Huge Trade with KensDailyFix

Recently I had the fortune of meeting (at least electronically) a new reader and upstart blogger named Ken.  He's just getting his blog, KensDailyFix, off the ground but I'm enjoying it so far.  When he volunteered to help me out with some 2013 Topps flagship needs, I had no idea just how generous a package he would be sending.

For starters, he included the last 40 or so cards I needed to complete the 2013 Topps Series 1 base set!  This is something new for me this year, as it's the first time in my life that I've completed the Series 1 set before Series 2 was released.  It certainly is a good feeling.  I won't show all 40 base cards that were included, just a couple of favorites...

I'd be lying if I said I've heard of Daniel Descalso.  What can I say, I'm just an American League guy I guess.  Great photo though.

Loving the abundance of retro uniforms in this year's set.

Another case in point.  Killing off my Series 1 set would have been generous enough, but that was just the tip of the iceberg!  The one insert set I am chasing from 2013 Topps is the 1972 minis, and this package delivered a whopping 20 of them, more than doubling my total!

I truly appreciate the generosity here, I have precious few Darvish cards at this point and am happy to add a new one.

I pulled the Mike Trout mini myself in a blaster, and now I have his NL counterpart, Bryce Harper...

My favorites, it should come as no surprise, are the retired players like Roberto here.

The best mini by far though was this Ted Williams.  I have wanted a copy of this card since I first laid eyes on it, and this is the final Red Sox mini that I needed.  I'm down to needing just 15 of these to knock off the set.

Ken didn't stop there though, as he included one of the last Red Sox inserts I was looking for, a Ted Williams Chasing History (gold foil version).

My first Spring Fever card was in the package as well, always happy to add a new Will Middlebrooks to my collection.

There were a couple of Heritage cards from this year thrown in, including this David Ortiz insert commemorating his 400th home run...

...and this Brock Holt rookie.  Brock has yet to see any time with the big league club, and instead has been biding his time with the Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA) so far this year.  I have very little in the way of 2013 Heritage, so these were both needed and appreciated.

There were some unexpected 2007 Fleer cards of two guys no longer with the club, Josh Beckett...

...and Jonathan Papelbon.  Finally, I've saved the best for last, Ken included some needed Red Sox parallels from the Series 1 flagship set.

Two more Wal-Mart blues, which takes me up to half a dozen total.  Just four more of these to track down.

Finally, my first three Gold parallels, each #'d/2013.  These must be hobby only, as I never saw a single one in all of the retail wax I ripped.  If I could have hand chosen three Red Sox to get Gold parallels of these would have been the three, as they are three of the younger, more exciting offensive players on the team.  The Middlebrooks card is one of my favorites of 2013 so far.

Ken, thanks for an amazing trade package.  You're a great trader and an inspiration as a person, I'm really glad that we've come into contact.  I hope you enjoy the cards I sent your way in return, and I know where all of my Indians cards will be heading from now on!

Signature Sundays - Will Clark

Today's post features another Will Clark autograph, the fifth certified Clark auto in my modest collection:

This one hails from the 2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set.  I've gone on numerous times about the sense of nostalgia that this design gives me, so I'll spare you this time.  Each player on the autograph checklist for this set has five different autographed cards available.  Clark is featured on cards 91-95, and for years I've had a goal of getting the Emerald Auto parallel (#'d/99) of all five.  It has been a challenge because these just don't surface on the regular, and prices can go insanely high when they do.  For example, I just watched a Blue Auto parallel of Clark (#'d/20) go for $80!  You can see why I focus on the less rare Emerald parallels with prices like that.

This one gives me three out of the five now, I'm still on the hunt for #91 and #92.  I'm hopeful that I'll be able to find one or both of them at a reasonable price ($30 or less is my definition) and knock this one out in the near future...

Canvas Sniper

I'm bogged down with a lot of scanning for a gigantic upcoming trade post, so just a quick one-card post for this evening.  Tonight's card comes from one of my favorite hockey insert sets from the past couple of seasons, the Canvas inserts from the flagship Upper Deck set.  The short-printed retired stars at the end of the 2011-12 checklist are particularly nice, and sell for a pretty penny (when you can find them).  For the longest time Mario Lemieux was the only one I had, but recently I was able to add a second retired star to my collection:

What a great shot of one of the best pure goal scorers in history, presumably celebrating after doing what he did best.  This photo has a lot going for it, from the placement of the NHL puck on the boards, to the fact that the fan at far left (whose face is obscured by the Upper Deck logo) is mimicking Brett's pose almost perfectly.

Another nice portrait shot on the back, and look at those goal totals!  I'm not the first person to say this, but I would have to say that Brett was the best pure goal scorer that I have ever seen play myself, in person.

I know I'll never track down all of these Canvas retired stars, but you can bet if I find them for less than the cost of a blaster, as I did this one, I'm pulling the trigger!

Adrian Gonzalez, We Hardly Knew Ye - Patience Pays!

A few months ago I completed the better part of a 2012 Topps Chrome rainbow for my Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox collection.  There was one card I just couldn't bring myself to pay for at the time though, and that was the Atomic Refractor.  With just ten copies in existence I knew this one was going to be quite a challenge.  I saw two sell in the first couple of weeks after the set was released, both for $25+, which I just wasn't willing to pay.  For the longest time the only copy on eBay was a $35 Buy-it-Now auction, no thanks.  I kept my saved eBay search though and a few weeks back finally struck gold.  I think everyone is possibly distracted with all the 2013 product on the shelves, because this time I was the lone bidder and took the card home for just $9.99 plus a couple bucks shipping:

This is one of those rare cases where a Topps Chrome card scans as well as it looks in person, possibly better.  This is definitely one of the nicer looking refractors I've ever seen personally, nice job by Topps with these.

Here's a look at the back, you can see the serial numbering to 10 copies at top right.  I'm really glad that I waited this one out, and in the end paid about 1/3 of what I've seen the other copies of this card go for.  And now, here's a look at the rest of the rainbow with the Atomic Refractor included:

Base card.

Standard Refractor.

Purple Refractor.

Orange Refractor.

X-Fractor.

Blue Refractor, numbered to 199.

Black Refractor, numbered to 100.

Sepia Refractor, numbered to 75.

Gold Refractor, numbered to 50.

Red Refractor, numbered to 25.

Atomic Refractor, numbered to 10.

Dynamic Die-Cut Insert

Cyan Printing Plate.

Magenta Printing Plate.

There you have it.  Maybe someday I'll be fortunate to run across the other two printing plates, or the Superfractor (1/1), but I doubt it, so I'm happy to call this one complete!

Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox Cards - Count

Total Cards - 53

#'d /2011 - 1
#'d /999 - 1
#'d/562 - 1
#'d/199 - 1
#'d/100 - 2
#'d/99 - 1
#'d/75 - 1
#'d /60 -2
#'d/50 - 2
#'d/25 - 2
#'d/10 - 2
1/1 - 7
Relics - 1
Silk - 1
Autographs - 1
Printing Plates - 6

Zistle Trade with Rosenort

This 1987 Topps Certified Rosenort Auto was included, how creative is that?  Great stuff!

I recently completed my first trade with Rosenort of Condition Sensitive.  One of the things I like most about Zistle is the opportunity to connect with other collectors out there, and this is a great example.  In addition to swapping some cards I now have another new (to me) card blog to follow.  Ten cards came my way in the deal, but one of them I already had (always update your want lists kids).  The nine I did need helped fill some set needs, both baseball and hockey:

Probably my favorite card in the entire package.  I bought a complete set of 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee hockey from my local hobby shop a couple of years back in really great condition.  I'd say NM-MT to MT, with most all cards nicely centered, which is quite a challenge with this set, and a beautiful Yzerman rookie.  There were 25 or so cards that were off-centered enough or had another defect that made it so that they just didn't look right with the rest of the set in the binder.  They were removed and I've been searching for fitting copies since.  Darryl here was really the last big-name player that I needed, although this is a late-career card.

Here's another one, defenseman Joe Cirella of the Devils...

Rounding out the trio is Greg Malone, especially appreciated is this was a Whalers card I didn't have previously.  All three of these are a perfect fit condition-wise with the rest of my set, couldn't have asked for better examples.  I think I'm down to just seven or eight commons left to knock this one out.  This is one set I definitely intend to complete in 2013.

Here's another set I've had all the cards from at one point or another, but am again hand-collating, 1991-92 Upper Deck.  Some big names here, Gartner...

...Nieuwendyk...

...really love this set, although I'm biased as it's one of the junk wax era products I ripped the most of as a kid...

Last of the four is Al MacInnis in sweet Flames sweater.  That was it for the hockey portion of the package, but there were a pair of 2013 Topps baseball set needs included as well.

Not surprising that there were some extra Rockies laying around in Rosenort's doubles box I guess.  Thanks for the trade, hope you received and enjoyed your package as well.