Another Helping of Shlabotnik Sox

It's high time I showed off the remainder of the awesome Red Sox cards that I received from longtime hobby friend Joe Shlabotnik quite a ways back.  I'd like to get caught up on having featured all cards received in trade this year by December 31st, so here they are, the newest additions to my ever-expanding Boston Red Sox collection...

When I first thumbed to this Nomah card in the stack, I had a feeling I maybe already owned a copy.  It turns out that I felt that way because I have two other Garciaparra inserts from 1999 Topps flagship, but not this one!  Always happy to land a new Garciaparra card, especially one from the era in which he was my favorite player on the Red Sox (1996 through 2003).

Next up, a trio of 1981 Donruss cards towards my team set from this release.  This Dwight Evans is gloriously mis-cut, but I'm not bothered by it in the least.

Jim Dwyer looks...concerned?  Certainly uneasy at least.

There's really no excuse for me not to have every playing-era card of the great Jerry Remy by this point, but clearly I don't because this gem was new to me!

From there we'll transition to 2018 Topps Opening Day, a set from which there were a few different singles in the latest delivery from Joe.

Opening Day or not, not everyone just throws around Mookie Betts cards for free and by surprise these days.  That Joe is a solid guy I tell ya!

I'm still kind of surprised at just how quickly Hanley's MLB career came to an end.

The Topps All-Star Rookie Cup rounds out the 2018 Opening Day cards.  Perhaps the best part about this batch is that my 2018 Opening Day Red Sox team set is now complete, woohoo!

Here's one odd early '80s Fleer that got left out of my last post on Joe's mailer, where I showed a few of these fuzzy beauts.

A couple of very artsy Diamond Kings cards are next.  I think these are from the 2020 release, but I've filed them away weeks ago and am too lazy to confirm right now.

Another new Mookie?  Jackpot!

JD Martinez, from the same ASG subset from 2019 Topps Update.  Martinez is a bit of a mystery to me, in that after two really great years with the Red Sox he doesn't seem to be too popular with collectors.  He struggled in 2020 I'll admit, but so did a lot of guys, and I'm not really holding that train wreck of a season against any player.  I guess we'll see how he bounces back next year...

Next up, some Fleer Tradition cards.  These are from the 2005 release, which is great because they feature the players who finally broke the curse and won the 2004 World Series.  This one doubles as a new addition to my small Bartolo Colon collection, also.

Two thirds of a Red Sox card here, but that counts to me!

Dirt Dog!

Yet another David Ortiz card.  Right now Big Papi is the most-represented player in my baseball card collection, with a slim one-card lead over Xander Bogaerts.  Pretty amazing since I frequently search out Xander's cardboard, while David just seems to sort of happen by circumstance, due to the sheer number of Ortiz card that have been produced over the years.

A stray Donruss Team Heroes Dewey...

...and a stray Topps Heritage Manny.  I still have quite a ways to go in terms of the earlier Topps Heritage Red Sox team sets, so this card is very much appreciated.

Here's another new Nomar, this one an extremely shiny and die-cut card.  I think it'll find a home in my in-progress shiny card binder project, actually.  The bottom of the card is a standard, straight edge, but you could cut your fingers along the top there if you weren't careful!

Here's one lone hockey card that made its way into the package, featuring defenseman John Moore of the Bruins.  I've really strayed away from modern hockey cards big time over the past few seasons, with few exceptions, so this is actually my first card from last year's O-Pee-Chee hockey set.  I'm guessing Joe found a loose pack or two in the wild, and I'm glad he passed this one on to me so I could at least get a look at the design in hand.

Finally, Joe was nice enough to throw in a fantastic hit that he pulled from last year's Topps Heritage release.  Check this one out:

Niiiiiiiice!  Amazingly, though I have just a couple dozen cards of Rico, the majority of which are of the vintage variety that were released during his playing career, this is now my third autograph of the man.  All three are on-card, and all three feature beautiful signatures like this one here.  There's a man who takes some pride in his penmanship!  Next time you pull an autograph that looks like two initials, or a one-second scribble, think back to this card.

Joe, I really appreciate all the great cards you sent my way here, and even more so the hobby friendship that we've struck up over the years.  Thank you!  I'll see if I can round up some cardboard to send your way over holiday break maybe.

To everyone else, thanks as always for stopping by, and stay safe out there!