Mark Kaz is Awesome

Finally found some time this evening to scan in the great package of cards I received a week or two ago from my good buddy Mark Kaz of "This Way to the Clubhouse...".  Mark has quickly shot up the ranks as one of my favorite and most frequent trade partners.  Any time I send him a package, a new stack of cards begins on my card desk, and as soon as it gets big enough to justify the couple bucks it takes to ship a bubble mailer, off go they go again.  By the same token, Mark has inflated my Red Sox collection over and over again in recent months.  So, when I pulled a Matt Harvey futures game variation from a hanger box of 2014 Topps Series 2 I knew where to send it!

In return, some more great Sox...

Manuel Margot is apparently still down in A-ball, but he's having a very good season with 8 homers and 30 stolen bases so far.  This card made me realize how bad my scanner bed had gotten.  I immediately grabbed Windex and a paper towel, and you'll notice much cleaner scans from here on out.

I got my first taste of 2014 Bowman in this package.  It goes against every fiber of my collecting being to say this but...I think...I actually like this Bowman set.

I know I like Xander Bogaerts rookie cards, regardless of the brand!  This represents just my fifth Bogaerts card, but there's one coming at the end of the post that's better than any of the others I have.

Koji is another guy who's sadly under-represented in my Sox collection.  He was one of only two Boston players to make the AL All-Star team this year.

I saw something during the All-Star game broadcast this past week that was illustrating the number of shortstops the Red Sox have had in the years since Jeter's been entrenched in New York.  I think it was in the mid-'50s (don't hold me to that) or some crazy high number like that.  Scutaro, though he wasn't here long, filled in very well in that spot from what I recall.

This package had not one...

...not two...

...but three gold parallels from 2010 Topps Update!  I'm a sucker for a good parallel.  I don't know where Mark finds all these!

How about some 2012 Topps Opening Day?

These three (what a pair of horizontal action photos on the last two!) put me within just a couple of cards of knocking out this team set.

I have very few cards of Mark Loretta with the Sox.  Though he's depicted with the Padres, the OCD side of me is totally good with this one because he's designated as a Red Sox player on the card.  If it were the other way around, Sox uniform but Padres team listed, no way!

My very first card of reliever Rudy Seanez in a Red Sox uniform.

I've picked up a couple of 2014 Series 2 hanger boxes, but was not fortunate enough to land this Jackie Bradley Jr. Future Stars card.  I am one collector who's grateful that Topps brought back the Future Stars to this year's flagship release.

I hadn't pulled Felix Doubront either, and I don't see myself picking up any more 2014 Topps, so these two were definitely appreciated.

Another great Uehara card.  I don't think anyone could have possibly foreseen how dominant this guy would be for such a long stretch of time at his late age.  Unreal.

This one was on my Zistle want list before Mark sent it my way!

This package arrived either the very day, or the next day after, A.J. Pierzynski was designated for assignment.  He certainly wasn't the biggest problem with this year's team, but he wasn't exactly clubbing the ball out of the park either.  Plus he just seemed like a total pain in the ass (apparently a common opinion among players as well).  Nonetheless, what was it I just said about a good parallel?

I may not be a big Clemens fan, but I do love the many varieties of subsets in the 1991 Score set.  This is everything an obnoxious, early-'90s baseball card should be!

Wow!  I know relic cards may not carry as much weight in the hobby as they did a few years back, but this one is cool for a number of reasons.  First of all, I don't have a ton of Ortiz relics (this would make four).  More importantly though, this card is from 2007, which happens to be the year I returned to collecting.  Oh, and Red Sox won the World Series that year as well.

And now, for my favorite card in the entire package, and probably my favorite card of 2014 so far...

I am definitely glad I cleaned my scanner!  This beauty, which hails from 2014 Bowman, pays tribute to the 1989 Bowman set, one I remember fondly.  It looks just as great in person as it does in the scan, just a beautiful card.  Bogaerts has a really unique signature too, making for a fantastic card all around.  I nearly picked this up on eBay multiple times, but was hesitant to pay a few bucks just to have it shipped.  What a beauty!

Here's the back, which will look familiar (though not exact) to those of you who were collecting 25 years ago.

Mark, you've outdone yourself once again!  I hope to repay the favor soon, and I've already picked up a few cards specifically destined for your mailbox!