One of the main things that has gotten me back into collecting is the amount of great baseball blogs out there. One of the best is Cardboard Junkie written by Dayf. I read one of his posts where we listed off the Target Heritage minis that he needed. I happened to have the last two that he needed sitting right in front of me from a blaster that I had just purchased, so I contacted him and soon was completing my first Internet trade. I sent off the cards pictured here in Dayf's post and here’s just some of the cards that he sent back:
Mike Piazza – 2008 Heritage. I bought one blaster of Heritage at Target and 7 or 8 loose packs one night at a Cracker Barrel (which I didn’t even know carried baseball cards) and that was the extent of my Heritage purchases. I didn’t pull a Piazza myself so this was a welcome addition to my Piazza collection. On a side note, the Heritage blaster that I purchased was full of smashed up cards. So, I sent the blaster back and got one back from Topps that deserves a blog post of its own.
Mike Piazza – 2007 Topps Red Back. I didn’t buy a whole lot of 2007 Topps. In fact, I don’t even think that I have the regular version of this card. Topps can definitely get out of hand with the parallel sets, but they took that to a whole new level with 2009’s black Walmart and retro Target parallel sets.
David Ortiz – 2008 Allen & Ginter. Big Papi is my current favorite player on the Red Sox. He was a favorite late round pick of mine in fantasy baseball drafts when he was with the Twins. I told all of the Sox fans that I knew that the signings of Ortiz and Billy Mueller would pay dividends for the Sox if they could remain healthy. I had no clue that Ortiz would become the hitter he is today under the tutelage of “Papa Jack.” The low risk, high rewards type of signing has become the calling card of Theo Epstein and combined with an amazing ability to scout and develop talent is why the Sox have become the huge success they are at the moment.
Manny Ramirez – 2007 Bowman Heritage. While it was great seeing Manny destroy baseballs in a Sox uni, the antics eventually got to be too much. The stunts that he pulled to get the Red Sox to trade him and not exercise his option years took away all of his leverage when trying to find a new contract. It’ll be interesting to see how he behaves this season in LA. He skipped the part of Spring Training he dislikes the most and has already had one “injury” pop up. There’s no reason to believe that this tiger will change his stripes.
Jonathan Papelbon – 2008 Goudey. Papelbon is proof that you can be a character and be goofy while still being professional. I could care less about his dancing or any of that stuff as long as he continues to stare down batters like Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn and blow the heater by them. I can understand why he wants to be the best paid reliever of all time though, the poor guy can’t afford a chew toy for his dog. The little mutt has supposedly destroyed two historic baseball including the one used to record the final out of the 2007 World Series.
J.D. Drew – 2007 Heritage. I really wanted Drew to prove everyone wrong when he came to the Red Sox. His first season was a disaster until the last couple of months. His huge home run in the playoffs bought him some good will with the fans and since he was dealing with family problems in 2007, there was hope things would get better in 2008. While his numbers were improved in 2008, the injury bug started to show its ugly head again and Drew was a non-factor when it came playoff time. The Sox didn’t have a good bench in 2008 and they suffered for it in the playoffs. Injuries are already a problem for Drew in 2009 and it remains to be seen whether this once hobby darling will ever fulfill his potential.
Kevin Youkilis – 2007 Fleer. 2008 was a breakthrough season for Youkilis. It was the first time he had been able to perform well for an entire season and it got him 3rd place in MVP voting. As good as Youkilis has been with the bat, he’s even better with the glove. He set a record for consecutive errorless games at first base after moving there from the hot corner when the team acquired Mike Lowell. Youk makes up part of a young core of players that should keep the Sox in contention for at least the next 5 years.
This is just a sample of that cards that I got. It was a great trade that added some cards to my collection from years when I wasn’t buying too much. Thanks dayf, anytime you get a pile of Sox together I’ll gladly search for some Chippers and Braves to send your way.
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