Coronavirus Packages Episode V - The Dimepire Strikes Back

Nick, of the famous Dime Boxes blog, and I have had a pretty great back and forth exchange of cardboard going for years now.  I send random mailers of cardboard his way every so often, and every so often I find an envelope or mailer stuffed full of Red Sox in my mailbox with his return address on it.  It's a beautiful thing, and I'm honored to have awesome friends like Nick in this hobby.

A couple of months ago now (I'm embarrassed to say), I showed off the first and second parts of a three-part package Nick had sent my way.  Today, I finally have the third installment to go through, featuring some amazing cards like the Tris Speaker T206 above...

...as well as this Bill Carrigan, also from that infamous set.  These are Dover reprints from the late 1970s, and they're seriously appreciated because these just happen to be two of the final Red Sox cards from the T206 release that I do not have an authentic copy of.  I'm not sure if Nick chose this pair for that reason, but if not it was certainly fortuitous!

Those weren't the only Dover reprints to be found in this particular delivery.  Harry Hooper's Cracker Jack release is next.  Again, while I have a handful of original Cracker Jacks, this one has always eluded me (and likely always will, it's an expensive little bugger on the rare occasion when one surfaces).

The Cracker Jack cards are probably my overall favorite pre-war set, so I'm grateful to have this reprint in lieu of an original.

Another Dover reprint, and another card I do not own the original of.  This one is more surprising, as a '50 Bowman Dom DiMaggio wouldn't be cheap, but wouldn't exactly be outrageously or prohibitively expensive either.  One that maybe I'll target some day when I'm not on a spending hiatus.  Speaking of which...

...of the half dozen Dover reprints that were included in the package, this is the card that I actually almost felt a sense of shame for not having tracked down in vintage form yet!  I absolutely adore 1952 Bowman, and Vern Stephens has a particularly pleasing card in the release.  It's inexcusable that I don't have one of these given that they can be had in condition that would be more than good enough for me for less than ten bucks.

Finally on the Dover front, a Goudey Fritz Ostermueller.  A fun selection there, and given that I have a decent amount of pre-war stuff it's amazing that Nick went 6-for-6 in terms of sending reprints that I do not have the original card of.

Of course, there was more to be found inside this particular team bag...

First up, a couple of Nomar Garciaparra additions, with this 2000 Upper Deck MVP "Drawing Power" insert...

 ...and this Statistical Champs, courtesy of 2003 Donruss Champions.  Always happy to land any and all new Nomah cards!

Some hot off the shelves new stuff (at the time, before I sat on it for two months anyway) here with a Rocket 1985 Topps-themed insert from 2020 flagship Series 1.  Certainly looks a lot different than his original '85 Topps RC.

My first look at this year's Turkey Red inserts as well!  Pretty much look the same as Turkey Red cards from all years.  I like these cards, and pretty much always have with the exception of one or two sets.

Even though it appears to be pink in the scan, this 2020 Donruss Christian Vazquez card is actually a "Holo Purple" parallel.  Pretty comparable to a Purple Refractor from Topps Chrome, if maybe slightly less vibrant.  With the tools of ignorance covering up most of the uniform you really can't even tell that this is an unlicensed card.  Looks pretty great to me!

Alright, I did a double take at first when I came across this one in the stack.  Relic cards may not be what they once were on the whole, but I really dig the design of the Clubhouse Collection relics in this year's Heritage set.  That tequila sunrise color scheme is really doing it for me, especially on a set that's paying tribute to the glorious '70s.  Getting my favorite active player, completely unexpected, was just awesome!

More Nomar.  This one's a Gold mini from last year's release.  I've really grown to appreciate tobacco-sized mini cards over the years.  These days I'll even seek them out purposely from time to time, in fact I have a few nice Allen & Ginter minis in my backlog of cards waiting to be shown on the blog.  I like this one quite a bit.

Here's another mini, from the 2011 Topps Update Kimball Champions insert set.  A nice new Babe with Boston card.  2011 Topps Update stuff isn't all that easy to come by it seems like thanks to Mike Trout, so I'm excited to receive this one.

How awesome is this 1975 Hostess Luis Tiant?  There are so many great cards it's hard to say, but this honestly might be my favorite card in the entire package.  I actually love that it's rough cut and has clearly been loved in its 45 years of existence, yet the photograph is crystal clear and completely unblemished.  I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that I actually prefer this card's character over a mint copy.

Nick never ceases to amaze me with the sheer variety in his trade packages.  I'll confess that when I first flipped to this Tony Pena card in the stack I had no idea what it was.  Turns out to be my first 1994 Panini Sticker.  Very cool.

Another great oddball here, this Wade Boggs is from the 1998 Fleer Superstars boxed set.  The predominant red, white and blue is very 1988 Fleer.  Don't recall ever having seen this set before, either.

Here's an older Turkey Red card from the 2000s, back when it was a dedicated set rather than its modern day insert format.  Again, the design is nearly identical year to year.  I do love this Yaz painting.  Also, I had the red parallel of this card previously, but never landed the base version until now.  Thanks Nick!

This one's from the 2019 Topps National Baseball Card Day promotion.  I have not been to a hobby shop in longer than three years now, so I obviously did not participate in this.  Really appreciate Nick thinking of me as a destination for this card.

A Season Highlights Manny from one of Upper Deck's later releases before they lost their MLB license...

When I think of Topps Total, I inevitably think of the well-known and rightfully-loved base cards.  Turns out there were inserts too!

Big Papi saluting the fans on this 2017 flagship insert.

I always love acquiring new SI for Kids cards of athletes or teams that I follow.  This JD Martinez is the latest of a handful I have now, and not the first one that Nick was responsible for sending me out of that small grouping either.

Not much to say about this Jay Payton, which was released during my break from collecting (1997-2007).  The background photo is pretty much exactly where I have worked once or twice each month in downtown Boston for 15+ years now.

Here's a nice one from last year's Topps Heritage release.  A great cardboard representation of Steve Pearce's 2018 World Series MVP win.

Second Nomar insert in today's post that comes from 2003 Donruss Champions.  This one's called Total Game.

Probably should have grouped this Michael Chavis insert with the Steve Pearce above, but here you go.

At first glance, this looks like an ordinary Topps Nomar Garciaparra.  Flip it over, though...

...and you'll soon see that it's something special.  This card is actually from the 2003 Topps Kanebo Japan release!  What an unbelievably random and totally cool addition to my Sox collection.

Oh, and as if the Nomar weren't generous enough...

...Nick also sent along a copy of the most dominant pitcher I've ever seen pitch with my own two eyes, Pedro Martinez!  These are fantastic.

Is there anything more '90s than the 1998 Pacific Online set?  Love these.  "bigleaguers.com" redirects to the MLB Players Association website, so I guess my dream of acquiring this domain name and standing up some type of site for curious collectors who enter the URLs from this release into a web browser is officially dead.

This incredibly shiny insert is from 2019 Topps Fire.  I love shiny cards, and this one does not disappoint in hand.  In general I'm a fan of the Topps Fire release I have to say.  In fact, I have one or two really nice Fire parallels to show off whenever my COMC order finally shows up here.

A nice, standard, Finest Josh Beckett.  Nothing flashy to this design (2006), but all the red works well at least.

Another card from one of those late '80s boxed sets from Fleer.  This one is the '87 Fleer Baseball's Best Pitchers vs. Hitters release.  That's a mouthful for sure, but a cool early-career Clemens card.

Sweet!  I showed one of these 1989 Pacific Cards & Comics Superstars cards in a previous post, and now I can pair Mike Greenwell with it.  For an amateur/unlicensed set I really like the design.

Rickey Henderson-as-a-Red Sox cards aren't all that plentiful.  I will happily scoop up any and all of them that I can.  Rickey was the man.

Closing out the standard card portion of the package is this super shiny, refractory Topps Archive Reserve Jim Piersall.  Simply a fantastic card for a lover of shiny like myself.  I gifted Nick an entire set of this stuff a while back that I'd received from John Miller, just paying it forward.  I'm not sure if this one is from that same release or not, but either way I'm happy to have it, as I'd like to complete a Sox team set from this release and did not have a copy prior to going through this package.

Last, but certainly not least, this fantastic oversized Exhibits Ellis Kinder!  These were printed for about a 20-year run beginning in 1947 and are generally categorized as one large "set".  Absolutely love the photograph here, a truly unique item for my team collection.

Nick, thanks once again for this great batch of cardboard, AND for the most recent PWE that arrived last week.  I promise I won't take many months to get that one properly scanned and featured here!

To everyone else, I hope you saw some cards that interested you, and thanks as always for stopping by.  Enjoy your weekend!