New Virdon Odds and Ends

My 50 time a day Virdon ebay search has bore fruit over the last few months.  No new cards but I did get some odds and ends

This is a 3.5x5 photo. It's dated July 84 in the bottom corner.  This is the only photo I have where it's dated like that in the photo itself. I own a white 1984 Virdon jersey and hat, it might be the exact one in this photo. 

Another 3.5x5 photo.  This one has Manager Bill Virdon 1983 handwritten in pen on the back. 

I don't know when this picture came from. Blue  with Astros on the front with a blue hat wasn't worn by Houston until 1983 and by that time Virdon was on Montreal. I was thinking it must be some mystery spring training only uniform. Then I realized it's not a jersey at all because there are no buttons, he's wearing a pullover. The trees in the background does mean it was taken spring training though. It really irked me though because it looked so familiar. That's when it came to me. 

He's wearing the same thing in his 82 Donruss card.  I would bet it was taken on tree Dave far even. 

Those Pesky High Numbers

When I first moved to Phoenix there was a blog called Pack War ran by a guy that went by Corky. Since he lived on Phoenix he sent me a list of all the card shops on the area that he knew of. The very first one I visited was called the Hot Corner in Mesa.  It's kind of far away from where I live so I haven't been back there for probably 10 years. I was in the area this past week though so stopped in.  

Really what I was looking for were three row PSA height boxes. (Evidently these have been discontinued  because I can't find any except for a guy in ebay that has them for ridiculous prices)  The thing is I don't want them for graded cards I only want them because the dividers that I use between years don't fit in a regular size box because they have to be taller than a top loader. I can use two wide but the wide fits better in an Ikea cube shelf without wasting a bunch of space. 

What they had instead of the boxes was a couple monster boxes of vintage.  I searched through two whole monster boxes and I only found two cards I needed, both high numbers. 

This Reggie Smith In Action card was the first card in the 1972 section of the box. An easy score like that got my hopes up but it wasn't to be tar was the only 1972 that had that I needed. 

Those monster boxes went from 1962 to 1975 and there only other card I found that I needed was this 1965.

Since they were both high numbers I was kind of scared to ask how much they wanted for them.  The Jay Ritche is in exceptional shape so I figured for sure they were going to add a premium to it.  But when I asked the guy he said only $1 each.  Yes please! If only they had a bunch more I needed. 

A Minor Problem

 I mentioned before that I used to have cards shipped to me at my work.  Cards would languish there for extended periods of time before I would get them put away.  I have been catching up on that recently and came across some stuff I forgot about.  I'm not sure who sent it but I recently found a complete 1998 Pawtucket Red Sox Team set in my stuff to put away. (I suspect it was friend of the blog and Red Sox super-collector Mark Hoyle but it was so long ago I just don't remember for sure)

The team set was already in nin card pages and just needed to be put into the correct binder.  Only there was this.

The holes are in the wrong page.   I have never seen a page like this before.  Actually I have never seen any problems with any Ultra Pro products before.   Because of that, Ultra Pro is the only kind of supplies I buy.  I'm still going to use this page but it is going to used for a PWE instead of card storage. 

The aforementioned 1998 minor league team set doesn't have much going for it.  If you are not a Red Sox fan the only player you might recognize is Trot Nion.

There are a few others that eventually got a call up too but none that made a big impact.  The one that is recognizable to Red Sox fans is Lou Merloni but not for his exploits on the field.  He is now the Red Sox color guy at NESN.  

The Red Sox had some great color guys over the years in Remy, Eckersley, and then Youkilis.  Merloni is ok, he has grown on me the longer he has done it.  I still think Youkilis, who filled the gap after Eckersley, was better but even then he was only a part time announcer.  Youkilis is a respected former team player and at the same time he is modest and self depreciating in a way that is just perfect for TV.  Eckersley was the exact same way and Eck was my favorite color guy that ever covered baseball and the playoffs are REALLY missing him right now. (I don't count Vin Scully as color because to me he was mostly a one man booth otherwise my all time favoritewould be Scully)

Oddly enough the only card in the set with multiple players on it is Merloni and Nixon. It's like they knew who was going to be best remembered. 

More Decorations

 I made some more small room additions. 

I've bought this frame the same day i bought the shadowbox I posted about a week ago.  This is one of the old style ones that are not user friendly. The only way to change out the cards is to force them out the sides and over the frame.  The new ones are at nicer and the banks come off so the cards slide out real easy.  With this one,  half of the cards slip out of the hard cases when you put them into the frame and you have to pull the out and redo them.  The cases themselves are c4appy and slip down in the cases after time too. These are all doubles acquired over time. You can't tell from the fronts but two of them are Venezuelan even. 

This road sign sits over top my bathroom door.  It's from my home town but I didn't take it off the side of the road I bought it off ebay like two years ago. Of the Bill Virdon Blvd signs I could have ended up with this one not close to home, literally.  I used to live maybe 200 yards from the corner that this sign came from. 

Cards From Cards on Cards

How's that for a title. This is only the second time I've used it. 

Kerry recently sent me a batch of Red Sox cards.  I'm really late getting to this post, this recently was actually over a month ago.

This is my first Little Papi card.  I don't know if that's really his nickname but as the son of David Ortiz it should be. He was drafted in 2024 and has only played A ball so far. 

Without these two guys the Sox wouldn't have made the playoffs, if Roman had still been around I think they would have got a lot further than they did too. 

I don't know what this card is.  All I can come up with is 2023 World League Promo. I see there's an Otani and an Acuna but that's all I have figured out. I don't even know what company put then out. 

I don't chase refractors but I sure do collect them. 

This finished off a team set for me. When I buy team sets they usually don't come with the leader cards so I end up having to chase them all. 

When these cards came out, if you would have asked me which one still played for the Sox in 2025 and gave me two guesses, I would have got them both wrong. 

Opps, accidently scanned Xander twice.

Relics are another thing I don't chase but I sure do collect them. Kerry sent me two different color swatches even. 

Another team set finisher. No more chasing 2021s.

New to me Pedros are some of my favorite cards. 

My daughter started a new school this year. She came home one day and said there is a kid in her class who's dad played for the Red Sox.  Turns out it is Pedroia's son. 

New to me Nomar cards don't show up at my house very often. 

My collection is seriously lacking in stickers. Panini Topps all of them in just about every year. 

Thanks for the package Kerry, I'll be starting a new stack of Cardinals for you. 

Weirdness Or More?

Signa Cut cards are ugly they always have been but I still chase all the Virdons. In 2012 they put out a bunch of Bill Virdons.  

The were two Signa Cut sets in 2012: Regular and Bronx Edition.  Both were advertised as Gold/25, Green/10, Red/5, and Purple/1. That means there are eighty- two of them out there.  I completed the rainbow in the regular version long ago. 

The Bronx Edition has been totally different story.  I've never seen the Purple card numbered to 1,  which is totally understandable.  It probably got ripped by someone and it stayed in their collection.  Here's where the weirdness comes. 

That is the Bronx Edition numbered to 10. I've never seen the other 9 that are numbered to 10 and i search more than daily. I recently got the one numbered 4/5.

The 2012 Bronx Edition cards numbered to 25? I've never even seen one of them. It's crazy that a card numbered to 25 has never shown up when a /10 and /5 had shown up.  I call BS on there actually being ten of them numbered to 10 and he's why.  That cards numbered 4/5 i just got, it was my 5th one numbered to 5.

In thirteen years I was able to acquire every single one of the cards #/5 but not a single #/25 have shown up and only one of the #/10 has.  That seems like more than plain weirdness too me  I think maybe those 34 other cats may just plain old not exist. 

For 2013 I have /25, /10, /5, and I've never seen the #/1.

A Completed Team Set

When I got back into collecting cards in the early 2000s I bought a Red Sox Team set checklist on eBay. It consisted of all the Bowman and Topps team sets up through 2005. For each year there was an fill size checklist punched for a binder and there were mini checklists for a binder.  I pitched that whole binder of checklists years and years ago. The mini checklists I have mostly got rid of as I finished team sets.  There are a few of the minis that are still around though because they were in an empty slot of my binder. When I eliminated my binders a while back I got rid of the rest but for some reason not this one. 

I finally got that last 1953 Bowman Black and White. 

Jim Piersal eluded me for long enough and I finely got one to complete my team set. 

I'm going to post the whole team set but it's not a pretty of a picture as everyone else's would be because my team set is top loaded and bagged and I'm not taking them out just for a picture. 

I finished of the color set long ago. So long ago that I can't remember who the last card was. 

When I finished the color set I probably only had three of the black and white and it's taken years to track them all down. When I say years to track down that means years to track then down paying what I'm willing to pay for them.  I finally got the Piersal for $11.

And now: