1995 Score 'Summit Edition'

There are 200 cards in the base, which includes 15 Bat speed, 5 Special delivery and 7 Checklists.

There are the inserts 200 Nth Degree, 20 Big Bangs, 15 New Age and 9 Club.

The pack:

#152 Steve Rodriguez Rookie Yankees

#182 Will Clark Bat Speed Rangers

#32 Kirby Puckett Twins

#29 Greg Colbrunn Marlins

#192 Mike Mussina Special Delivery Orioles

#97 Randy Johnson Mariners

#55 John Olerud Blue Jays

There is a big message on these cards about Be Strong. Don't do drugs. Then they go and name the inserts so they sound like some sort of drug.

Nth Degree, 21 Club, New Age and Big Bang. I mean come on! That is just careless!

There are no Red Sox in this packs, although confusingly a Red Sox uniform with a Yankees logo. Traded perhaps?

2008 Upper Deck Timeline

There are 100 cards in the base set of Timelines.

There are inserts 30 1992 UD Minor League design , 50 1994 UD All-Time Heroes design , 50 1994 SP Rookies design, 25 1995 SP Rookies design, 30 1995 SP Top Prospects design and 100 2004 UD Timelines design. This takes the total to 385 cards in the set. There are autographs of each of these cards, also gold and silver variations.
There are Cut signatures, Memorabilia and USA baseball signatures.
Confused? Please try and keep up!
I bought 3 packs from e-bay out of interest. The seller was also selling 'Hot Packs', so no memorabilia or autos here then.

Pack 1:

#2 David Wright Mets

#47 Josh Hamilton Rangers

#87 Wladimir Balentien Mariners

#128 Russell Martin Dodgers (1992 Minor league)

#132 Frank Thomas A's (1994 All-time Heroes)

#205 Ross Ohlendorf Pirates (1995 Top Prospects)

#284 Cole Hamels Phillies (2004 Timeless team)

#313 Kosuke Fukudome Cubs (1994 SP Rookie)

Pack 2:

#24 Matt Holliday Rockies

#42 Joe Mauer Twins

#96 Carlos Gonzalez A's

#102 Brandon Phillips Reds (1992 Minor league)

#157 Travis Hafner Indians (1994 All-time Heroes)

#187 Clayton Kershaw Dodgers (1995 Top Prospects)

#201 Nick Blackburn Twins (1995 Top Prospects)

#225 Daisuke Matsuzaka Red Sox ( 2004 Timeless team)

Pack 3:

#20 Albert Pujols Cardinals

#47 Josh Hamilton Rangers Gold

#69 Micah Hoffpauir Cubs

#108 David Murphy Rangers (1992 Minor league)

#177 Joey Votto Reds (1994 All-time Heroes)

#228 Justin Masterson Red Sox (2004 Timeless team) 042/100

#298 Jeff Clement Mariners (2004 Timeless team)

#373 Alberto Gonzalez Nationals (1995 Premier Prospect) Gold

I must say, I like the idea of this set but there is just too many inserts. Why not keep it simple?

There were only 2 Red Sox in the three packs. The Justin Masterson was a beauty though.

2008 Stadium Club Blaster

I wanted to see these cards for myself, so bought a blaster a while ago on e-bay. It arrived today. There are 8 packs of 5 cards. There is a rookie in each pack, or so they say.

Pack 1

#138 Justin Masterson 1st

#112 Joey Votto

#83 Chipper Jones

#25 Edinson Volquez

#130 Brain Barton RC

Pack 2

#24 Justin Upson 1st

#115 Brandon Boggs RC

#76 Johan Santana

#37 Hanley Ramirez

#31 Carl Crawford

Pack 3

#68 Gary Sheffield

#11 David Ortiz

#104 Gregor Blanco RC

#101 Luke Hochevar

#42 Carlos Pena 1st

Checklist

Pack 4

#27 Carlos Lee 1st

#106 Eric Hurley RC

#7 Torii Hunter

#65 Nick Swisher

#55 Dustin Pedroia

Pack 5

#39 Johnny Damon 1st

#98 Roberto Clemente

#77 Dan Uggla

#26 Miguel Cabera

#140 Hiroki Kuroda RC

Pack 6

#45 Josh Beckett

#88 Hideki Matsui

#52 Vernon Wells

#77 Greg Maddux

#55 Jose Reyes

Pack 7

#57 Roy Oswalt 1st

#22 Nick Markakis

#79 Derrek Lee

#17 B.J.Upton

#32 Roy Halladay

Checklist

Pack 8

#108 Evan Longoria RC 1st

#130 Brian Barton RC numbered 714/999 !

#116 Johnny Cueto RC

#4 Todd Helton

#29 Delmon Young

This is my favourite shot from all the cards I pulled.

According to the checklist there are 150 base cards, of which 50 are Rookies. A further 35 Autographed rookie cards and 50 Beam Team Autographs.I pulled 31 base cards, 9 rookies (1 double) and 0 autographs, but there were 4 Red Sox cards. It is always Dustin or David, never Jacoby!

The card 130 is a mystery to me, two different pictures, same player. One is numbered ?

1988 Topps

Each pack contains 15 cards and 1 stick of gum.

The are 792 cards in the set which included the subsets Future Stars, Topps All-Star Rookies, Record Breakers, Turn Back The Clock, All-Stars, Team Leaders, Checklists and Manager cards.

The numbers and subsets are very similar to the 1987 set. Why change a winning formula?

Pack 1:

#7 '87 Record Breaker Benny Santiago Padres

#25 Andres Galarraga Expos

#132 Donnie Hill White Sox

#181 Dave Cone Mets

#197 Lance McCullers Padres

#273 Garth Iorg Blue Jays

#332 Jerry Reed Mariners

#389 All Star Alan Trammel Tigers

#429 Tigers Team Leaders

#455 Shawn Hillegas Dodgers

#549 Braves Team Leaders

#643 Rocky Childress Astros

#720 Tim Raines Expos
#747 Bobby Witt Rangers

#768 Dickie Noles Cubs

I received this pack as part of a trade with Ed. 4 inserts in the pack but not a Red Sox in sight.

2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers

The correct name for this set is the mind numbing Topps Baseball Updates and Highlights presents Topps Heritage High Number Series. In other words Series 2.

Two packs of these arrived from Spiff at Texas Rangers cards.

There are 8 cards per pack, 6 Heritage and 2 Updates and Highlights., not forgetting the 1 piece of bubble gum.
There are 220 High Numbers in the set (#501 - #720), including the 35 Short prints.
There are 35 Short printed Black backs, 15 Rookie Performers and 10 Then and Now inserts.
There are also Chrome cards, Refractors and Black border Refractors.
There are 330 cards in the Updates and Highlights set.

Pack 1:

#UH39 Jose Molina Yankees

#UH 109 Alberto Callaspo Royals

#519 Max Scherzer DBacks RC

#526 C.J.Wison Rangers

#606 Brian Moehler Astros

#612 Jeff Baker Rockies

#665 Texas Rangers checklist

#669 Aaron Miles Cardinals

Pack 2:

#UH32 Cody Ross Marlins

#UH99 Combos Ramirez & Ortiz

#C228 Manny Parra Brewers 503/559

#553 Brandon Lyon DBacks

#603 Joel Pineiro Cardinals

#613 Houston Astros checklist

#625 Greg Dobbs Phillies

#666 Jason Michaels Pirates

These were pretty good packs. A numbered chrome very nice. A Ramirez and Ortiz, but not Manny and Big Papi, Hanley and Big Papi. Still a Red Sox card nonetheless.

Trade with Spiff of Texas Rangers Cards

Thanks to Spiff, who sent two packs of these 2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers. Packs are always appreciated.

I will open them on a new blog called 'Pursuit of Red Sox'. I have been keeping a record of the packs I have opened for a few years now. I'm not sure whether this is done by many people considering the volume that some collectors must open. So, I though since my pursuits have changed from 'opening as many different types of packs as possible' to collecting Red Sox cards then my recording will have to change too. Hence the 'Pursuit of Red Sox'.

Trade with Greg from 'The Bench'

The third package to arrive recently was from Greg in Post Falls, Indiana. He was one of three people who agreed to a trade through the forum 'The Bench'. Although I only arranged three trades through this forum, each of the members have gone above and beyond in the cards they sent. I will continue to pursue trades for the Mariners, Blue Jays and Diamondbacks, there must be collectors of these teams out there somewhere, surely. These are the only three teams I have left to make a trade partner, although some collectors have streamlined their collections so I will be looking for different collectors for the Yankees, Brewers and Marlins.

Anyway onto the massive selection of cards Greg sent over:

1983 Fleer #179 Wade Boggs
1992 Donruss #DK3 Roger Clemens
1992 Fleer Ultra #6/25 Roger Clemens
1993 Fleer Ultra #1/5 Roger Clemens
1995 Pinnacle #RH18 Roger Clemens
1996 Fleer Flair #16 Roger Clemens
1996 SP Special FX #38/48 Roger Clemens
1997 Pinnacle #55 Roger Clemens
1997 Pinnacle #129 Reggie Jefferson
1998 Bowman Best #73 Nomar Garciaparra
1998 Topps Stadium Club #MH8 Roger Clemens
1998 Upper Deck #23 Nomar Garciaparra
1999 Topps Chrome #AE29 Pedro Martinez
1999 UD Black Diamond #15 Nomar Garciaparra
2002 Topps #45 Carlos Baerga
2002 Topps Archives Reserve #7/100 Fred Lynn
2002 UD Pieces of History # 25 Pedro Martinez
2002 UD Pieces of History #26 Nomar Garciaparra
2003 Topps #17 Kevin Millar
2003 Topps #303 David Murphy
2003 Topps #342 Strikeout Leaders
2003 Upper Deck #19 Johnny Damon
2003 Upper Deck Honor Roll #23 Nomar Garciaparra
2003 Zenith #TZ10 Curt Schilling
2004 Bazooka #154 Johnny Damon
2004 Bazooka #280 David Murphy
2004 Bowman #102 Johnny Damon
2004 Bowman #205 David Murphy
2004 Bowman Chrome #17 David Ortiz
2004 Bowman Chrome #304 Jon DeVries
2004 Cracker Jack #57 Johnny Damon
2004 Fleer Classic Clippings #59 Pedro Martinez
2004 Leaf #18 Jorge De La Rosa
2004 Skybox Autographics #16 Nomar Garciaparra
2004 Skybox Autographics #33 Curt Schilling
2004 SPX #94 Pedro Martinez
2004 SPX #103 Ted Williams
2004 SPX #145 Abe Alvarez 0199/1599
2004 UD Diamond collection #15 Pedro Martinez
2004 UD Power Up #ST51 Curt Schilling
2005 Bowman Gold #42 Kevin Millar
2005 Bowman Gold #78 David Ortiz
2005 Bowman Gold #103 Curt Schilling
2005 Donruss #124 Kevin Youkilis
2005 Donruss Diamond Kings #46 David Ortiz
2005 Donruss Diamond Kings #HH4 Carl Yastrzemski
2005 Donruss Diamond Kings #HH5 Ted Williams
2005 Donruss leather and Lumber #LL34 Wade Boggs 0171/2000
2005 Donruss Throwback Threads #117 Johnny Damon
2005 Fleer #121 Johnny Damon
2005 Fleer Authentix #JAGW-RH Manny Ramirez Jersey
2005 Fleer Patchworks #10 Curt Schilling
2005 Flair #17 Pedro Martinez
2005 Flair Dynasty Foundations #5/30 Red Sox 386/500
2005 Playoff Prestige #MLB9 David Ortiz
2005 SP Legendary Cuts #78 Ted Williams
2005 UD #SAJD Johnny Damon
2005 Zenith #218 Hanley Ramirez
2005 Zenith #241 Ted Williams
2005 Zenith Silver #10 Manny Ramirez
2005 Zenith Silver #56 Tim Wakefield
2005 Zenith Z-team #ZT15 Johnny Damon 099/100
2006 Bowman # DP30 Zack Daeges
2006 Bowman Gold #BP93 Andrew Dobies
2006 Topps #OG13 David Ortiz
2006 Topps #OG14 Manny Ramirez
2006 Topps Chrome #314 Jonathan Papelbon
2006 Upper Deck #PH9 Jason Varitek
2007 Bowman #87 Mike Lowell
2007 Bowman #125 David Ortiz
2007 Bowman Gold #6 Jonathan Papelbon
2007 Bowman Gold #46 Josh Beckett
2007 Bowman Gold #168 J.D.Drew
2007 Fleer #34 David Ortiz
2007 Fleer #60 David Murphy
2007 Fleer #68 Devern Hansack
2007 SP Authentic #AP32 Manny Ramirez
2007 Topps #HM17 Manny Ramirez
2007 Topps Turkey Red #42 Dice-K
2007 Topps Turkey Red #119 Hideki Okajima
2007 Upper Deck #4 Devern Hansack
2007 Upper Deck #69 Dustin Pedroia
2007 Upper Deck #70 Trot Nixon
2007 Upper Deck #74 Jonathan Papelbon
2007 Upper Deck #76 Jon Lester
2007 Upper Deck #77 Craig Hansen
2008 Bowman #199 Jacoby Ellsbury
2008 Allen+Ginter #63 Jacoby Ellsbury

Deep breath ....There were 4 cards that had a limited print run, a jersey card, 2 Jacoby and load of Pedro's and Nomar's. WOW!

Is there something wrong with Roger Clemens. I seem to be getting quite a few of his cards lately. Has he fallen out of favour, I know there were rumours of drugs cheat. What has happened?

Merry Christmas

I wanted to take a photo of my back garden for Dinged Corners but it was too late, so here's a picture of our tree instead.

Merry Christmas !

Trade with Ed from 'Sports Card Forum'

The second package to arrive from trades I made through the trading forums. This was the only one that took place on this particular forum and it was with Ed from Altoona, Pennsylvania. I offered a stack of Pirates for Red Sox. His stack arrived Saturday and he enclosed some beauties.
Enclosed was:
1995 Score #563 Mo Vaughn
1995 Leaf #18 Mo Vaughn
1997 Pinnacle # 231 Shane Mack
1998 Upper Deck SPx #66 Tim Naehring 1987/4500
1999 Fleer Ultra #60 Tom Gordon
2000 Upper Deck Pros & Prospects #27 Pedro Martinez
2001 Topps #434 Brain Daubach
2001 Topps #500 Kent Mercker
2001 Topps #597 Mike lansing
2001 Topps #609 Dante Bichette
2001 Topps #682 Bret Saberhagen
2001 Topps #701 Tim Wakefield
2001 Topps #724 Rolando Arrojo
2001 Topps #756 Red Sox team
2001 Topps Archives #78 Cecil Cooper
2001 Topps Heritage #81 Wilton Veras
2001 Topps Heritage #290 Trot Nixon
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #34 Carlton Fisk
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #35 Jimmie Foxx
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #59 Tris Speaker
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #78 Carlton Fisk

2002 Fleer eX #74 Nomar Garciaparra

2002 Topps #46 Ugueth Urbina
2003 Fleer Box Score #61 Pedro Martinez
2003 Fleer Mystique #45 Pedro Martinez
2003 fleer Platinum #20 Cliff Floyd
2003 Fleer Splendid Splinters #84 Derek Lowe
2003 Upper Deck #216 Todd Walker
2003 Upper Deck #336 Jeremy Giambi
2004 Playoff Honors #35 Edwin Almonte
2004 Topps #589 Mike Timlin
2005 Fleer Authentix #52 Pedro Martinez
2005 Upper Deck Classic #12 Bobby Doerr
2005 Upper Deck Classic #82 Rick Ferrell
2006 Bowman #171 Mark Loretta
2006 Bowman Heritage # 179 Kevin Youkilis
2006 Topps #76 Tony Graffanino
2006 Topps #119 Andy Marte
2006 Topps #240 David Wells
2006 Topps #269 Boston Ted Sox team
2006 Topps Turkey Red #539 Alex Gonzalez
2007 Topps #310 Jonathan Papelbon
2007 Topps #538 Wily Mo Pena
2007 Topps #578 Dustin Pedroia
2008 SP legendary Cuts #7 David Ortiz

I really variety of cards from the 2000's. I was pretty negative about the trading forums, but so far I think the members who agreed to trade have been very generous, great to deal with and have taught me a thing or two about packing cards.
Thanks Ed.

1980 Topps from Jeremiah at toppstraders

Seasoned bloggers are probably use to being contacted out exchanging cards or offers of cards. That is how I started trading with others. Some answered with 'Yeah sounds great', others with a sceptical 'OK'. I always said I would send first and greatly appreciate any cards back. I'm not a heavily read blog but since I have sent cards out to other bloggers, people have been less sceptical.
When Jeremiah contacted me and said he had a few 1980's Topps and wanted nothing in return, I knew exactly how the bloggers I had contacted felt.
True to his word Jeremiah sent a large pile (87 cards) all from my 1980's vacancy list. The cards were in excellent condition and if you have ever taken a look at My pursuit for 1980's Topps, I am now down to 103 cards needed to complete the set. Some of the cards will be difficult to obtain. I was in this for the long haul.
Check out Jeremiahs blog Toppstrader.org. He has been writing for a while now, but I noticed he hasn't updated his site since August. He is always up for trades too. Just my sort of collector.
Thanks Jeremiah.

130 American Baseball Cards from 1970

The title of this post is the title of the listing on e-bay UK. That was it. The description was short and sweet too.

" This is a collection of 130 TOPPS Trading Cards from 1970 covering 25 teams

and including all 3 series check lists. Teams are ...The Red Sox,... . They formed

part of a collection from my childhood in Montreal and are in reasonable

condition for their age."

There was also a picture included but a long distance away in an attempt to include all the cards. I watched anticipating a high price, considering there is another seller who regularly sells 6-8 1970's Topps for £2.00, sometimes higher. With a couple of hours remaining I decided to bid, fully expecting to be outbid, and went to bed.
Maybe it was the time or the fact that they were in the UK, but I won! They arrived on Saturday and I was in for another couple of surprises.
Firstly the cards are in great condition, not reasonable. I thought they might be drawn on, have dinged corners, creases, etc, considering the description '...collection from my childhood...' but no. There are a couple of cards in poorer condition, one looks like it was run over by a truck, another looks as if it was pegged to something, a stain (blood perhaps?) on another.
Secondly, I intended to take the Red Sox and trade the rest. When I opened the package on the top was a plastic packet which had the checklists enclosed. I noticed that the boxes had been checked, so I read through..#2 Diego Segui... check, #3 Darrel Chaney..., #4 check, #10 Carl Yastrzemski... check. I quickly thumbed through the cards looking for Red Sox and there it was Carl Yastrzemski, in great condition. Excellent.
Wait a minute. I started to recognise a few more names, Hoyt Wilhelm, Tug McGraw, Sandy Alomar, Sparky Lyle, Reggie Jackson, Herman Killebrew, Eddie Fisher....Slow down Reggie Jackson, the Reggie Jackson... No way. I thumbed carefully through the cards and there it was, Reggie in his A's uniform. Very nice.
This was a really exciting find. A very lucky find. There are plenty of doubles (and triples) so they will be appearing in trades in the future.

1992 DONRUSS series two

These packs contains 15 cards.

The regular set consists of 784 cards which were issued in two separate series of 396.

The inserts (or subsets) include Rated Rookies , All-Stars and Highlights.

Series one were in blue foil packs and Series two in red foil packs.

Pack 1:

#BC2 Terry Pendelton NL MVP

#BC7 Colorado Rockies

#421 Lance Dickson RR Cubs

#701 Jim Lindeman Phillies

#705 Jaime Navarro Brewers

#709 John Cerutti Tigers

#714 Mitch Webster Dodgers

#719 Sid Fernandez Mets

#734 Billy Ripkin Orioles

#739 Tony Castillo Mets

#740 Sammy Sosa White Sox

#743 Steve Wapnick White Sox

#745 Darrin Chapin Yankees

#748 Rosario Rodriguez Pirates

#783 Bryan Hickerson Giants

Pack 2:

#429 Ryne Sandberg AS Cubs

#555 Gossage and Ryan Highlights Rangers

#560 Luis Alicea Cardinals

#564 Deion Sanders Braves

#565 Walt Terrell Tigers

#570 Scott Cooper Red Sox

#609 Carlos Quintana Red Sox

#612 Daryl Boston Mets

#635 Matt Young Red Sox

#641 Omar Vizquel Mariners

#642 Rick Sutcliffe Cubs

#646 Jack Howell Padres

#650 Chuck McElroy Cubs

#655 Scott Ray Cardinals

#660 Steve Frey Expos

The second pack had 3 Red Sox, which is a surprising ratio. These cards didn't set the card collecting world alight and I bought 6 packs for 99p on e-bay UK. The design is not stimulating but the players pictures on the front are large and usually action shots. The Colorado Rockies logo was the first of the type I had seen from this set. I presume it was because they were an expansion team.

Trade with Derek from 'The Bench'

It has been a bumper time for packages arriving recently. The three bench trades have arrived, plus a number of e-bay packages . I need to seriously catch-up on my posts.

The first to arrived was a big brick of cards from Derek in Denair, California. He was one of the people who responded to my call for trades on 'The Bench'. His team of choice was the San Francisco Giants. I sent him all that I had and here is the cards he sent back.
Enclosed was:

1989 Sportflics #47 Bruce Hurst
1994 Action Packed #65 Trot Nixon
1994 Action Packed #2 Trot Nixon
1999 Upper Deck Encore #17 Trot Nixon
2001 Stadium Club #1 Pedro Martinez
2001 Stadium Club #24 Nomar Garciaparra
2001 Stadium Club #53 Hideo Nomo
2002 Fleer Authentix #12 Pedro Martinez
2002 Fleer Authentix #101 Trot Nixon
2002 Fleer Authentix #120 Johnny Damon
2002 Topps #15 Trot Nixon
2003 Donruss #101 Trot Nixon
2004 Bowman #52 Trot Nixon
2004 Donruss Elite #12 Pedro Martinez
2004 Donruss Elite #13 Curt Schilling
2004 Donruss Studio #39 Trot Nixon
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #10 Pedro Martinez
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #24 Byung-Hyun Kim
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #183 Todd Walker
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #189 Jason Varitek
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #193 Bill Mueller
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #209 David Ortiz
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #263 Johnny Damon
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #9 Bobby Doerr
2005 Leaf Limited #49 Edgar Renteria 457/699
2005 Topps Bazooka #148 Johnny Damon
2005 Topps Bazooka #154 Curt Schilling
2005 Topps Bazooka #163 Pedro Martinez
2005 Topps Bazooka #168 David Ortiz
2005 Topps Bazooka #220 Jose Vaquedano
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #14 Carl Yastrzemski
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #15 Carlton Fisk
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #31 Fred Lynn
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #43 Jim Rice
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #54 Luis Tiant
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #68 Rico Petrocelli
2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants #84 Wade Boggs
2005 Topps #571 Keith Foulke
2005 Topps Total #343 Trot Nixon
2006 Throwback Threads #157 Trot Nixon
2006 Topps #474 Trot Nixon
2006 Topps Update #UH5 Alex Gonzalez
2006 Topps Update #UH19 Julian Tavarez
2006 Topps Update #UH154 Kason Gabbard
2006 Topps Update #UH179 Manny Ramirez
2006 Topps Update #UH221 David Ortiz
2006 Topps Update #UH286 David Ortiz
2006 Upper Deck Chrome #8 Curt Schilling
2006 Upper Deck Chrome #10 David Ortiz
2006 Upper Deck Star Attractions #SA-CS Curt Schilling
2006 Upper Deck Star Attractions #SA- DO David Ortiz
2007 Goudey #217 Jim Rice
2007 Topps #360 David Ortiz
2007 Topps #413 Coco Crisp
2007 Topps #444 Josh Beckett
2007 Topps '52 #117 Jeff Bailey
2007 Topps Stars #TS9 David Ortiz
2007 Topps Update #UH270 Josh Beckett
2008 A Piece of History baseball #BSM-9 Mike Lowell 260/699
2008 Bowman Chrome #79 Jason Varitek
2008 Topps #YR162 David Ortiz
2008 Topps Update #UH264 David Ortiz


I must find a better way of listing these cards.

As I said a big brick of cards! Some that I had never seen and others that will fill some holes. This was the first of three large packages to come from 'The Bench' trades. So far it looks very promising. Thanks to Derek for all the cards. His card in the package had this impressive looking logo for the River Cats. A minor league baseball team?

Phillies in London

No this hasn't become a blog about my holiday snaps. This is a baseball related post!

The Christmas holidays have started~hooray. As a teacher, I enjoy the break. Every year we try to do something with our children for the start of the holidays. On Friday my family (extended-my wife outlaws came too) went up to London for two days. We use to live in London about 4 years ago and moved closer to the coast and a beach.



We did most of the tourist things, Trafalgar Square, Buck Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, etc. We were lucky as we walked up The Mall to see the changing of the horse guards , which my girls loved. By the time we had reached Buckingham Palace they were fed up and didn't want to see anymore guards! All they really wanted to do was go to Hamleys, a overpriced, over crowded toy shop that isn't a patch on Toys'R'Us but they love it!

All my boys wanted to do was go to the playground that has a really impressive wooden pirate ship that is as big as a real ship only better. It is great fun and I think there are more dads on it than actual children. It is a further walk through St James Park and the complete opposite end of Hyde Park, so that wasn't going to happen! We went to Hamley's and came back to the hotel.

While we were waiting for the lift a man wearing a Phillies cap and World Series Champions 2008 T-shirt got out of the lift. I asked the obvious question 'Are you a Phillies fan?'
'Well yes I come from Philly.'
'You must be pleased winning the World Series, the last time was 1980.'
'Do you know baseball?' he inquired.
'I'm a big fan of baseball.'
My wife and four children stood in the lift waiting. I asked if I could just chat for a little longer realising that I would be leaving her with four hungry, tired and grumpy children. She saw that this was too big an opportunity for me to pass up, she answered positively.

Don and I chatted for a while about various things baseball ~ Phillies specific Chase Utley, Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose and the recent World Series, the upcoming World Classic, Red Sox, Manny Ramirez. I told him about collecting baseball cards, but he suggested that only children did that! I told him about blogging and mentioned a couple of names, who knows when he is back in Philly he may just look a few up.
He had to go and meet a colleague for dinner and hoped that I might meet him tomorrow. I didn't. Which was disappointing because it was enjoyable listening to an American accent, talking baseball face to face and being able to hold my own in the conversation.

Thanks Don, the Phillies fan.

Trade with Boxbusters

Another package today from East Alton, Illinois. Will from Boxbusters sent over a fine selection of BoSox.

Enclosed was:

1986 Topps #605 Dennis Boyd

1986 Topps #749 Ed Jurak

1986 Topps #771 John McNamara

1986 Topps #785 Bob Stanley

1987 Topps #374 Glenn Hoffman

1987 Topps #396 Tim Lollar

1987 Topps #675 Ed Romero

1987 Topps #764 Bill Buckner

1989 Topps #71 Mike Boddicker

1989 Topps #354 Larry Parrish

1989 Topps #526 Wes Gardner

1989 Topps #704 Carlos Quintana

1990 Upper Deck #671 John Dopson

1991 Score #232 Mike Boddicker

1991 Stadium club #426 Matt Young

1992 Upper Deck #110 Tom Bolton

1992 Upper Deck #252 Tony Pena

1992 Upper Deck #308 Luis Rivera

1992 Upper Deck #503 Tony Fossas

1992 Upper Deck #505 Matt Young

1992 Upper Deck #521 Jack Clark

1992 Upper Deck #525 Ellis Burks

1992 Upper Deck #570 Joe Hesketh

1992 Upper Deck #588 Mike Gardiner

1992 Upper deck #658 Greg Harris

1992 Upper Deck #678 Danny Darwin

1993 Fleer #184 Mo Vaughn

1994 Upper Deck #602 Damon Berryhill

2008 Topps heritage Chrome #146 Dutin Pedroia 1289/1959

2008 UD X #16 Clay Buchholz

Thanks Will. Excellent cards again!

1987 Topps

Each pack contained 17 cards and 1 stick of gum.

There was 792 cards in the set which included the subsets Future Stars, Topps All-Star Rookies, Record Breakers, Turn Back The Clock, All-Stars, Team Leaders, Checklists and Manager cards.

An interesting feature of these cards is that each card had a wood grain background.

I have the entire set of Red Sox for this particular set but enjoy openeing packs so much that i will always bid if they come up on e-bay. I gave two away to another collector here in the UK.

Pack 1:
#101 Carl Willis Reds
#116 Bill Russell Dodgers
#119 Ron Robinson Reds
#252 Denny Martinez Expos
#365 Rick Rhoden Pirates
#349 Storm Davies Orioles
#546 Mike Morgan Mariners
#575 Pat Tabler Indians
#576 Frank Pastore Twins
#598 Ozzie Smith All Stars
#619 Jerry Reed Mariners
#649 Mickey Tettleton A's
#652 Terry Foster Angels
#741 Paul Molitor Brewers
#752 Dan Petry Tigers
#774 Wayne Krenchicki Expos

Pack 2:
#74 Dan Pasqua Yankees
#123 John Kruk Padres
#148 Dave Collins Tigers
#183 Andy Hawkins Padres
#222 Denny Walling Astros
#380 Rich Gossage Padres
#400 George Brett Royals
#414 Joe Orsulak Pirates
#419 Mark Portugal Twins
#446 Chuck Finley Angels
#518 Gene Mauch Angels
#645 Dwight Evans Red Sox
#674 Bill Campbell Tigers
#700 Dave Bergman Tigers
#713 Tom Brookens Tigers
#736 Steve Bedrosian Phillies
#759 Joel Youngblood Giants
#776 Tom Brunansky Twins

I purchased these cards from the same seller on e-bay UK as the 1983 Topps, although there was some interest in the 1983 Topps, there was none for these 4 packs and I won with one speculative bid.

Again 1 Red Sox hit. The cards are in excllent condition and as always with this seller, the cards had not been pre-opened and searched.

Retiring Pursuit of 2008 Goudey

I have collected all the base cards. I traded away all my 1936 B+W's to Dayf.
There are a few short printed Red Sox that I will continue to look for.
205 Carlton Fisk,
206 Fred Lynn,
207 Wade Boggs
256 David Ortiz
271 Carl Yastrzemski - sports royalty
294 Josh Beckett -sports royalty

But it was time to retire this particular blog!
Thanks to all those (Andy, Justin, Jo, Matt, Spiff and Shane) who sent cards to help me collect the whole, base set.

2007 SP Legendary Cuts

The pack contains 4 cards.
There are 100 cards in the base set.
There are inserts Legendary Lineage Die cuts (numbered to 550)
There are parallels galore Legendary Material ,When It Was A Game, Masterful Material, Inside the Numbers, A Stitch in time, Material Signatures (numbered to 10), Legendary Signatures (numbered to 199), Legendary Materials (numbered to 199), Legendary Americana (numbered to 550), Material Cuts (numbered between 5 and 1),Legendary Team Cuts (1 of 1), Legendary Quad Cuts (1 of 1), Dual cuts (1 of 1), Signature Cuts (1 of 1),Quotation Cuts (numbers vary), Hall of Fame Cuts, Historical Cuts.
Cuts, cuts and more cuts.
I bought three packs, knowing full well that there would be just base cards.

Pack 1:

#1 Phil Niekro Braves

#16 Ernie Banks Cubs

#30 Lou Boudreau Reds

#85 Satchel Paige St. Louis

Pack 2:

#2 Brooks Robinson Orioles

#21 Nellie Fox White Sox

#29 Bob Lemon Indians

#86 George Sisler St. Louis

Pack 3:

#15 Rod Carew Angels

#44 Kirby Puckett Twins

#72 Steve Carlton Phillies

#99 Vern Stephens Red Sox

I like the look of these cards. The black background marble effect works for me. Photographs in black and white, the player surrounded by a red oval, sometimes breaking free of the confines and the gold lettering. It all fits very well. Only 100 base cards to collect, a box should do...how much were they again?

2003 FLEER Authentix

These packs contained 5 cards. There is a possibility of a memorbilia card in every 8 packs.

The regular set consists of 100 base cards, 10 Future Stars, 15 Tickets to the Majors (numbered to 1,850).
There are inserts Ticket Stubs and Ballpark Classics.
The parallels are Balcony (numbered to 250), Club Box (numbered to 100) and Standing Room (numbered to 25).

Base cards:

#2 Tom Glavine Braves

#21 Moises Alou Cubs

#35 Raul Ibanez Royals

#95 Paul Konerko White Sox

Insert:

#108 Future Star Michael Restovich Twins

A nice concept. Cards that look like tickets, number, tear off section, darker colours. All that effort and they use the same stadium picture on the back of the card. I would rather have the ticket to be honest. No Red Sox again.

1980 Topps Baseball variations

I realised I needed to attack my 'Pursuit for 1980 Topps' with a bit more gusto and started to search e-bay US for some sellers with the 'complete your set' tag. I stumbled across, to my surprise, quite a few. There were two types; those that said they had some 1980's Topps and those that listed all the numbers they had available. I purchased 100 from 1 seller and 75 from another on the same day. The 100 cards charge for postage was $13.95 ! (When it did arrive the postage cost $8.50- that is some very expensive packaging.). The second lot of 75 cost a mere $5.00, but has yet to arrive. Hmmmm. I'm not here to talk about the irregular postage system but in my search I stumbled across:

An unopened pack of 3 1980 Topps cards free with Squirt (washing liquid?, Actually a soft drink- thanks Steve.),

An unopened pack of 3 1980 Topps cards free with Hunts bread and

An unopened pack of 3 1980 Burger King 'Pitch, Hit & Run cards.

These were according to the seller '...regular 1980's Topps cards...plus... the possibility of a Rickey Henderson Rookie...' I didn't think for a minute that these would be un-searched. I have also come to appreciate the variety of places that baseball cards can be obtained like cheese, dog food, fast food places and now bread! Plus my oddball meter did a little dance. I bid and won all three.

They arrived today.
In the 1980 squirt packet:
A squirt card with Lifetime .300 hitters statistics on the back ,
#421 Doug Bird (needed)
#596 Rick Matula
#662 Red Sox future stars.

In the 1980 Hunts bread packet:
A Hunts bread card with Players with 3000-or-more hits statistics on the back, oddly with a O-Pee-Chee branding,
#216 Phil Mankowski
#417 Craig Chamberlain (needed)
#598 Fred Kendall.

Finally the 1980 Burger King:
Hang on a minute, red backs! Not blue! What is going on here?
Luckily the Burger King card is a checklist and I have realised that this is not the regular 1980 Topps set, but rather a 33 card set of Pitchers, Hitters and Runners. Hence the name.
It looks like Topps, feels like Topps, made by Topps but not Topps.
Included was:
#3 Rollie Fingers
#16 Keith Hernandez
#32 Frank Taveras

Sadly I have missed the Pitch, Hit and Run competition running from July 7th -13th, its for boys and girls aged 8 to 13 years. Oh well.

If you can shed some light on these cards, it would be greatly appreciated.

1983 Topps

I bought these packs from e-bay UK. If packs ever come up in the UK, I will bid. The seller had 1987 Topps and 1988 Fleer as well. I won this lot of 3 packs of 1983 Topps. I like the design of the 1980's cards, in particular 1980 to 1984 (although I could take or leave the 1982 'hockey stick' design). I have bought from this seller 'derbymark' before and I can safely say he hasn't searched these packs.

Each pack contains 15 cards and 1 stick of gum. There are 792 cards in the set which includes sub-sets; All-stars, League Leaders, Record Breakers, Super Veteran and Team Leader cards.

Pack 1:

#44 Don Robinson Pirates

#64 Bill Stein Rangers

#143 Joe Pettini Giants

#181 Terry Felton Twins

#287 Bobby Brown Mariners

#289 Jerry Dybzinski Indians

#343 Bob Bailor Mets

#461 Steve Trout White Sox

#488 Alfredo Griffin Blue Jays

#489 Tom Herr Cardinals

#532 Dave Stewart Dodgers

#612 Steve Swisher Padres

#696 Chuck Tanner Pirates

#731 Al Williams Twins

#766 Barry Bonnell Blue Jays

Pack 2:

#52 Onix Concepcion Royals

#174 Jerry Ujdur Tigers

#198 Kiko Garcia Astros

#246 George Bamberger Mets

#278 Kevin Hickey White Sox

#301 Mike Schmidt Super Veteran

#327 Bobby Castillo Twins

#358 Jerry Garvin Blue Jays

#385 Mike Easler Pirates

#525 Frank White Royals

#598 Dwayne Murphy A's

#629 Charlie Lea Expos

#651 Angels Checklist

#761 Gary Lucas Padres

#792 Chris Chambliss Braves

Pack 3:

#15 Ron Cey Dodgers

#88 Jim Gantner Brewers

#91 Larry Milbourne Indians

#132 Todd Cruz Mariners

#227 Chris Bando Indians

#297 Ned Yost Brewers

#241 Rich Gossage Super Veteran

#381 Red Sox Checklist

#390 Reggie Jackson All Star

#393 Carlton Fisk All Star

#528 Jamie Easterly Brewers

#545 Floyd Bannister Mariners

#573 Andy Hassler Angels

#663 Tom O'Malley Giants

#739 Rick Ownbey Mets

Disappointingly one Red Sox in 45 cards. It also says on the wrapper that there should have been a 'Winning Line-up' game card inside. There wasn't one in any of these packs, they are needed to purchase the 5 card collectors sets and its too late to obtain a free game card as that finished on the 15th December 1983. Oh well.
These cards are in excellent condition, cannot say the same for the sticks of gum!

2003 FLEER Showcase

The pack contains 5 cards.

The regular set consists 105 basic cards and 10 Showcasing talent cards.

There are inserts SweetStitch.

There is a parallel set Legacy (numbered to 150) and Masterpieces (numbered 1 of 1).

Base cards:

#80 Kazuhisa Ishii Dodgers

#84 Scott Rolen Cardinals

#91 Craig Biggio Astros

#93 Austin Kearns Reds

#98 Robin Yount Brewers

Really nice looking cards. A plain grey outer border and off white inner border with the gloss player picture on a matt background, that makes the player stand out. Good card stock. I bought these from a seller on e-bay who was also selling 'hit' packs, so I guessed there would be nothing but base cards in here. Pity there were no Red Sox.

2008/9 Match Attax with Stale Gum

I sent a couple of packs of Match Attax to Chris at Stale Gum. Although there was not a lot of love for these cards on A pack a Day here and here when I posted them. Chris, The Captain at Waxaholic, Todd and even Travis at PunkRockPaint were interested in getting a few packs. I am always happy to oblige a request that is very easy to fulfil.

Click here to see Stale Gum's Match Attax bust.

Trade with Todd

This is my second trade with Todd aka Darkstar from Bondurant, Iowa. Todd is a Soccer and Kansas City Royal fan and we linked up through A Pack a Day. Enclosed in the package, which turned out to be a Roger Clemens fest, was:

1981 Donruss #214 Carl Yastrzemski
1981 Fleer #224 Carlton Fisk
1987 Donruss #2 Roger Clemens Diamond King
1987 Fleer #634 Roger Clemens /Gary Carter
1987 Fleer #640 Roger Clemens/Dwight Gooden
1987 Topps #87 Roger Clemens
1988 Donruss #51 Roger Clemens
1989 Donruss #280 Roger Clemens
1989 Fleer #85 Roger Clemens
1989 Score #350 Roger Clemens
1990 Bowman #268 Roger Clemens
1990 Donruss #184 Roger Clemens
1990 Fleer #271 Roger Clemens
1990 Score #310 Roger Clemens
1991 Donruss #BC3 Roger Clemens
1993 Leaf #279 Roger Clemens
1993 Leaf Gold leaf Stars #20 Roger Clemens
1993 Pinnacle #25 Roger Clemens
1993 Upper Deck #135 Roger Clemens
1993 Upper Deck #D9 Roger Clemens
1993 Upper Deck #R7 Roger Clemens
1994 Fleer #26 Roger Clemens
1994 Score #25 Roger Clemens
1994 Triple Play #201 Roger Clemens
2003 Fleer #48 Manny Ramirez
2005 Donruss Champions #359 Carl Yastrzemski
2005 Throwback Threads #G17 Roger Clemens
2005 Topps #5 Johnny Damon
2007 Allen + Ginter #210 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2007 Artifacts #77 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2007 Topps '52 #50 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Allen + Ginter Greatest Victories #5 Jon Lester
2008 Baseball Heroes #21 David Ortiz dark blue 19/50
2008 Baseball Heroes #28 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Baseball Heroes #198 Papelbon/Ramirez/Varitek/Ortiz
2008 Spectrum #13 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Topps #TCP19 Manny Ramirez
2008 Topps #360 David Ortiz
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
2008 UD Masterpieces #84 Jason Varitek

Thanks to Todd for the great selection of cards. I really like the Masterpieces' cards. There wasn't a great deal of difference between 2007 and 2008, but I like the look and feel of them. A surprise Baseball Heroes David Ortiz jersey swatch numbered to 50. Brilliant Todd