Comic Books, Rock 'n' Roll, Cereal Boxes & More

Tonight I've got the content of the latest excellent trade package that I received from Tim B of I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning.

Before I get to the new cards Tim sent along, a couple of housekeeping items.  I had two cards that Tim sent in his last package that I never thanked him for simply because I couldn't identify them at the time.  The above Mel Parnell I found out comes from a 1983 Yankees yearbook and was produced by TCMA.  Pretty cool!

Here's the other card I couldn't identify at the time:
 

I now know that this great Jack Barry card comes from the 1988 Conlon Series 3 release.  What a photograph!

Alright, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's see some of the cards that Tim sent along this time.  I was amazed by the sheer variety and quantity, but also by the quality of some of the cards.

For starters, a handful of Bowman Chrome Prospects.  I really enjoyed this year's Bowman set, and I've been meaning to pick up a few more packs while they're still readily available.  Happy to be a shade closer to a complete team set.

Going back in time, I got my first taste of 2002 Bowman courtesy of this bubble mailer.  Oddly enough, this is the second Eric Glaser card I've received in trade recently (the other came from Nick at Dime Boxes).  Not real sure about that delivery.

I guess the prospects got blue borders in this set, and the established players got red.  Great photo here of the moment before contact.

X-Fractor of Ty Buttrey.  One of the early draft picks of the recently departed Ben Cherington.

50/50 odds Hanley is gone before Opening Day 2016.

I'm closing in on 100 unique Pedro Martinez cards now.

This Fleer Tradition John Burkett is a glossy parallel, serial numbered to /100 on the back.  I always enjoyed watching John pitch as he wound down his career with Boston.  Hell, I'd take a 37-year-old Burkett in the rotation right now.

Another card closer to the 2015 Stadium Club set.

Card-Supial?  There were definitely some odd things going on in the hobby around the turn of the century...

Even though he was sort of a bust, I still enjoy adding new Daisuke cards to my collection.  This rookie is from 2007 Topps Co-Signers.

Refractor!

Still kicking around in the league all these years later.  David was scooped up by the Angels at the trade deadline.

I'd never seen these 1988 Fleer Record Setters cards before, but the color scheme works well with the Red Sox.

Can't believe I didn't have a copy of this one, but I didn't.

All of these cards are great, but here's where the package really starts picking up steam.  I've been a Ramiro Mendoza fan since his days with the AA Norwich Navigators in the mid-'90s, and this is a slick looking Gold Refractor.  Awesome card.

From there Tim hit on what might be my single favorite parallel of the '90s, Pinnacle Museum Collection.  My scanner definitely likes these.

I'd certainly never seen this one before, it's actually a refractor version of Dustin Pedroia's 2009 Topps Chrome World Baseball Classic insert, serial numbered to /500 copies.

Tim's been plugging away at the 1968 Topps Game set, and I was the lucky recipient of a couple of his dupes, including this Jim Lonborg which is in really good shape.

My first Seung Song card.  I'd never heard of him before, and it turns out he never played in an MLB game, though he made it painfully close playing at AAA for both the Expos and the Giants.  Definitely a unique name, pretty cool to have a game-worn jersey of this one-time prospect from Korea.

Kevin Youkilis chrome rookie card.  Man does he look young on this one, and man am I getting old.

This is the first one of these Toys 'R' Us Purple parallels I've seen in hand, and they're a lot shinier/glossier than I'd imagined.  Mike recently took his talents (read .200 batting average with decent power) back down to Arlington, and a Rangers club with an outside shot at making the post-season.

This is definitely my first hand-cut 1962 Post card.  I've got a few from the previous year, but that's about it.  I like that my lone '62 card is number 62 in the set.

My two current favorite players on the team are Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts, so I was excited to find this White Framed Gypsy Queen parallel from Bogaerts' rookie season in the package.  I already had the base card, and the Blue Framed version, so this one gives me a nice trifecta!

A definite unique item here, this Rico Petrocelli comic book was an insert from 1970 Topps.  When I get some more time I'd like to scan this whole thing in because it's pretty interesting.  I've gotten some hockey comics that are similar, but I don't recall having seen the baseball version before.

Here's a more recent style comic book (though still getting old at this point I guess) from 1990.  I definitely had a bunch of these when I was a kid, but the only one that had survived into my adult collection was Will Clark.  Now he's got a companion in Wade Boggs.

Wow!  Any package that contains a Pedro Martinez game-used card is pretty significant.  A very nice card of the newest Red Sox HOFer, I was shocked when I found this one.

I've been after a copy of this Eddie Vedder card for months now, and Tim finally came through! 

While I haven't been impressed with their last couple of efforts (in fairness, the guys are getting up there in age), I was a die-hard Pearl Jam fan for a good 16-year stretch there beginning in 1994 or so.  Not to go on a tangent, but I think they were at their absolute peak between Vs and Yield, right in the mid to late '90s.  Saw them at least a dozen times in concert, probably many more, though I don't think I've ever officially counted.  Collected all of their officially released bootleg albums.  Was in the fan club even.  You get the idea.  And now I'm the proud owner of my very first Eddie Vedder baseball card!

I'll close it out with what might be my single favorite card from the entire group, a terrific 1970 Kellogg's 3D card of shortstop Rico Petrocelli.  Like many collectors, I enjoy almost any of the Kellogg's cards, but the 1970 release in particular has a simplistic design that I really like.  A real vintage beauty for sure.

Tim, thanks for the awesome array of Red Sox cards!  I'll certainly keep my eyes peeled for anything you might enjoy, and hopefully I'll be able to get some more cards sent off to you before long...