Christmas Cardboard from Chris the Collector!

Just before the Christmas holiday, I received a surprise mailer from my longtime hobby friend Chris, who writes at The Collector.  Chris sent out a big batch of cardboard holiday cheer across the blogs this season, and I am very thankful and appreciative of having been included in his sphere of generosity.

As you'll see, my package was quite generous, too!  Chris clearly knows my collecting habits very well, and he's one of the most frequent visitors (appreciated) and commenters (very appreciated) on this blog.

So what kind of goodies were to be found inside?  First and foremost, a nice jolt to my Red Sox team collection with a wide array of new cards.  This Mike Greenwell is the second 1991 Studio card I've received recently, and I have to say that with nearly three decades for it to bake in the design has kind of grown on me.  Something a little different than your average junk wax set, anyway.

Speaking of junk wax, I appreciate any and all new Red Sox cards, regardless of the era.  In fact, in some sense filling gaps in sets like 1990 Bowman via trade is very rewarding.  I believe Chris referenced my collection on The Trading Card Database to hit me with pinpoint accuracy as far as my needs go.  I have a good sized stack of Red Sox doubles and plan on doing the exact same thing to him to return fire here!

Another set I've referenced recently, and enjoy quite a bit, 1990 Leaf.  I'd honestly consider collecting this set if it wasn't for the fact that, in my ongoing condensation of my collection, I've decided to limit myself to one large baseball set per year only.  Given that the first baseball card set I ever collected, 1990 Topps, conflicts directly with this one, I won't be choosing Leaf.  Still going after the Red Sox and a few other stars though.

Here's a really cool oddball.  This Carlos Quintana, which by all appearances is a standard 1994 Topps card, is actually a pre-production sample for the set released in 1993.  It's amazingly coincidental that Chris decided to send me this one, as I actually have another of these that I picked up on COMC on Black Friday that will be posted when I resume my countdown of that haul this coming weekend!

I forgot to scan the back of this 1993 Leaf card, which is a violation of sports card blog rules.  I hope you can forgive me.

Wow, wasn't exactly a packed house at whatever game this photograph was taken at.  Happy to have this one, as my 1997 Topps team set is in a somewhat sad state.

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars, a set only team/player collectors could love!

I've been accumulating Daisuke Matsuzaka cards like crazy lately.  I'm up over 50 of them in my cataloged collection now, good for a spot in the top 20 as far as players with the most cards.

On the other end of the spectrum, I now own exactly two Willy Mota cards.  That's two more than the number of MLB games he saw during his career.

An Allen & Ginter need from a couple of years back.  Always satisfying crossing one of those off the list, even if it is a relatively obscure player.

Expert job framing the photograph on this 2010 Jonathan Papelbon.  I love the one obvious standing guy in the background too.

Turn-of-the-century John Valentin.  Great look at the All-Star Game shoulder patch in this photograph.

I'm sure I could collect for the next 50 years if I'm lucky enough to live that long, and still never acquire all of the early '90s Red Sox cards.  That's part of the fun of being a team collector.

A nice, minty fresh '78 Bob Montgomery.  I've already got a '78 set in the collection, but haven't scanned or added it to my official, digitally organized collection yet, so this is a new Red Sox card for now.  It's likely a condition upgrade when I do get around to processing the '78 set anyway as it's really in great shape.

Either Chris recalled a recent post where I talked about how I really like 1994 Flair yet have precious few, or this throw-in was a total coincidence.  I'm thinking it was the former, and I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of this inclusion!

There was a single football card to be found, my very first look at the 1986 Topps set!  I really like the design.  I've considered picking up the Jerry Rice rookie for my 'Cardboard Keepers' collection, but haven't found a copy I've been satisfied with and it's not high on my priority list.

As for Tony Eason, he was a quarterback for the Patriots throughout much of the '80s after being selected in the first round of the entry draft (ahead of Dan Marino, ouch!) in 1983.  He was the team's starter from 1984-1986.  Another great throw-in from Chris here!

Just keeps getting better, with a 1969 Topps Rico Petrocelli!  I knew right away that I didn't have this card.  If you can believe it, I have more 1969 Topps cards in buyback format than I do in original format.  By like a 3:1 ratio, not even close.

How about a new Ted Williams as well?  This beauty is from the TCMA "Renata Galasso" release from the late '70s.  Just a perfect photograph here.  I've got a couple of other nice Ted Williams cards to show on the blog soon, a little foreshadowing there for 2020...

Closing out the package is the one card that blew me away above all others.  Yes, this is an authentic 1952 Bowman card featuring outfielder Sam Mele of the Senators!  The 1950 and 1952 Bowman sets have always held a special place in my heart, as they were responsible for the first vintage baseball cards I ever owned (a gift from my Dad).

This is the first time as far as I recall that I've ever been gifted one of these since the copies I got as a kid.  I was really shocked to come across this in the package.  It's in fantastic shape too, and will fit right in with the others I have from this set (over 20 now!).  Is that a 'Mom' heart tattoo on Sam's bicep there?!?!

Back's in great condition as well.  What a wonderful gift, thank you so much Chris!

But wait, there's more!  As Chris' note indicated, he wanted to take a crack at the Buyback Franken-set as well!  Inside the package were a trio of candidates.  Let's see how they fared...

1965 Topps #51 - Billy Bryan

A very aesthetically pleasing 1965 Topps Billy Bryan leads things off.  Those gold and green uniforms were just awesome, and this is easily one of the best designs of the decade.  On top of that it's a Heritage box-topper buyback, my favorite type of buyback overall.  A very strong candidate for the binder, but it has competition for slot 51...

...from 1981 Topps, it's Bill Robinson of the Pirates.  This is a tough break for the contender, as I just really like the mean stare/mustard yellow batting helmet combo.  This card speaks to me for reasons that I can't quite articulate.

Enough so that, in a very close decision, Bill Robinson just edges out Billy Bryan and retains his spot in the binder.

Have no fear though, we have two more buybacks vying for a spot...

2006 Topps #648 - Brothers Orlando (Hernandez & Hudson)

Alright, this one is just perfect.  Though a somewhat obscure reason to create a combo card (two players on the same team named Orlando), this is a perfect fit for the project for a couple of reasons.  First, and most importantly, it's a new number!  Into the binder by default, and I'm one card closer to my long-running goal of one day finishing this franken-set.  Secondly, it's the very first Arizona Diamondbacks buyback to make the binder.  Again, just perfect!

1978 Topps #712 - Bobby Valentine

Last but not least, a '78 Bobby Valentine.  The first thing I noticed about this buyback of the former Red Sox skipper is the high number, #712.  I had a good feeling about this one before even cracking open the binder to look, and sure enough it's a new number for the project as well!

Pretty amazing that in just the last couple of days I've had three new numbers knocked off in the franken-set between Billy and Chris' packages, more than I've added on my own in many weeks.  The generosity in this hobby truly knows no bounds!

Chris, thank you so much for this great batch of cardboard.  You really added a lot of brightness to my holiday season with this!  I will be working on a package to return fire with in the coming days.  To everyone else, thanks as always for stopping by, and Happy Boxing Day!

Franken-set Progress: 659/792 (82%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 121/792 (15%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 655
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,435