Purple & Pink

I've got a few shiny card projects that I plan to work on in 2021, one of which involves a small binder filled entirely and exclusively with shiny purple cards.  Towards that end, here are a few that I've plucked recently...

At the beginning of this binder, I'd like to have complete Topps Chrome Purple Refractor Red Sox team sets of the white-border 2010 through 2014 sets.  Found a seller on Sportlots that had four I needed towards the 2014 team set, available for mere pocket change.

I really miss the colored Topps parallels from the years when the cards had a full border, these just look fantastic in hand.

I was especially pleased to find this Shane Victorino, as the photograph is amazing.  I've got many different flavors of this card between base and Chrome parallels, but the Purple Refractor had eluded me until now.  Look at how the crowd glows almost angelically.

I really thought Will Middlebrooks was going to be a stud, but it was not meant to be.  He did last quite a few seasons at the MLB level, though.

Even though Topps Chrome Purple Refractors are my favorite shiny purple cards, I do want some variety in the binder, so I added these next two for a buck a piece with free shipping when I tacked them onto an existing eBay order a few weeks back.  Can't go wrong with future HOFer Justin Verlander.

Trevor Story is one of the best shortstops in the game, has been for a few seasons running now.  Some say he has the potential for Cooperstown down the line.  I'm not sure, but I do know that I love a team color matching refractor, so this probably won't end up being the only Colorado Rockies card in the purple binder.  Maybe a Nolan Arenado or two to accompany Trevor here?

Back to back Trevors!  As the post title indicates, I enjoy a good Pink Refractor as well.  I tacked this 2018 Trevor Bauer onto a Sportlots order for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, I could add one more card to my order without increasing shipping cost, and this was available for a quarter.  Secondly, Bauer had recently won the 2020 Cy Young Award, so it seemed like a good time to add a shiny card of his.  Finally, of the sets that have come out since Topps moved away from the full white border, I think the 2018 Topps Chrome release has the refractors that look the best.

Part of that same order was this Xander Bogaerts 2020 Topps Chrome Pink Refractor, for my player collection of the Boston shortstop.  Xander has moved into the number one overall spot in my baseball collection as far as sheer number of cards, and I have a feeling he'll hang onto that title for quite some time.

One more card to close out today's post, and it's a basketball card?!?!

Yep, it's a basketball card.  I am very slowly and very selectively (please don't mail me heaps of NBA cards) venturing into basketball as something new in 2021.  As with the purple cards, I'm going to try to build up a really small collection of random basketball cards that fit into a single Z-Folio binder (these hold 360 cards).  

There's really no criteria for this project except to have fun with it.  I'm guessing the end result will contain a lot of bright cards like this one, and probably some sentimental stars of my youth.  As opposed to baseball where I am in pursuit of various sets and goals, and have more rigidity to my collecting, I think it will be rewarding to have an open goal like "stuff this binder with 360 basketball cards you think are cool".

The very first card to be inserted into said binder is this gloriously shiny Pink Ice parallel of Paul Pierce's 2019-20 Prizm card.  This thing looks freaking amazing, and makes me wish badly that Panini had a license to produce MLB trading cards.  If you're a baseball player or team collector, tell me you wouldn't love to chase a card like this of your guy?

My one fear with a basketball card project in 2021 was that the market may have gotten so crazy that I wouldn't be able to afford enough interesting cards to fill out the binder.  In the early going though, I'm realizing that you can still find some great b-ball cards for cheap coin even today.  This Paul Pierce cost me all of 75 cents for example, and less than a dollar shipping.  Better yet, there are so many different colored and shiny variations of this card that I may devote an entire page of the basketball binder to house nine different parallels of it.

More on my basketball project later, but that's a wrap for today.  Thanks for stopping by to see some of my new shiny pick-ups, and stay safe out there!

Some Recent Additions

I've been somewhat absent here over the past couple of weeks, but it's not because I haven't had any time for my hobby.  I've actually had a decent amount of hobby time, but have been spending it organizing and condensing my collection and my home office/card room.  Here are some cool cards that I ran across, scanned and added to my organized collection proper during that process...

Still chugging away on these '72-73 O-Pee-Chee hockey high number WHA cards.  Tough little buggers, but I've got another trio to share today, starting with Reg Fleming of the Chicago Cougars!  You really have to question what the folks at O-Pee-Chee were doing with photograph selection and cropping here, but since I'm trying to complete the entire WHA portion of this set, I needed a copy of this card regardless.

Before the Edmonton Oilers, there was the Alberta Oilers.  They were the final stop in a lengthy professional hockey career for Val Fonteyne, who began playing in the NHL all the way back in the 1950s!  If you look closely, there's a giant crease running across this card, just below Val's shoulders.  Do I care?  Not in the least.  This is a perfectly fine, visually appealing example for my little set.

Last but not least, Murray Hall of the Houston Aeros.  The bright blue of the Aeros gear, combined with the jarring hot pink background, really makes this card tough on the eyes.  Murray broke into the NHL in the early '60s with Chicago, and played in just about every game of the first four seasons of Houston Aeros hockey in the WHA.

There are a total of 51 of these WHA cards at the tail end of the '72-73 O-Pee-Chee checklist.  With this trio in hand I'm now up to 21 of them in my collection, with an even 30 left to go.  I think I still have a small handful in my "to be processed" box, but probably only enough to get me to the halfway point or so.  Next year I'm going to have to make a concerted effort to track down the final couple dozen.  It won't be easy, but this is one set I absolutely plan to finish someday.

Next up, a trio of 1957 Topps baseball singles that I picked up in a local antiques shop at least a couple of years ago now.  While I'm not really pursuing the '57 set with that much vigor, I couldn't pass up Gus Zernial's pythons holding not one, but three bats.  Great image on this one, a fantastic look at the Athletics' elephant shoulder patch as well.

Don't really know much about Dave Pope, but I like this simple portrait shot.  I feel like this particular Cleveland Indians cap, with Chief Wahoo behind the large C, isn't one you see all that often.  Maybe that's just me, though.

Rounding out the trio of '57 Topps cards is this Bob Grim.  Picked this one up because you just don't miss a chance to grab '50s Yankees cards when the price is reasonable.  If I someday get serious about a '57 Topps set pursuit, I'll be glad to have this card already crossed off of my list.

I picked this one up at the same shop as the '57s, because like many collectors I'm a sucker for rookie cards of HOFers.  It was only 75 cents, so I just couldn't leave it behind.  Sadly, I returned to this antiques store a month or two ago to quickly grab a birthday present for my wife, and noticed their card selection was all but gone.  Glad I grabbed what I did when I did, I suppose.

Switching topics, one of my favorite things to do on cold, winter evenings when my wife has fallen asleep or is watching a Netflix show, is to browse Sportlots and put together a cheap order.  Many sellers offer bargain shipping via PWE if you pick up four cards or less, so I enjoy putting these together.  It's nice to find surprise cards in the mailbox alongside bills and junk mail, especially when I can often assemble a PWE for just a couple of dollars shipped.

Here are the contents one such package that arrived just a couple of weeks ago...

Started off with this 2019 Topps Heritage Purple Refractor of my man Xander Bogaerts.  Aside from the fact that I'm always in search of new Xander cards for my collection, I generally enjoy the Purple Refractors from Topps Heritage each year.  Scooping this one up for less than a dollar was very satisfying.

After Xander, and now that Mookie Betts has moved on, Rafael Devers is my favorite player to collect on the Red Sox.  With this 2017 Bowman Prospects yellow parallel counted for, I'm up to 48 unique cards of Devers in my collection now.  I have quite a few others in my COMC to post chest as well.  I'd like to get up to around 100 or so cards of the young star at some point, but I'm not in a serious rush.  He's at times inconsistent in the field, but his bat is so good that I think he has a shot to become a legitimate MLB star.  Don't forget, he led the American League in doubles and total bases during the last "normal" season in 2019.

For now, this one checked the box as far as my love of colorful cardboard and, like the Xander Heritage Purple Refractor, was less than a dollar.  Not too bad for a pre-rookie card parallel of one of the game's best young hitters.  Speaking of which...

...I wanted to find two other cards from the seller's inventory to go with the Bogaerts and Devers, since as I mentioned the shipping was the same for four cards as it was for a pair.

I found a couple of cards of one of my favorite young non-Red Sox players, Kyle Tucker of the Astros, available for pocket change.  Kyle doesn't seem to be as appreciated yet among the national collecting base as some other young stars like Ronald Acuna Jr and Fernando Tatis, Jr, which is great for me as his cards are still very attainable.  I paid 38 cents for this 2017 Bowman Prospects yellow parallel.

I'm hoping Kyle, who is still just 23 years old, can get a couple of 25/30-HR, 100-RBI seasons under his belt soon.  If so this will be a great pick-up in retrospect, if not I certainly didn't break the bank on it.  Pocket-change prospecting.  Might have to turn that into a recurring series of blog posts actually, has a nice ring to it!

Here's the final card from that Sportlots order, another yellow Kyle Tucker.  Paid the site-minimum 18 cents for this Collector's Card insert from 2018 Topps Heritage Minor League.  I like it because I'm fairly certain it's my very first card of the Fresno Grizzlies!  Not only that, but you get a good (if fuzzy) look at the Grizzlies' ballpark, Chukchansi Park, in the background there.

This post's getting a little long, so we'll call it here for today.  Thanks for stopping by to check out some of the most recent cards to enter into my collection.

There are stacks of amazing cards that have yet to see the blog laying all over the place here at Shoebox Legends World Headquarters, so check back frequently over the winter if you're bored.  Until then, thanks as always for stopping by!

Rainy Monday Miscellany

It's a short three-day work week for me with the Thanksgiving holiday, and it's pouring rain and thundering outside on this Monday.  Since I'm having trouble getting the juices flowing on anything too productive or creative, let's take a look at a random smattering of cardboard that's been kicking around my "To Be Posted" folder for way too long...

The blacked out cap on this '68 Joe Morgan All-Star card kind of drives me nuts.  But, given that I found it in really great shape and for less than a dollar at a local antiques store, I decided to scoop it up regardless.

From the same seller in that same store came this 1993-94 Donruss Mario Lemieux Ice Kings insert.  While very short-lived, and not as well-known or appreciated as their Diamond Kings counterparts in the world of baseball, I nonetheless think this is an interesting insert set.  I had four of the ten cards previously, and happily scooped up Mario Lemieux here for just 50 cents, getting me to the halfway point with this small insert set.

Best part is, the store also had two other cards from the set, which just so happened to feature two of my absolute favorite players from my youth, for just 25 cents each.  Pavel Bure's long, flowing locks...

...and Eric Lindros' semi-mullet bring me to 70% complete!  Really happy that I was able to grab three needs from this set for just a dollar.  Whenever COMC gets around to actually shipping within a decent time frame again (hah!), I'll have to see if I can hunt down the final three for cheap coin and put this one to bed.

Back when I first got into soccer cards years ago, I picked up a complete set of these 1939 Wills Footballers cards.  They were surprisingly cheap, and I thought it was awesome to have an entire set of pre-war soccer cards.  I chose this example at random to show, even though I'm not familiar with Peter Doherty, just because I know Manchester City is a team that people with only a vague familiarity with professional soccer are likely to have heard of at least.

Here's a look at the back, pretty standard fare for these tobacco-sized minis of the time.  Cool set, and did not break the bank for it at all.  Too lazy to look it up to confirm, but I want to say I paid less than $30 for the 50-card release.

Here's one that I picked up years back, finally scanned and added to my collection proper on TCDB.com only today.  When I grabbed this Vladimir Tarasenko Young Guns rookie, he was one of the hottest scorers in the NHL, a pure sniper.  I've always enjoyed Russian hockey players, I think because I came of age during the Stastny/Fedorov/Bure era when those guys first burst onto the NHL scene.

When healthy, he's a lock to net between 30 and 40 goals a year, and to produce that same number of assists.  Tarasenko missed the majority of this past season due to injury, though.

Depending on how the 28-year-old rebounds from injury, he could still become a borderline HOFer with another good stretch of six years or so, like the one he enjoyed to start his career.  Time will tell, but I'm happy to have this rookie card in my collection while we see how things turn out for Vlad...

I picked up two packs of the Topps 206 set that was distributed via online-only release earlier this year.  I actually showed the first pack off here, which was banged up pretty badly when I received it.  Thankfully the cards were in fine shape, although as time wore on I found I was not all that impressed with them.

Turns out I like my T206 cards to be 100+ years old, with obscure players on them that I get to go research.  I'm not even going to post my second pack, and have already sent most of the cards from it away to other collectors.  I did keep this Xander Bogaerts that I was lucky enough to pull for my player PC of him...

...and it's a Piedmont back parallel.  I think these are the most common back parallel, but I don't care to go confirm that at the moment.  Either way, I will never turn down a new Xander card.

If you stop by the blog with any frequency, you've seen me show off some 2017 Donruss Optic parallels recently.  Well, here are a few others for a shiny binder project I'm working on.  I picked up three of Jackie Bradley Jr's Holo parallel...

...and three of his Pink parallel as well.  I plan to have an entire page dedicated to this card, three copies each of three different shiny Jackies, in the binder.  These came courtesy of Sportlots, and I believe they were 25 cents each if memory serves.

Also grabbed five, yes FIVE, copies of Xander Bogaerts' Holo parallel in the same order.  For a site-minimum 18 cents each, I figured I might even end up doing an entire page of just this card.

A while back, I became somewhat obsessed with the 2013 Topps Archives Gallery of Heroes stained glass baseball inserts.  I need to get back on that train here on the blog, as I do have a few others to show off, but in the meantime I stumbled across this fantastic Peyton Manning from 2000 Topps Gallery football and could not resist.

Just as with the baseball inserts, these are acetate, and look exactly like a stained glass window when backlit.  Truly awesome cards, and they can be had for pretty cheap coin, too.  I paid $2.99 with free shipping to grab this one off of eBay back in June.  While I'm not a football collector, I could see myself leisurely pursuing this 10-card set.  I wish Topps would give us an insert this innovative in a 2021 baseball release.

Here's the back, where you can obviously tell this is an acetate card.  Interesting that the football release added a die-cut element, as the upper right corner (or upper left back here) is cut away.

Well, I think I've rambled on enough for one day, and the To Be Posted folder is looking much tidier as well, so we'll call it here for today.  Thanks as always for stopping by, and I'll be back with a more structured post soon!

Sportlots 4-Pack

Just a quick post tonight, been a long week.  Here is a quartet of cards I snagged off of Sportlots a couple of weeks back for $1.86 combined, shipped to my door for under $3 total...

This Charlie Blackmon was the last card that I added to the order, simply because the seller charged the same price to ship four cards as they did three.  It was also the most expensive of the four at a dollar even.  I'm a total sucker for these Chrome Purple Refractors from Topps Heritage.  My scan doesn't really do this one justice, but it's a beautiful card.

Aside from that, an epic beard and one of the best hitters in the game.  Charlie posted a average better than .300 and an OPS better than .800 during this crazy season.  I'll be happy to see he and Nolan Arenado get back to it next spring (I hope!).

Next up, Kyle Tucker of the Houston Astros courtesy of 2016 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects (Chrome).  It may look like it here, but Kyle is not a pitcher.  He's an outfielder.  I know it's not very fashionable to like the Astros right now, but I like this kid.  He's still just 23 years old and is batting .400 with Houston this post-season after their series win against Oakland.  Paid a whole 18 cents for this one.

On the heels of my first Kyle Tucker card, my second, this one from 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League.  Love the minor league releases like this one and Pro Debut, and again this was available for a site-minimum 18 cents.  Happy to finally have a pair of Tucker cards in my collection, and these were actually the catalyst for this purchase overall.

In fact, since his cards are so cheap I kind of became an overnight Kyle Tucker collector in recent weeks, but that's a post for another day.

Finally, this 2014 Bowman Scout's Top 5 Mini Refractor of my favorite player, Xander Bogaerts.  I'm always on the lookout for new cards of Xander, and while this isn't an official "RC", it was released during his rookie year of 2014, and is a refractor.  Seemed like a steal at 50 cents.  I could have sworn I already had one, but it was the Mookie Betts from this same insert set.  Pleased to have Xander to pair with him years later.

Well, that's all for now, thanks for taking a peek at some of my Sportlots pickups!  Until next time...

Shiny Cardboard - My Newest Bogaerts RC

Here's my latest Xander Bogaerts pick-up, a solid and long overdue addition to my one somewhat serious modern player collection...

This beauty is a Chrome Refractor parallel of Xander's 2014 Topps Heritage RC, on which he shares billing with Jonathan Schoop.  For some reason, Topps Heritage Refractors really pop to my eyes, even more so than the standard Topps Chrome Refractors.  I'm a huge fan of the Purple Refractors as well as these standard ones, which are serial-numbered (to /565 in this case). 

Lacking this card has felt like a somewhat significant hole in my Bogaerts collection for years now, and finally being able to nab one for just $12 and change earlier this year felt great.

 

This card is interesting too in that it's somewhat a "tale of two infielders".  While Bogaerts has remained with Boston and become one of the premier shortstops in all of baseball, Schoop has really bounced around.  After leaving Baltimore he's also had stints with Milwaukee, Minnesota, and the in this past season the Detroit Tigers.

That's a wrap for now, and I have to say my Bogaerts collection feels much more respectable with this card added to it.  Having recently crossed the 200-card threshold in that player collection, this card is a great way to begin the march to 300.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and enjoy your weekend everyone!

200 Bogaerts Cards! (and Other Great Parallels)

Let's take a look at the contents in the latest of many, many dozens of back and forth PWEs I've exchanged with my good collecting buddy Mark Kaz, formerly of the blog This Way to the Clubhouse.  I'm already woefully behind on posting this trade package, plus two other great ones that showed up just after it, so let's see what nine cards Mark shipped my way already...

In the lead-off spot is the most significant card in the PWE, this Orange parallel of Xander Bogaerts' 2020 Topps Big League card.  A nice-looking Bogaerts card to be sure, but the reason I'm so excited about it is because it's the 200th different card of Xander in my formally organized and cataloged collection!  Pretty good milestone there, I think the only other baseball player in that boat so far is David Ortiz just due to the sheer number of Big Papi cards all Red Sox collectors end up with.

This card will be a tough act to follow due to its significance, but let's see what else Mark included...

Another cool parallel from Big League, this one from the 2018 edition.  I had an amazing streak of attending events at Fenway Park, whether Red Sox games, concerts or otherwise, at least once and often many times every year for about two decades, until COVID-19 stepped in and ruined 2020.  Hope to be back in 2021 to begin a new streak.

LOVE this one!  Pacific was doing some really wild things with cards in the late '90s/early '00s, and this 2000 Revolution set is a prime example.

I'm a total sucker for a good X-Fractor.  While the 2006 set may not hold a candle to my personal favorite X-Fractors from 2014, these are beautiful cards nonetheless and the red works incredibly well for Boston cards in particular.  These are also somewhat rare, at just /250 copies each.

I accumulate a few of these exclusive Holiday cards from year to year, but this Rick Porcello is the first time I've seen one of the Metallic Snowflake parallels in hand.  This is a case where the scan absolutely does not do the card justice.  In fact, I enjoy this one enough that I may seek out some other Sox on COMC.

Thanks to TCDB.com, I learned this Fred Lynn is from the 2003 Topps Tribute World Series set.  My first card from that release, and I love that it's so incredibly shiny!

This 1994 Score Gold Rush parallel is one of those cards that makes me realize how badly I need to Windex my scanner bed.  In hand it's actually quite nice, but you'll have to take my word for it.

I believe this Artist's Proof Blue Eddie Mathews is actually a Boston Braves card, but we won't hold that against Mark.  Especially since I enjoy all Boston-based sports cards, as well as the retired stars from the recent Diamond Kings releases.

Perhaps the most visually stunning card in the PWE, this Pink Refractor from 2018 Topps Chrome Update Edition is just beautiful in hand.  The players absolutely pop off the bright surface on these.  I will absolutely try to complete a team set, even if there is a somewhat tough Rafael Devers card in the mix.

Mark, thanks so much for these great additions to my Red Sox collection!  I miss your blog big time, but I'm glad we get to continue strengthening each others' collections anyway.  To everyone else, thanks for stopping by.  I'm finally starting to come out of my job-related funk here and get back to posting, and I have some real good ones in the hopper, so check back in soon.  Until then, take care out there!