Blog Trade

It had been awhile since I had a trade through my blog, other than the Zippy Zappings of course.  But then, Michael contacted me and offered to send me some Red Sox cards.  I was not expecting a huge brick of cards.  But I definitely am not complaining.  There was a pretty good haul of cards I needed too:

1.  Michael Bowden.  This is probably the biggest "hit" of the package, but that is not the biggest concern of mine.  What I like is that Bowden is not super huge in my collection, despite having been a big prospect at one time.  Bowden was traded to the Cubs for Marlon Byrd in 2012, a player who has no Red Sox cards.

2.  Carl Crawford.  I had high hopes for Crawford, I really did.  I always enjoyed him with the Rays, and he is notable because he was a Nebraska quarterback recruit at one point.  Unfortunately, his time in Boston was less than impressive.  A lot of the guys I really wanted Boston to sign did not work out: Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, Crawford, Pablo Sandoval...

3.  David Ortiz. 

4.  Daisuke Matsuzaka.  A couple of players dominate this package.  One is Matsuzaka who had an inordinate number of cards for his performance in the Major Leagues.  His first two seasons were good, but he struggled after that.

5-9.  Kevin Youkilis.  The other is Youkilis, who was one of my favorite players when he was with the team.  I am not sure how there were so many cards I did not have.

10-13.  Kevin Youkilis.

14-15.  Daisuke Matsuzaka. 

16.  Pedro Martinez. 

17-18.  Hideki Okajima.  Okajima was surprisingly good for a couple of seasons.  I do not think Boston realized quite what they were getting when he signed, but he was an extremely valuable member of the bullpen for about four seasons.  He was even an All Star in 2007. 

19.  Hideki Okajima.  Unfortunately, I realized after I scanned these cards, that I already had this one, it was mis-labelled in my collection list.

20.  Manny Ramirez.  I think I have complained about the Documentary set before.  The cards each highlight one game for the team, but the photos are not necessarily representative of the best player for the game, or the game itself.  There were about 10 or so pictures that were just re-used over and over and over again.  It was an interesting idea, but really bad execution.

21.  Johnny Damon.  A wantlist hit.  This is pre-Caveman Johnny Damon. 

22.  Kevin Youkilis.

23.  Mo Vaughn.  I swear I already had this card, but it is not on my collection list, and I have not been able to find it in my actual collection either. 

24.  Tomokazu Ohka.  This is one of those rare foil cards from MLB Showdown.  I do not have a lot of these because they were often pricey.  I liked Ohka and wished Boston had given him more of a chance before trading him.

25.  Dwight Evans.  This is the error version of this card.  Apparently, Topps forgot to put a diamond next to the italicized games-played in 1982 to show that he tied for the league lead.  I had the corrected version which had the diamond.  Not the most exciting error in the world.

26.  Josh Reddick.  I remember this game.  Reddick had singled to walk off a Red Sox win off of Mariano Rivera and the Yankees.  I remember thinking Reddick would become a pretty good player for the Red Sox.  Then he was traded to the A's for Andrew Bailey, a deal that did not work out for Boston.

27.  Nomar Garciaparra. 

28.  Jose Canseco.  I remember my dad looking at the paper one Sunday morning and asking me if Jose Canseco was a good player (he wasn't much of a baseball fan, college football is his sport).  I said he was really good a few years ago and asked why.  He told me because the Red Sox had traded for him.  My young mind was blown.

29-31.  Daisuke Matsuzaka.  More Dice-K cards.  I particularly like the Stadium Club card.  Those are not easy to find these days and I still need a lot of them.

Thanks for the trade Michael!  Your cards will be shipped very soon.  I apologize for the delay.