From One Small State to Another

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to trade package posts.  After today's post I have just three packages remaining, one of which I've already opened, two of which I've yet to.  My sincere apologies if you've sent me cards and have yet to be thanked, I assure you I have not forgotten you!

For today though, let's take a look at the latest great batch of Red Sox cardboard to arrive recently from my friend Mark Kaz of This Way to the Clubhouse.  These ten cards made their way up the East Coast in a PWE from one small state (Delaware, second smallest in US) to another (Rhode Island, smallest in the US, if you don't count DC of course).

We start off with a 2002 Topps 206 card featuring a nice (Spring Training?) shot of Red Sox great Carlton Fisk.  With this set having been released in 2002, I've got precious few of these in my collection.  A sharp looking card to kick off this PWE!

From there we move onto a card that was totally foreign to me.  What you see here is a 1996 "Team Out" card of Sox slugger Mo Vaughn.  These are slightly narrower than your standard-sized trading card and feature rounded corners almost like a pre-paid phone card or credit card.  I'm guessing based on the fact that Vaughn is designated as a "Wild" card that these were used to play some type of game.  I don't have time to research that at the moment, but it's a great oddball card nonetheless.

This is my very first card of prospect Tzu-Wei Lin.  He's still floating around the organization in the minors as a shortstop, having split time between A-ball and AA-ball last season.  With Xander Bogaerts at short it's tough to imagine Tzu-Wei ever cracking the Major League roster at this point.

Here's one of the many, many minor league releases that were being pumped out in the late '80s/early '90s.  Scott wouldn't debut with Boston until a couple of years after this card was printed up.  He enjoyed a 14-season career in the bigs, finally hanging up the spikes for good after playing with the Cincinnati Reds in 2008.

Here's a nifty Carl Pavano die-cut from 1998 Donruss Preferred.  According to Zistle these are referred to as a "seating" parallel, for whatever that's worth.

As someone who loves a good throwback/retro card, I'm fairly certain I would have enjoyed the Donruss Originals releases.  This Wade Boggs is an insert from the 2002 set, and is actually serial numbered to /800 on the reverse.

This envelope also contained a pair of cards from the very elegant looking 2005 Upper Deck Classics set.  I really enjoy the simplistic layout, and focus on the old-time photographs used in the set.

You don't see HOF catcher Rick Ferrell on too many checklists these days.  This one actually inspires me to post a pretty fantastic vintage Ferrell card from his playing days that I've been meaning to show off for a long time now.  Maybe later this week!

From a nice vintage black and white photo, to something that is unmistakably '90s!  This UD3 card of the man with one of the best haircut/mustache combos in baseball history sure is loud.  Just about every shape, color and pattern you could cram onto a single baseball card here.  I have no idea what the folks at Upper Deck were striving for here, but I do love that you can take one quick look at this card and immediately know which decade it's from.

Final card in today's post is a classic pose of Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon from 2003 Fleer Tradition.  This set was obviously an homage to the '63 Fleer set.  Johnny looks a little confused here, maybe he's watching the base coach and forgot what the sign is for bunt?

Mark, sorry it took me a while to get to this one, and thanks once again for the awesome array of cards!  I hope the return PWE I shipped last week has arrived safely and brought you as much enjoyment as this one brought me.