Collecting the Sox: Schedule Cards

Schedule Cards

OK. I have no idea what these are. I’m also having a tough time deciding if they’re the strangest Red Sox collectible out there, or the greatest collectible in the history of time.

Or, maybe a little bit of both.

A friend of mine handed these to me the other day. Apparently he was fortunate enough to go to a Red Sox game during the last home stand, and have seats in one of the suites. Inside there was a basket or bowl full of these packs.

Looks like a pack of baseball cards to me. But, it calls itself a “schedule calendar.” Huh?

Here’s what is inside.

They’re schedule cards. They’re basically baseball cards, showing the 2015 Red Sox schedule. Clearly, they’re sponsored by jetBlue. Each card has one month’s schedule on the back with a clever illustration on the front commemorating an important Red Sox event that occurred during that month. The back also has a short write up on the event being depicted. As a special feature, some away games are marked with a jet icon to show that you can “fly non-stop to these games.” (I assume that means from Boston…and on jetBlue.)

How fantastic is that? Is it a baseball card? Is it a David Ortiz card? Is it a pocket schedule? It’s all in one!

But, the bigger question to me is their intended purpose. Since they depict the 2015 schedule, I can only assume they were meant to be distributed before the season. But, the guy who got the packs had been to Spring Training, in jetBlue Park, no less, and did not remember seeing these packs. I have another friend who actually flew on jetBlue to Spring Training, and she didn’t see the packs either. So, where were they distributed? When?

And, why the packs? I only have the one open pack, but I assume they’re all the same. I’m guessing that other packs didn’t contain different months, or even different card fronts. Was there a purpose to having people open a pack in order to see the schedule?

What are you supposed to do with the cards? Does each month’s card go in your wallet, to be replaced as each new month arrives? Or are they stacked on your desk, with the current month on top?

Or, am I thinking too much? Is it just a gimmick by jetBlue to do something different as a giveaway? Is it just a clever way to get the name out there that some people can have fun with? If that’s the case, I guess it worked like a charm.

After all, I’m still talking about it.