Box o' Sox from Billy!

If you're one of the folks who has sent me cards in recent weeks, and are wondering why it's taken me so long to acknowledge them, you can thank Billy Kingsley of Cardboard History!

I enjoy reading Billy's blog, and I love his enthusiasm for embracing any and all cards in his collection.  Because of this, he's been the recipient of a good percentage of the cards I've purged out of my household over the past couple of years.  I've lost track, but have probably sent at least a half dozen fully stuffed flat rate boxes Billy's way at this point.

I do it because I'm glad the cards are going to a place where they'll be appreciated, and I certainly don't expect anything in return.  Recently though...

...Billy hooked me up with a fantastic batch of Red Sox cardboard!

This cube is chock full of Red Sox cards, easily a hundred or more in here.  I had a blast thumbing through all of them, checking each one against my existing collection on The Trading Card Database, and scanning and adding any new ones to my Sox collection.

In the end, around half the cards were new to me, which is impressive given that I have thousands and thousands of Red Sox cards at this point.  I'm going to show every new card in this scan-heavy post, though I won't provide commentary on them all.

I do want to point out though that even some of the duplicates were really nice cards, like this Xander Bogaerts Bowman RC.  As you'll see below, this cube wasn't jammed packed with junk wax commons, it had some cards inside that were much better than what I'd expect to find in a typical re-pack.

Alright, let's get to all of the new-to-me cards I found inside, starting with the man whose future in Boston seems to be in jeopardy...

Always love getting a new card of Kevin Millar, Cowboy Up!

I got it, I got it!

This one's pretty cool, the first Bowman card of Brian Johnson, who has been up and down as a fourth/spot starter over the past few years.

Like I said, plenty of star power in this re-pack.  Not the last we'll see of Big Papi in today's post.

Here's the card that was atop the cube, a serial-numbered Dustin Pedroia from Topps Triple Threads.  Good stuff.

Coco Crisp is still one of the best names in Red Sox history.

Ka-pow!

This one is a Gold Proof parallel, numbered to /100.

Trot Nixon is always a highlight of any pack or re-pack in my mind.

I really loved the three dimensional effect achieved by blurring the background on the inaugural Gypsy Queen release back in 2011.  I went kind of crazy buying this stuff in retail format and if I recall I've got a big box of this somewhere in my card closet yet to be inventoried/added to my digital collection.

Like many collectors, I really enjoy the 1987 Donruss set.  I can't believe I haven't finished the Red Sox team set from this release yet, but I'm one card closer now.

Another cool first Bowman card, as Daniel Nava's grand slam in his first Major League at-bat is a moment I'll always remember as a fan.

See what I mean about the selection being really good for a re-pack like this?  Did not expect to find a new Jon Lester rookie in this package at all.

The lone non-Red Sox card in the cube, but I decided to hang onto it anyway as I don't have many cards of David's time with Minnesota.

Probably my favorite photograph in today's post, just another example of Upper Deck at its best.

Though he's an obscure name in Red Sox history, I really enjoyed watching Wily Mo Pena blast dingers while it lasted.  Always happy to land a new card of his!

These next two are certainly top five cards in the entire cube if I were to rank them.  Managers don't get enough love.

I'm just a sucker for Cracker Jack cards anyhow.  The originals from 1914/1915 are some of my favorite pre-war cards, period.  I think Topps did a nice job with this modern set as well.

Even scored a shiny new Pedro in this lot.

Upper Deck's last hurrah in the baseball realm...

2011 Topps Update cards aren't all that easy to come by it seems like, thanks to some guy named Trout's rookie card being in the release.

Another cool one here, as Travis Shaw had a couple of respectable seasons with Boston before moving on.  Nice to get an early-career card of his like this one.

I think this may be my favorite card in the entire re-pack, believe it or not.  I always loved the 1985 Leaf cards with that gaudy green leaf logo.  This is just the second one in my collection, and now I feel motivated to go pick up a few other stars from this set.

Used to love the K-Mart boxed sets when I was a kid, though my originals are lost to time.  Glad to have a copy of this Fred Lynn back in hand.

Make that two cards closer to an '87 Donruss team set!

We'll end on this fantastic 1978 Topps Carlton Fisk.  This card's in really good shape, I think it's an upgrade for the copy in my '78 complete set that I still have to someday process.  How's that for re-pack fodder?

Billy, thank you so much for this awesome gift!  Now I'm off to compare, scan and sort the contents of the second identically sized cube that was in Billy's package.  Yep, this was only one of two.  Hope to have round two posted in the next few days.  Can't wait to see what gems may await me in the next one.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and enjoy your Saturday!