High Fivin'

After a long work week I was pleased to find the latest PWE from my buddy Mark Kaz awaiting me in the mailbox!  More new cards for my Red Sox collection from my most frequent trading partner, let's dive in...

The absolute gem of the package was this David Ortiz photo variation from 2012 Topps Update.  Without really intending to, I've sort of started a small David Ortiz image variation collection.  This one will go nicely with the Gypsy Queen from earlier this year, and the similar cards from 2013 and 2014 Topps.  I was very surprised, and delighted, to find this one in the envelope! 

This card alone would have been a great delivery, but Mark and I typically ship back and forth in groups of 9, and this time was no different.  Here are the 8 cards that accompanied the Ortiz on its journey from Delaware to Rhode Island...

I mean no disrespect here, as I truly do appreciate each and every new Red Sox card, but boy had Leaf fallen a long way in the 13 years between that great inaugural, silver set and this confused and crowded card from 2003!  I had never seen this set before, which is actually going to become somewhat of a theme for the rest of this envelope.

Here's another, for example.  Definitely my very first 2002 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia card, in the form of outfielder Johnny Damon.  Once again, a lot going on here design-wise.  I didn't collect at all from 1997 - 2006, and it's amazing to me the sheer number of sets that were released during that 10-year span.

Here's a much more basic, and in turn more successful, design, 1999 Upper Deck.  I was surprised to find that this was just my second card featuring Darren Bragg in a Red Sox uniform.

As an admitted parallel lover, this Home Team Advantage Brian Daubach was one of my favorite cards in this batch.  This one goes nicely with the Kent Mercker Mark sent me just last month.

Another set that was brand new to me, 2005 Topps Gallery.  This design with the "full bleed" painting, but darker outside of the thin white frame, kind of reminds me of cropping images on a computer (which, if you have a blog, you likely spend a lot of time doing).

I haven't actually spent any time researching this, but I'm willing to bet this card instantly vaults into the top 10 least flattering photos in my Red Sox collection.  Josh Hancock looks more like your uncle playing in a beer league softball game than he does an MLB pitcher here.  I'll chalk it up to an unflattering angle combined with all that blue. 

What's great about this card is that Josh only appeared in 3 total games for the Red Sox, so getting him in uniform on an officially licensed card was somewhat unlikely.  I have no memory of this happening for some reason, but found during researching just now that Josh met a very unfortunate and untimely death in 2007.  Would not have written the beer league line had I known that a paragraph ago.

Here's captain Jason Varitek on another design I'd never seen before, 2000 Pacific Paramount.  That's 4 sets I've never seen before in a 9-card PWE.  This one definitely scores a 10/10 on variety.

Closing out this round is a nice minor league card of Trot Nixon from his time with the Sarasota Red Sox.  I've mentioned it a few times now, but I've really been on a minor league kick lately.  I've got a couple of interesting minor league cards coming up here on the blog in the next week actually, so the timing on this one is great.

Thanks as always Mark for the great PWE!  I managed to sneak a return package back in the final mail pick-up before the long weekend an hour or so ago, so hopefully you'll have some return cardboard waiting for you early next week...