Douglas Does Damage!

Late last month I featured the beginning of a trade package from my longtime hobby friend Douglas of Sportscards from the Dollar Store.  In that post I showed off complete 2018 Allen & Ginter and 2018 Stadium Club Red Sox team sets, but Douglas' package contained so much more than that.

Initially I planned on doing a couple of follow-up posts to that first one, but I didn't want to risk dragging it out for too long and not getting to everything in a (somewhat) timely manner.  Instead, I went on a monster scanning binge in an effort to get through everything remaining in just one post.

A big reason it took me so long to get to this is that there were dozens and dozens of cards I needed from 2013-14 Score alone.  They were all from the "high numbers" set that was available only through Panini's Rookie Anthology product.  Luckily for me, Douglas has literally busted cases (yes, plural!) of Rookie Anthology, and he was amazingly generous in sharing so many of the Score high numbers cards that I was still missing towards my set, like Tyler Seguin here.

Or Jonathan Bernier.  I'm not going to show every one of the Score cards here or this post would take an hour to get through, but I do want to highlight a few notable rookies that were included...

I can't say the Panthers hold the same allure for me that they did a few years ago when they had Jagr, Trocheck, Bjugstad and Barkov on the roster.  Jagr has moved on, Bjugstad was just dealt to the Penguins a few days ago, and some of the magic seems to be gone.  Still, a nice rookie here of a guy I enjoy collecting.

Sean Monahan was a great draft pick (6th overall) for the Flames.  He has been an every day player since the moment he debuted with the club the year this set came out, and has been virtually a lock to record roughly 30 goals per season.  He's having the best season of his career this year by a long shot, and he's already amassed over 340 career points which is damn impressive given that he's only 24 years old.

Like Sean Monahan, Matt Dumba has been a mainstay in the lineup since debuting with Minnesota, though he's been out for a few weeks due to a pectoral injury, with a few weeks still to go.  A defenseman with good offensive talent, he's scored double digit goals in each of the last four seasons.

Here's another star of today's game, though he's no longer with the Ducks.  For the past three seasons, Andersen has taken the lion's share of the work in net for the Maple Leafs.

Finally, a player I like from a team that I am excited to see back atop their division and in playoff contention.  Lee reached the 40-goal plateau last year for the first time in his career.  Looks like he may come up a bit short of that this year, but should still be able to top 30 in any event.

That's enough Score for now, let's take a look at some of the other baseball cards Douglas sent.  This 2018 Donruss Optic Rafael Devers card is a variation, as it lists his name as "Raffy Big Stick".  I watch a lot of Red Sox baseball, and I can't recall ever hearing Devers called this before, but then again I'm not getting any younger so maybe I'm just forgetting.

From the same Optic release, here's Andrew Benintendi's base card.

Going all the way back to the mid-'90s here with this '95 Stadium Club "Best Seat in the House" subset card.

I saw these Honus Bonus unlicensed cards posted on so many blogs a year or two ago, but until now had never seen them in hand.

I can't say I'm all that impressed, but I'm very happy to have a couple of them in my collection to represent the release.  This Porcello is some type of parallel, as you can see the Honus Bonus logo is in silver foil.

I've gotten quite a bit of 2018 Bowman in trade packages this winter.  Not complaining!

Back to the mid-'90s, we have Tim Naehring showing proper form for fielding a grounder in the infield.  Eyes down, throwing hand poised to support trapping the ball in the glove...my Little League coach would be proud!

I'm nowhere near done entering all of my baseball cards into my collection on The Trading Card Database yet, but I'd venture a guess that when I do get there David Ortiz will be the baseball player that I have the most cards of.

Here's a super bright Score card that I think came from one of those small boxed sets that were so popular in the late '80s/early '90s.  I like the framing of the photograph on this one.

Right up there close to David Ortiz in terms of most cards in my collection would be Nomar Garciaparra.  He was my favorite baseball player from about 1995/1996 until he was traded out of town in 2004, so that's just fine with me.

Also included in this delivery were a handful of much-appreciated cards from 2018 Topps Pro Debut.  I don't buy a lot of modern wax, but if I were to buy a wax box of baseball cards I'd give this set serious consideration.  I love all of the obscure minor league teams, and it's fun to research where the players are at in their careers, as well as to look back at the cards a few years later to see who panned out.

As for Josh Ockimey, he spent time at both the AA and AAA levels last year.  He's got great power, less than great fielding, and is 23 years old.  He's currently the 10th ranked prospect in the Red Sox farm system based on the source I used (MLB.com).

Jay Groome is intriguing, as he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed last season in its entirety as a result.  He should return this year, and is still just 20 years old with a high potential upside.  This coming season will be a very telling one.  At present he's the team's 2nd ranked prospect according to MLB.com.

I'm not sure how Jose Gomez made this set, given that he batted just .224 in high A ball last year, but here we are.  Love the team though, Clearwater Threshers!

Michael Chavis is the top overall prospect in Boston's minor league system.  His reputation did suffer a bit when he was suspended last year for PED use.  It's not out of the realm of possibility to think that we might see Chavis with the big league club this season at some point if circumstances are right.

Though not currently on any Red Sox top prospect lists, Brett Netzer did have an effective season at second base for high A ball's Lowell Spinners last year.  Maybe AA baseball is in his future for 2019?

The speedy Cole Brannen, the team's #19 prospect according to MLB.com.

Tanner Houck is within the top 10 Red Sox prospects on just about any list you look at, and MLB.com has him ranked #5.

Random Mookie Betts insert!

The Pro Debut cards weren't the only minor league cards I was fortunate enough to receive.  I also got quite a few cards from the Topps Heritage Minors releases.  Once again, Josh Ockimey...

...and from the 2018 Topps Heritage Minors set another Tanner Houck.  He's sporting a lot of ink there, full on sleeve pretty much.

A nice Pawtucket Red Sox card here, pretty great as they're the closest thing the little state that I call home has to a big professional sports team.  Unfortunately they're moving to Worcester, MA soon.  Still, a nice tie to Rhode Island with this one!

I like those retro looking rec specs.

Another very talented pitcher, Darwinzon Hernandez is within the top 10 Red Sox prospects on just about any list you consult.  Another guy who may get his shot sometime in the next year or two here.  That's a wrap for the minor league portion of the mailer.

Few more cards still to go here, this is one of the endless versions of Rafael Devers cards from the 2018 Panini Chronicles set.  I swear my Devers collection doubled in size from this one trade package.

Of course, Douglas always hooks me up on the hockey side of things as well.  This time around there were a handful of Whalers cards, and I found that this 1991-92 Score Michel Picard was a new one for me!

Also received this Patrice Bergeron, my very first card from 2018-19 Upper Deck, and actually my very first 2018-19 hockey card, period.  Just haven't been buying much of the new stuff, but I have to say I really like how this year's Upper Deck flagship set looks.  Great timing to receive this one as well, as Patrice just celebrated his 1,000th career regular season game this week!

An awesome addition to my soccer collection with the Christian Pulisic, from Panini's 2018 National Convention set.  Good timing with this one as well, as Chelsea just shelled out record money to acquire Pulisic earlier this year.  I really appreciate Douglas throwing this one in.

Two more nice additions to my Red Sox collection to cover.  From the 2014 Panini Elite Extra Edition set, this is a "Blue Stratus" parallel, which is die-cut and serial-numbered to /100.  Not looking like Kevin is going to make the Majors at this point, but you never know.  Either way, a unique and very shiny card.

Lastly on the baseball side, when I showed off all the great Allen & Ginter cards last post, I neglected to include this fantastic full-size relic card of Dustin Pedroia!  Allen & Ginter has some of the nicest game-used/relic cards year in and year out if you ask me.  I'm pumped to be able to give this Pedroia a good home in my collection.

Last but certainly not least, I saved my two favorite cards from the entire package to close out the post.  From Upper Deck's insanely expensive and high-end "The Cup" release, here's a Ron Francis base card.  This one's from the 2012-13 set, and is numbered to /249.  Even the base cards in this set are extremely thick and weighty.  Most people buy this product hoping to pull crazy multi-color patch cards autographed by the game's biggest stars, but to this Whalers fan this card quite literally represents the best card on the entire checklist.

Finally, my favorite card of the mailer, and one that really made my jaw drop!

Wow!  For those of you who aren't hockey fans, Nikita Kucherov has been one of the hottest players in the league for a few years now, but this year he's having a season for the ages.  Not only is his team light years beyond anyone else in the standings, but he's already topped 80 points, will easily top 100 points if he stays healthy, and may very well end up with one of the most impressive point totals of the past 20 years.  At the moment I'd imagine he has to be the favorite for both the Art Ross and Hart Trophies, though there are still plenty of games to go.

Nikita is averaging about a point-per-game over his NHL career to date (415 points in 418 games played at the time of this post), and finished with an even 100 last year.  This card regularly sells for $15 or more, and would have been one of the biggest remaining obstacles standing between me and a completed 2013-14 Score set.  Unreal.

Douglas, thank you so much, yet again, for these amazing cards.  I am painfully aware that I owe you some return cardboard badly at this point.  I don't know that I can match what you sent me, certainly not quantity-wise and likely not quality-wise either.  I did find a couple of cards though that will be on the way!