A Giant Stack of Sox from Marc B

Recently my friend Marc B sent me an amazing and very large surprise trade package, which I'm still sorting my way through.  I've already posted about how he brought me within just two cards of finally knocking off the 1982 Topps baseball set.  Well, there was also a healthy dose of new Boston Red Sox cards included in the box, which I'm showcasing today.

I found a nice selection of players and sets from the last 10 years.  The majority of the cards Marc sent were new to me.  The few that weren't will still go to good use, in fact I've already sent a handful back out the door in other packages.

I'm still missing a surprising amount of Sox cards from the Topps flagship sets, like this one from 2008 featuring two players whose days in MLB appear to be over.

These two, along with the Jason Varitek that led off the post, have me within striking distance on a 2011 Topps Heritage team set.

Pedroia cards always seem to attract more collectors than most other Red Sox players, so I'm happy any time I get a new one via trade like this.

Marc must have opened a fair amount of 2006 Fleer Ultra because there were numerous inserts from this set in the package...

Here's a set that's new to me, 2003 Upper Deck Superstars.

An Upper Deck 'Masters with the Leather' No-mah insert.

Another of those 2006 Fleer Ultra inserts.

I'll take any Red Sox card I don't have, but man this 2005 Donruss Leather & Lumber is one of the worst designs I've seen in a while.

I've talked a couple of times about recently discovering the beautiful 2005 Donruss set, so I was psyched to find this Byung-Hyun Kim.  Even more so because he's an obscure player from Boston's past.  This is just my third card of Kim in a Boston uniform.

One of my favorite players from the 2004 World Series team, Bill Mueller.

More 2006 Ultra, in the form of a David Ortiz base card...

...and Home Run King insert.

Easily one of my favorite cards in the entire package.  I just posted the Varitek from this set a couple of days ago, which I received recently from Mark Kaz, and now I can slide the Pedroia rookie cup card into the binder too.  I really need to knock out this team set soon.

Here's an obscure one, Wily Mo Pena Gold Medallion style.  The guy struck out a lot but Holy God could he crush the ball when he got a hold of one.

Another Opening Day card, this one from the 2007 set.  I prefer the look of the white over the black that Topps went with for the flagship set that year.

A pair of 2006 Fleer base cards, including a Craig Hansen rookie.  Craig's career (barring an unforeseen comeback) was cut short by illness and injury.  He last saw Major League action in 2009 at age 25.

Another one of my favorites, just my second card paying tribute to the 8 total games John Smoltz appeared in with the Red Sox in 2009 as he wound down his career.

I didn't care much for them at the time, but in retrospect I sort of like the look of the 2009 Upper Deck set.

Here's one of those Opening Day Stars 3D parallels that scanned in way out of focus.  Looks much better in hand, and I was happy to see this card as it's one I've nearly picked up on more than one occasion.
 

This 2011 Topps insert is really cool, I can never have too many cards of Babe Ruth, especially in a Red Sox uniform.

Even after this pair I'm still missing 7 or 8 Red Sox from the 2011 Topps set.  How is that possible?

Last but not least, a nice Allen & Ginter Pedroia.

Marc, once again I want to thank you for the amazing package of cards!  I haven't forgotten about a return package, just trying to figure out what I have that I could possibly repay you with.

The '82 Topps and huge stack of Red Sox wasn't all that was in the box from Marc, I've got at least one or two more posts coming down the line...