Gift from Mark, the Mayor of Porthleven

Mark has been dropping in on this blog since I started back in 2008. He was draw to a post about TTM autographs when I was about to embark on a ambitious task of getting Jacoby Ellsbury to sign some Allen+Ginter cards. He offered advise from his years of experience in collecting autographs. The cards have never returned but thus begun a friendship of story swapping about his autograph hunting and general baseball.

Mark has also embarked on a number of trips across the Atlantic to see actual baseball games. I'm sure that is not the objective of his family holiday, but he has seen alot of baseball. After every trip he gifts me a number of items including books and cards. Mark knows that I like the details and photographs of where he has been, the autographs he has collected and who he saw. His son is paid-up member of Pawsox Kid's club and I am always amazed how well the baseball clubs look after the younger and future baseball fans.

Mark recently returned from a transatlantic holiday and a package arrived with some Red Sox cards. He carefully detailed exactly where he had obtained the cards. He also added that the cards might make me feel better. What could he possibly mean?

From Don's Sportscards in Portland he purchased these vintage Red Sox:

1962 Topps #368 Bob Tillman

1962 Topps #512 Mike Fornieles

1962 Topps#542 Dave Philley

1963 Topps #28 Mike Fornieles

1964 Topps #305 Jack Lamabe

1964 Topps #352 Ed Bressoud

1966 Topps #502 Lenny Green

Don also threw in a set of these 2011 Topps Prime 9 Redemption cards which were only available through hobby stores.

The third and final item from Mark was a pack of 2010 Allen and Ginter, although I am trying to collect the 2010 set of A+G, that is not what makes this pack interesting. It was in fact purchased from the Yawkey Way Store, which is directly opposite Fenway Pack. This may not seem exciting to regular attendees but for a guy sitting in Westgate-on-Sea in the UK it most definitely is.

Thank you Mark for thinking of a Red Sox fan during your holidays.

Trading with Mark from Cornwall.

Last May I joined the ranks of Through the Mail autograph collection. There was only one signature I was after -Jacoby Ellsbury. Before you ask, the cards I sent have not come back.... yet.
At the time a few collectors commented that patience is key when it comes to TTM and unfortunately hinted that Jacoby isn't the most prolific of signers.
This post lead to a number of e-mails with useful advice about collecting autographs in general. One of the people to make contact was Mark from Cornwall, who shared some of his secrets for successful autograph collecting. He is a veteran collector and just hearing about some of in-person autographs he has collected such as Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, yes all of the fab four and a number of major political names, is interesting reading. He regularly attends sporting events with specific people in mind. He was just starting to get into baseball autographs. If our recent correspondence are any thing to go by, he is beyond the 'dipping my toe in' stage to a full on English Channel swim, purchasing autograph cards aplenty.
Mark took his family to the US in the summer and collected some more autographs when he attended a Lowell Spinners game. As a bonus his son was chosen to run the bases and be the official game mascot. Unfortunately for Mark, who is Athletics fan, his son became a instant Red Sox fan. While on holiday Mark was kind enough to purchase some packs for me, Allen +Ginter, OPC and Bowman, which I will bust over at Pursuit of Red Sox. He intends to return to the US again this summer and sign his son up as an Red Sox Nation member. That must really hurt.
Thanks for the packs Mark, maybe I will pull an autograph.

Trade with Mark from stats-on-the-back

Have you been reading about the serial giver?
Mark from Stats-on-the-back has been downsizing the collection. 'I have too many cards', he screamed. 'I must reduce my card collection.' Although I didn't think, having too many cards was possible. I have heard my wife say it but didn't think it was a real statement.
However I was on the receiving end of a generous 200 count(plus) of Red Sox cards. There are too many to list here but lets just say that a large hole has been filled in the Red Sox vacancy list.
Thank you Mark.
Good Luck reducing your collection.

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.

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 Mark from Mark's Ephemera Part 1

I make no excuses for it but I have become a bit of a Trade Junkie (apologises Dayf for the name steal). I seek out trades and contact other bloggers in search of Red Sox cards. It started as a search for 1980's Topps and grew from there.

I have found a home for most of the cards I didn't collect but still a home for the BLUE JAYS, DIAMONDBACKS and MARINERS eludes me. I beg you if there is a collector of these teams and there are some really nice looking cards, take them off my hands please.

So a contact with Mark from Marks Ephemera saying he had some 1980's that I needed was greeted favourably. He included 36 cards from the 1980 Topps set. What I didn't expect was the small mountain of Red Sox cards he sent along too. There are too many to list at one sitting so I will break it into two(perhaps three) posts.

What I didn't realise was that at some point in my collecting I was drawn towards Nomar Garciaparra cards and Mark had included a few that got those embers burning again.

Here is the first helping from Seymour, Tennessee.

1979 Topps #214 Red Sox Checklist

36 cards from 1980 Topps

1984 Fleer #390 Tony Armas

1984 Fleer #404 Jeff Newman

1984 Fleer #649 Red Sox Checklist

1984 Topps #551 Carl Yastrzemski

1988 Donruss #216 Dwight Evans

1998 Donruss #399 Jim Rice

1988 Donruss #421 John Marzano

1988 Donruss #498 Sam Horn

1988 Donruss #523 Al Nipper

1988 Fleer #11/44 Dwight Evans

1988 Score #403 Rob Woodward

1988 Topps #21 Red Sox team leaders

1988 Topps #125 Bruce Hurst

1988 Topps #189 Wes Garnder

1988 Topps #245 Rich Gedman

1988 Topps #414 Red Sox Checklist

1988 Topps #442 Tom Bolton

1988 Topps #599 Calvin Schiraldi

1988 Topps #662 Jim Rice

1988 Topps #733 Spike Owen

1989 Fleer #82 'Oil Can' Boyd

1989 Fleer #84 Rick Cerone

1989 Fleer #85 Roger Clemens

1989 Fleer #86 Steve Curry

1989 Fleer #87 Dwight Evans

1989 Fleer #88 Wes Gardner

1989 Fleer #89 Rich gedman

1989 Fleer #91 Bruce Hurst

1989 Fleer #92 Dennis Lamp

1989 Fleer #93 Spike Owen

1989 Fleer #94 Larry Parrish

1989 Fleer #96 Jody Reed

1989 Fleer #99 Lee Smith

1989 Fleer #100 Mike Smithson

1989 Fleer #101 Bob Stanley

1989 Score #218 Spike Owen

1989 Score #325 Bruce Hurst

1989 Score #396 Rick Cerone

1989 Score #549 Mike Boddicker

1989 Score #659 Mike Greenwell

1989 Topps #37 Bob Stanley

1989 Topps #71 Mike Boddicker

1989 Topps #123 Spike Owen

1989 Topps #188 Dennis Lamp

1989 Topps #205 Dwight Evans

1989 Topps #321 Red Sox Team Leaders

1989 Topps #326 Dennis Boyd

1989 Topps #354 Larry Parrish

1989 Topps #377 Mike Smithson

1989 Topps #471 Steve Curry

1989 Topps #544 Jeff Sellers

1989 Topps #652 Rich Gedman

1989 Topps #675 Bruce Hurst

1989 Topps #714 Joe Morgan

1989 Topps #785 Ellis Burks

1989 Topps All Star set #28/60 Bruce Hurst

That covers the selection from the 1980's. More to follow.

Trade with Stats on the Back

Mark, a Mets collector and writer of the impressive 'Stats on the Back' and I have exchanged in a trade.
http://stats-on-the-back.blogspot.com/2008/11/catching-up.html

This package arrived from Durham in North Carolina. Mark sent a wide variety of Boston Red Sox cards. Here's what was enclosed:

1969 Topps #189 Joe LaHoud & John Thibdeau
1970 Topps #39 Mike Nagy
1970 Topps #104 Gerry Moses
1973 Topps #143 John Curtis
1974 Topps Boston Checklist
1981 Fleer #230 Don Zimmer
1981 Fleer #232 Dwight Evans
1980 Topps #275 Dwight Evans
1982 Coca Cola #13 Bob Ojeda
1982 Coca Cola #21 John Tudor
1985 Drake's Bakeries #1 Tony Armas
1986 Donruss #11 Wade Boggs
1986 Donruss #13 Wade Boggs
1986 Sportsflics #41 Tom Seaver
1986 Topps Collectors Series #5 Bill Buckner
1987 Fleer Update #U37 Mike Greenwell
1987 Hygrade All-time greats #18 Jimmie Foxx
1987 Hygrade All-time greats #48 Ted Williams
1987 Topps Collector Series #5/33 Jim Rice
1987 Topps Collector Series #10/33 Wade Boggs
1987 Topps Mini #A Don Baylor
1988 Fleer #630 Greenwell/Burks/Benzinger
1988 Topps #493 Mike Greenwell
1988 Topps American baseball cards #22 Dwight Evans
1998 Topps Revco #24 Dwight Evans
1990 CMC Pawtucket #21 Phil Planter
1990 Donruss #14 Mike Greenwell
1990 Swell #96 Bobby Doerr
1992 Donruss #210 Wade Boggs
1994 UD Collectors Choice #322 Roger Clemens
1994 UD Collectors Choice #412 Andre Dawson
1995 Donruss #521 Willie McGee
1996 Bazooka #85 Mo Vaughn
1997 Donruss Elite #52 Jose Canseco
1998 Pacific Aurora #21 Mo Vaughn
1999 Victory #454 Wade Boggs
2000 Topps Certified Autographs #TTA13 Brad Baker
2003 Topps Opening Day #25 Cliff Floyd
2005 Topps Chrome #24 mark Bellhorn
2006 Fleer Tradition #149 Jason Varitek
2006 Upper Deck #335 Todd Walker
2007 Topps #475 Kevin Youkilis
2008 Topps #4 David Ortiz
2008 Topps #258 Ramirez and Youkilis
2008 UD Masterpiece #25 Carl Yastrzemski
2008 UD Masterpiece #90 Curt Schilling

Dover reprint 1887 Allen+Ginter Mike Kelly
Dover reprint 1909 T206 Piedmont Bill Carrigan
1 packet 1987 Donruss baseball cards
1 packet 1988 Donruss baseball cards

Wow a real spread form 1969 to 2008. Thanks Mark.