Johnny's Trading Spot Red Sox - Part 2

This past week I was completely surprised by an unexpected bubble mailer full of Red Sox that showed up in my mailbox. The cards were sent to me by John Miller, who writes over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  This is the second large surprise mailing to show up in my house in recent weeks, as I've yet to get to an amazing package from Joe Shlabotnik as well.

The reason I'm putting John first though is that I haven't finished showing all the cards from his last package, which I won as part of a contest held on his blog.  So today, in an attempt to clear some of this backlog, I've got 20 more Red Sox that he included in that last go-round...

Starting off with a Scott Cooper Rookie insert from 1992 Pinnacle.  Though I was collecting heavily as a 9/10-year-old in 1992, I have zero recollection of this insert set.  Had trouble finding it on The Trading Card Database also.  Cool card.

I love a good minor league card, and John hooked me up with quite a few of them in my prize package.  From the 1990 Best set here's pitcher Josias Manzanillo.  Josias went on to have an 11-year career in Major League Baseball with over 250 appearances.

Next up, Bob Zupcic.  Another guy who made the show here, as he played from 1991 through 1994 for the Red Sox (and the White Sox at the tail end).  Looks like Best had a typo here and used a 'v' for the second letter in Bob's last name.

Derek Livernois, on the other hand, never made it.  I love the photos featuring all of the local advertising on the outfield fence.

This one's actually from the same set, just some type of small subset at the very end of the checklist.  Eric did play in the Majors, but is better known for his managerial stints later in life.  He actually won Manager of the Year back in 2007 with the Indians.

Sticking with the minor league theme for a moment, next up is a pair from the 2014 Panini Elite Extra Edition set.  Unlike the Best set, I don't find these to be very visually appealing cards, but they're two new ones for my Sox collection nonetheless.  Looks like Reed here flamed out after his age 23 season at single A ball back in 2015.

Kevin McAvoy was still active as recently as last year, but an appearance with Boston looks unlikely given that he's never risen above AA ball to this point.

Let's turn to some established Major Leaguers at this point, from a set I adore, 2003 Topps Total.  Team sets from the Total releases are pretty damn large (player selection is what makes the set so great after all), and I got four new cards towards my 2003 set with pitchers Jorge De La Rosa...

...and Derek Lowe...

...as well as position players Jeremy Giambi...

...and the late Dernell Stenson.  I was excited to see Topps return with the Total brand this year, but a bit disappointed in the online-only, somewhat exclusive format.  I'll stick with collecting the cards from a couple of decades ago I guess.

Now we move onto a set that was actually very poorly represented in my Red Sox collection prior to receiving this package, 1996 Score.

The design for this set is alright, I guess I'd rate it slightly above average.  The photos though are pretty great in some cases, and John Valentin's card is a fine example of that.

Same with this Tim Naehring.  I love that they managed to capture both the batter on deck and the bat boy in the background in this shot.

I like how the horizontal layout works for the design in this particular release.

That horizontal layout provided probably my favorite card of this bunch.  Talk about an awesome play-at-the-plate shot here!  Love the low angle, the fact that MacFarlane is raising the ball in triumph, and the dirt storm that's largely obscuring the runner.  Awesome stuff.

Of course there are plenty of more casual cards in the set as well, like Troy O'Leary stretching pre-game...

...or Stan Belinda with a standard pitch delivery shot.  These seven new cards put me well on my way towards a complete team set.

To close it out for today, we'll head back to the 1980s with a pair of '89 Donruss.  These aren't just any '89 Donruss though, they're my first two cards from the '89 Donruss Traded set!

Looks like there is just one more Red Sox player on the checklist, I'll have to grab that one on COMC or Sportlots to put this small team set to bed.

So there you have it, 20 new additions to my ever-growing team collection.  I've got one more run of cards to show in a Part 3 from this mailing, then I'll be moving on to the amazing and eclectic package from Joe Shlabotnik.

Enjoy your Saturday, and thanks for stopping by!