Trade with Adam from Thoughts and Sox

I really should collect Jason Varitek or even cards of catchers. Its a Red Sox name that a frequently pull from packs and, it would appear, that others do to. This latest lot of cards comes from Adam at Thoughts and Sox. A fellow Red Sox supporter, collector, follower and blogger. He has an extensive list of his Red Sox needs, which is handy because I have an extensive list of Red Sox doubles from other trades. A trade was arranged and the return package arrived on Thursday, which is very quick considering it was posted the previous Saturday in West Plains Missouri. I was surprised too by the size and weight. I thought that this was a pile of cards with an armoured tank of packaging. It was cards but also a book, 'Why not us?'

If not sure if Red Sox fans read books about other clubs and vise-a-versa. I have read books about my football club, Charlton, but would find very little interest in the history of say 'Hull City'. On the other hand I have read the biography of David Beckham, Paul Gasgoine and Bobby Moore.
Baseball literature is rare but not unknown in the UK. My local bookstore called Waterstones has a label for baseball between 'Badminton' and 'Basketball'. I have yet to see a baseball book in this section, plenty of basketball and boxing, one or two on badminton, biathlon and billiards. There was even a book on 'Beach volleyball!' But no baseball.
My own limited collection consists of:

'Baseball for Dummies'

'The 100 greatest baseball players of the 20th Century'

'The 100 greatest baseball games of the 20th Century'

'The Iowa Baseball Confederacy'

'101 Reasons to Love the Red Sox'

A pile of children's baseball books:

'Baseball in April and Other Stories'

'Babe and Me'

'Jackie and Me', etc and more

All these books have come from friends or work colleagues. All except the '100 greatest' are pre-owned and bought from a charity shops. They are thoughtful (I think-I'm not too sure about baseball for dummies) gifts and appreciated. The book sent by Adam will join this small but cherished collection.

He included some cards as well:

1982 Topps #602 Rich Gedman

1984 Topps #56 Gary Allenson

1985 Topps #116 Dennis Boyd

1985 Topps #696 Mike Easler

1986 Topps #233 Steve Lyons

1987 Fleer #27 Marty Barrett

1990 Donruss #476 Kevin Romine

1990 Topps #402 Mike Greenwell

1991 Score #446 Tony Pena

1991 Score #823 Jeff Plympton

1991 Score #838 Josias Manzanillo

1993 Stadium Club #315 Greg Harris

1994 Pinnacle #17 Mo Vaughn

1996 Score #508 Scott Hatteberg

1996 SP #40 Mo Vaughn

1996 Stadium Club #303 Mo Vaughn

1997 Topps #243 Aaron Sele

2006 Fleer #183 Craig Hansen

2008 Baseball Heroes #20 Jason Varitek charcoal

2008 Baseball Heroes #26 Curt Schilling

2008 UD Timeline #30 David Ortiz

Thank you Adam for the great cards and the Red Sox book. Greatly appreciated and I will continue to monitor your checklist as much as possible.

Trade with Chuck from Chuck's Used Cards

Someone who had become a friend and a good trading buddy is Chuck at Chuck's Used Cards. We are in a unique position of trading cards that we have easy access to. In my case it is football cards. Chuck collects, amongst other things, Champions League Football cards.
For those of you who are unaware,(even not bothered), the Champions League is a competition between the clubs who win the domestic competitions through-out Europe. It is in reality a competition between the biggest and richest clubs in Europe. The fact that they play against each other makes them bigger and richer, so teams are desperate to qualify for the Champions League. The most powerful clubs in football in Europe have talked many times about creating an European 'Super' League, but it never eventuates. There was a group called 'G-14', which consisted of 18? of the most powerful clubs in Europe. They voiced concerns about the amount of money that the governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA take from the gate receipts, television rights, merchandise plus other money related issues. Naturally clubs wanted their fair share of that particular cash cow. With the formation of the 'G-14' , most pundits thought the next logical step was to form the European 'Super' League. UEFA and G-14 agreed on some points and the latter was disbanded. The Champions League is still the Number 1 European competition and, the most powerful clubs in Europe continue to get richer and therefore even more powerful.
Luckily I was able to find some of these cards for Chuck in my local newsagents and a deal was struck.
Chuck sent in return:
1985 Topps #606 Rich Gale
1986 Topps #529 Marc Sullivan
1987 Donruss #153 Rich Gedman
1987 Donruss #647 Dave Sax
1988 Topps BIG #54 Marty Barrett
1988 Topps BIG #80 Ellis Burks
1990 Bowman #282 Marty Barrett
1992 Donruss #87 Danny Darwin
1992 Stadium Club #732 Mike Gardiner
1992 Stadium Club #839 Bob Zupcic
1993 Topps #323 Mike Greenwell
1994 Donruss #644 Paul Quantrill
1995 Stadium Club #386 Mike Greenwell
1995 Stadium Club #404 Ken Ryan
1995 Stadium Club #407 Greg Harris
1995 Studio #161 Andre Dawson
1995 Upper Deck #24 Frank Rodriguez
1995 Upper Deck #83 Jeff Suppan
1995 Upper Deck #187 Bill Selby
1996 Topps #377 Luis Alicea
2000 Fleer Gamers #32 Pedro Martinez
2001 Donruss #47 Hideo Nomo
2006 Topps #BOS6 Mark Loretta
2006 Topps #146 Matt Clement

Thank you Chuck. My nice newsagents has purchased another box of the Champions League Cards, so there is now a fresh supply if you want to trade again.

Promotional Sample baseball cards

An interesting find on e-bay recently, this collection of 6 promo/sample cards. The cards arrived from Germany, of all places. I know very little about them. They are designs that I have not come across before, except the Ben Grieve Skybox EX century. I am curious as to whether they were cards soon to be released or whether they are 'We are contemplating this designs, what do you think?'.Answers on a postcard, sort of cards. Either way, how do they make their way into the public domain. Are they sent to card shops, magazines or collectors? In Germany?

This is obviously pre-Internet boom of blogging. Now companies send a 'box' of specially selected cards to Beckett Media or a random box to Wax Heaven. So I can only presume that the Promo cards has gone the way of the Dodo. David at Tribecards has an appreciation for sample cards, so they will be winging their way over to him soon.

I think the card companies have come to understand that plastic cards, like the skybox EX, Pacific Invincible and ToppsGallery Proof Positive are not too popular and the attempts at this style of cards have fallen rather flat. I like them, but not for aesthetic reasons, mainly for their oddball nature.

1977 Pepsi Cola Collection

This is an interesting card that arrived within the box recently sent by Tribecards. I have become fascinated with cards that come with consumer goods. I have cards produced by Topps for Pepsi, I presume for advertising purposes, but I have never seen a round or baseball shaped card before.

A quick search supplies me with some information.

These were inserted in cartons of Pepsi-Cola, and there were 72 cards in the set. This round card was not however how the card originally looked. This is the interesting part. The card is the insert in the middle of a glove. The back had a send away offer, for a Personalized Superstar T-shirt with your name on it. The four Superstars were Pete Rose, Rico Carty, Joe Morgan, and Rick Manning.

The example shown is:

To my buddy Chris (place your name here), Best Wishes, Pete Rose.

I think that is as personalised as it gets. I will add this to my growing 'oddball' collection of cards.

1989 Topps American Baseball cards

Ever since I found out that Topps had created a set of baseball cards for the UK market in 1988, ingeniously called 'American Baseball cards', I have searched for packets. I found some and posted them on 'A pack a day' back in August 2008. I was informed then that a set was produced in 1989 as well. I have searched for this set since.
To my surprise two lots of cards arrived on e-bay called just American baseball cards, I had a sneaking suspicion that these were the cards I had been searching for all this time. The photo provided was upside down and the description game no hint as to the year, just that there was 46 in one lot and 42 in the second. So I put in a bid and waited. Again my 'strategy' paid dividends and I won both lots.
To my further surprise when they arrived, it appeared that it was the complete 1989 set. All 88 cards, nicely placed in six card sleeves. There are only 4 Red Sox in the set, I don't mind it was a pleasant e-bay purchase and the conclusion of another 'pursuit'.

Trade with John from Sac Bunt

A great package arrived during the week from John, a Twins Fan, at Sac Bunt. I had completed a trade with his fellow Sac Bunt'er' Chris in February. In that post I confused them. I won't be making the same mistake again.
I understand that this is a difficult trade for the boys at Sac Bunt who 'hate the Red Sox almost as much as the Yankees.' So I was pleased to have received the cards and what a great selection there was too.
I really liked the Upper Deck Masterpieces set. It was popular with other collectors too. The canvas feel and look, even the off-white (I'm sure there is a name like Vanilla for it) card colour gave this set a very unique feel. They have produced this set two years running and changed very little. Although the insane number of parallels and the ridiculous border names such as Ionized, Bronze Ore, Hades, Forest Green, Persian Blue, Serious Black and what the hell is Urban Grey? Is it a variation of Rural Grey or Commuter Belt Grey? These really put some collectors off. So whether of not Upper Deck will go for three straight years I'm not sure.

John sent:
2007 UD Masterpieces Captured on Canvas #CC-CR Coco Crisp
2007 Fleer Untra Swing Kings #SK-DO David Ortiz
2008 A piece of History #15 Manny Ramirez
2008 Bowman #5 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Bowman #50 David Ortiz
2008 Bowman #83 Jason Varitek
2008 Bowman #89 Curt Schilling
2008 Bowman #181 Dustin Pedroia
2008 Goudey #28 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Stadium Club #99 Ted Williams 1st
2008 Stadium Club #145 Clay Buchholz
2008 SP Authentic #5 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 SP Authentic #91 Jonathan Papelbon
2008 SP Authentic #93 David Ortiz
2008 Sweet Spot #32 David Ortiz

2008 Topps Chrome #6 Daisuke Matsuzaka

2008 Topps Chrome #20 Mike Lowell

2008 Topps Heritage #88 Clay Buchholz
2008 UD Masterpieces #11 Carl Yastrzemski
2008 UD Masterpieces #12 Wade Boggs
2008 UD Masterpieces #13 Curt Schilling
2008 UD Masterpieces #14 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 UD Masterpieces #15 David Ortiz
2008 UD Masterpieces #16 Jonathan Papelbon
2008 UD Masterpieces #17 Manny Ramirez

Thanks John. These are such excellent cards. It was great trading with you.
I really wanted to show the Dice-K Topps card, which is blue. But the scanner wouldn't capture it very well. I very nice David Ortiz game used will have to do.

1975 Topps Mini

Here is another of the 'speculative' bids I put on e-bay recently. It was for a lot of 1975 Topps mini's. The seller listed 24 including just two Red Sox #601 Juan Beniquez and #612 Terry Hughes, so I put in a bid and just left it to run. I won. Which reminds me.
My dad is a mad keen fisherman. When I was younger, my dad would take my brother and I fishing. We lived on a river, close to the coast, so every weekend we would go fishing. One weekend we would go beach fishing, then the next weekend fishing from the boat, or from the shore under the railway bridge. We even went away camping and fishing. He taught my brother and I how to fly fish. I ate so much fish, my Omega 3's must be through the roof.
Although I think we overdosed on the angling. My brother hates fishing now, he will go for my dad's sake. He enjoys his company, but tries to fish as little as possible. I haven't fished in years and the thought of it brings back some pretty good memories.
While we were out fishing and there wasn't anything biting, my dad would adopt what he called 'His strategy'. It was basically sitting back, feet up, hat over your eyes pretending to be asleep. My brother and I would follow suit and without fail the fish would always bite and I mean always. As a child it was fantastic. It was proably more of a watched pot never boils situation, but it never failed. Someone would always get a nibble.
Sometimes we would be out in the boat for hours, so it passed the time. He had a similar way of finding a spot to fish as well. Suddenly he would just stop the boat or at a part of the beach and say there is a deep bit here, the water is moving right here or the current looks good. It was probably a load of rubbish, but we believed him. (There is still a part of me that does.)
Although I think that some of these 'speculative' bids that I lay are a matter of a luck and 'the watched auction never boils'. I like to think that I adopt 'My strategy' and lay back with my hat over my eyes. I lose most of them but I win a few and on the whole, helps to make my baseball collection a little more interesting and fun.
My dad would be proud of me.

Trade with David from Tribecards Part 2

Here is the second part of the monstrous helping from Indians Cards. The amazing thing about this package, there was I needed most of the cards, well over 90%. I must ask though, 'How do you accumulate 10 1992 Leaf Tim Naehring cards?' Is that just unfortunate luck or did you buy box after box?
However, before the list an apology. I mentioned that the cards came from Prescott Arizona, but as David pointed out it is Prescott Arkansas. So I am sorry for the mistake. The second helping from Arkansas included:
1997 Bowman Best #7 Mo Vaughn
1997 Circa #82 Bill Haselman
1997 Circa #171 Heathcliff Slocumb
1997 Donruss #27 Roger Clemens
1997 Donruss Signature Series #72 Nomar Garciaparra
1997 Pinnacle #261 Mo Vaughn
1997 SP #36 Steve Avery
1997 SP #38 Tim Naehring
1997 SP #39 Troy O'Leary
1997 Topps #54 Troy O'Leary
1997 Topps #66 Tim Wakefield
1997 Topps #230 Tim Naehring
1997 Topps Stadium Club #165 Mike Stanley
1997 Topps Stadium Club #168 Troy O'Leary
1997 Upper Deck #25 Mo Vaughn
1998 Bowman Chrome #421 Matt Kinney
1998 Topps #265 Nomar Garciaparra
1998 Topps #225 Pedro Martinez
2000 Donruss #22 Pedro Martinez
2000 Skybox #205 Steve Lomasney
2000 Sp Authentic #27 Carl Everett
2000 Topps #332 Darren Lewis
2000 Topps Chrome #135 John Valentin
2000 Topps Stadium Club #25 Roger Clemens
2000 Upper Deck #63 Pedro Martinez
2000 Upper Deck MVP #P6 Nomar Garciaparra
2000 Upper Deck MVP #S6 Nomar Garciaparra
2000 Upper Deck Victory #250 Trot Nixon
2001 Black Diamond #24 Pedro Martinez
2001 Donruss #84 David Cone
2001 Fleer Focus #84 Troy O'Leary
2001 Fleer Focus #191 Trot Nixon
2001 Fleer Gamers #32 Pedro Martinez
2001 Fleer Tradition #272 Wilton Veras/Tomokazu Ohka
2001 Fleer Triple Crown #103 Jason Varitek
2001 Fleer Triple Crown #127 Trot Nixon
2001 Fleer Triple Crown #203 Mike Lansing
2001 Fleer Triple Crown #208 Pedro Martinez
2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars #45 Pedro Martinez
2001 Team Best #3 Israel Alcantara
2001 Team Best #90 Dernell Stenson
2001 Topps #571 Wilton Veras
2001 Topps #724 Rolando Arrojo
2001 Topps Stadium Club #183 Brain Daubach
2002 Donruss Classic #17 Nomar Garciaparra
2002 Donruss Classic #18 Pedro Martinez
2002 Fleer Ultra #6 Chris Stynes
2002 Fleer Ultra #70 Trot Nixon
2002 Leaf #11 Pedro Martinez
2002 Royal Rookies #13 Steve Minus
2002 Upper Deck Vintage #349 Red Sox Rookies
2004 Bowman Best #BB-MR Manny Ramirez
2004 Leaf Certified #56 Edwin Almonte
2005 Donruss #3 Manny Ramirez DK
2005 Donruss #125 Manny Ramirez
2005 Donruss #127 Pedro Martinez
2005 Leaf #GS7 Roger Clemens
2005 Topps #366 David Ortiz
2006 Upper Deck Flyball #48 Keith Foulke
2006 Upper Deck Flyball #105 Matt Clement
2007 Fleer Ultra #194 Greg Breslow
2007 Topps #76 Tony Graffanino
2007 Topps #486 Wily Mo Pena

Thanks again David for the awesome selection. I have to post the small package that arrived shortly after and 1 or 2 of the oddballs that arrived from you as well.

Trade with Dan from Grand Cards

Here is another of the new trade partners, in the form of Dan at Grand Cards. A blog which tells the Tales of a Curtis Granderson and Detroit Tigers Collector. I was really happy to have found Grand Cards and a home for the Detroit Tigers cards that were accumulating. Dan graciously accepted my offer of Tigers cards which can be seen here. Arriving from Baltimore Maryland was a generous and oddball selection from Dan.
Before the list, a quick search on Google for Mootown Snackers and I find out that this Roger Clemens probably came with Cheese Strings. Brilliant.
Dan sent:
1982 Topps #161 Batting leaders
1982 Topps #786 Carney Lansford and Mike Torrez
1986 Topps #38 Glenn Hoffman
1986 Topps #151 Dave Stepleton
1986 Topps #529 Marc Sullivan
1986 Topps 633 Jackie Gutierrez
1989 Donruss #184 Marty Barrett
1989 Topps leaders #47 Dwight Evans
1990 Donruss # 66 Mike Greenwell
1990 Score Pepsi #40 John Dopson
1990 Score Pepsi #59 Mike Boddicker
1990 Starline #22/40 Wade Boggs
1990 Topps All Star Game #22/22 Carl Yastrzemski
1991 Leaf #121 Ellis Burks
1991 Impel #354 Scott Cooper
1991 Impel #364 Mickey Pina
1992 Leaf #482 Mike Gardiner
1992 Mootown Snackers #2/24 Roger Clemens
1994 Post #8/30 Mo Vaughn
1994 Topps #417 Paul Quantrill
1994 Topps #633 Scott Bankhead
1995 Score #276 Luis Ortiz
1995 Topps #63 Ken Ryan
2008 Topps NCD #6 Clay Buchholz
2008 Topps #234 Red Sox Gold
2008 Topps Chrome #36 Jason Varitek
2008 Topps Chrome #147 Josh Beckett
2008 UD Masterpieces #12 Wade Boggs
2008 UD Masterpieces #13 Curt Schilling
2008 UD Masterpieces #84 Jason Varitek

Thanks for the trade Dan, always enjoy receiving Red Sox.

1939 Playball e-bay purchase

There are currently 954 baseball card related items listed on e-bay UK. They range from single cards, team sets, year sets and guides, not unlike the USA. They include the good; a set of 111 1971 Topps cards currently at 99p, the bad; a 1986 All-Star pop up of Dwight Gooden for £4.99, to the downright obscene: 240 1993 collectors choice cards for £25.00+ £10.00 postage.
There are mostly singles ranging from 1960 to present day. The term RARE is used or should I say overused in abundance. Occasionally there are items that draw some interest.
I have mentioned that in the past, when there was only about 100 baseball related items for sale on e-bayUK, I would bid every time. Now I am looking for specific items. Any card lot pre-1980. I usually go for lots of cards rather than singles. Besides the Red Sox there are other teams I look out for so I can trade with my friends in the US.
Recently a range of cards came up for sale. The seller had 10 lots, each was for cards from 1939 to 1960. They drew a great deal of interest and understandably grew quickly in price. I threw in a few bids for some of the bigger lots 40 1952 Bowman cards, 50 1958 Topps but one escaped my eye until quite late, the above 1939 Play Ball card of Thomas Carey. As I chased some of the other auctions I put in a bid for this card and didn't think (while really hoping) I would be successful in winning. I lost out on all the others, which went for reasonable prices but won the 1939 Thomas Carey. This is now the oldest card I have in my collection and it just happens to be a Red Sox player. It is not a big name player, it not graded, its not in perfect condition and its not properly centred. I like it.
I'm not sure how this card found its way into the UK, but it is now here to stay.

Thomas Carey

Infielder Boston Red Sox

born Hoboken New Jersey, October 11th 1908.

Bats right, Throws right.

Height 5'9" Weight 175 lbs

Tom Carey spent eight seasons in the minors before coming to the St. Louis Browns from Rochester in 1935. He was originally a short stop but switched to a second baseman under the coaching of Rogers Hornsby, and has been alternating between the two positions ever since. Tom was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 1938 where he is filling in as a utility infielder.

Tom's life time stats:

466 games 1521 at bats 169 Runs 418 Hits 2 Home Runs .275 avg.

I like his card even more.

Trade with I Love Halos

Its nice to come across a new blog dedicated to one particular team. There is not confusing who Ryan supports and collects, 'Anaheim Angels', although not many of their cards use this full moniker just the 'Angels' part. There must be some reason as most teams are referred to as both the place and name 'Boston Red Sox', 'Chicago White Sox' , 'Baltimore Orioles', etc. The angels of Anaheim are just Angels.
However Ryan loves the Angels as his brilliant blog I love Halos testifies. We put a trade in motion a while back. I was pleased to have a new trade buddy, he seemed pleased to be receiving Angels. My side of the trade can be found here. This is the return sent from Lakeside California:
1977 Topps #89 Butch Hobson
1978 Topps #83 Bob Montgomery
1978 Topps #105 Reggie Cleveland
1978 Topps #216 Mike Paxton
1978 Topps #545 Bill Campbell
1983 Donruss #30 Gary Allenson
1983 Donruss #260 Bob Ojeda
1987 Topps #12 Jeff Sellers
1987 Topps #285 Dennis Boyd
1988 Score #625 Jody Reed
1989 Fleer #79 Todd Benzinger
1990 Bowman #271 Tony Pena
1990 Donruss #712 Wade Boggs
1990 Upper Deck #465 Carlos Quintana
1991 Fleer Ultra #32 Mike Greenwell
1995 Fleer #33 Chris Howard
2002 Leaf #52 Manny Ramirez
2002 Fleer Maximum #NN Pedro Martinez Game used Jersey
2004 Fleer #14 Nomar Garciaparra
2005 Donruss Elite #27 Jason Varitek
2005 Fleer patchworks #67 Manny Ramirez
2006 Bowman #BDP12 David Pauley
2006 Fleer #296 David Ortiz
2006 Topps #407 Kevin Youkilis
2006 Upper Deck #79 Keith Foulke 170/299
2006 Upper Deck #379 Mark Loretta
2006 Upper Deck #1029 David Pauley
2006 Upper Deck #1031 Terry Francona
2006 Upper Deck TCD #UD9 David Ortiz
2007 Bowman #BDPP69 Clay Buchholz
2007 Bowman Chrome #BDPP96 Clay Buchholz
2007 Bowman Chrome #BDPP105 Jacoby Ellsbury
2007 Boman Chrome #27 Mike Lowell

2007 Topps Turkey Red Refractor #9 Josh Beckett 758/999

2007 Topps U&H #210 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2007 Topps U&H #247 Hideki Okajima
2008 A Piece of History #14 David Ortiz
2008 Topps Finest #FM-CB Clay Buchholz
2008 Upper Deck #225 Manny Delcarmen
2008 Upper Deck #229 Manny Ramirez
2008 Upper Deck #439 J.D.Drew

Thanks Ryan. A fantastic mix of old, new and SHINY! I love SOX that are RED.

Trade with David from Tribecards Part 1

A few packages arrived recently, while I was concentrating on 'the inspectors' at my school. A rather large box of cards arrived from Indians Cards Always. He has been a good friend and a generous trader. A seasoned and knowledgeable collector. I really enjoyed being part of the free card give away. The picture of the boxes to be delivered tells you clearly the sort of person and collector David is.
I need to divide this lot into 2 parts again, just to list the healthy helping of Red Sox that arrived from Prescott Arkansas. Speaking of that, which I will share if I can, I took a map of the US to pinpoint the states I have traded with. Actually its probably not that interesting at all.
I did manage to accumulate a pile of Indians to trade. See my side of the trade here.
Part 1 of the cards from Tribecards:
1972 Topps #218 Eddie Kasko
1978 Topps #597 Bob Stanley
1981 Donruss #95 Glenn Hoffman
1981 Donruss #215 Jerry Remy
1981 Donruss #216 Mike Torrez
1981 Donruss #337 Steve Renko
1983 Donruss #74 Jerry Remy
1883 Donruss #134 Bruce Hurst
1983 Topps #56 Chuck Rainey
1984 Donruss #606 Glenn Hoffman
1984 Donruss #611 Mark Clear
1984 Donruss #614 Reid Nichols
1985 Topps #37 Reid Nichols
1985 Topps #322 Dave Stapleton
1985 Topps #376 Jeff Newman
1985 Topps #734 John Henry Johnson
1986 Topps #255 Tony Aramas
1986 Topps #349 Mark Clear
1986 Topps #424 Rick Miller
1987 Fleer #33 Steve Crawford
1987 Fleer #35 Rich Gedman
1987 Fleer #37 Bruce Hurst
1987 Fleer Limited Edition #35/44 Jim Rice
1987 Donruss #643 Marc Sullivan
1988 Donruss Rookies #54 Steve Ellsworth
1988 Fleer #365 Calvin Schiraldi
1988 Score #352 Pat Dodson
1988 Score #541 Jeff Sellers
1989 Topps Big #18 Jim Rice
1989 Upper Deck #173 Marty Barrett
1989 Upper Deck #415 Oil Can Boyd
1989 Upper Deck #434 Ellis Burks
1990 Bowman #272 Jody Reed
1990 Bowman #275 Mo Vaughn
1990 Bowman #279 Dwight Evans
1990 Leaf #283 Luis Rivera
1990 Leaf #499 Greg Harris
1990 Pro Cards #474 Phil Plantier
1990 Score #345 Mike Greenwell
1990 Topps #206 Nick Esasky
1990 Topps #338 Dennis Lamp
1990 Topps #473 Joe Price
1990 Topps #529 Greg Harris
1990 Topps Big #44 Marty Barrett
1990 Topps Big #107 Ellis Burks
1991 Bowman #123 Derek Livernois
1991 Classic Best #83 Scott Taylor
1991 Donruss #513 Tom Brunansky
1991 Donruss #609 Tom Bolton
1991 Donruss #625 Mike Marshall
1991 Elmira Pioneers #24 Brian Young
1991 Fleer #99 Dana Kiecker
1991 Leaf #341 Dana Kiecker
1991 Leaf #356 Jeff Gray
1991 Leaf #405 Danny Darwin
1991 Leaf #488 Roger Clemens
1991 Pro Cards #445 John Pina
1991 Score #5 Jeff Reardon
1991 Score #77 Dana Kiecker
1991 Score #225 Dwight Evans
1991 Score #356 Tim Naehring
1991 Topps Stadium Club #201 John Marzano
1991 Topps Stadium Club #324 Greg Harris
1991 Topps Stadium Club #426 Matt Young
1991 Topps Stadium Club #500 Jack Clark
1991 Upper Deck #22 Scott Cooper
1991 Upper Deck #735 Jack Clark
1991 Upper Deck #740 Matt Young

So endeth the 70's and 80's and some early 90's. I have plenty of Topps from the 80's but appear to have missed many of the Donruss and Fleer cards. This has really helped to fill some of those gaps. Thanks David.

Trade with Eric from The Pettitte Pursuit Part 2

Cards of different shapes and sizes has been the order of the day recently. Eric at The Pettite Pursuit is a generous and prolific trader. The second part, of a large helping from Eric contained, not only a healthy helping of Nomar Garciaparra, but cards that can be used to play a game.
Arriving from Bloomington Minnesota was:

1993 Upper Deck #497 Otis Nixon
1993 Upper Deck Collectors Choice #583 Jeff Russell
1993 Upper Deck Collectors Choice #602 Damon Berryhill
1996 Topps #362 Jose Cansenco
1997 Pinnacle #172 Nomar Garciaparra

1998 MVP #31 Nomar Garciaparra

1998 Skybox Doubleheader #6/20 Nomar Garciaparra
1998 Topps #225 Pedro Martinez
1999 Topps #265 Nomar Garciaparra
1999 Upper Deck Collector Choice #SQ15 Nomar Garciaparra
2000 Topps #135 John Valentin
2000 Topps #184 Brian Daubach
2003 Topps Opening day #25 Cliff Floyd
2003 Topps Opening day #145 Derek Lowe
2003 Topps Opening day #156 Nomar Garciaparra
2003 UD First pitch #90 Shea Hillenbrand
2004 Flair #35 Nomar Garciaparra
2005 Topps Total #220 Edgar Renteria
2005 Topps Total #274 Doug Mirabelli
2005 Topps Total #300 Manny Ramirez
2005 Topps Total #328 Jay Payton
2005 Topps Total #343 Trot Nixon
2005 Topps Total #398 Kevin Millar
2005 Topps Total #412 Matt Clement

2005 Topps Total #460 Mike Lowell

2005 Topps Total #478 Kevin Youkilis
2005 Topps Total #517 Mark Bellhorn
2005 Topps Total #527 Bronson Arroyo
2005 Topps Total #545 David Ortiz
2005 Topps Total #557 Wade Miller
2005 Topps Total #570 Curt Schilling
2005 Topps Total #646 Mike Meyers, Mark Malaska
2005 Topps Total #665 Alan Embree, Mike Timlin
2005 Topps Total #666 Keith Foulke
2005 Topps Total #701 Hanley Ramirez, David Murphy
2005 Topps Total #733 Jose Vaquedano, Stefan Bailie
2005 Topps Total #747 Jeremy West, Willy Mota
2007 Fleer #3 Julio Lugo mini
2008 Allen+Ginter #13 Mike Lowell mini
2008 Goudey #207 Wade Boggs mini
2008 Goudey #HPC-7 Carl Yastrzemski
2008 Stadium Club #11 David Ortiz
2008 Stadium Club #19 Jason Bay
2008 Stadium Club #55 Dustin Pedroia
2008 Stadium Club #105 Chris Carter 1st
2008 Stadium Club #119 Jon Lester
2008 Stadium Club #138 Justin Masterson 1st
2008 Stadium Club #145 Clay Buchholz 1st
2008 Stadium Club #145 Clay Buchholz
2008 Sweet Spot #36 Dustin Pedroia
2008 Topps #HTCP2 Clay Buchholz mini
2008 Topps Opening Day #40 Josh Beckett
2008 Topps Opening day #FC-DO David Ortiz
2008 Topps U&H #117 Jed Lowrie
2008 Topps U&H #150 Jon Lester
2008 Topps U&H #190 Manny Ramirez
2008 Topps U&H #195 Chris Carter
2008 Topps U&H #221 J.D.Drew
2008 Topps U&H #264 David Ortiz

Thanks Eric for this amazing selection of cards.

Trade with Mark from stats-on-the-back

In a recent trade with Mark from stats-on-the-back he decided to 'go BIG and ODD.

'If you hate 'em , let me know,' he added.

I let Mark know that I didn't hate 'em at all, in fact quite the opposite. The set of Red Sox photographs from 1981 are 5 inches wide by 7 inches tall. The checklist is the who's who of Red Sox baseball. What I would like to know is if the players knew the photograph being taken would appear on a glossy 5x7. Some of the younger players posed batting or fielding but the 'Hey Dennis', 'What?'-snap photograph is an unfortunate one. But then, 'Hey Carl', 'What?' -snap that's is unforgiveable. What about the 'If you take my photo I will jam that camera..!' from Carlton Fisk. At least Frank made an effort, perhaps that hat just belongs to someone else.

They look as if they were taken at spring training, that is a palm tree I see in the background?

Are there many in New England? Along with these great cards, Mark added:

A big Carlos Quintana sticker
Two large 1985 Donruss cards #15 Dwight Evans, #27 Jim Rice

Three large Donruss Champions #4 Jim Rice, #10 Carl Yastrzemski, #16 Wade Boggs

1989 Bowman #32 Wade Boggs

1989 Bowman #36 Ellis Burks

Honestly Mark these are fantastic. Thank you. I love them.

Seriously Bob, these will go on a 5x7 glossy. Look at Dave at least he tried.

2007 Upper Deck World Series Champions Box Set

In my pursuit of Red Sox cards I cannot fail to get 100% from this box set sent by Eric from The Pettitte Pursuit.

The World Series Champions Red Sox Box Set contains:

25 Regular Season Players cards

15 Regular Season Highlight cards

9 Postseason Memorable Moments cards

1 World Series MVP card

1 Oversized Commemorative card

The Oversized Commemmorative card, which is 3 1/2in x 5 in. Has the Red Sox celebrating their win, but with no added photoshopping. After a 86-year gap between World Series titles ended in 2004, the Red Sox didn't need to wait nearly as long to add another ring to their collection.

Mike Lowell, the series MVP gets his own card. He was named MVP after he had a .400 batting average, six runs scored and four RBI's. He lifted the Red Sox to a title win over the Rockies.

100% success! Every card a Red S0x.

Trade with Mr Ross from Boxbusters

A good friend of this blog since its humble beginnings is Mr Ross from Boxbusters. Advice, a friendly chat and card trades, there isn't much more you need from a trading buddy. He collects Cardinals and like similar collectors such as Steve at White Sox Cards and Greg at Night Owl Cards, he possibly has most of the Cards cards I send. But in the spirit of trading he always sends something back.
Here is the helping from Mr Ross in East Alton Illinois:

1991 Donruss #684 Roger Clemens
2008 Donruss Threads #58 Luis Exposito
2008 Donruss Threads #62 Jon Still
2008 SP Authentic # AP22 J.D.Drew
2008 SP Authentic #AP32 Julio Lugo
2008 Topps #YR151 Clay Buchholz
2008 Topps U+H #46 Kevin Youkilis
2008 Topps U+H #68 Jonathan Papelbon
2008 Topps U+H #107 Jason Varitek
2008 Topps U+H #190 Manny Ramirez
2008 Upper Deck #436 Julio Lugo
2008 Upper Deck X #X-JB Josh Beckett
2008 Upper Deck X #X2-BE Josh Beckett
2008 Upper Deck X #X3-JB Josh Beckett

I read on many blogs that the UD X was a pointless set of cards and if I remember correctly was voted the worst (or runner up worst)set of 2008. The scan doesn't really do these cards any justice. They are shiny, super shiny and I am like a Bower Bird in mating season and drawn to all things shiny. I like them, worst set 2008 or not.
Thanks again Mr Ross for the great cards.