I Love the Sight of Red Sox in My Mailbox!

Continuing on in my attempt to catch up on trade packages, today I've got a really great batch of Red Sox that I received from Tim of I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning.  The sheer number of thoughtful card packages I've received so far in 2015 has been nothing short of amazing, and Tim's was no exception.  Here are just some of the great Red Sox cards Tim sent along in exchange for some extra Yankees I had lying around...

We'll start off with one of my favorites, a sweet Turkey Red V-Mart.  For whatever reason, I don't have a ton of cards from Victor's relatively brief stint in Boston.

It never ceases to amaze me just how many sets exist out there from the junk wax era.  I'm closing in on 4,000 unique Red Sox cards, yet in almost every package I receive I get something from the early '90s that I've never seen before, like this Wade Boggs from the 1990 Score Hottest 100 Superstars set.

Tim even managed to hit on a couple of cards for my all-but-abandoned Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox collection!

My favorite of which was this great X-Fractor from 2011 Topps Chrome.  I am actually getting close to completing a rainbow here when it comes to this card, although I don't have any printing plates or super rare versions.  Somehow I was missing the X-Fractor, but not anymore!

Here's another great Chrome parallel, Dustin Pedroia in orange form from the 2011 set.

My Pedroia count grew by quite a few thanks to this generous bubble mailer!

Here's an interesting one from the 1998 Upper Deck SPx Finite set.  I had never heard of these at all until receiving a couple in a trade package just a month or two ago.  The gold piece is actually embossed, I'd imagine these were pretty sought after at the time.  Pedro here is the "Radiance" version, numbered to /4500 copies.

This is a very odd looking card, the effect they used makes it look like the players were cropped or photoshopped onto the background.

I've mentioned a couple of times before that I'm generally a fan of newspaper-themed cards and sets, so I was excited to find this Headliners insert from 2002 Fleer.  Had never even heard of these before.

Tim actually did an awesome job of filling out my Sox collection from some of the years that are most poorly represented, which would be roughly 1997 - 2006.

This All-World Team insert is extra thick and sturdy.

I got my very first taste of 2002 Topps Chrome thanks to Tim, and I can say that this Nomar Gold Refractor looks every bit as great in person as it does in the scan, maybe better.

More Chrome, 2009 style!

Sort of a depressing card, as Dernell was brutally killed at age 25 during a robbery/carjacking.

On to something a little more positive.  It's hard to see from the scan, but this Bowman card harkens back to the '55 Bowman TV design (the TV is a little more modern obviously).  This is also my first card of Sun Woo Kim, period.

I thought this Stars of Japan insert was interesting, certainly something I'd never seen before.  On the front you've got Hideo Nomo...

...on the back Tomo Ohka.  Great stuff!

The timing on receiving this Justin Masterson rookie was great, given that he's back in Boston's rotation for the 2015 season.  The rotation seems shaky to say the least, but we'll see how things begin to play out this week.

The guy who forgot how to throw a strike...

I've got the entire '87 Topps set, but this was my first O-Pee-Chee card from that year.  Not a bad first card to get either.

I'm down to just 3-4 left to go from 2011 Topps Chrome now.

I love the Fenway play-at-the-plate shot on this Varitek Upper Deck card.  Jason had some really nice cards over the years, and I'd put this one right up there with the best of them.

I really love the 2009 Sweet Spot set.  If you've got an extra Matsuzaka, Pedroia, Okajima or Lester lying around I'm interested!

This Jonathan Papelbon from 2009 Spectrum puts me just one card away from completing this team set as well.

Josh Beckett pre-beer-gut.

A really nice, and really shiny, SP Legendary Cuts Bobby Doerr.

One of my favorite cards in the package was this East Meets West Topps insert.  I can't believe I'd never heard of these before, really glad Tim decided to toss this one in the package!

A couple of cards to bolster my Dice-K collection.

Back to some Topps Chrome.  This Orange parallel features a violent collision at the plate.  Great card, but it can't hold a candle to this one:

This is my very first 2008 Topps Chrome Copper parallel.  It has to be one of the nicest looking Chrome parallels I've ever held in hand, the scan really doesn't do it justice.  On top of that, Okajima is one of my favorite pitchers to hurl for Boston in the last 15 years or so.  I loved watching his wild delivery.  This is easily one of my favorite cards in the bunch!

In closing, a couple of really nice additions to my constantly growing Nomar collection.  This "loud" piece comes from 2000 Pacific.  Apparently it's a "gold crown die cut".  An awesome card for sure, but I think I like this one even better:

Now that is a die-cut!  With all those corners I can't believe Tim was able to keep this card mint over the years.  I managed to get it into a soft sleeve and toploader unharmed, and I don't plan on pulling it back out any time soon.

This isn't even everything that Tim sent, although I think I've covered my favorites.  Thanks for a great AL East swap Tim!  It was a pleasure trading with you, and hopefully I can drop a PWE or two on you during the season.  I would say this trade is proof that Yankees and Red Sox fans can get along after all!