Back in October, I posted about a blaster of Topps Allen & Ginter that I had the pleasure of opening. One of the cards caught the eye of Chris over at Nachos Grande. He recognized it as one he needed, and I was happy to send it over to him along with a few other cards I had for him. He was kind enough to send a package of greatness back in return. I thought it would be fun to look at some of them here.
I hope you agree!
Here we go...
The 1981 Donruss design is starting to grow on me. Instead of being "plain and boring", it's starting to become "classic". The coloring I'm also finding appealing. Whatever the reason, I welcome this change in my opinion.
This Parnell is from the Archives set back when they were actual reprints. While it's not a real 1953, it's still a great addition to the collection. Coming off a less stellar 1952 season, Parnell was a 20-game winner in 1953.
Always nice to be reminded that Dawson was a Red Sox for a while there.
A nice collection of 1995 Score here showing different stages of Red Sox stardom. Frankie Rodriguez was supposed to be the next big thing...right until he wasn't. He went from untouchable in the minors, to being traded to the Twins during the '95 season. Mo Vaughn would, of course, win the MVP in 1995. Roger followed a 9-7 1994 season with a 10-5 1995. After a 10-13 1996 season he was allowed to sign with Toronto to finish out the twilight of his career.
In 1997, Reggie Jefferson was coming off a career year, and competing for a batting title. Well, perhaps "competing" is a stretch. For much of the season, he was among the league leaders...but didn't have enough at-bats to qualify for the title. He wasn't playing regularly enough to get the at-bats he needed. In fact, at one point late in the season he was hit by a pitch that bounced in the dirt first. He didn't attempt to take his base, and the ump didn't seem to realize it hit him. There was always the assumption that Jefferson ignored the HBP because he need the at-bat more. As it happened, Jefferson ended up finishing 8th in the batting race that year, about 30 points behind Frank Thomas.
He also included these cards featuring Red Sox greats Cecil Fielder and Jeff Fassero. Wait...that's not right...
Another couple prospects that never really panned out. Trust me, people were excited about Veras and Asadoorian at one point.
People were also excited about this guy. For a long time. Love the way the Gold Label really shows it off. Kudos to Chris for finding a Nomar card I didn't have...that's not easy to do.
And he did it again! Topps Total was a fun brand. A nice clean design.
Chris was nice enough to point out that this card is a SP. Which is good, since there's no way I would have known otherwise. This trade was a big deal at the time. It's also a feature in Moneyball since Billy Beane tried to insert himself into the trade as a way to get Kevin Youkilis from the Sox. It didn't work.
Speaking of Youkilis, here he is on a card with a great design. Makes for a pretty impressive card. Unlike the Ortiz card, which looks like it was cut and pasted together. Literally. By a kindergartener.
Wally!
While Wells always had too much Yankees stink on him for my taste, always fun to add a Red Sox relic piece to the collection. Does the "Midsummer Swatches" insert name imply this might be a specific jersey? Let's see...
No, not a specific game. Just a regular old generic Padres game. Wait, what? Why would Upper Deck do that? I mean, obviously I know why. But...why?
And there you have it. Trust me when I tell you that this is a small sample of the pile of goodness sent my way. Every last card was very much appreciated.
Thanks Nachos Grande!
Glad you liked the cards! I wasn't exactly sure what to do with that Wells relic...Red Sox, Padres, or Yankees...could kind of go to a collector of any of those teams! In the end, the logo won out (which is kind of ironic seeing as how that's an Upper Deck card and now they can't use logos).
ReplyDeleteLots of cool cards there! The Dawson is probably my favorite.
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