evans
1990 Wonder Stars #2/20 Roger Clemens
1991 Donruss Diamond Kings#9 Roger Clemens
1991 Donruss #55 Wade Boggs
1991 Donruss #178 Wade Boggs
1991 Fleer #88 Tom Brunansky
1991 Fleer #90 Roger Clemens
1991 Score Superstar #5 Jeff Reardon
1991 Score Superstar #83 Ellis Burks
1991 Upper Deck #43 Mike Greenwell
1992 Topps #113 Mike Greenwell
1992 Topps #156 Manny Ramirez RC
1992 Upper Deck #252 Tony Pena
1992 Upper Deck #275 Mike Greenwell

1993 Donruss #44 Eric Wedge

1993 Fleer Ultra #154 Tony Pena

1993 Topps #187 John Dopson
1999 SP Top Prospects #98 Juan Pena
2007 Topps #116 Tim Wakefield
2007 Topps #142 Trot Nixon
2008 Allen + Ginter #US2 Curt Schilling
2008 Baseball Heroes #22 Manny Ramirez
2008 Baseball Heroes #29 Clay Buchholz
2008 Topps #OTG7 David Ortiz
2008 Topps #TCP19 Manny Ramirez
2008 Topps #122 Jason Varitek Gold 0156/2008
2008 Topps #174 Julian Tavarez gold
2008 Topps #550 Curt Schilling Gold 0902/2008
2008 Topps Heritage #RP12 Justin Masterson
2008 Topps Co-signers #1 Jacoby Ellsbury
2008 Topps Trading Card History #TCH3 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Upper Deck #DW99 David Wells Game Jersey

Wow, great selection of cards Steve. Thank you. I love the oddball cards. Was Cap'n Crunch a breakfast cereal? What about Wonder Stars? Biscuits? Cheese?

Trade with Steven from wait 'til next year

In search of new blog material, I trawled through some baseball blogs to find trading partners. In the meantime an e-mail from Steven, a Cubs fan, about a possible trade involving my pursuit of 1980 Topps was very welcomed. That's how I found the ever optimistic blog wait 'til next year. Have a read of his fantastic blog about baseball in the 1960's and 1970's. An era when baseball card collecting was definitely simpler.
We negotiated a trade, you can find my side of the trade here and here.
The cards that arrived from Sarasota Florida were:
1968 Topps #460 Jim Lonborg
1975 Topps #622 Fred Lynn
1980 Topps #77 Dave Stieb Blue Jays
1980 Topps #270 Mike Schmidt Phillies
1987 Topps #121 Kevin Romine
1987 Topps #449 Pat Dodson
1988 Donruss #339 Mike Greenwell
1989 Score #623 Carlos Quintana
1991 Topps #70 Ellis Burks
1991 Topps #155 Dwight Evans
1992 Score #750 Mo Vaughn

Steven is a person who looked after his cards. The 1968 Jim Lonborg card looked as if it was printed yesterday. Thanks Steven. We will, I hope, trade again.

Trade with Jeffrey from Card Junkie

While perusing the wants lists on different blogs I came across Jeffrey's blog Card Junkie and he needed cards that I actually had. I sent a few Topps Updates and Highlights and he sent back a selection of Fleer and Topps cards, some that I needed. The selection from State College Pennsylvania included:
1988 Fleer #344 Todd Benzinger

1988 Fleer #352 Wes Gardner

1988 Fleer #357 John Marzano

1988 Fleer #359 Spike Owen

1988 Fleer #361 Jim Rice

1989 Topps #734 Jody Reed

1990 Fleer #268 Wade Boggs

1990 Fleer #269 Ellis Burke

1990 Fleer #271 Roger Clemens

1990 Fleer #273 Nick Esasky

1990 Fleer #276 Rich Gedman

1990 Fleer #277 Mike Greenwell

1990 Fleer #287 Lee Smith

1991 Fleer Stickers

Thanks to Jeffrey for the trade, our first but hopefully not the last.

Holiday Break

One of the bonuses of being a teacher is that we have a good number of holidays. There is talk of reducing the holidays but most of the teachers I know usually work through the holidays and spend most of it in school catching up with the work they couldn't get done during term time (marking books, paper work, etc).
So when my wife booked a holiday for the start of this recent half-term I was pleased that we were 'getting away'. We went to a place called 'Centre Parcs' in Elveden Forest in Suffolk. The idea of this holiday village is that everything is available on the site and there are no cars allowed. The above picture is of the holiday chalet we stayed in. It was a decaying wooden hut in the middle of a forest. We spent the week swimming, walking, eating and relaxing. My boys and I played golf one day and did a two day scuba diving course in the big pool. The girls went shopping. We also had a great time feeding all the animals that came to the back door, Muntjack deers, squirrels, ducks, pheasants and birds too numerous to mention, although I think I did see a Blue Jay.
I wore my Boston Red Sox shirt just in case I bumped into fellow fan as I did in London at Christmas. Unfortunately no takers.
One night however, we dined at this place called 'Hucks American Diner'.

It was meant to be a traditional American diner. I'm not sure how close it was to the real thing unless diners in American have pictures of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein on every wall and napkins like this:

The food however was excellent. Again I'm not sure how traditional the food was. There was cornbread, ribs, crab cakes, cowboy steak, Cajun chicken, thanksgiving dinner, coleslaw referred to as 'slaw', and something called a 'Philly' cheese steak. They wouldn't let me have a menu so I photographed it instead.

Is this a traditional American dish?

If your wondering, my wife and I both opted for cornbread as a starter and a 'Big Ribeye steak' with BBQ sauce as a main. Lovely. I even wore my Red Sox shirt.

1988 Donruss baseball

If you check the wants' lists on blogs, as I do from time to time. Nobody needs any 1988 Donruss cards. Did they over print or are there no real 'big' cards in the set? Either way it appears that everyone has all the 1988 Donruss they want or need. Still a pack is a pack.
There are 660 cards in the base set.
The subsets include: 27 Diamond Kings (#1-27), 20 Rated Rookies(#28- 47), 26 Bonus MVP's and 26 short printed cards (#648-660).
There are 15 cards and 3 puzzle pieces in a pack.

The pack:

Puzzle piece 34, 35, 36

#19 Gary Gaetti DK Twins

#54 Mark Gubicza Royals

#102 George Brett Royals

#103 Mickey Tettleton A's

#150 Terrence Kennedy Orioles

#186 Baudilio Diaz Reds

#234 Jose Oquendo Cardinals

#235 William Doran Astros

#283 Devon White Angels

#366 Jim Presley Brewers

#367 Lloyd Moseby Blue Jays

#416 Brain Dayett Cubs

#452 Guy Hoffman Reds

#499 Tracy Woodson Dodgers

#585 Jeff Sellers Red Sox

Hey, hey a Red Sox.

1986 Donruss Pop-up

The second helping of different packs from Dayf is this 1986 Donruss All-star pack. Two things make this one unusual. Firstly '..its wrapped in plastic..' and therefore you can see the cards your getting, secondly the cards are bigger than your average card, not to mention that one of the cards pops up!
There are 18 pop-up cards in the set.
There are 60 All-stars cards in the set.
Included in this pack is a pop-up card and 3 large Donruss All-Stars .

The pack:

#13 Pop-up Jim Rice Red Sox

#16 Jim Rice Red Sox

#25 Tim Wallach Expos

#38 Dick Williams Manager NL All-Stars

Two Red Sox. Things are looking up. How do you store these larger cards?

Trading 'Modus Operandi'

My 'modus operandi' of trading was to build a pile of cards, say 30 or so and find someone willing to trade. It was desperate search sometimes, but I have found a collector of each Major League Baseball team, (two for many teams)except the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, I have a pursuit idea that I will share later but it will take a little research before I jump into it.

I come home from work and get, if I am honest, a little excited by the yellow envelopes and small boxes with the green customs labels arriving from the US. Occasionally it is a yellow envelope with a huge white customs label from Canada. Each containing a selection of baseball cards. As I commented many times I have enjoyed trading and I am pleased that it has kept this sort of momentum. I realised now that some collectors are getting more discerning and the curiosity of receiving baseball cards from the UK has waned a bit, so the blind trading I was use to will have to move with the times as well.

2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects Baseball

They forget the K.I.S.S motto~ Keep it Simple Stupid ~ with this set.
There are 55 cards in the Bowman base set.
There are 55 cards in the Bowman Chrome base set.
There are 110 cards in the Bowman Prospects base set.
There are 110 cards in the Bowman Chrome Prospects base set.
There are parallels for the Bowman: Red, Blue, Gold and a printing plate.
There are parallels for the Bowman Chrome: Red, Orange, Gold, Blue, Refractors, X-Fractors, Super fractors and printing plates.
I won't go into the variety of autographs...
This pack came from Rob at Texas Rangers Cards. There 7 cards in every pack of which 2 are Bowman Chrome.

The pack:

BDP1 Nick Adenhart Angels

BDP48 David Robinson Yankees

BDP17 Jaime Garcia Cardinals Chrome

BDPP16 Shane Dyer Bay Rays Chrome

BDPP63 Matt Cerda Cubs Gold

BDPP77 Cliff Pennington Athletics

BDPP101 Fernando Martinez Mets

No Red Sox!
The Resume, Skills and Up-close information on the back is very interesting. But if there is one thing I have learnt from these cards, about the up and coming players, is that they cannot sign their name for toffee. Most look like a scribble. It might be a minor complaint but they must know that there is a possibility of hitting the big time and their signatures will be sought after. A little effort and practice. I know a minor and very picky complaint.

1991 Donruss baseball

This is the first of three different packs I received from Dayf in a trade recently. This one is unusual because it contains only three cards. My limited experience tells me that it must have been included with something else like bread or cookies or cereal or cheese. There is no give away on the pack or cards to mark them as different, only that there is less cards.
The 1991 Donruss set has 770 cards in the base set.
The subsets included: Diamond Kings, Rated Rookies, Al and NL All Stars, MVP's.
Additional information in this post.

The pack:

Puzzle piece 40, 41, 42

#1 Dave Stieb Blue Jays

#101 R.J. Reynolds Pirates

#314 Kevin Brown Rangers

NO Red Sox. Any enlightening information would be well received.

1989 Topps Baseball

There are 792 cards in the 1989 Topps set.
The subsets include: Future Stars, Topps All-Star Rookies, Record Breakers, Turn Back The Clock, All-Stars, Team Leaders, First Draft Picks, Checklists and Manager cards.
There are 15 cards and 1 stick of bubble gum.

Before I start the pack, I wonder whether anyone actually sent away for the t-shirt advertised? It sounds like a beauty,

"High quality Puffy-lettered. A snip at only $9.95 plus $1.25 postage and handling ($11.20 total)plus 3 special offer cards...Offer good in U.S.A only."

Anyone?

The pack:

#154 Don Carman Phillies

#194 Greg Harris Padres

#282 Chris Carpenter Cardinals

#291 Mets leaders

#340 Kirk Gibson Dodgers

#375 Terry Pendleton Cardinals

#394 Orel Hershiser All Star Dodgers

#414 Jim Fregosi White Sox

#445 Matt Nokes Tigers

#494 Shane Rawley Phillies

#554 Nick Esasky Reds

#575 Juan Samuel Phillies

#592 John Cangelosi Pirates

#767 Mike Capel Cubs

#790 Sid Fernandez Mets

I'm not doing too well lately. No Red Sox. My Dodgers magnet appeared again.

Trade with Mark from Mark's Ephemera Part 2

I enjoy reading Mark's Ephemera it has a mix of baseball and real life. His entry about a shopping trip with his daughter amused me in a couple of ways. I take my daughters shopping as well, usually to a toy shop called 'Smyths' or 'Tescos' a huge mega supermarket a bit like Walmart but without the sports card section. I don't think you realise just how blessed you are. I have read many times on blogs quote such as:

"I went to get milk and came back with two blasters and 5 packs of cards..."

or

"...I went shopping for my wife's/girlfriend's birthday/Christmas present and bought a few packs of..."

or

"On the way home from work, thought I would drop into Target/Walmart (delete as appropriate) to pick up some packs of cards and a dozen or so blasters...".

My trips to the shops with my girls couldn't be move removed from. It usually consists of reading the shopping list and then spending half an hour or so in the My Littlest Pet, Jungle, Pony section or Dora the Explorer or any aisle that is predominately pink. I can't help have a modicum of jealousy that Mark was negotiating the price of sports cards. Then later nonchalantly putting a pack of cards in his cart and going off looking for bird seed.

The nearest I come to any sports cards is in a newsagents called W.H.Smith. Behind the counter they have a selection of football cards: Match Attax, Champions League, Topps Total, etc, Some Thumb Wrestlers packs, Ben 10 and a few other TV show related sticker packs and a range of sticker albums. You see we're still pretty big on stickers and sticker albums over here. The only cards are the Match Attax, Slam Attax and other football (usually European), there is the occasional Star Wars. The magazine section isn't much better.

There are more than enough football related titles, the biggest Martial Arts, Ultimate Warrior and Ways of Hurting People section, some Guns and Fishing magazines, Yachting, Surfing?, climbing, running, jumping, hopping and skipping magazines and a basketball magazine.

A while ago I asked if they ever stocked 'Sports Illustrated'. The lady was helpful enough to direct me toward the Magazines Manager. Never heard it was his reply. What? Would it be possible to arrange to order 'Sports Illustrated' and/or 'USA Today Sports Weekly'. He left, came back and said 'NO!'

Just remember how lucky you are.

Here are the rest of the cards Mark sent:

1989 Topps Stickers #16 Mike Greenwell

1989 Topps Stickers #29 Bruce Hurst

1989 Topps Stickers #35 Glenn Davis (Bruce Hurst on reverse)

1989 Topps Stickers #49 Kirk Gibson (Wade Boggs on reverse)

1990 Donruss #186 Bob Murphy

1990 Fleer Boston Stickers

1990 Fleer #288 Mike Smithson

1990 Fleer #632 Boston Igniters Wade Boggs/Mike Greenwell

1990 Fleer #648 Dana Williams

1990 Topps #18 Carlos Quintana

1990 Topps #155 Ellis Burks

1990 Topps #188 Mike Smithson

1990 Topps #338 Dennis lamp

1990 Topps #573 Danny Heep

1990 Topps #629 Eric Hetzel

1990 Topps #676 Randy Kutcher

1991 Donruss #9 Roger Clemens

1991 Donruss #122 Dwight Evans

1991 Donruss #123 Jody Reed

1991 Donruss #138 Dennis Lamp

1991 Donruss #346 John Marzano

1991 Fleer #89 Ellis Burks

1991 Fleer #106 Tony Pena

1991 Score #8 Ellis Burks

1991 Score #77 Dana Kiecker

1991 Score #109 Greg Harris

1991 Score #173 Jody Reed

1991 Score #183 Rob Murphy

1991 Score #271 Luis Rivera

1991 Score# 333 Daryl Irvine

1991 Score #399 Roger Clemens

1991 Score #693 Cecil Fielder

1991 Score #837 Randy Kutcher

1991 Score #889 Wade Boggs

1991 Topps #189 Daryl Irvine

1991 Topps #269 Joe Hesketh

1991 Topps #574 John Marzano

1991 Topps #675 Tom Brunansky

1992 Stadium Club #732 Mike Gardiner

1993 Score Select #94 Frank Viola

1993 Score Select #302 Scott Cooper

1993 Score Select #401 Eric Wedge

1993 Topps #103 Jody Reed

1993 Topps #270 Frank Viola

1993 Topps #528 Paul Quantrill

1993 Upper Deck #103 Scott Fletcher

1997 Leaf #346 Rudy Pemberton

2000 MLB Showdown #22 Ramon Martinez

2000 MLB Showdown #68 Butch Huskey

2000 MLB Showdown #73 Jose Offerman

2000 MLB Showdown #79 Jason Varitek

2001 Donruss #121 Trot Nixon

2001 Donruss #141 Jason Varitek

2001 Fleer Focus #10 Nomar Garciaparra

2001 Fleer Focus #17 Carl Everett

2001 Fleer Focus #90 Jason Varitek

2001 Fleer Genuine #2 Nomar Gaciaparra

2001 Fleer Genuine #93 Pedro Martinez

2001 Topps Chrome #375 Nomar Garciaparra

2001 Upper Deck Legends #24 Cy Young

2002 Topps #45 Carlos Baerga

2002 Topps #128 Jonny Damon

2002 Topps #336 Derek Lowe

Thanks to Mark for the huge selection of cards and he managed to get some very sweet Nomar cards in there as well.

Trade with Rob from Texas Rangers Cards

Thank again to Rob from Texas Rangers Cards who sent these packs in response to these cards I sent his way. It's a shame that he only needed 11 of the cards out of 38. That is a pretty poor showing even for a blind trade.

I will open the packs on Pursuit of Red Sox.

2007 Topps Turkey Red

There are 200 cards in the base set, which includes 150 subjects and 15 variations.
There are inserts: 61 Dick Perez paintings, 43 American Presidents and 25 A-Rod Road to 500
There are parallels: Chrome (#to 99), Chrome Refractors (#to 999), Black Chrome (#to 1999)
There are Cabinet cards, A-Rod signed Road to 500, relics, autographs and something called a Refractor Chromographs. Golly sounds impressive.
There are 8 cards per pack. This pack came from Rob at Texas Rangers Cards.

The pack:

#16 Stand up Double checklist

#27 Roy Halladay Blue Jays

#34 Mickey Mantle Yankees

#37 Edgar Renteria Braves

#91 Delmon Young Bay Rays

##99 Dustin Moseley Angels

#122 Roy Oswalt Astros

#159 Johan Santana Twins

No Red sox, but I still like this set of cards.

1991 Donruss Series 2 Baseball

There are 384 cards in the Series 2 base set (#387 to #770)

There are inserts: 27 MVP (#387-#412), 8 NL All-stars (#433-#441) and 19 Rated Rookies (#413-#432).

There are sub-sets: 22 Bonus cards, 14 Grand Slammers and 10 Elite (#to 10,000).

There are 15 cards and 3 puzzle pieces per pack.

The pack:

puzzle piece 52,53,54

#389 Fred McGriff Blue Jays MVP

#414 Tim McIntosh Brewers Rated Rookie

#433 Ryne Sandberg Cubs All-Star

#445 Kirk Gibson Dodgers

#451 Cecil Fielder Tigers

#456 Tony Pena Red Sox

#457Tim Raines Expos

#462 Rick Sutcliffe Cubs

#463 Danny Tartabull Royals

#468 Dave Winfield Angels

#471 Barry Larkin Reds

#472 Ron Darling Mets

#477 Frank Thomas White Sox

#483 Mike Scott Astros

#489 Sandy Alomar Indians

1 Red Sox card from an interesting set. Series 1 was blue, Series 2 was green.
It was in the 1991 Donruss set that for the first time serial numbers cards were included in a standard set. Each of the Elite cards were numbered to 10, 000, a Nolan Ryan Dick Perez drawing to 7,500 and a Ryne Sandberg auto to 5,000. I wonder if they knew then what this would lead to.

Trade with Justin

What is about a little tiny piece of material that gets us so excited?

This
"...authentic piece of a jersey worn by Nomar Garciaparra in an
official Red Sox Major League Baseball game."

did just that.

Justin, a Bay Rays collector from Florida, and I have traded once before. In the first trade he sent me the 2007 Bowman card of Jacoby Ellsbury. This time he sent the Chrome version plus the stunning Nomar game-used.

Here's the entire contents:

1987 Topps Wade Boggs

1991 Topps Archives #133 Delmar Baker

1993 Score #5/10 Scott Cooper

2003 Sweet Spot Swatches #NG1 Nomar Garciaparra

2006 Bazooka #106 David Ortiz gold

2007 Bowman #46 Josh Beckett

2007 Bowman #BP69 Matt Goodson

2007 Bowman #BDPP69 Clay Buchholz gold

2007 Bowman Chrome #BC16 Yahmed Yema

2007 Bowman Chrome #BDPP105 Jacoby Ellsbury

2007 UD Masterpieces #31 David Ortiz

2008 UD Documentary #647 BOS27 Rays 3-Red Sox 0

2008 UD Documentary #2747 BOS97 Red Sox 2-Orioles 1

2008 UD Documentary #3915 BOS133 Yankees 3-Red Sox 2

2008 UD Documentary #UD50 Daisuke Matsuzaka

Thanks to Justin for this awesome trade.

Trade with Dan from Saints of the Cheap Seats

Dan of 'the Cheap Seats' name is located on most blogs and he is a generous trader. I was on the receiving end of a very generous trade recently and have waited to post the contents. There is a certain amount of excitement in my house when I opened the package from Pittsford, New York. I could see some 1980's Topps, the Red Sox Team Card, the final Red Sox card I needed from the set and then a Jacoby card. I have tried to collect some single cards from e-bay, Topps 1980 #482, Topps 1980 #393 and 2007 Topps'52 #91. No need to worry about the 2007 '52 #91, as Dan sent it along with some other fine cards.

Here's the cards Dan sent:

1980 Topps #259 Joe Torre Mets
1980 Topps #274 Dale Murphy Braves
1980 Topps #404 Earl Weaver Orioles
1980 Topps #425 Mark Belanger Orioles
1980 Topps #426 Grant Jackson Pirates
1980 Topps #457 Bert Blyleven Pirates
1980 Topps #462 Mike Sadek Giants
1980 Topps #470 Bob Boone Phillies
1980 Topps #484 Checklist 364-484
1980 Topps #526 Dallas Green Phillies
1980 Topps #529 Jim Barr Angels
1980 Topps #545 Jeff Burroughs Braves
1980 Topps #591 Rick Cerone Blue Jays
1980 Topps #689 Don Zimmer Red Sox
1992 Topps #296 Tom Brunansky
1998 Pinnacle #13 Mo Vaughn
2002 Upper Deck Piece of History #24 Wade Boggs
2005 Upper Deck ESPN #13 David Ortiz
2005 Upper Deck ESPN #14 Manny Ramirez
2007 Topps '52 #91 Jacoby Ellsbury
2008 SP Legendary Cuts #26 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Sweet Spot #62 Josh Beckett
2008 Topps Trading Card History #3b Mike Lowell

Thank you Dan for bringing me closer still to Pursuit of 1980's. The Jacoby was the icing on the cake!

Trade with Chuck from Chuck's Used Cards

Its a beauty. Card Number 1 from the 1980 Topps set. The last 1979 highlights I needed.
Chuck from Chuck's Used Cards sent this plus many others in exchange for Football packs.
The package arrived yesterday from Fernandina Beach in Florida.

Here are the cards Chuck enclosed:

1974 Topps #204 Stolen base leaders (Tommy Harper)
1978 Topps #320 Fred Lynn
1980 Topps #1 Carl Yastrzemski
1980 Topps #210 Steve Carlton
1980 Topps #232 Alan Trammell
1980 Topps #290 Steve Garvey
1980 Topps #335 Willie McCovey
1980 Topps #450 George Brett
1980 Topps #600 Reggie Jackson
1981 Fleer #223 Fred Lynn
1981 Topps #575 Tony Perez
1982 Topps Stickers #132 Jerry Remy
1982 Topps Stickers #134 Rick Burleson
1984 Topps #82 Doug Bird
1984 Topps #344 Rick Miller
1984 Topps #381 Ralph Houk
1984 Topps #628 Ed Jurak
1985 Fleer #156 Steve Carlton
1985 Donruss #112 Tony Armas
1986 Fleer #358 Jim Rice
1988 Topps Mini #3 Dwight Evans
1989 Donruss #140 Wade Boggs
1989 Score #660 Red Sox
1991 Fleer #97 Greg Harris
1991 Fleer #101 Dennis Lamp
1991 Fleer #108 Carlos Quintana
1991 Fleer #110 Jerry Reed
1992 Donruss #720 Bob Zupcic
1992 Leaf #366 Jack Clark
1992 Pinnacle #131 Mike Greenwell
1992 Score #660 Wade Boggs
1992 Upper Deck #110 Tom Bolton
1993 Donruss #297 Tony Pena
1993 Tripple Play #252 Mike Greenwell
2007 Goudey #214 Carl Yastrzemski
2007 Goudey #217 Jim Rice
2008 Topps Heritage #6 Jacoby Ellsbury
2008 Topps Heritage #73 Dustin Pedroia
2008 Topps Heritage #600 Manny Ramirez

Thanks to Chuck for the excellent cards, a real cross section. The selection of 1980 Topps he sent was amazing, the 1980 George Brett a real highlight! We have another trade in the pipeline and I am looking forward to seeing what he can dig up next.