Shlabotnik Report Delivers! '81 Fleer, Sticky Francis Rookie, and Other Goodies

I was recently the recipient of my second PWE from Joe Shlabotnik, proprietor of The Shlabotnik Report.  Let's tear in...

Leading off strong with a pair of 1981 Fleer cards that get me oh so close to a complete team set.  Dwight Evans...

...and Garry Hancock.  This is one of those sets that I didn't really care much for in my youth, but has really grown on me over time.  The pair that Joe included here leave me just 3 cards shy of a complete team set now (Lynn, Eckersley and team checklist card).  Time to hit up COMC and put this one to bed!

Yet another 2015 Archives card.  It seems everyone except me is buying this.  This is my tenth Red Sox card from the set, and every single one of them was received in a trade package.  Williams on the '83 Topps design is definitely one of the nicer Red Sox cards on the checklist.

Gary Painter never came close to appearing with the Boston Red Sox, as he topped out with the AA New Britain Red Sox.  The Winter Haven Red Sox, with whom Gary is depicted here, was an A-ball affiliate of Boston from the late '60s until they folded in 1992.  I love minor league cardboard, and this is actually the first Winter Haven Red Sox card in my collection!

A Pedro insert from 2002 Topps Total.  Definitely one for the "it looks way better in person than it came across in the scan" archives.

This was a really cool throw-in from Joe.  Remember when Cespedes was with Boston?  Feels like forever ago, but it was only this time last year that he was taking his hacks at the plate in a Boston uniform.  Just 12 short months and two teams later, he's hoping to help the Mets achieve post-season glory.

Rounding out the baseball content, here's one card that I did know was coming as Joe had given me a heads up on it.  This is one of those retail chrome foil parallels from Topps Heritage.  I still don't have the basic version of this card, as it's a short print, but this shiny one sure is slick!  42 unique cards of Xander and counting...

Joe managed to feed my Whalers addiction with this delivery also with a pair of '82-83 Topps Stickers.  Only your die-hard Whalers or hockey fan is likely to recognize the player above.  Give up?  Doug Sulliman.  He played through basically the entire decade of the '80s with the Rangers, Whalers, Devils and Flyers.

The other sticker Joe sent along is a much more recognizable face, Ron Francis!  '82-83 is considered Ron Francis' rookie card year, so I consider this sort of an oddball rookie.  You couldn't peel an '82-83 O-Pee-Chee Francis and stick it to your Trapper Keeper, but you certainly could with this one!

Closing out the envelope, another Liverpool player from the 1990 Pro Set soccer release.  Houghton played his international football for Ireland, but enjoyed 5 fairly successful seasons with Liverpool in the late '80s/early '90s.  Hopefully The Reds can pick up a victory this afternoon against Arsenal to go 3-0-0 to start off the 2015-16 Premier League season.  I'll be watching on DVR as soon as I get home this evening.

Joe, thanks for the PWE, you packed quite the punch with this one!  I've already begun pulling aside some cards to fire back with...