Boston Globe Oddballs

One of the sets I am most interested in tracking down is the Boston Globe cards from the early 1980's.  Those cards mostly covered the 1950's and 1960's and included most of the players that spent time with the Red Sox and photography from the Boston Globe.  Unfortunately, they can be pretty difficult to find.  Recently, a bunch showed up on Ebay and included a couple that I particularly wanted.

1.  Pumpsie Green.  The first black player in Red Sox history is a player that I like to pick up whenever possible.  Add to that an interesting photo, which is pretty rare, and this is a card that I had to add.

2.  Elston Howard.  Yes, the great Yankees catcher spent the last season-and-a-half of his career with the Red Sox.  This was probably the card I most wanted from this set because of the amazing action shot.  Just an amazing photo.

3.  Dick Schofield.  We go from a terrific action shot to a bizarre profile shot.  "Ducky" Schofield spent two seasons toward the end of his career with Boston, doing his usual super utility work.  He was not much of a hitter, but he was versatile and that kept him employed.

4.  George Scott.  One of my favorite players who I never actually got to see play.  Like Green, I add George Scott cards whenever I possibly can.  I could have done without the splayed legs shot here though.

Baseball Card Spotlight: Food Issues

In the last couple of decades, food issues have been decreasing dramatically. There was a time when you could get baseball cards in virtually any product, from magazines to frozen pizzas to pop to cereal to dessert cakes, baseball cards were everywhere. Unfortunately, that time has passed for the most part.  

Also unfortunately, I was never really all that much into baseball cards at the time that you could find them virtually anywhere. I do remember getting some cards from Tombstone pizzas and other places, but for the most part, I missed out on it. 

However, for a couple of years in the early 2000's, food issues were back. These five cards in the above scan are the only Red Sox I remember getting as food issues. All of these were easier to pick up due to working at Target at the time. 

2001 TOPPS POST PEDRO MARTINEZ 

Two cards came in a box of Post cereal brands. Luckily, one of them could be seen in a cutout on the front of the box. So, I knew exactly which box of Honey Grahams to get to get my Pedro Martinez card. The other card was the player who stole the AL MVP from Pedro in 1999: Texas's Ivan Rodriguez. 

2001 TOPPS CRACKER JACK PEDRO MARTINEZ 

When I noticed that baseball cards could be found in Cracker Jack packages, I decided to try them out. Well, it's a good thing that I found out that I liked the caramel popcorn and peanuts because it was several packages before I finally found this Pedro Martinez card. I don't remember who else I went through, nor do I know where the hell the rest of my cards went. 

2002 UPPER DECK TWIZZLERS NOMAR GARCIAPARRA (2) 

You could see these cards somewhat through the packages of Twizzlers. So I went through packages to find the two that had these two different versions of Nomar Garciaparra cards. Each package only had one card. 

2002 TOPPS CRACKER JACK PEDRO MARTINEZ 

I think I found this in only the second or third package I opened. So, I lucked out this time. I don't know of any other food issues out there at this time. I hope one day they make it back, because it's such a good feeling to open up a food item and find a Red Sox card staring at me.