Signature Sundays - A Baker's Dozen

For last week's Signature Sundays post, I went with a Jim Palmer Emerald Autograph from 2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes, and mentioned that I was now up to a dozen Emerald Autos from that set.  I got a request in the comments to post all twelve at once.  Well, take heed my [handful of] loyal readers, ask and ye shall receive!

Before we get to that though, I've got another one of these to make it a baker's dozen:

Yes, baseball HOFer Paul Molitor is the latest on-card autograph I've been fortunate enough to acquire.  A 7-time All-Star, World Series Champ (and MVP!) in 1993, and member of the 3,000 hit club, Molitor was elected for enshrinement in his first year of eligibility.

Through an impressive 21 MLB seasons Paul recorded a .306 career batting average, and his 3,319 career hits currently have him sitting at 10th all-time.  What's scary is that Molitor missed over three seasons' worth of games combined due to injury over the length of his career, with many of those missed games coming during his prime younger years.  It's not inconceivable that he could have reached the top three in all-time hits were it not for those injuries. 

Those career hit numbers would have earned him a place in Cooperstown on their own, but Paul was an even more effective hitter in the post-season.  In 29 career playoff games Molitor hit an amazing .368, with 6 HR, 22 RBI and an OPS over a thousand!

Alright, time to take a look at the Emerald Autos I've accumulated to date.  There are 100 cards on the checklist, but only 20 subjects.  Each player gets four standard autos like the one above, plus a fifth auto with a horizontal, painted design.  As you'll see, Will Clark is the only player I've gotten more than one card of (and the only player I've got a horizontal painted card of); I'm just one tantalizing card away from finishing his subset of five.

Alright, no commentary, I'll let the cards speak for themselves!

Thanks for reading, see you next Sunday with another new autograph!

Catching Up with Dime Box Nick

How do you know you're really behind on posting card packages from other, generous collectors?  When a second package shows up before you've even managed to thank the sender for the first one.  This is the situation I found myself in with respect to Nick from Dime Boxes after checking yesterday's mail. 

Nick sent me this awesome '83 Fleer Yaz a couple of weeks ago, or maybe even a few weeks ago now.  Things have been so hectic that I don't even know for sure.  Either way, regardless of when it arrived, this was just the beginning of an awesome PWE from Nick.

Most every card inside (and Nick sure does cram a lot of cards into a PWE) was a great new addition to my Red Sox collection.  Like this 1999 Upper Deck Trot Nixon.  I wouldn't rate the '99 set high on my all-time favorite Upper Deck sets list, but it always feels good picking up a missing card from a flagship Topps or Upper Deck set.

I never seem to run across much Topps Total in these parts, but thanks to PWEs like this one I've actually gotten a steady dose of Red Sox cards from these sets in the past year or so.  Nick himself has provided me with a couple of nice Total cards in the past, and this Daubach is the latest to join the pile.

Here's an extremely foily Frank Rodriguez card from 1994 Bowman.  I can't say I had much, if any, '94 Bowman collecting as a kid, so at first I was unsure if this was some sort of parallel or something like that.  I believe it's just a base card, and that there was a subset of foil-covered cards that year.

Few brands get me as excited as Stadium Club, and the 1997 set in particular has a design I absolutely love.  There's really no excuse for me not having tracked down the entire Red Sox team set (or the whole set, really) to date.  This great Reggie Jefferson gets me a card closer!

Here's one I'd certainly never laid eyes on before.  I had no idea this oddball set even existed.  This is a 1992 American Sports release.  I'm guessing this was a magazine?  Either way, the design is actually pretty decent and this certainly makes for one of my more unique Plantier cards.

Nick showed some real generosity in sending this one off to me.  I saw it posted on his blog a while back and commented about it, and now just a short while later it's in my collection.  Pablo had a pretty terrible 2015 season for sure, but a Heritage relic numbered to /99 is a significant card regardless.  This would probably be considered the best card in the PWE generally speaking, but there were a couple that for me personally were even nicer than this one.

I got out of collecting the first time around 1996 or so, so there are many cards in the 1997 - 2006 range that are just foreign to me.  For instance, I'd somehow never seen (or forgotten if I have) this awesome '97 Upper Deck Jose Canseco.  What a great Spring Training shot of Jose signing for the fans.  This is easily one of my favorite Canseco cards from his short stint with Boston.

Closing out the PWE, how about a Heritage High Numbers Eduardo Rodriguez rookie?  As far as the pitching staff goes, in my mind Eduardo is the most exciting player they currently have, and I'm saying that after the Craig Kimbrel trade that came down today.  Rodriguez has electric stuff, and is still very young.  With some good coaching and mentoring I feel like he can be a key piece of the rotation in Boston for many years to come.

I'm determined to get better about thanking people in a more timely fashion, and for starters I don't want to fall this far behind with Nick again.  So, to that end I've got some highlights from the second PWE that arrived just yesterday!

This latest PWE had a nice dose of Update Red Sox, which are greatly appreciated as I'm working on completing the set (want list coming shortly).  I got three new base cards in the form of Alexi Ogando...

...Jean Machi...

...and Carlos Peguero.  The great thing about this trio is that all three of these represent my very first Red Sox card of each player.  These really highlight what I think is one of the great things about Topps Update, the ability for team collectors to add a couple names to their collection that might otherwise have been neglected or overlooked.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this Rarities insert of Daniel Nava, also from Topps Update, in the envelope.  I think Ted Williams is the only other Red Sox player in this insert set, so I'm halfway there already with this one in hand.

A nice over-foiled Jose Offerman from around the turn of the century.  Another one from my collecting dark period that just seems so strange/foreign.

This 1996 Donruss Stan Belinda will pair nicely with the awesome Willie McGee card from this set that Nick sent me in a prior PWE.

Here's another great oddball, from the Pacific Legends set.  Knowing Nick, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this may have come from a Dime Box!

One of my absolute favorite '90s sets is 1994 Stadium Club.  I can definitely see how the "half torn paper/half foil" approach with the player name may not resonate with some, but this one came out when I was 12 years old, and at the height of my childhood baseball card collecting hysteria.  I've considered picking up a couple of wax boxes for a cheap trip down memory lane, but I'm afraid all the cards will be stuck together and ruin the experience.  Thankfully, people like Nick have sent me quite a few over the years!

Unfortunately this one didn't scan too well, but trust me that this 2001 Topps Chrome Troy O'Leary looks impressive in person.  This is actually my first card from the 2001 Topps Chrome set, and it's number 527 on the checklist.  Chrome sets certainly were large back then!

To close this one out, (and finally be caught up with Nick!), here's a sweet Red Sox buyback card that I totally drooled over when I read Nick's post on his hobby box of Topps Update.  What's not to love here?  I miss the old team checklist cards like this one, plus you've got floating heads and Don Zimmer!

I've gone on record before as saying that I love the buybacks Topps has been doing in recent years, and this is easily one of my favorites now.  Nick, thank you for the great PWEs!  These were extremely thoughtful, and I hope to get a PWE off to you in the next few days to show my appreciation!

One Card Post - Sweet, Sweet Sepia

What:  2014 Topps Chrome Sepia Refractor #25 - Xander Bogaerts RC (#'d /75)
Where:  Sportlots
How Much?:  $7.99 (plus shipping, which was less than a dollar)

Why?:  I'm working on some overdue thank you posts, so while I scan away you get a one card post for tonight.  This is one of the most satisfying $10-or-less pick-ups I've had so far this year.  Xander was a definite bright spot on a largely dismal 2015 Red Sox team, and with just 75 copies of this beautiful Sepia Refractor in existence it seemed like a solid mid-range rookie for the price  A nice addition to my modest Bogaerts collection for sure.

Didn't realize until after the card arrived that it's actually #2 / 75, which is Xander's uniform number.  To me, that's not a huge deal in terms of adding value to the card like it is for some, but I thought it was kind of a cool coincidence nonetheless...

Another Holiday Mega-Box

Yes, I went back.  I just couldn't help myself.  I had so much fun opening my first 2015 Topps Holiday Mega Box last week that I picked up another one at Target this weekend.  For $15, it's a nice way to build on my Update Series set, and the Chrome Update cards are gorgeous.  I plan on completing the 50-card set, and lots are cheap enough on eBay, but the Kris Bryant and Carlos Correa cards are the tough pulls, selling around $15 for the Bryant and $25 or more for a Correa currently.  The Correa is the card I'd want most, and apparently every other collector feels the same way.

To change up the format this time, I'm just going to show a dozen cards from the box that were noteworthy to me, working up to my favorite...

I got a kick out of this one just because I honestly had no idea Pedro Ciriaco was still in the league.  I enjoyed watching him play during the couple of seasons he was with the Red Sox.  As far as the card itself though, nothing too exciting.

An interesting photo, sure, but it probably helps if casual fans can identify which player in the picture the card belongs to.  I know that's Adam Jones at far left, then Manny Machado, but I honestly couldn't tell you which of the other two is Darren O'Day.

I do recognize all three players here, as I think most baseball fans would (by process of elimination).  Nothing like being the third best player on your own base card.

This is my first card of Josh Rutledge with the Red Sox, another name crossed off of the all-time list.  Josh got in close to 40 games with Boston after arriving at the end of July courtesy of the Shane Victorino deal with Los Angeles.

I picked this one out simply because I enjoy the photograph.  It's really busy, but for some reason works for me.

This one almost looks like a photo variation, but it's just the average, everyday Nelson Cruz card.  Between the distinctive Topps flagship design this year and those ridiculous All-Star caps, collectors digging through dime boxes 40 years from now will have no problem identifying what set these are from.

Rick Porcello makes three Red Sox cards down out of eleven on the checklist.  Rick figures to be a bottom-of-the-rotation starter for the Sox in 2016, at least at this point.

Alright, time for the top five.  I already said it the first time around, but I'll say it again; these Chrome Update cards are stunning if you're a fan of shiny/refractor cards.  It's worth the $15 price tag on this box just to open a couple packs of this stuff in my opinion.

I did get one insert in my two packs of Chrome Update, this Jeff Bagwell Rookie Sensations.  A nice enough card, but it will never hold a candle to what I consider to be the true Bagwell Rookie Sensations card!

The top three cards here all showcase rookies from 2015.  A nice horizontal Chrome Update Joc Pederson rookie.  26 home runs in his rookie season is nothing to scoff at, but a .210 batting average kinda is.  A nice looking card regardless.

I really do seem to have an uncanny ability to pull nice Cubs cards this year, Kris Bryant cards especially.  That trend continued with this box, as I ended up with this Rainbow Foil parallel.  Not exactly an insane pull, but I've ended up with at least half a dozen nice Bryants like this in 2015, which is amazing given how little wax I open.

Speaking of which, my favorite card in the box is one of the better cards you can pull short of an autograph...

Sweet!  What a nice feeling to land one of the top two cards towards the set through packs instead of having to pay for it on the secondary market.  It may not have been my top choice of Carlos Correa, but it's hard to complain about pulling this one.  A great photograph of one of the game's best young stars.  You knew Topps was going to choose this as one of the fifty to get the Chrome Update treatment.

Well, that was fun, and once again I came away from this feeling like it was an enjoyable box.  The fact that it was a Kris Bryant hot box of sorts definitely didn't hurt.  Almost makes me want to try my luck a third time, especially since I have barely a quarter of the Update Series set so far...

Signature Sundays - Jim Palmer

This week I've got another awesome HOF baseball autograph queued up for my Signature Sundays post, none other than the legendary Jim Palmer!

I think I'm so drawn to these Baseball Heroes autographs just because they hark back to the original Baseball Heroes inserts Upper Deck released in the early '90s.  Those inserts, featuring players like Ted Williams and Nolan Ryan, came at a time when I was full-on into collecting as a kid.  Pulling one from a pack of Upper Deck was one of the more rewarding collecting experiences one could have back then.

I've been plugging away at the emerald autographs from the 2005 Baseball Heroes set over the years since I got back into collecting, whenever I can find them within my budget that is.  Jim Palmer here actually makes a dozen of them in my collection now, which is more than I ever figured I'd end up with.  As usual, the on-card autograph is very nice here.  It's a little tough to make out what's going on with Palmer's signature, but it's certainly interesting in style, bold and smear-free.

I think even most young baseball fans today probably have an appreciation for how good Palmer was.  I certainly never saw him pitch live in person or on television (I was just one year old when he threw his final MLB pitch), but it doesn't take a genius to look at the stats and see how dominant Jim could be.  Three World Series championships, three Cy Young Awards and a nice collection of Gold Gloves and All-Star appearances to accompany them.  More wins than any other pitcher in the '70s, and still the all-time wins leader for Baltimore by a long shot.

My favorite thing about Jim might be that his entire career, spanning three decades from 1965 through 1984, was spent with the Baltimore Orioles.  I miss the days when you'd see superstars like Jim, or Ernie Banks or Roberto Clemente, play their entire careers for one franchise.  Don't get me wrong, I understand all the positives that came out of the development of the Player's Union, and free agency, etc.  On the other hand, there's something kind of cool about knowing that the Orioles had either Jim Palmer or Cal Ripken Jr. on their roster every single year between 1965 and 2001!

This is my first Palmer autograph of his five that are on the checklist for this set.  It seems insane to me, but I paid a few bucks less for this card than I did for the Target Holiday Mega Box I busted here a couple days ago, and that includes shipping.  Here's hoping I can track down the other four someday at bargain prices like that!

Raining Gold

I've had this card for at least a couple of weeks now, and I can't decide if I love it, or hate it.  I definitely appreciate it, as I do every new Red Sox card, just not sure how I feel about that painting.  It's my first Red Sox card from the 2010 Topps National Chicle release, and it certainly makes me want to check out the rest.

Mike Cameron here actually kicked off the latest PWE that I received from my most frequent trading partner, Mark Kaz of This Way to the Clubhouse.  There's nothing better than checking the mail and having your Red Sox collection increase by nine cards as a result!

I already owned a copy of this 1975 Topps Doug Griffin card, I just haven't made it back that far in terms of entering my entire inventory into Zistle.  All's well that ends well however, as this is a major condition upgrade for the copy in my set binder.  Score!

How about the juxtaposition of vintage and modern on this card?  A nice shot of Tris Speaker, given the Diamond Anniversary foil treatment.  A nice looking card overall.  I'll always remember 2011 Lineage as the set that could have been, due to the atrocious card backs.

I'm on the precipice of a complete team set from 2004 Donruss World Series at this point, thanks to latest addition Jason Varitek.  It doesn't get much better for Red Sox collectors than a set dedicated to the World Series where the curse was broken.

Exactly how many sets were getting released every year around the turn of the century anyway?!?!  I've been collecting again for over eight years now, and I'm still discovering entire sets I've never heard of before.  Upper Deck Gold Reserve would be one of them.

I'm sure the average collector reading this post would consider this one of the least interesting cards of this PWE, but it's actually my personal favorite.  Why is that?  Well, it's my first Red Sox card of both players.  Two obscure names crossed off the all-time Red Sox roster with a single card, can't beat that!

This guy is an interesting story, he was signed out of Cuba well into his career (age 25).  Juan climbed as high as AAA Pawtucket within the Red Sox farm system, but never managed to take the final step.  He's apparently playing pro ball in Mexico these days.

Another highlight from this round of nine is this awesome Topps Gold Nate Minchey.  What a shot of Nate mid-delivery, and I love that the photographer really captured the rainfall perfectly.  An under-rated '90s common for sure.

Closing out this batch is a combos insert from this year's Topps Heritage set.  At least one of these guys had a solid 2015 season.  Let's hope at least one of them is gone before players report to Spring Training for 2016.  I'd vote the guy in the middle out myself, although I think the team would have to eat a hefty portion of his salary to get anyone to take him off their hands.

Mark, these were great as always, sorry for the delay in posting them.  Hope you enjoy the latest I sent your way!