Big Stack of Sox from Dimebox Nick!

The title says it all!  I was recently the recipient of yet another very generous batch of cards from my longtime hobby buddy Nick from Dime Boxes.  Let's dive right in!

The sad reality these days is that modern card manufacturers don't really receive any money from me.  Quite literally about 99% of my hobby spending is on the secondary market, typically eBay or COMC.  I prefer it this way because I like targeting just the cards I want, and aside from Stadium Club there aren't a whole lot of sets I care to collect outright anyway.

One downside of this approach though is that I don't typically get my hands on the latest and greatest Red Sox cards to hit the market.  Nick has done so much to fill that void in recent years though, and I greatly appreciate it!  For example, this Mookie Betts card represents my very first in-hand look at 2019 Topps Big League.

Nick included a handful of BoSox from this set in his latest package, and I have to say that I like what Topps did here having finally held a few of these for myself.

Fitting that this one came from Nick, as Gorkys Hernandez, signed by Boston in December, has yet to appear for the Red Sox this season.  This could very well end up being a "zero year" card.

There are a crazy number of Mookie Betts cards on the checklist, I think like half a dozen or more if you count the shared League Leader cards.

Big League wasn't the only new set that Nick introduced me to with this delivery, as I scored my first pair of 2019 Gypsy Queen cards.  I went a little nuts with the inaugural Gypsy Queen set back in 2011, but never really finished it off and will probably end up selling what I do have in my ongoing card purge at some point here.  I do still continue to chase the Red Sox from each year's release though.

I have to say that I like what Topps did this year, quite a bit more colorful than some of the previous releases in this line.

The package wasn't all 2019 cardboard, as Nick included quite a smattering of other stuff like this '04 Upper Deck.  Before we get to most of that though, there were a few more 2019 examples to be found...

As a baseball card collector, there are few things more satisfying than completing your Topps flagship team set each year.  Nick gave me a solid boost on my 2019 effort with a quartet of Sox I was missing.

All four happened to be pitchers, two of them being somewhat obscure bullpen arms.

I also got this JD Martinez All-Star insert, modeled after 1984 Topps.  This will make you feel old; JD wasn't even born yet in 1984!

One last Big League card here, a Player's Weekend Nicknames insert of Mitch "2-Bags" Moreland.  I have to be honest and say that I like the base cards better than this particular insert set.

Those who have been fortunate enough to trade with Nick know that he truly excels when it comes to obscure/oddball type issues.  For example, this time around I received this Sports Illustrated for Kids Mookie Betts card!

Like me, Nick appreciates a nice shiny piece of cardboard.  Given that, I'm very grateful that he was willing to part with this awesome 2008 Topps Chrome X-Fractor of longtime captain Jason Varitek.

Here's another cool one, a Wal-Mart exclusive insert from a mid-2000s Topps set.  As a Red Sox collector, you end up with a ton of Ortiz cards, but I enjoy this one more than many others.

Here's a Fan Favorite George Scott done in the style of 1967 Topps, featuring the great All-Star Rookie trophy logo.  I don't think you can do a faux-'60s card much better than this!

I wasn't sure at first what to call this parallel from 2015 Panini Prizm.  Turns out I was over thinking it, as it's known simply as a Blue Baseball parallel.  Pretty logical.

Topps Fire Benintendi RC!  I can totally see how these cards would be considered ugly by some collectors, but personally I love the over-the-top loud, colorful design.  Reminds me of the '90s, in a good way.

Speaking of the '90s, remember Pacific Online?  I'm up to a handful of these now in working towards a team set.  It's hard to think of a release that was more a sign of its time than this one.

From the 2000 Topps Stars release, here's a very classy-looking Yaz.  I like the sepia tones, but if I could offer just one critique it would have been nice to use two different photographs.

I've been working diligently at back-filling my '50s and '60s Red Sox team sets, and Nick hit me with a trio of cards towards that end here.  First up, a very well-loved 1962 Topps Jim Pagliaroni.  This is one I'd probably look to upgrade someday, but I'm so far off on knocking out the team sets that day will be a ways into the future.

I spot an American flag in the background on this '66 Chuck Schilling.  I'm very happy to receive this card, as I owned a copy in Topps Heritage buyback box-topper format, but not an un-stamped original like this beauty until now!

Finally, my personal favorite card in today's post, a '63 Hal Kolstad.  He may not have been an All-Star, and in fact his MLB career lasted just two seasons, but this is a great card to receive...

...because it's a rare high-number!  At #574, the highest numbered Red Sox card in the set as a matter of fact.  This was a truly awesome surprise, and quite literally had me grinning ear to ear when I came across it in the stack.

That's a wrap for now, but in case all this great cardboard weren't enough, this actually represents only about half of the "new-to-me" Red Sox in Nick's package.  I'll be back with the other half soon!

Helmar? What the Hell is Helmar?!?!

Ever heard of Helmar?  If you haven't, and you're a collector that enjoys older baseball cards, say 1950s and prior, then you should absolutely read on!

Helmar is a company from the Michigan area that, among other products like beer and potato chips, has produced high quality baseball art cards for well over a decade now.  I don't know a whole lot about them just yet to be honest, but I do know that I'm intrigued by their very apparent appreciation of baseball history.  That appreciation is certainly reflected in their "labor-of-love" approach to creating high quality baseball art, and cards.

These days they produce a few different custom sets at any given time.  The approach is pretty unique, with each individual card painstakingly produced and released in a somewhat limited quantity.  Every Tuesday night they run a series of eBay auctions for singles, and they have publicly vowed to produce and sell no more than 6 of each card per year.  After a period of years sets are retired as well as new sets are moved into their product line, so for most of their cards there are no more than a couple/few dozen copies of each floating around out there.  They're very hard to find, if you don't believe me open up another tab in your browser and go check eBay.  See how many you can locate outside the few dozen that are auctioned direct by Helmar each Tuesday.

That's a story for another post and another day though.  The way things started for Helmar on the baseball card front was with a small set, done in the style of the early tobacco releases, that was released back in 2005.  These cards, referred to simply as the "Famous Athletes" series, would actually come in packs of three (see image above), inserted into bags of potato chips and caramel corn.

I can vouch for this myself, given that the pack I have for you today still has some snack food remnants stuck to the back!

There is a certain amount of collector demand for the various Helmar cards, and you'd be amazed what some of the hand-crafted singles I mentioned go for each week.  These 2005 minis aren't quite as sought after or valuable, but they're still rare compared to most modern baseball cards.  I was lucky enough to work out a deal with an eBay seller for four unopened pack at a price point that worked out to about $6 per pack shipped.  With three cards inside, I paid about $2 per individual card.  Series 2, which was produced in much smaller quantities in response to collector demand after Series 1 and sold direct, is much rarer and single cards routinely sell in the $15-$20 range and up.

Enough setting the stage here, let's rip the first pack and check these cards out!

Again, the design for this first release is pretty simplistic, but the paintings are really the star of the show anyway.  How seriously did Helmar take this first venture into the world of baseball cards?  Seriously enough that each one of the 74 cards in this Series 1 release (and all of their releases since) features original, hand-painted art!

In my research I read that they have three or four artists on staff, all local in Michigan except for one highly touted artist overseas.  I am seriously impressed with the job that these folks did in creating these cards.  As someone who loves really old-time baseball, I think they did an absolutely perfect job creating bright, vibrant artwork that looks right on point for the era these athletes appeared in.  Sort of a T206 meets early 1950s Bowman in my humble opinion.

This is just my second card of Buck Weaver overall, member of the infamous "Black Sox" of 1919 (as evidenced by the "Expelled in Scandal" reference along the top of the card.  I'll take this over pulling my 50th card of Christian Yelich or Chris Sale from a modern Topps pack!

For this first series, the card backs are all identical, just a simple logo along the top and then a scratch-off section where you could win various prizes.  These are printed on high-quality cardstock, as thick as your average game-used relic card.  Slightly larger than a mini card from Allen & Ginter or Gypsy Queen as far as dimensions go.

Since this set is called Famous Athletes, it of course contains some non-baseball subjects, though the majority of the checklist is comprised of ballplayers.  My second card out of the pack is boxer Jimmy Adamick, whom I confess I've never heard of.  Apparently he was a local boxing legend, known as The Midland Mauler!

While I prefer the baseball subjects, I think it's cool that they sprinkled in some other athletes, particularly since they seemed to seek out lesser known subjects from their region of the country.  Is it weird that when I pull a card out of a modern baseball pack and don't recognize the subject I get annoyed, but when I pull a card of a really old subject I don't recognize I get excited by the "research opportunity"?

Final card in the pack, and we're back to baseball.  A fine example of the beautiful artwork that went into this set.  According to Helmar's website, it took a full two years to paint all of the original artwork used in this first series; the largest hand-painted series of baseball cards in many years at the time of release.  They occasionally list original artwork in their eBay store as well, though it's way too expensive for me to dabble in.

Well, with just a three card pack that wraps it up for this evening.  I'm off to see what I can find out about Goto here; any leads?

I know that unlicensed cards like this aren't everyone's cup of tea, but what's your opinion on that kind of stuff (and on Helmar specifically if you have one)?  Personally I'm fascinated by these, and even more so by some of Helmar's other, more recent sets.  I find them to be exponentially more interesting than 95% of what's come out since I rejoined the hobby back in 2007, and I wish Topps would put half as much effort into some of their sets as this small company clearly does.

I welcome any opinions in the comments, and regardless of how you feel thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet!

Buyback Franken-set: 0-fer...But with Some Page Updates

Back to the Buyback Franken-set on this overcast Tuesday morning!  Ten random selections from my backlog today, from a variety of sources...

1972 Topps #82 - Ron Woods

I picked up this Ron Woods simply because I love 1972 Topps, and because I'm intrigued by the Montreal Expos.  After Ron wrapped up his time in Montreal he headed over to Japan for a couple of years to finish up his professional baseball career.

Brutal match-up for Woods as the franken-set goes though.  First ballot HOFer Tom Glavine actually won the NL Cy Young the year this card was printed up.

Easy choice there.

1988 Topps #405 - Dwight Gooden All-Star

An extremely yellow Doc Gooden All-Star card is up next.  I love the look of this one, just screams 1980s.  I'm not sure why Gooden got an All-Star subset card in the '88 set when, according to Baseball Reference, he was not an All-Star the season prior.

Standing in Dwight's way is this 1979 Butch Wynegar buyback.  I've been just waiting for a chance to bump this one out.

Two no-brainers to start today's proceedings.

This slot is part of a completed page as well, here's the look before with the '79 Wynegar at lower right...

...and here it is now, much brighter with the Gooden in place.  A ton of All-Star presence here due to Topps using this number range for the All-Stars in a couple of different releases.  Would be pretty cool to supplant the four non-All-Star cards here and have a complete page of them.

1986 Topps #142 - Bob Jones

1986 was the end of the line in Major League Baseball for 36-year-old Bob Jones.  I have to be honest and say this is not a very exciting buyback, just happened to come my way as part of a large lot.  It would take an open slot, or a miracle match-up, for Bob to make the franken-set.

Unfortunately for him, I've got this fantastic '65 Topps Bill Monbouquette Heritage buyback in slot 142 already.

Not a lot of tough decisions in the early running here.

1988 Topps #368 - Gerald Young

Here's another one I don't expect to put up much of a fight, acquired in the same lot as the Bob Jones if memory serves.  At the outset of 1988 this was probably a good card to pull, as Gerald had swatted .321 in 74 games as a rookie in 1987, finishing 5th in NL ROY voting.  His lifetime batting average ended up being .246.

1974 Manny Mota looks to deny Young his franken-set glory.

Denied indeed!

1959 Topps #319 - Dave Hillman

Dave Hillman's 1959 release is up next, and I feel like we've got a real contender for the binder.  These were inserted as box-toppers in 2008 Topps Heritage, the first year that Topps did these actually.  Hillman would actually join the Red Sox after the 1959 season.

Another tough match-up though, as we have a smiling Larry Gura courtesy of 1976 Topps in slot 319 of the binder.  My gut instinct is to select a '59 over a '76 just about every time...

...but I really like the image on the Gura card better.  Larry takes it in a minor upset!

1984 Topps #261 - Bobby Brown

Here's another pretty bland buyback that was picked up in a lot.  The 85 games that Bobby Brown saw action in during 1984 were the second most in a season during his seven years as a part-time MLB player.

He runs up against a buzz-saw as far as the franken-set goes, with this beautiful Gene Stephens '59 buyback.

Once again, a really really easy call.

1989 Topps #55 - Julio Franco

Alright, here's a buyback I really like.  I've talked many times about my love of the ageless Julio Franco, and I half collect him just due to the fact that he stuck around for so many years.  His '89 Topps card is a strong candidate for franken-set inclusion.  1989 was actually Julio's first year with the Rangers, as Cleveland dealt him to Texas in the 1988 off-season.  He made a big splash upon his arrival in Texas, swatting .316.

Ouch, another rough match-up.  Bill Virdon was the 1955 Rookie of the Year, and aside from that I have very few '63 Topps buybacks in the binder at this point.  Maybe the least of any set from the '60s.

In what was maybe the toughest decision in this post, I reluctantly kept Bill Virdon in place.

1990 Topps #552 - Mike Smith

Hey alright, another 1990 Topps buyback!  You know the drill here, if there's any way possible I'm going to slide this guy into my dedicated 1990 Topps buyback set.

Already had this '79 Jose Morales in slot 552, which is great.

I moved this one into the 1990 Topps set, however I already had the Bronze Foil version of this very same buyback in the 1990 Topps buyback binder.  I'll put this one in its place, since the Blue Foil version is rarer, and the Bronze Foil one goes off to the reject box.  In reality, my 1990 Topps buyback project didn't improve at all with this one since it was for all intents and purposes a duplicate.

1974 Topps #382 - Bob Moose

Next up, Bob Moose and a huge mop of hair on his 1974 Topps release.  All that hair (including the mustache), the stir-ups, a tilted background; this is a perfect 1970s card right here.  Unfortunately, Bob had the worst year of his career in 1974, going 1-5 with an ERA above 7.50.  Ouch!

He's got some real competition for the binder too.  I already mentioned my love for 1972 Topps, and just check out that warm-up jacket!

Down goes Moose.

1999 Topps #422 - Orlando Hernandez

Here's our final hopeful for today, a much more recent buyback of El Duque.  This one pains me a bit, as Hernandez's impressive 1999 season (17 wins) was highlighted by his ALCS MVP Award after he dominated the Red Sox in two starts in the Championship Series that year. He was really good in his one World Series start as well, and the Yankees won it all that season.

Orlando draws 1989 Bo Diaz for competition as far as the binder goes.

The challenger wins a spot in the binder!

This slot is part of a complete page as well.  Here's the before, with Bo Diaz bottom center...

...and the after, with El Duque about to deliver.  Love the variety on this page, with buybacks from the '50s right up through the 2010s.

That's a wrap for this latest installment.  A pretty brutal day for this project to be honest, with most contenders getting shut down and just a couple fighting their way into the binder.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Franken-set Progress: 652/792 (82%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 119/792 (15%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 616
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,387