A Couple Hits Off My Top 10 and More

A few things to show off today.

Up first is a quick and easy Yankees for Red Sox trade that brought me the gold parallel of Ellsbury  and my first Cream of the Crop Mini Refractor, this one of Matt Barnes, the top pitching prospect in Boston's system.  Both are from 2013 Bowman.

Next is a second package from the Beckett marketplace.  One card I ordered was out of stock, but the seller made up for it by refunding the money for that card, plus all of the shipping cost.  That is a good seller.

1.  1985 Donruss Charlie Mitchell.  This was on my Top 10 Most Wanted list as the last remaining Rated Rookie card I needed to have all the Red Sox from the golden period from 1985 to 1993 when that logo was used.

2.  1992 Topps Gold Carlos Quintana.  This was also on my Top 10 list previously.  I have ordered this card three times in the past and each time the Winners card was sent instead.

3.  1996 Metal Universe Platinum Edition Tom Gordon.  I have always liked Tom Gordon from his time in Boston.  He actually started the first game I ever saw, of course that was with Kansas City, but I also saw him get the save in a game against the Royals in his terrific 1998 season.  This card shows him in a Royals uniform but a Red Sox logo.  I still count it.  As long as the Red Sox team name is there, it is a Red Sox card.

4.  1996 Upper Deck Kevin Mitchell.  This is the third Kevin Mitchell card I have added in the last week, two for my Red Sox collection and one auto from this year's Archives.  I think that these were only available through the company, much like the previous year's update set.

5.  2001 Topps Archives Jackie Jensen.  I have very few cards of Jensen.  A shame because Jackie was a great player for Boston in the 1950's and won the AL MVP in 1958.  This is a reprint of the 1961 card which was issued when he returned from a short retirement due to fear of flying.  He retired for good after the 1961 season.

I love a good story.  This is an autograph card of Bob Montgomery, and though it does not specify that it is a Red Sox card, he only played for the Red Sox.  When batting helmets were mandated in 1971, players who previously did not wear one could elect not to wear one in the future.  Montgomery was the last player to bat without a batting helmet.  Montgomery was the backup catcher to Carlton Fisk and got some decent playing time due to frequent injuries to Fisk.

Two Card Mailday

It was a short mailday on Tuesday with two cards, both from Ebay wins.  

Up first is a 1996 Finest Refractor card of Kevin Mitchell.  Mitchell had a very short stint with the Red Sox and was dealt to the Reds at the trading deadline.  He had a decent average but did not play much and did not hit for much power either.  Still though, it is kind of cool to get Red Sox cards of the former NL MVP.

And next is a 2012 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph of Bill Lee.  This is my third autograph card of Spaceman.  He previously appeared in 2003 Topps Fan Favorites and 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game. 

Another Series Win Against the Rays

Boston has been on a bit of a roll lately and took two out of three from the Rays this week.  They were out-homered by the Rays nine to one, but managed to win anyway.

06/10:  Red Sox 10 (40-25)  Rays 8
This was a wild one.  Boston started out hot, scoring six runs in the first inning off of Alex Cobb who had pitched very well against Boston previously.  John Lackey though struggled.  He hit Matt Joyce with a pitch in the back at one point after Joyce had taken him deep once and the swung on a 3-0 count, which prompted a bench-clearing incident.  Unwritten rules, blah blah blah.  The Rays managed to tie the game in the 8th.  Then Boston took a two run lead in the ninth which Andrew Bailery promptly gave right back in the bottom of the inning.  Boston finally pushed two runs across in the 14th which won the game.  Franklin Morales got the win.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA:  4 for 7, double, 3 RBIs.

06/11:  Rays 8 Red Sox 3 (40-26)
Jon Lester's struggles continued as he walked seven and gave up three home runs.  Boston could not get the offense going in this one.  Jose De La Torre came in and pitched 3.1 innings after Lester was taken out, sparing the bullpen somewhat.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JOSE IGLESIAS:  2 for 4, run.

06/12:  Red Sox 2 (41-26) Rays 1
Alfredo Aceves returned from Pawtucket to make a spot start before being returned to the minors.  He pitched very well and Daniel Nava provided all of the offense with a two run home run.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

ALFREDO ACEVES:  6 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts.

A Card from the Vault and Other Pickups

I placed one of those barely serious bids on ebay a little while back on a lot of 10 redemptions from Topps Archives that could be traded in for foil-wrapped vintage cards.  I did not look too carefully at them or I may not have done it.  I did not realize you had to trade them in within a two week period.  Luckily there is a card shop nearby that participated in the promotion so Monday morning I went over there.  I was pretty disappointed that he was holding all of the foil-wrapped vintage cards for people who pulled the cards in his store, but he did let me trade one in. 

Well, after opening the package, I found that I got the exact type of card I would have been looking for in the first place.  I had one shot at getting something reasonable and BEHOLD:

1957 Topps Tom Brewer.  What are the odds?  I had one shot and I not only pulled a Red Sox card, but a card from 1957.  It does not matter that I could not redeem all of those cards.  This one card is well worth it.

I also bought the factory team set from 2012 while I was there.  I figured I needed to spend something while there.

I was pretty happy.

Some Random Singles from Beckett's Marketplace

Every once in awhile I like to take a little shopping trip through the Beckett Marketplace.  Typically I target one or two sellers with large inventories and pick out a bunch of random Red Sox cards.  The below are the results of one recent trip:

1.  2005 Diamond Kings Keith Foulke.  It is too bad that most people only remember Foulke struggling in 2005 and 2006.  Foulke was a massive part of the Red Sox incredible postseason in 2004 and could have easily won the ALCS or World Series MVP awards.  He was that good.

2.  2010 Topps Attax Mike Cameron.  This was previously on my Top Ten Most Wanted.  Cameron did not do much in Boston but I still like picking up cards anyway.

3.  1998 Bowman's Best Donnie Sadler.  I liked Sadler and wish he would have succeeded.  He had great speed and was a very good defensive player, but he did not hit at the Major League level.  

4.  1998 Fleer Tradition Donnie Sadler.

5.  1999 Private Stock Dennis Eckersley.  I need to go through and make a list of the Pacific card I still need.  This was one.

6.  1999 Private Stock PS-206 Dennis Eckersley.  As you will soon see, I picked up a ton of Eck cards in this package.

7.  2005 Bowman's Best Matt Van Der Bosch.  Another failed prospect.  This was on my Want List.

8.  1996 Ultra Gold Medallion Stan Belinda.  Belinda was a great player in 1995 but was largely unnoticed.

9.  1996 Stadium Club Members Only The 50 John Valentin.  I have been picking up a bunch of Valentin cards lately.  He had some great seasons for the Red Sox but was quickly forgotten.  Most of this was due to the fact that he immediately preceded Nomar Garciaparra.

10.  1993 Upper Deck Gold Hologram Carlos Quintana.  The Gold Hologram cards were from the factory sets.

11.  1993 Stadium Club Members Only Carlos Quintana.  I have mentioned it before, but I was a big fan of Quintana when I first started getting into baseball.

12.  1993 Stadium Club John Valentin.  What a great shot.  Stadium Club had some awesome photography.

13.  1993 Pinnacle John Valentin.

14.  1989 Score Dennis Boyd.  "Oil Can" is easily one of the greatest nicknames of all time.  Another great photo here.

15.  1984 Fleer Dennis Eckersley.  As I said before, I picked up a ton of Eck cards.

16.  1984 Donruss Dennis Eckersley.  Eck definitely had his own style when it came to his windup.

17.  1984 Donruss Rich Gedman.  Gedman was an underrated catcher in the 1980's.

18.  1984 Donruss Oil Can Boyd.  His rookie card.  I was missing a bunch of 1984 Donruss cards.

19.  1981 Topps Stickers Dennis Eckersley.

20.  1983 Donruss Dennis Eckersley.

21.  1982 Fleer Dennis Eckersley.

22.  1982 Donruss Dennis Eckersley.

23.  1981 Fleer Star Stickers Dennis Eckersley.

24.  1981 Donruss Dennis Eckersley.  See what I mean about the Eck cards?  I had some holes in my collection.

Another Fantastic Catch

Weston from Fantastic Catch responded to another one of my pack break posts to claim some Cardinals cards that I picked up.  I love trading with other bloggers.  Hopefully it will become more and more common.  

Anyway, below are the cards Weston sent, a couple of blue serial numbered parallels from 2011 and 2012 Topps Opening Day.  

Opening Day was one of the first cards of Adrian Gonzalez with the Red Sox.  It is photoshopped, but that's okay.  I love the photo on the Pedroia.

Thanks for another great trade Weston!

Red Sox Take 2 Out of 3 from Angels

Boston continued to play well, this time against the Angels at Fenway.  The first game was rained out so the teams played a double header on Saturday then finished on Sunday.

06/08 Game 1:  Angels 9 Red Sox 5 (37-25)
The game was close for a little while, but then Boston relievers could not find the strike zone leading to three bases-loaded walks that put the game out of reach.  Boston did rally in the bottom of the 9th, but they were down too fa to make a complete comeback.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

NO CARD YET

MIKE CARP:  3 for 5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, home run

06/08 Game 2:  Red Sox 7 (38-25) Angels 2

Clay Buchholz returned from a missed start his last time out to pitch well once again and remain undefeated.  He ended up leaving the game with a neck injury in the seventh inning but took the win anyway.  

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DAVID ORTIZ:  2 for 5, three RBIs, home run, double

06/09:  Red Sox 10 (39-25) Angels 5

Ryan Dempster pitched another good game and the Red Sox hit four home runs from Jarrod Saltalamacchia, David Ortiz and Mike Carp.  

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA:  2 for 4, 2 home runs, 4 RBIs.

1991 Topps #303 Mike Boddicker

In this series, I look at my first team set: 1991 Topps. This was the set I started my baseball card collection with.

I was kind of annoyed the other day.  I was browsing through stuff about the Red Sox and came across an article about the worst in-season trades the team ever made.  I can not even find the article anymore and it was written quite a while ago.  He listed the trade that the Red Sox made giving up Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling for Mike Boddicker pretty high on his list.  Now while it is true that Boston gave up two eventual All Stars in the deal for Boddicker, the writer dismissed Boddicker's contributions to the Red Sox entirely and basically said he was awful for two-plus years.  That is certainly not true.

Mike Boddicker was picked up during the 1988 season to be another veteran arm on the staff and he produced.  He was a former Cy Young contender, winning 20 games for the Orioles in 1984, leading the league in wins and ERA.  Boddicker went 7-3 with a 2.63 ERA in helping Boston reach the ALCS in 1988. In 1989 he went 15-11 as the number two starter, then in 1990 he went 17-8 with a 3.36 ERA.  Those are solid numbers.  Boddicker was a very effective number two starter to Roger Clemens for more than two years.  He also won the Gold Glove in 1990 for the Red Sox, making him the only Red Sox pitcher to win the award to date.  He then signed a free agent contract with the Royals after the season where he declined significantly.

Yes, Brady Anderson was a long-time good player for the Orioles, making three All Star teams, with his first occurring in 1992.  And yes Curt Schilling seems like a decent candidate for the Hall of Fame, although he did not even begin pitching well until a couple of teams later.  But Boddicker was certainly a solid pickup and really helped the team in his time there.  This is one of the best examples of a trading deadline deal.  Boston got significantly better in the short-term and Baltimore picked up two solid future players.

Random Awesome Photo: 1991 Score #109 Greg Harris

It does not look like much, I know.  But there is something pretty unique about this card.  Greg Harris was officially a right-handed pitcher.  He is pitching left-handed on this card.  Harris was ambidextrous and had his own glove made that would have allowed him to pitch from both sides of the mound in the same inning.  That glove is pictured in this photo.  Harris was able to pitch left-handed in one game after leaving the Red Sox and joining the Expos.  This was in his final major league game.

Red Sox With No Cards Pts. 5 and 6: Alex Cole and Milt Cuyler

I could only find this picture of either of these two outfielders so I elected to combine them both into one post.  Yes that play was as bad as it looks in this picture.

ALEX COLE
I always liked Alex Cole.  It was probably the goggles.  He also possessed a ton of speed, stealing more than 25 bases in four seasons.  He bounced around a lot before finally making his Major League debut with the Indians in 1990 but he had cards with the Cardinals and Padres despite never playing Major League games with either team.  He continued to bounce around for a couple of years before showing up in Boston in 1996.  He played in 24 games with Boston, hitting .222/.296/.319 with five stolen bases.  Unfortunately despite having cards with two teams he never played a Major League game with, he does not have any Red Sox cards, despite playing 24 games with them.  He does have a minor league card for Pawtucket.

MILT CUYLER
Cuyler was always a player from whom big things were expected.  He was a top prospect with the Tigers in the early 1990's.  In 1991 he looked like he would meet those expectations, but his numbers declined the next year and he never had that kind of season again.  Cuyler was released by the Tigers after the 1995 season and caught on with Boston.  He played 50 games for Boston with a .200/.299/.300 line with two home runs and seven stolen bases.  He did not even have a minor league card.

Alex Cole and Milt Cuyler were two very fast outfielders who were expected to be stars for their respective teams in the early 1990's.  Neither of them met their expectations and both found themselves in Boston in 1996.  However neither one were able to hold onto a job.  And neither appear in a Boston Red Sox uniform on any cards.

Part of My Varitek Collection

I have more cards of Jason Varitek than any other player.  That is due to being very focused on getting cards of him moreso than anyone else for several years in the mid 2000's.  I have a lot of 1/1s, patches, and various other items.  The above scan is the rainbow of Varitek jersey cards available in 2004 Leaf Certified Materials.  There were three or four different black versions, but that is the only one I have.  There is also the emerald, gold, blue, white, and red versions in the scan.

Red Sox Win 2 Against Rangers

The month of June is expected to be a make or break stretch for the Red Sox.  They finished up a three game set against the Yankees over the weekend and then the Rangers came to town.  Boston had been having issues with the Rangers for awhile.

06/04:  Red Sox 17 (36-23) Rangers 5
What a way to start a series.  Boston's offense exploded for 17 runs, scoring in every inning until the eighth when former Red Sox #1 pick David Murphy came in from the outfield to pitch for the Rangers and actually managed to hold the team scoreless for an inning.  The game featured home runs from Stephen Drew, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Mike Carp, and Jackie Bradley Jr.'s first career home run.  Lost in all of the offense was a strong game from Ryan Dempster against his old team.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

STEPHEN DREW:  4 for 5, home run, 2 doubles, 3 runs, 2 RBI

06/05:  Rangers 3 Red Sox 2 (36-24)

It was inevitable that the game after a massive offensive outburst that they would struggle to score.  Alexi Ogando seems to have Boston's number.  Craig Breslow took the loss.  John Lackey pitched very well in the loss as his rejuvenation continues.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DUSTIN PEDROIA:  1 for 3, home run, walk

06/06:  Red Sox 6 (37-24) Rangers 3
David Ortiz walked off with a three run home run in the bottom of the ninth after Mike Napoli tied the game with a bases-loaded groundout in the seventh.  Andrew Bailey got the win but Jon Lester pitched reasonably well.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JACOBY ELLSBURY:  4 for 5, 2 runs, 2 doubles

I Could Not Wait Any Longer...

I am waiting on cards from a group break with Nachos Grande, but after seeing boxes in Wal-Mart I really wanted to try my luck at it.  I figured there would still be plenty of cards available in that group break, that one little blaster would not completely mess things up.  So I bought one.

1.  Mike Greenwell SP.  Boy I have been having some pretty decent luck with Red Sox cards in packs.  It seems like every blaster has one Red Sox insert or parallel or short print.  This time I got the short-printed Mike Greenwell card.  Greenwell was a favorite player for several years in the early 1990's.  He was also originally going to have an autograph in the Fan Favorites set from 2003, but did not.  He has one this year though and I definitely need to find one.

2.  Brock Holt.  This is the only card of a new acquisition in this year's set.  No Shane Victorino.  No Mike Napoli.  No Ryan Dempster.  No Stephen Drew.  Brock Holt, who will likely never actually play for Boston.  Weird.  Plus, it's clearly shopped.

3.  Jon Lester.  Probably the same picture from last year's Heritage set.

4.  Jacoby Ellsbury.  After stealing five bases in one game, Ells promptly got hurt and has not played since.  

These are all tradebait for Red Sox inserts/parallels/whathaveyou, preferably from this set or my wantlist, but will consider anything.  I have been very lucky with Autographs/Relics this year as well.  The Kevin Mitchell is more proof of that.  Of course Mitchell played for Boston very briefly, but not enough to get a Fan Favorites auto.  I would love to turn this into one of the Red Sox autos from this set, preferably Boyd, but would consider anyone.

O-Cab!

I just got one card in the mail today.  This is the 2005 World Champions Relics card of Orlando Cabrera.  I had the jersey version on my wantlist because I recently bought it on Ebay but the idiot seller never sent it to me and never responded to any emails.  He stiffed another person too.  Anyway, this is the bat version but I will count it towards the card on my list.  If I see the jersey I will get it, but I won't worry too much about it.

I never understood why Boston did not re-sign Orlando Cabrera at the end of the year.  He had a decent half-season with them, seemed to be able to handle the pressure of filling Nomar's shoes and playing for Boston quite well and seemed to get along very well with David Ortiz, and he always looked like he was having a great time.  But for some reason Boston had their hearts set on Edgar Renteria.  I liked that signing at the time, but it did not work out well.  They should have held on to Orlando Cabrera.

Forgotten Stars Pt. 2: Dutch Leonard

When a team that has as long a history as the Red Sox it is natural to have players who have been largely forgotten.  These are some players who simply do not get mentioned anymore or are largely forgotten.

Quick trivia question.  Who holds the record for the best single-season ERA?  It is not Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson or Cy Young or Walter Johnson.  It is Dutch Leonard who pitched to a 0.96 ERA in 1914 for the Red Sox.  Yes, you read that correctly.  0.96.  That is insane.

Leonard pitched for the Red Sox from 1913 to 1918.  His career ERA with the Red Sox was 2.13.  That is simply incredible.  1914 was his best season as he went 19-5 and struck out 176 in 224.1 innings.  WHIP was not a statistic at the time but his was an outstanding 0.886.  

Leonard was part of an amazing pitching staff that included the likes of Babe Ruth, Carl Mays, Rube Foster, and Ernie Shore.  It was an incredible pitching staff and Leonard had some of the biggest success.  

Leonard was part of the big Boston fire sale to the Yankees as he was sent to New York along with Duffy Lewis and Shore for a bunch of spare parts.  But Leonard never played for the Yankees, being sold to the Tigers a few months later after holding out.  Leonard finished his career with the Tigers but never had quite the success he did in Boston.

Pedroia Mailday

Every once in awhile, I get a trade worked out that absolutely thrills me.  This is one of those times.

This is a 2012 Topps Gold World Series Champion Pin.  There are only 736 of these and until this trade I had never seen one.  I gave up a few Bryce Harper base cards for this great Dustin Pedroia card.  Cards that had absolutely no place in my collection.  This is a great-looking card.

Red Sox Beat Yankees 2 Games to 1

It was a three-game weekend series against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  Boston lined up their pitching pretty well with Jon Lester, Felix Doubront, and Clay Buchholz.

05/31:  Yankees 4 Red Sox 1 (33-23)
Jon Lester did not have much control and got hit hard once again.  C.C. Sabathia pitched well for the first time in a couple of games and Boston could not come through in the ninth inning against Mariano Rivera.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DUSTIN PEDROIA:  3 for 4, run, 2 doubles.

06/01:  Red Sox 11 (34-23) Yankees 1
Felix Doubront just owns the Yankees.  Coupled with a massive offensive performance featuring a grand slam from Mike Napoli, a three run home run from Daniel Nava, and a solo shot from Stephen Drew, the Red Sox rolled to an easy victory.  Jackie Bradley Jr. came through with three hits including two doubles as well.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

MIKE NAPOLI:  3 for 5, grand slam, 5 RBIs.

06/02:  Red Sox 3 (35-23) Yankees 0
In a rain-shortened five-and-a-half inning game, Clay Buchholz got credit for a complete-game shutout, allowing only two hits.  Jose Iglesias and David Ortiz both homered for the Red Sox in a game that featured three rain delays before finally being called.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  5 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk, Win

A Trade with Another Brad

I recently made a trade with Brad, who runs Brad's Blog.  My name is also Brad.  I just thought I would throw that out there.  Anyway, he showed off some cards he got in packs and I jumped at a couple of them.

The results of the trade are below:

1.  2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Andrew Bailey.  This was a throw-in card, but it was big for me.  It was on my want list and was the last one I needed from last year's A&G set.

2.  2012 Topps Chrome Dynamic Die Cuts Dustin Pedroia.  I have been going nuts over these die-cut cards that have appeared frequently in Topps brands the last couple of years or so.  This is another very nice one.

3.  2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Emerald Mike Lowell.  This is the card that started the whole thing.

4.  2013 Bowman Chrome Prospects William Cuevas.

5.  2012 Topps Archives Gold Clay Buchholz.  The next four cards were all on my want list, so they were all very important.  I need just a few more of these gold cards to have the team set.

6.  2012 Topps Archives Gold Andrew Bailey.

7.  2012 Topps Archvies Gold Adrian Gonzalez.

8.  2012 Topps Archives Gold Jon Lester.

9.  2012 Topps Chrome Sepia Refractor Mike Aviles.  Brad compiled the set of these and had some duplicates.  I really like the action shot on the Aviles so I am very happy to add this as my first Sepia refractor from last year.

Thanks Brad!  You should get your cards very soon.

A couple of Mailday Packages

I actually received three packages today, but the other one was a trade with another blogger, and those deserve their own post.

Up first is a trade for a few Pirates inserts from this year.

1.  2000 Skybox Dominion John Valentin.  I am always a little surprised when I find cards from the late 1990's/early 2000's that I do not have.  That time period represented one of my heaviest collecting periods.  It is even stranger when it is a base card of a player like Valentin who I collected pretty hardcore.

2.  1993 Donruss Diamond Kings Roger Clemens.  I have mentioned before that I love the Diamond Kings, whether they were subsets in the main set, inserts, or the main set themselves.  This is one of the few I still needed and is the highlight from this package.

3.  2000 Pacific Ruby Trot Nixon.  Ah the ubiquitous Pacific parallels.  This trader did not even know this was a parallel because he never mentioned it.  It is not a rare parallel, I think these were pretty common.

4.  2000 Victory John Valentin.  Another one, really?

Next is a trade that I made for some random Topps inserts.

5.  2013 Topps The Greats Ted Williams.  I wonder how rare these were.  I never pulled one from a pack.  But Ted Williams is definitely a favorite.

6.  2012 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor Carl Crawford.  I love this action shot.  It's too bad Red Sox fans never got to see the true Carl Crawford in his time with Boston.  One of my big disappointments as a fan.

Milestones Trade Package

I received one package in the mail yesterday encompassing a trade that I made for a large lot of 2013 Gypsy Queen base, some minis, and a Harmon Killebrew card from 2003 Flair Greats.  

1.  2007 Topps Moments and Milestones Curt Schilling.  It seems like I have been a getting a number of Moments and Milestones cards lately.  That was the major thing I got in this package.

2.  2007 Topps Moments and Milestones Black Roger Clemens.

3.  2007 Topps Moments and Milestones Roger Clemens.

4.  2007 Topps Moments and Milestones Roger Clemens.  I had no idea there were multiple different Clemens cards in this set, on top of all the variations with the strikeout numbers.  This set is a nightmare for player collectors.

5.  2007 Topps Moments and Milestones Roger Clemens.

6.  2008 Upper Deck X Materials Craig Hansen.  Hansen was a big bust after being drafted in the first round of the 2006 draft.  He was traded to Pittsburgh as part of the Jason Bay-Manny Ramirez trade later in 2008.  This is my second relic card of him.

7.  2008 UD Ballpark Collection Dual Materials Manny Ramirez/Johnny Damon.  This card bothers me a bit.  I was a little angry when I saw it, thinking that both players would be with the Red Sox on the card, but realized that I knew it was a 2008 card when I made the deal so any problem is my fault.  This is a 2008 card, Damon's third season with the Yankees.  Upper Deck couldn't find a picture of him with the Yankees? I am annoyed because he is pictured in a Red Sox uniform, but the card has a Yankees logo.  I have one with Josh Beckett pictured in a Marlins uniform too and the same issue applies.  2008 was his third year with Boston.