A Dual Relic and a Vintage Trade

Let's dive right in.

I got my Ebay Bucks certificate and used it on two cards to go toward my Jason Varitek collection, which now stands at 898 cards.  The first one came in now:

The nice thing about this one is that it also features Kevin Youkilis on it.  At one point, I considered starting a new mini player collection of Youkilis.  This was back when Varitek started declining sharply.  Ultimately my decision at that time was to just remove the focus on an individual player and reassert my team collection.  But I have always liked Youkilis.  It is a shame his time with the Red Sox ended the way it did.

The second package of the day came from Eric, a Red Sox fan from South Dakota (not all that far from me), who agreed to send me a few vintage Red Sox cards for some Red Sox doubles I have:

1.  1940 Play Ball Jim Bagby.  This card is glorious.  It is a 1940 Play Ball that has been through the wringer.  Bagby had a decent rookie season in 1938 when he was 15-11 with a 4.21 ERA, but he was not able to build on that until being traded to the Indians in a deal that brought Joe Dobson to Boston.  That one worked out pretty well for the Red Sox.  Bagby did return to Boston in 1946.

2.  1956 Topps Ike Delock.  The trade brought me two 1956 Topps cards, just my second and third.  Delock was a pretty decent pitcher in the 1950's that spent a lot of time in the bullpen.  He was 83-72 with a 4.01 ERA over eleven seasons with the Red Sox.  His best season was 1959 when he was 11-6 with a 2.95 ERA.

3.  1956 Topps Milt Bolling.  Bolling was part of the vaunted "youth movement" then-manager Lou Boudreau was pushing in the early 1950's.  Unfortunately, the infielder never developed into anything more than a good fielding shortstop who could not hit.  He hit .247/.324/.356 with 15 home runs and 75 RBIs over six seasons with the Red Sox.

Thanks for the trade, Eric!  Hope to do some more soon.