Opening Day Trade Package - Round 2!

Yesterday I posted a trade package to celebrate the first Red Sox game of the season.  Unfortunately, thanks to Mother Nature, that game did not take place.  Today they finally played game number one though, so let's try this again!

Today's post features the latest 9 cards to arrive via PWE from my most frequent trading partner, Mark Kaz of This Way to the Clubhouse.  Kicking off the PWE we've got some 2015 Bowman's Best.  Mookie Betts is the man, he and Xander Bogaerts are the core of a really good young group of players on the current team.  Betts got off to a great start today, crushing a 2-run HR against Cleveland.

Pedroia had an 0-4 day, but did work a walk which got him on base in the 9th just before David Ortiz homered to really put the game out of reach at 6-2.

Another new card of Henry Owens, that's two days in a row!

I really like this Prizm Passion insert, since it perfectly depicts Dustin Pedroia as I always think of him in my mind; rolling around in the dirt.  Well, almost perfectly.  Wish Panini would get a license so we could see Dustin's actual uniform here.

Here's where the package gets really great.  If you stop by here even semi-regularly you've probably seen me declare my love for acetate cards at least once.  Well Mark certainly included some great ones this go-round.  I had never even heard of these Topps Hot Button Baseball game cards before receiving this package, but they're just awesome.

There was some sort of electronic controller that these would plug into on one side or the other while playing the game, which is why you have all the red and green boxes along both sides.

These are some of the more unique oddball cards I've ever received, and I love them.  I'll certainly be on the lookout for more cards from this set in the future.

Those acetate cards were cool enough that I'd consider them the star of the PWE, if it weren't for this awesome mulleted Jeff Bagwell that is!  How is it possible I went all this time without knowing that this card existed?  Even though it reminds me of the pretty awful trade that sent Bagwell from the organization, it's simply too great a minor league card not to love.

This time around I also got a really nice hockey card from Mark, a much appreciated touch!  This Gordie Howe Scoring Leader card is from one of those mid-'90s Parkhurst releases I love so much that were meant to show what some of the missing Parkhurst sets from years they weren't officially produced could have looked like.  I have around 50 Howe cards now, but very few of them are horizontal and this one is especially aesthetically pleasing with all the red.

Mark, thanks as always for the solid cardboard!  I'm sure I'll have another PWE heading your way within the next week or two!

Opening Day Trade Package!

The Red Sox will be kicking off their 2016 season in just a few short hours with a 4:10pm EST start time against the Cleveland Indians.  Seems like the perfect day to post the contents of an all-Red Sox trade package I received a while back from Jeff at Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum.

For starters, Jeff did some serious damage to my 2016 Topps Series 1 team set.  I've yet to buy so much as a single pack of this stuff.  I know that makes me a bad collector, but the set is just not for me.  I still want the Red Sox cards though, of course.

Rusney Castillo has made the Opening Day 25-man roster, but hasn't exactly lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he first signed.  In 80 games last year he barely batted above .250, and chipped in with just 5 home runs and 29 RBI.  Another campaign like that and you're going to start hearing the word "bust" thrown around a lot more on New England sports talk radio.

Ryan Hanigan is one of two backstops to make the Opening Day roster, and will be splitting time with youngster Blake Swihart.  I'd assume at this point that Swihart will see the majority of the action with Hanigan filling in as needed, but you never know.

Here's a guy who did not make the cut coming out of Spring Training.  Henry made 11 starts last season, and ended the year 4-4 with an ERA over 4.50.  It's not out of the realm of possibility that we'll see him make some spot starts this season though.

Super utility man, and the squad's lone All-Star Game representative last year, Brock Holt is back.  Depending on how things go with Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, I could see Brock getting in plenty of time in the infield.  He's more than capable of patrolling the outfield as well, and will likely make some appearances there.  Brock also has one of the more interesting photos of the Red Sox from 2016 Topps Series 1.

Of course Dustin Pedroia is back for his 11th straight season with the Sox.  I can still clearly remember him coming up in 2006, as well as struggling mightily at the outset of the 2007 season.  I'm definitely getting old!

Jeff also tossed in a couple of the Berger's Best reprints from this year's flagship set to accompany the base cards.  This Ted Williams definitely strikes a chord, as the original is one of my most prized Red Sox cards:

Here's the other Berger's Best card, Daisuke's 2007 Topps RC.

Moving away from the brand new stuff now, how about this insert of Tris Speaker from 2010 Topps?  No idea how this one escaped me for so long, what a great photograph!  I love the almost ghostly image of the other player lurking way in the background.

When I first got back into collecting, relics were still a pretty big deal.  Nowadays you can typically find them for a buck or so.  I still really love the Allen & Ginter framed relics like this one.  In fact, this card got me looking and I ended up picking up one or two more on COMC to go with it.

I've posted a few of the Topps Tek cards from 2014 and 2015 here before, and generally speaking am a big fan of anything acetate.  Jeff hit a real home run by giving me my first taste of some of the older Tek sets in this particular delivery.  This Mo Vaughn hails from the 1998 set.

And this Pedro is from the 2000 set.  I'm not sure I'm ready to leap into these with too much intensity given that there appear to be dozens of different patterns for each card, but for now I'm just grateful to have an example from each set in my Red Sox collection.

Getting near the end of the package now.  Jeff gave me my very first exposure to 2015 Panini Elite Extra Edition with half a dozen prospect cards.  Let's see where each of these guys is at now. 

Austin Rei was taken in last year's draft, so it's still early.  He's 22 years old and should be playing somewhere within the minor league system this year, though I'm not entirely sure at what level yet.

Rafael Devers had a decent season in A-ball last year with the Greenville Drive, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him make the jump to AA-ball for 2016.  If he can progress quickly there's certainly room at third base within the organization.

Javier Guerra was born in Panama, and also spent last season with the single-A Greenville Drive.  He displayed some pretty good pop at the plate, and like Devers I'd assume will be promoted to the AA Portland SeaDogs at some point this year.

Here's a name most Sox fans are familiar with, if only because he was dealt in the trade that brought closer Craig Kimbrel to Boston in the off-season.  Manuel rose to AA last year within the Red Sox organization, we'll see how he does out on the West coast!

Another name I definitely recognize, last year's first round draft pick (7th overall) Andrew Benintendi!  This is just my third card of Andrew to date.  I would guess that he will start the season at single-A, but AA is certainly a possibility as well.

Last but certainly not least for the Elite Extra Edition cards, slugging second baseman Yoan Moncada.  There is a ton of potential here, enough so that Boston invested $31 Million, which is no small amount even for a team with a payroll like the Red Sox have.  There's an outside chance we could see Moncada taking some hacks in Fenway later this summer, though most pundits still think he has another year of seasoning in the minor leagues ahead of him.

Last card for today, my one and only autographed card of Manuel Margot.  On card no less!  What a great throw-in, I certainly appreciate this one.  It pairs nicely with the one other autograph I have from this release, which I'm saving for a future Signature Sundays post.

Jeff, thanks for the cards my man!  I have a small stack of Braves set aside for you, but felt it was a little lacking given what you sent me.  I picked out a couple singles on COMC to hopefully level things out a bit, and as soon as that order arrives I'll get everything shipped out to you.  In the meantime I hope the Braves aren't as disappointing this year as they're predicted to be!

Signature Sundays - Xander Bogaerts (and Opening Day Bonus Material)

The 2016 baseball season is finally upon us, which to me means it's officially spring.  True, it snowed maybe 2" here today, which is odd, but when compared to its predecessor this past winter in New England didn't seem so bad.

To celebrate warm weather, green grass and baseball, I've queued up an autograph of my current favorite Boston Red Sox player, Xander Bogaerts, for your enjoyment:

Now that's a bright card, certainly appropriate for spring.  I'm a big fan of the design Topps went with for Finest in 2014, in fact they're some of my favorite shiny cards of the past few years.  My only gripe is that there are just three Red Sox players on the checklist.  They're three solid choices though in Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, and the rookie card of shortstop Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts appears in the rookie autographs set as well. 

There are a number of different signed refractors, the one you see here is the blue version, serial numbered to /125.  I'm not crazy enough to try full-on player collecting a guy like Xander whose cards actually demand a decent price most of the time, but as he's my favorite current player on the roster I did want to pick up a few nicer cards this past off-season to better represent him in my Sox collection.  I'm certainly very pleased with this one.

The 2014 season was a little rough for Xander.  He swatted just .240, while management undermined his confidence by shifting him to third base for a while.  Xander really bounced back in impressive form last year though.  His power dropped a bit (12 HR in 2014, 7 in 2015), but he raised his average an amazing 80 points to .320 (team best, and the only regular player to even top .300).  Bogaerts came tantalizingly close to 200 hits, registered 35 doubles, 3 triples, drove in 81 runs, and won the AL Silver Slugger at shortstop, and all in his age 22 season!

Xander even improved defensively, cutting down his errors from 20 in 2014 to 11 last year.  More than anyone else on the team I'm looking forward to seeing how his 2016 season unfolds and what kind of numbers he can put up in his third full season in the league.  We'll see beginning tomorrow!

And now, in honor of Opening Day, here are half a dozen baseball cards I grabbed at random from the pile here on my desk...

Creases and rounded corners be damned, there are few cards from the 1950s that look better than '56 Topps.  Combine that with the fact that the Brooklyn Dodgers are my second favorite old-time team (behind the Red Sox, of course), and you've got a winner.

Jumping ahead 60 years, here's a brand-spankin' new insert from Topps Heritage, featuring the great Yaz alongside Chris Davis.  I was lucky enough to receive this card in a great PWE from the ever-generous Nick from Dime Boxes.  It was an amazing little envelope for sure, I hope to have a full post up later this week.

I've gone on record numerous times as admitting that I'm addicted to the Topps Buybacks cards.  I know some people think they're gimmicky, and I can truly see why, but I love them nonetheless.  When I saw this one featuring a classic shot of one of the greatest defensive catchers of his day in the dollar bin at my local hobby shop, I was helpless.

Here's one of the many colors of parallels that existed in the flagship sets for those years when they had solid white borders.  This was another dollar box grab.  I can't see turning away any versions of this card given the historically significant moment it depicts.  Who knows, it could be another 86 years before Boston sees another World Series championship.

Cranking up the dial on the totally random factor, here's a minor league card featuring one of the greatest names in all of sports card history, Wonderful Terrific Monds.  I'm sure most of you have seen or heard of this guy by now, 20 years after the fact.  If by chance you haven't though, here's a look at the back.  It's easier to make out the name plus features an interesting bat rack photo:

Last card for today, one I picked up very recently actually.  What a beauty, huh?  This is one of those Legends variations that were a part of flagship for a few years there.  They're a serious guilty pleasure of mine, but this one in particular has a photo that is simply jaw-dropping.  I'd rank this one right up there with the Roy Campanella card from 2009 in terms of my favorites.

Well, that's all for today.  Enjoy the season baseball fans, and good luck to all of your teams (unless you follow the Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles or Rays)!

Bourqued!

I'm severely overdue in thanking my friend Marc B for the latest PWE of hockey cards he shipped my way.  I've finally gotten the cards scanned, cropped and added to my online inventory on Zistle, time to show them off on this rainy Saturday...

As Marc so humorously put it in the note that accompanied the cards, others have been bipped, but I've been Bourqued!  The majority of the cards in this last delivery were of the second greatest defenseman in Bruins history, #77 Ray Bourque!

I led off with this Upper Deck McDonald's hologram because it really takes me back.  If you were collecting in the early '90s like I was, then you can certainly remember holograms being all the rage for a few years there.  Even 25 years later I can still see why these were so coveted.

There were some Upper Deck inserts, like this Marquee Attractions, that I had to look up since I wasn't collecting at the time.  I always enjoy new cardboard from my collecting "dark period".

I got a couple of these Generation Next inserts, which were a part of the flagship Upper Deck set for a few years.

They certainly went with a lot of foil on this one, but I actually think it's a nicer design than the one above.

Thanks to Marc and a couple of large packages I received recently from reader Chris K, my Pacific collection isn't so sad anymore.  I'm actually getting to the point where I have at least a decent representation of many of their sets.

This Board Members insert is so nice Marc included it twice!  I got the standard Topps version...

...as well as the O-Pee-Chee Chrome version!

Here's one that pairs nicely with the previous card, this time from a Topps Chrome release though.  These Ice Masters inserts are new to me, but I like how they look for sure.  I'll have to take a look at who else is on the checklist.

My absolute favorite of the new Bourque cards I received is this Cool Trade card.  It is seriously shiny, and from what I can tell was a redemption of some sort.  One of the nicer Bourque cards in my modest collection, which now stands at over 75 unique cards.

Marc has also hooked me up with some pretty nice cardboard for my "players with the Cup" collection in the past, and this time was no different.  In fact, this Pinnacle Milan Lucic might by my favorite card in that small collection so far.

This Andy McDonald, which is an insert from the 2007-08 Upper Deck flagship set, isn't too shabby either!  Both of these have already taken their places in the binder, and I've now got two full pages of Cup celebrations and counting.  I'll have to share those two completed pages here sometime.

Marc, thanks again for the great cards.  These were a perfect fit for my collection.  I hope to find enough cards to get a return PWE off to you shortly!

One Card Post - Stengel

What:  2007 Upper Deck #89-CS - Casey Stengel '89 Upper Deck Insert
Where:  COMC
How Much?:  $.75

Why?:  Casey Stengel doesn't seem to get as much hobby love as some of the other old-timers, but when I saw this awesome image I was sold immediately.  Despite setting me back less than a dollar, this is arguably my most interesting Stengel card, and I've got a '52 Bowman!