Signature Sundays - From the National!

Haven't done a Signature Sundays post for some time, but a beautiful holiday weekend here in New England seems like as good a time as any to revive the series.  Especially since I have some autographs from this year's National to show off!

No, I did not make it down to the show.  I spent the weekend watching my favorite band play a couple of shows at Fenway Park instead.  My friend Jeff S did attend though, and was nice enough to pick up some cards for my collection while he was there.  Just the latest example of the amazing generosity that exists within our collecting community.

Jeff managed to pack quite a punch with the 15 cards he sent, starting with a trio of autographs from 2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition (my first cards from this set, period).  Kyle Bono was an 8th round pick for Boston in 2004, and never advanced past A-ball.

Andrew Dobies was taken in the third round of that same 2004 draft.  He played professionally until age 29, and while he got tantalizingly close (AAA with the White Sox organization), he never managed to crack a big league roster.

Hardcore Red Sox fans may remember the last player in this trio, Abe Alvarez.  He made four total appearances with Boston between 2004 and 2006, including a spot start in 2004.  Hey, that's four more games than I'll ever play at the MLB level.  He's got an interesting signature, too.

One more autograph, my favorite of the four that Jeff picked up for me.  I always liked Ryan Kalish during his brief tenure with Boston, and was happy to see in researching for this post that he's still kicking around (now with the Cubs).  This is the first Portland Sea Dogs autograph (Red Sox AA affiliate) in my entire collection, and I love that you get a great look at both the uniform and the logo.  Fantastic stuff!

Jeff sent much more than just autographs in this care package.  This Eric Wedge is card #1322 in the set, and it appears there is more than one variation of it.  Imagine trying to complete that set?  Yikes.

The latest addition to what's actually starting to become a pretty sizeable Pawtucket Red Sox collection.

This one is a mini chrome insert from some flavor of 2014 Bowman.  All I know is that it's shiny and was new to me.

There was a green theme to the middle portion of the package for sure.  It started with this Will Middlebrooks Museum Collection parallel, serial numbered to /199.

From there, a Dustin Pedroia Finest Green Refractor, also numbered to /199!

And finishing off the trio, a 2015 Bowman Chrome Green Refractor of the guy who's currently leading all of baseball in wins, Rick Porcello!  Can you believe that, by the way?  I don't think there are many people who saw this coming at the outset of the season.  Makes this colored refractor featuring a great retro uniform that much nicer.

From there, how about a couple of huge vintage cards?  This one, because Tony Conigliaro is one of the more interesting stories in the history of the franchise (and I can't believe I didn't have this card already), and this one...

...because I needed a copy for my 1959 Topps set!

Jeff even found a pair of great new Ron Francis cards, both of which I needed for my Whalers collection.  From 2012-13 SP Authentic here's a fantastic throwback to the '90s.

Then from 2013-14 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection a base card (numbered to /499, as this is a high end product).  I'm closing in on 100 different Ron Francis cards now thanks to this duo.

1975 Topps #219 - Ed Herrmann

Last, but certainly not least, Jeff even tracked down a new buyback for me.  Even better, this is the first #219 buyback I've acquired so far, he Ed Herrmann here makes the cut for my franken-set!  He's already nestled safely inside the binder with his franken-set brethren.

Jeff, thanks so much for thinking of little ol' me while you were at the largest card show of the year!  I truly appreciate it!

Franken-set Progress:  109/792 (14%)