The Stanley Cup, Red Sox, and a Completed Set!

Let's continue giving props to all the great folks who have sent me cards recently.  Today's batch comes from longtime friend of the blog, Marc B.

Marc is a great guy, and as a regular reader he really has a good pulse on what I like to collect.  For example, he noted that I've mentioned starting up a collection of cards featuring the greatest trophy in sports, The Stanley Cup, and provided two great cards towards that end.

First we've got the great Mike Bossy above, which I had never even seen before.  It comes from the multi-sport 20th Anniversary set that Upper Deck distributed back in 2009.  What an awesome photo of Bossy hoisting the hardware, shots like this are exactly why I wanted to start up this small collection.

Accompanying Mike in the envelope was this Patrick Roy.  Obviously any subset dubbed "Cup Celebrations" is ideal for this collection.  I'll have more on these in a future post as that collection starts to take form, but for now what a great couple of hockey cards to kick things off.

From there, Marc switched over to baseball and hit on a bunch of Red Sox needs...

Here's another one from a multi-sport set.  This card cracked me up because it's the first time I've thought of little-remembered Rohan Davey in probably a decade or more.

Here's a Topps Attax Hot Streak parallel of the game's newest 500 home run hitter.

A new one from the last year of Upper Deck baseball, when they were supposed to be hiding the logos but really didn't try too hard.

I will gladly accept any and all Red Sox cards that aren't already in  my collection, and that includes mid-'90s stuff that some would consider "junk".

I think most fans have those players who become favorites for some reason, despite not exactly being superstars or household names.  For me, Todd Walker was one of those players.

Though Todd played second base for Boston for just a single season in the pre-Pedroia days, I was impressed overall.  He definitely made a few errors in the field, but nothing his bat didn't make up for as far as I was concerned.  In 144 games with Boston in that lone 2003 season, Todd hit .283 with 15 home runs and a career-high 85 RBI.  Add to that almost 40 doubles, and 250 total bases, and I remember being shocked when the Cubs snagged him in free agency after that season on a one-year $1.75M deal.

All of that is a roundabout way of saying that Marc provided me with my very first Todd Walker Red Sox cards in this package!

Here's another 2003 Upper Deck, like the Walker above.  Surprise, surprise, I really like an Upper Deck set with minimal design and their great full-bleed photography.  I'll have to look around for the rest of this team set.

This one was new to me, though I definitely knew exactly what it was.  I remember collectors being very divided when these all-black 2009 Topps cards were distributed in Wal-Mart that year.  Kind of a cool parallel, though I could see a set collector who plopped down twenty hard-earned dollars for a blaster at the time and ended up with a bunch of these being angry about it.

I do have 1990 and 1991 Upper Deck complete sets, but they're shrink-wrapped and I've never bothered to open them or scan in the cards, so this Roger Clemens is new to my collection, though it isn't.

Had never seen this set before.  2005 Fleer Showcase.  Marc hooked me up with a pair, yet another David Ortiz...

...and Curt Schilling.  Hopefully Curt's been staying away from Twitter recently.  Never used it myself, so I couldn't tell you.

I was right at that impressionable age of baseball fandom when Nomar burst onto the scene, and as a kid in New England who loved sports it was impossible not to love this guy.  I still like getting new Garciaparra cards to this day.

Wow, what was Upper Deck thinking with this set?  Yikes.  Hey, I still needed it and at least Marc saved me from having to pay for it out of a dime box or something like that.

I don't know how many of these Topps made, but it sure seems like a lot to me.  Could have sworn I had all the Red Sox already, but a check revealed that Marc nailed it with this one.

When it comes to cards from 1969 and earlier, I'm no stickler on condition.  There's just something cool about a beat up piece of vintage cardboard, especially when it's a new Red Sox card and it's from one of the better sets of the '60s in my opinion.

My first mini from 2011 Allen & Ginter, believe it or not.  I know some folks aren't big on the horizontal A & G cards, but in this case, at least on the mini version, I think the photo works well.  Probably just a throw-in by Marc, but I think it's actually one of my favorite cards in this package.

New Ted Williams!  This is one of those cards that was printed up by Renata Galasso in the '70s.  I had never bothered to research her until I received this card, though I certainly recognized the name.  She actually sounds like an interesting woman.  Would be cool to go back in time and visit this shop.  Final thought on this one...could you get a more perfect photo of Williams' legendary swing?

Wrapping up this post is the definite All-Star of this package.  I have been looking for a copy of this 1982 Topps Carlton Fisk In Action card for over a year now.  It's one of those that for whatever reason I could just never seem to find in great condition for a good (read cheap) price.  Well, Marc really came through for me and the search is over.

The reason this card is such a big one for me is that it's the final card I needed to complete the 1982 Topps baseball set.  The set is significant for me for a few reasons.  First, it's the year I was born.  Aside from that, I've been at this one literally since I was a kid.  In fact, a good portion of my current set is from a vending box I got as a gift from my Dad sometime in the early '90s.

It's fitting that Marc would put the final nail in the coffin on this one, since he is the one that put it within striking distance to begin with.  Marc, I can't thank you enough for the thoughtful package.  Aside from knocking out the '82 Topps set, you've inspired me to really get going on the Stanley Cup collection and have me on the verge of 5,000 unique Red Sox cards.  I truly appreciate it!  You and Oscar from Sweden are next on my list for outbound packages, and I already have stacks started here for both of you...