In Case I Didn’t Feel Guilty Enough

I received yet another package from Adam at Thoughts and Sox. In my dealings with Adam, I have come to a couple conclusions. One, his generosity apparently knows no bounds. Two, he busts more wax than a team of beekeepers. He once again sent along a shipment of cards that took a good size bite out of my wantlists. I can’t even hope to do justice to the nearly 150 cards Adam sent along in this one post. But. I thought I’d mention a few examples of what he sent along.

The Jon Lester 2009 Topps Heritage is a nice card. It’s a good look at Lester, who never seems to smile. It also celebrates a wonderful event in Lester’s career. Yet another young Red Sox pitcher notched his first career no-hitter. A great card. The 2008 Stadium Club Youkilis card is from a lost set for me. I have always been a big Stadium Club fan. It’s hard not to be. But, I somehow “missed” the 2008 release. Obviously, I knew about it. But, I never really got any of them, or read much about it. It appears that all the cards have about 36 variations…including this “first day” version. The idea being that these cards were from the first day of printing of the set. Sort of stealing an idea from stamp collectors. It doesn’t do much for me, but it’s still a nice idea. The card itself is great. It’s shiny, without gong crazy. The photography is, as usual, fantastic. A very nice addition. The 2009 Topps Bard is another neat card. It’s a great photo. Nicely cropped. Maybe this is a chance for Jere to bring his detective skills out again. Bard is in his home whites…but that’s not Fenway he’s pitching in. I like the tongue though. As if pumping a ball in there at 100 mph is just a fun little activity. The Topps Heritage Billy Wagner is a great reminder of a pretty good move. The Sox acquired him on the cheap, hoping simply to get draft picks when he left town. The fact that he was dominating down the stretch was a fantastic bonus. While this card is nothing special, I do like the overall look of the set. The 2010 Bowman Ellsbury is one of my first cards from this set. It’s another great photo. Nicely cropped so nothing detracts from the action. The card itself is also quite simple. No crazy borders or graphics getting in the way of things. I can’t really say anything bad about it. The 2009 Allen & Ginter Rocco Baldelli is a great card, if for no other reason than to remind us that Baldelli was on the Sox. While I like the design of the A&G cards, I think they start to become too much of a good thing. One simple painting is a change of pace. One hundred simple paintings becomes a rut. The 2009 Bowman Daisuke Matsuzaka is a bit of a difficult card to see. Obviously, it was Matsuzaka’s performance in the WBC that supposedly led to his lost 2009 season. It was really too bad. The Topps Kids Mike Greenwell is a fun card. The set’s idea was to appeal to kids. Naturally, it was really to appeal to collectors who needed yet another Mike Greenwell card to their collection. The set had several design formats, of which this is one of my least favorites. But, it’s a fun way to spice up the collection. The Scott Hatteberg is another fun blast from the past. Remember when it was Hatteberg that was keeping Varitek from getting playing time? As we know, due to Varitek’s emergence, Hatteberg had to go elsewhere to make a name for himself and change positions to star in Moneyball. But he was certainly an up and comer in the Sox organization for a while.

As I said, that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the goodness Adam sent over. As always, I urge you to check out his wantlists to see if you can help him out.

I’ll certainly be doing the same.