2005 Topps Draft Pick #UH317

So a little birthday money came my way and what better way to spend it than on baseball cards. While packs of baseball cards would have been nice, I have neglected my player collection Pursuit of Jacoby, to conclude some of the various other sets in my repertoire. So I decided to use this unforseen windfall on some earlier Jacoby's that have escaped me. This 2005 Topps Update #UH317 is the first card to arrive.
I am surprised that it arrived from the USA so soon. If you haven't heard an Icelandic Volcano called Eyjafjallajökull, (my son commented 'It looks like someone just typed random letters on the keyboard) erupted bringing all European air travel to a halt. No outbound or inbound air traffic for 6 days now. The Easter school holidays were just finishing, so millions of people (by estimate) trying to get home were left stranded all over the world, and until today I presumed there would be no airmail.

The idea of an unexpected holiday extension sounds brilliant but I think the reality of sleeping on the floor of an airport departure lounge is harrowing. As fresh eruptions continue spewing a towering wall of ash, dust and steam high into the air it is thought that chaos it has caused will continue for many months.

Jacoby Ellsbury

As I get closer to collecting the 1980's Topps set I decided to try and concentrate on one of my other pursuits Jacoby Ellsbury. I have received some cards in trade recently so I hit e-bay to try and knock off some of the 'older' cards but as luck would have it I won some 2009 cards as well. Rod from Padographs asked 'Why would a guy in the UK collect a college player from Oregon State?' Why? Well...
One of the TV stations in the UK called Channel 4 had a baseball program that ran for a few years, it was cancelled in 2007 but we were lucky enough to have the 2007 World Series televised live. I spent a few late nights and early mornings dozing on the couch watching as much as I could. In between quick eye lid checks Jacoby Ellsbury took an amazing catch, which, if memory serves me correctly was in Game 4. I have been unable to find it on you tube but that catch stayed with me. Shortly after my wife bought me a Red Sox shirt for my birthday and it had Ellsbury 46 on the back and the rest as they say 'was history'. As I picked up one or two of his cards a pursuit was born. There are a number of pricey cards but I decided to stick to cards with no print run. Most of the cards I receive are in trades and from e-bay, only one Ellsbury card has ever arrived on e-bayUK a 2008 Green Co-Signers and it became mine.