Independence Day Cardboard

The 4th of July and baseball go together like apple pie and ice cream.  Just seems like the perfect day to post a small smattering of baseball cards from my "to be processed" pile.  It seems like an especially perfect day to lead with this Frank Thomas Power Brokers insert, which so prominently features fireworks.

Here's a big one for my 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractors project.  Aside from being a big name, Buster Posey is the first card on the checklist.  This was a tough get, and I'm grateful to have the first binder pocket filled at last.  189 of these down, 31 to go!

I'm very pleased that Xander Bogaerts ended up being selected as an All-Star for 2019 in the end.  Certainly well-deserved with the amazing season that he has put together thus far.  I'm also very pleased to increase my Bogaerts collection by a single card courtesy of this Purple Foil parallel from 2016 Topps Opening Day.

From my current favorite player, to a former favorite player with two Nomar Garciaparra cards from 2001.  The first is his flagship Topps issue...

...and from the same year his Stadium Club issue.  Like the Buster Posey above, this is card #1 in its respective set.

I truly love the manager subset in 1960 Topps, and recently ran across a trio of them that I'd picked up at a hobby shop quite a few years back now.  This Bill Rigney is a dupe...

...but it's a significant condition upgrade over my previous (creased) copy!

Of course, the backs of these are every bit as beautiful as, if not more beautiful than, the fronts.

I love the classic poses on these.

Jimmie Dykes is a little off-center top to bottom, but I certainly don't mind for the price I paid for these (50 cents per, if memory serves).

Here's a classic card of the '80s, plucked from a quarter box.  I love me some Oakland A's Rickey.

And, since we led off with a Frank Thomas card, we'll finish with one as well.  The 1995 DIII set from Topps seems a little dated in retrospect, but I loved these cards as a 12-year-old at the time of their release.  For a quarter I wasn't leaving this Zone insert of Big Hurt behind.  Worth 25 cents for the nostalgia factor alone.

Well, that's all for tonight, enjoy your fireworks and hot dogs everyone!