My Favorite Rangers Cards

 I did this with the Leafs after the Bruins' last playoff round victory, might as well keep it going after tonight's series clincher and show some of my favorite Rangers cards.  I've shown many of these before, others maybe not.  In any event I'll again let the scans do the talking.

I can't say I have the warm fuzzies about the next round, but anything can happen I guess.  Pittsburgh sure does look impressive though.  If the Bruins have a chance it has to be due to goaltending.

Zistle Trade with Justin aka Lightningfan7609 aka The Hopeful Chase

Recently I completed (well, sort of, my cards are going out tomorrow) a quick Zistle trade with a member named Lightningfan7609.  It was only once he sent me his address that I realized he was Justin of The Hopeful Chase.  We've been trading for years!  Anyway, Justin was kind enough to knock some 2013 Topps Heritage Red Sox cards off my Zistle want list.  These are very much appreciated as I purchased just a single rack pack of Heritage this year, which resulted in only Stephen Drew towards my Red Sox team set.  Thanks to Justin I'm now four cards closer...

Here's a couple of guys who have both been swinging good bats lately.  Middlebrooks leads the team with 8 home runs and his batting average is finally above the Mendoza line to stay.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, has Hanrahan already thrown his final pitch in a Red Sox uniform?  We'll see how he does with recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Here's a guy enjoying a career year.  I have to admit I was skeptical of Nava being on the roster this year, but he has proven me wrong on quite a few occasions already.

Finally, another guy who has been very solid and a pleasant surprise, Ryan Dempster.  Justin also included utility infielder Pedro Ciriaco's card, but sadly he was lost at the hands of the USPS with a nasty ding in the lower right corner.  Off to the pile of bookend cards that I use when sending out trade packages.

Thanks for the cards Justin.  Finally got yours packaged up tonight and threw in a couple of extras to make up for the wait time.  Hopefully we'll trade again sometime down the line.

Signature Sundays - Jon Lester

Here's the latest addition to my Boston Red Sox autograph collection, a player that's been missing for far too long:

Jon Lester's autograph has eluded me for years.  I don't get the sense that he has as big a hobby following as other stars on the team like David Ortiz or even Dustin Pedroia, but his autographs seem to draw decent attention on ebay nonetheless.  A couple of weeks back I followed an auction for the card above that turned out to be my ticket to finally landing Jon's signature.  Upper Deck's Baseball Heroes and Hockey Heroes designs have always been guilty pleasures of mine, and that was the main driving reason behind this purchase.  The other reason I really like the card is because it commemorates the 2007 World Series, where as the card indicates Jon won the clinching game for Boston.  The #'d/50 copies and the jersey swatch are just icing on the cake, I would have been interested in this card without either.

Given that Lester has been absolutely dominating so far this year (6-0, 2.72 ERA, 50 strikeouts to 15 walks), I expected to get a ton of competition bidding for this one, and to eventually have the card rise out of my predetermined price range.  I was pleasantly surprised to add it to my collection for less than the cost of a blaster, even with shipping included.  A steal in my mind for one of the best southpaws to ever pitch for the team.

That's all for today.  On a side note, if you've been trading with me and are waiting for me to post cards you sent, or send a return package, please be patient.  I'm on a huge project for work that has me traveling to Manhattan every week and living out of a suitcase.  If I owe you a package or a post I promise I haven't forgotten!

My Favorite Leafs Cards

Wow.  That was the most exciting playoff hockey game I've ever seen in my lifetime.  I thought about doing the obvious and posting a Bergeron card with some fan-boy rant to go along with it, but I decided I'll focus on the Leafs instead.  I'm sure all anyone is talking about in Toronto this morning is what went wrong.  How could our team have choked it away in historic fashion like that?

I have to say though, this series gave me a great deal of respect for the Leafs.  Quite frankly they just plain outplayed Boston, especially in the latter part of the series, and deserved to win.  I really liked the style of hockey that Toronto brought to the ice, and they proved to be a much more worthy opponent for Boston than I think almost anybody could have foreseen.  So in honor of Toronto's first playoff appearance in a good long time, here is a random smattering of some of my favorite (sorry, favourite!) Maple Leafs cards...

Congratulations on an amazing series Toronto!

Alright, so I couldn't resist just one!  On to the Rangers, let's go B's!