I Hate When They Do That

This weekend I went to my semi-LCS.  Semi because it is an hour and a half away.  It is always a good experience though because Jason at Centerfield Sports is always friendly and has a monster box of Red Sox Commons for me to sift through.  This time there was a big stack of 08 Topps Chrome in the monster box.  Something like 8 team sets but, just like my team set, every one was short the Buchholz.  So I asked him if he had them somewhere separate.  He informed me that the Buchholz was a redemption auto but still part of the base set.  Now to me that is absolute crap.  There is no way that an autograph should be part of a base set and the fact it was a redemption only makes it worse.  Of all the things that manufactures do this pisses me off the most. 

So with this new bit of information I am taking the 08 Topps Chrome Buchholz off of my Top 10 Most Wanted List.  Yes I still want it but I doubt anyone is going to send it to me so I am replacing it with a more common card.  Topps #716 Tony Perez SV has now replaced Buchholz.  I bought a team set a long long time ago and got shorted this card and realized it not to long ago.  Odd thing is I bought a O-Pee-Chee team set and got shorted the Tony Perez SV also.  I'm guessing he is pictured in a different uniform and it just has the "Traded to Red Sox" stamped on it, but I could be wrong.

On a different note at the card shop I got 90 different Red Sox cards for $15.  They were mostly parallels from the last few years.  Things like Bowman and Topps Gold, Refractors, Colored Turkey Red, Colored Heroes, and base.  Jason always does me right.

Seeking Information About A Vintage Card...

I do a daily search of eBay for oddball Bill Virdon cards that I do not have.  Last week I came across an auction for one such item.  It was a 1960 Key Chain Insert.  I got it in the mail yesterday.

I was expecting small but upon looking at it it really just looks like a clipping from a yearbook.  The card is listed on Beckett but there is no picture.   I don't know it just doesn't seem like it would have been listed by Beckett as a card if it was actually just a clipping.  I just don't know what the card is supposed to look like because I have never seen one before.  There is another one listed on eBay right now but it is from the same seller and I have never even seen one listed before last week and like I said I check it every day.  Does anyone know what these are supposed to look like?

For now I'm crossing it off my list of Virdon cards that I need.  If you have any Virdon cards I would like to make a deal with you.

Trade with Behind These Hazel Eyes

I recently made a trade with Behind These Hazel Eyes I send out a bunch of WBC and older football cards in exchange for Red Sox.

Here are a few inserts.  One of the many different colored Starquest cards that I need.  I like chasing rainbows but it is kind of rough trying to chase the entire rainbow of an entire team.  I'm doing the same thing with the Heroes set.  I don't figure I will ever complete that rainbow though.  I think I can get the black and grey complete but not the Red, Blue, Brown, etc...  I'm now one card closer to each rainbow.

Not everybody know I collect boxing cards.  This first one was a surprise in my package.  I have only seen a scan of a Helmar's boxing card in a post that someone did long ago.  (I think Cardboard Junkie)  I had no idea that the cards are extremely thick.  They are the same thickness as one of those dummy cards the manufactures throw into packs to detour searchers.  Long ago I tried to get a copy of this Arthur Abraham auto from Mario.  He traded it off to someone else though.  It is finally mine.  I'm not a big Aurthur Abraham fan or anything but I am a big boxing fan so I'm happy to get a certified Boxing Auto.

This last card was on my Top 10 Most Wanted List.  It has been replaced by 2009 Topps U/H #256 Tim Wakefield.  That will complete my 2009 Topps team set for me once I get it.  Look on the sidebar for my want list.  Quite a bit of stuff that should be easy to come by.

Thanks for the trade.  I hope you liked what I sent as much as I like what I received.

My peices of the Troll Break

By now everyone knows the scoop on this.  The Collective Troll held a group break but instead of cash it took cards to claim a team.  Here is my haul. 

First up is O-Pee-Chee.  When I started seeing other bloggers getting these I got excited cause Canadians are stingy so it is always nice to get some of their cards.  These 87s on top of the few I already had give me enough to put them in a binder rather than a box. 

Here are some more O-Pee-Chee but these are sneaky ones.  It doesn't say O-Pee-Chee anywhere but on the back in little bitty type.  These made me go through all my 70ish cards to see if some were in my collection already disguised as regular Topps cards.  Nope, all I had was Topps.

More Old O-Pee-Chee cards though these are not in disguise.

You can't tell from the scan but the Saito is a Refractor.  It scanned a little lighter than the Regular Chrome Bard but you still can't make out the refractory goodness in the scan.

LLLOOOONNNGGG ago Marck went on a large card kick.  He bought a bunch of oversized cards.  This one was on the block and I claimed it right away.  Now I just have to figure out how to store the thing.

Pinnacle came out with these in the late 90s they were following the Highland Mint craze and made coins of players.  I have a Marino one in my Player collection (maybe two) and my son has one in his White Sox collection but this was the first one in my Red Sox collection.

Last but not lease it this Manny Jersey card.  I bet Manny still thinks he is worth 20 million next year but  I don't see him getting over 10.  He sure didn't help himself during his White Sox stint. 

Thanks for the break Marck.

A quick Trade with Dodger Bobble

Dodgers are one of those teams that seem to have a whole lot of bloggers.  I rarely have any Dodgers in the trade box.  I found a few to send to Dodger Bobble though.  He sent some stuff in return too. 

This was easily my favorite card in the package.  Not only do I love the black border design it is my favorite player.

Joshua also included an old Beckett with Greenwell on the cover.  Man it is crazy to flip through old Becketts like this.

Thanks Joshua!!

A trade with Daily Dimwit

I  received these cards long ago from a guy named Sam that runs an oddly named blog, The Daily Dimwit.  He was an excellent trader ans I would recommend him to whoever was looking for a place to go with your Astros cards. 

First off we have a bunch of A&G plus some minis.  My favorite is the Black Bordered Lester.  I really liked all the black bordered cards since they went to the fancy design in 09.  I hated the plain old boring black border from before that.  The Beckett is pretty cool since it is hand numbered.  I would consider trading it for it regular version plus some other minis since the back isn't as important to me as the front.

I have always liked the Starquest cards.  One of the many things I miss about Upper Deck.  I'm always happy to add some new Starquest Red Sox cards to my collection.

I don't have a Target anywhere close to me so I always appreciate when I get these throwback versions in trades.  Sadly I doubt I ever get them all. 

Thanks again for the cards Sam!!

Does this card even exist

I posted a Top 10 Want List the other day (look on the right side of the page) that consisted of a bunch of cards that finished off team sets for me.  I got a few comments that nobody has seen 1991 Score #894 Wade Boggs.    I can't find a scan of it on COMC or on Beckett Marketplace so it has me wondering if it even exists.  I'm hoping someone out there has a great big stack of 91 Score and can verify that it is an actual card.

The end of an era??

Sunday was the end to a disappointing season.  But it may also be the end of an era.  The Captain Jason Varitek may have played his last game as a Red Sox.  I was happy to see the farewell he got when leaving the field during Sunday's game.  I was of course watching from home but I still gave him a standing-o and made my kids do the same. 

There is a possibility he comes back though as a backup.  It depends on what comes of signing V-Mart.  If Martinez signs than that will be the end of the Varitek era with Salty in the wings.  (I spent two seasons calling Daisuke Matsuzaka Dice-K because I couldn't spell his name, wonder how long this one will take me)  If V-Mart goes to another team than Tek is back for another year.

The 2010 Upper Deck Varitek came from Gordon who sends me surprise packages from time to time.  I post a few of them but lots of them don't get posted.  He is a Red Sox collector also and I can rarely find anything to send him in return that he doesn't already have. 

Gordon helped fill out a bunch of my junk wax era cards with his latest package.

The last 87 Fleer I needed.

The last 92 Fleer I needed

The last 93 Donruss I needed. 

 All in all he knocked out about 6 team sets that I only needed a few cards for and a slew of other cards I didn't have yet.  The last package I sent was the first time what I sent was heavier than what I received.  If you add up all the cards we have traded though I am seriously behind. Thanks again Gordon