A Pair of Old Sox

Congratulations to the 2018 Boston Red Sox on being crowned champions of the American League!  The ALCS was a thrilling series to watch, start to finish, and certainly a controversial one as well.  To celebrate the culmination of an amazing season with a World Series berth, here are a couple of much older Red Sox cards from my collection that I've never featured here before...

I've mentioned my love for the 1922 E120 American Caramel cards here on the blog more than a few times now.  I adore the ornate borders on these, and the fact that you get actual photographs of the players, not always the case when you go this far back.  I pick up low-grade Red Sox whenever I can find them within my budget, but that is not very often with these.  George Burns here is my sixth Red Sox card from this set, which puts me at 40% of a team set.

George was a damn good player, finishing as a career .307 hitter with three World Series championships.  In 1926 he won the American League MVP Award, which I confess I was not aware of when I picked this one up.  Hitting .358 with 64 doubles (yes, you read that right) seems like a good way to be named Most Valuable Player.

These types of cases don't scan too well due to reflection, but as you see the cards aren't numbered.  Some sites, including the Trading Card Database, list this as card #1 on the checklist.  Six Sox down, nine to go from this set.  Doubt I'll ever get them all, but I'm sure a few more will land in my lap at some point.

Here's the other half of today's pair, from a couple of decades after the Burns.  The early Bowman releases from the late '40s through the mid '50s have always been and always will be among my absolute favorite vintage baseball cards.  The 1949 release was the first to get the colorized treatment.  The design is so basic that I can't put my finger on exactly why I enjoy them so much, but I sure do.

Mickey Harris was a pitcher who, like so many from his generation, pressed the pause button on his professional career to serve his country in World War II.  After the war he was a major component of Boston's 1946 team that lost the World Series to the Cardinals, and was even named an All-Star that year.

At #151, I believe this might be considered a rarer "high number" from the '49 Bowman set, but don't hold me to that.  Oddly enough, just like with the E120 American Caramel above, this is my sixth '49 Bowman Red Sox card out of 15 in the team set as well.  What are the odds of that?

Well, that's a wrap for today.  Hope you enjoyed this pair of moldy oldies.  I'll certainly be watching the NLCS tonight.  Still not sure who I would prefer win that series, but I certainly want the Brewers to win tonight to stretch it out to 7 games and tire out both teams that much more.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Buyback Franken-set: A Trio of '66s

A quick set of triplets from 1966 Topps for the Buyback Franken-set tonight.  Don't have time for anything more involved than this, too busy watching the Red Sox/Astros...

1966 Topps #89 - Ted Davidson

Kicking off the festivities, Reds pitcher Ted Davidson.  Davidson pitched in a career-high 54 games for Cincinnati in 1966.  You have to respect a guy who appears in a full 1/3 of his team's games in a given season.

If Ted wants into the binder in slot 89 he'll have to best this beat-up '69 Russ Gibson buyback.  This baby's got it all; yellowing, dinged corners, a big ol' crease.  Love the character.

Stickin' with the Gibson.

1966 Topps #8 - Floyd Robinson

1966 was the beginning of the end for Floyd Robinson.  In his first five full seasons between 1961 and 1965 he batted .293, hit between 11 and 14 home runs per season, and hit at least 15 doubles and drove in at least 59 runs each year.  He received at least one vote for Rookie of the Year or MVP in every one of those seasons.  An impressive start to a career for sure. 

His final three seasons beginning in 1966, though?  He averaged .234, hit just 7 total home runs, and if you add up all the doubles and runs driven in they're about equal with any one of his first five seasons of your choice.  Yup, it was a sharp drop-off for Robinson.

This '80 Topps Craig Swan buyback has been resident in slot 8 for a good while now.  I don't run across very many 1980 Topps buybacks, and I love how it looks like Craig is performing some bizarre soccer kick move with the buyback stamp.

Swan retains his hold on slot 8.

1966 Topps #15 - Vern Law

The last buyback of the night is the best of the three, longtime Major League pitcher Vern Law.  Vern pitched his first MLB inning all the way back in 1950!  Even at the age of 36 in 1966 he still racked up 12 wins.  Wait, I'm 36.  Ah, shit!

This is my first #15 buyback, so into the binder it goes!  Go Red Sox!

Franken-set Progress: 632/792 (79%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 100/792 (12%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 514
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,246

One Card Post - 1st Day Bagwell

What:  1994 Topps Stadium Club - Jeff Bagwell (1st Day Issue Parallel)
Where: COMC
How Much?:  $3.05

Why?:  In my opinion 1994 Stadium Club is one of the more interesting sets of its decade.  I loved, loved, loved these cards as an 11-year-old back in the summer of '94, and in my opinion they still look great almost 25 years later. The 1st Day Issue parallels in particular were highly coveted among my group of collecting friends back in the day. After a very entertaining first two games of the 2018 ALCS between my Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros, I figured it was a perfect time to feature this Jeff Bagwell that I picked up back in the spring.

Buyback Franken-set: Bo Knows Buybacks

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Let's grab another ten buybacks from my stash and see if we can strengthen the Buyback Franken-set, shall we?

1988 Topps #750 - Bo Jackson

Coming out strong today with one of the biggest names in the game in the late 1980s, the great Bo Jackson!  I know a lot of collectors feel that this is one of the better looking cards in the 1988 flagship set, and I tend to agree.  The buybacks in today's post came in a random lot I won on eBay, and I couldn't have been more pleased to find this one in the stack when it arrived.

I already have Bo's iconic 1987 "Future Stars" card in the binder, will this one make the cut as well?

Royals teammate Bret Saberhagen stands in Bo's way believe it or not.

I like the Bo Jackson card so much that I threw it in without much thought.  Based on pure aesthetics, the Jackson is supreme, but I fear I didn't give Bret enough credit here.  Saberhagen won the Cy Young in '89, thanks to leading the league in wins, ERA, WHIP, complete games, innings pitched and quite a few other categories.  This might be the worst decision I've made yet.  In fact, I tagged this post with 'Revisit', and will definitely come back to this at some point down the line.

Alright, let's see which nine cards I plucked along with Bo...

1989 Topps #241 - Brett Butler

This one's pretty great also.  Brett Butler was definitely one of the premier lead-off men during his time in the league, and in 1989 he was on that powerhouse Giants team that won a National League pennant.  This one's a rarer "red foil" buyback from the 2017 Rediscover Topps promotion, and best of all it's a new number for the franken-set at #241.

1985 Topps #407 - Bobby Ramos

Bobby Ramos wrapped up his Major League career in 1984, so this is his final Topps card.  Though he appeared in 6 seasons, he never played more than 31 games in any one season.  He does have a uni-brow that I think even Wally Moon would admire.

This '79 Pete Vuckovich, currently sitting in slot 407, is a much better card in my humble opinion.

Ramos is rejected.

1991 Topps #19 - Jeff Robinson

I'm a big fan of 1991 Topps, in fact I've got an unopened box of it on my pack shelf that I grab a pack or two from when I feel the urge to open some wax.  This Jeff Robinson is not one of the more interesting cards on the checklist, however.

Certainly nowhere near as interesting as this 1965 Gates Brown buyback that stands in its way for slot 19.

Easy call.

1987 Topps #124 - Ray Fontenot

Another guy whose MLB career had already wrapped up by the time this card hit the shelves (for the first time).  Holy air-brushing!

Slot 124 is already occupied.

Again, not a tough decision there.

1993 Topps #805 - Terry Jorgensen

1993 Topps takes me back to buying packs at the concession stand after my Little League baseball games.  I always enjoyed the design for the Coming Attraction subset in that release, so I'd love to welcome this one to the binder.  Just one problem...

...at card #805 it's just not eligible.  I have to keep the set at 792 cards, otherwise there's a lack of competition for the final slots.  Sorry Terry!

1982 Topps #209 - Gary Lavelle

Next up, Gary Lavelle.  Gary was a key component in San Francisco's bullpen in 1982, getting the call to the mound 68 times that season (and finishing with a respectable 2.67 ERA).  It looks more like Gary is filling out a form here than signing an autograph.

Had this '88 Richard Dotson in slot 209 up until now...

...but I like the Lavelle much better.

1986 Topps #723 - Marty Bystrom

In what's becoming a common theme for this post, we have yet another player whose career wrapped up the season prior to the card being featured.

Bob Kipper's 1988 card is already in slot 723, and I see no reason to bump him for Bystrom.

Nope, not a one.

1988 Topps #784 - Joe Sambito

This is getting unbelievable at this point.  I swear I pulled these at random, but here's another player who'd appeared in his final Major League inning before this was printed up.  Sambito's two seasons with Boston to end his career were largely forgettable.

Then again, this Alan Bannister buyback that sits in slot 784 is quite boring.  For what it's worth, this card was also printed after Bannister had hung up his cleats for the final time.

Probably based on my Red Sox bias, Bannister is out.

1985 Topps #104 - Mike Fitzgerald

Last card for today, a nice enough photograph from 1985 Topps.  Serving as the primary backstop for the Mets in 1985, Mike Fitzgerald hit just .207.  That's pretty rough.

Lee Lacy on the other hand, hit .261 for the Dodgers in 1978, chipping in with 13 home runs, 16 doubles and 40 RBI.

That'll do it for today. 

Just one new number for the franken-set with the Brett Butler.  I'm still torn on that Bo Jackson/Bret Saberhagen battle.  What do you think?

Franken-set Progress: 631/792 (79%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 100/792 (12%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 512
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,243

Your 2018 Boston Red Sox, Courtesy of Joe Shlabotnik!

With the 2018 ALCS kicking off tonight, it seems like the perfect time to show off the contents of a much-appreciated PWE that I received recently from Joe of The Shlabotnik Report.

We'll start off with a card that I knew was on the way at some point, as Joe had reached out to me a while back after pulling it from a pack.  I love these inserts, based on the Transogram cards, and since Joe sent me the Mookie Betts earlier this year I now have a complete Red Sox team set of these inserts with this Devers in hand.

Here's a 2017 Opening Day insert showing the silly post-game celebration the Red Sox outfielders perform.  The rest of the cards from here on out are from 2018 releases; either Joe found a dime box at a show somewhere, or he's had tremendous luck pulling Red Sox this calendar year.

Let's start with some 2018 Opening Day.  From the "Before Opening Day" insert set this PWE included Andrew Benintendi...

...tonight's starter Chris Sale...

...and catcher Christian Vazquez.  I already had the Mookie Betts ping pong card from this insert set, and this trio gives me the balance of the Red Sox cards.  That's two insert team sets completed in this one envelope alone.

Oh boy.  I suppose as a team collector I had to end up with this one eventually.  Truth be told, the whole Sweet Caroline thing kind of drives me nuts, but to each his own.  I guess if it helps people enjoy the game so be it, but if they ditched this for next season I wouldn't complain.

It wasn't just inserts from 2018 Opening Day, as I got this Rainbow Blue Foil parallel of Christian Vazquez as well.  A very nice card, though the parallel that ends this post is even nicer.

Here's a Longball Legends insert from the 2018 Topps flagship set.  In an effort to give us even more versions of each card, Topps apparently printed different color versions of these inserts, with this one obviously being the blue variant.  I can't say I support that decision, but a new Ted Williams is a new Ted Williams I suppose.

Believe it or not, this Mookie Betts All-Star card is actually the very first base card from 2018 Topps Heritage to enter my collection.  I know Topps didn't exactly knock it out of the park with these as far as comparison to the original cards, but I still think that's a great looking piece of cardboard.  The Red Sox really need Mookie to pitch in a bit more in the ALCS here, as he hit just 3-for-16 in the ALDS against the Yankees.

Finally, here's a beautiful Independence Day parallel from the 2018 flagship set.  I honestly had no clue that these existed at all, but I love the appropriately patriotic look of these parallels.  They're fairly rare as well, with each being serial-numbered to relatively scant (and fitting) /76.  A very, very solid addition to an already awesome PWE.

Joe, thanks so much for the great batch o' Sox!  I shipped a return PWE last week, but I felt in retrospect like it was a bit on the weaker side, so there's actually another one destined for you sitting in my mailbox at this very moment with the flag up!