I Now Know ARP

The blog post title "Want a Stack of Cards from Your Favorite Team?" got my attention.  The thing was, I was reading it a couple of days after it was posted.  Still, I clicked in.  Adam of ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession fame had recently purchased a large collection and was giving away team lots to make room for sorting.  Much to my surprise the Red Sox were not spoken for yet.  So I made my claim.  The box arrived last week and felt like a brick, packed corner to corner to corner with cards.  Here's a picture of the stack.

That big card is a 1998 Zenith Jumbo of Nomar Garciaparra.  There were some chips with Red Sox players on them, as you can see on the top.  The Red Sox cup was not in the package.  It's just something I often have filled with a beverage and sitting next to me.  As for the big stack in the middle, here's just a sample of what was in there.

The three best players in Red Sox history were each represented.  Probably my favorite card of the whole package is the 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites of Carl Yastrzemski.  Made in the likeness of his original rookie card, it now has a special place in my Yaz PC.

Nomar Garciaparra had the most cards in the lot, including plenty of 90's bling.  Here are my favorite 9.  As mainly a flagship set collector back then, I didn't have any of these yet in my Red Sox collection.

There were also a bunch of Roger Clemens cards.  I especially like the 1986 O-Pee-Chee.  I have almost no O-Pee-Chee cards in my collection.  This is the era of Roger that I like to remember.

Manny Ramirez probably had the second most cards in the stack.  Again, nothing here that I had yet!

Boston's best two pitchers from the magical 2004 season also had some cards.

And of course good old Wade Boggs was there.  Most of his were oddball cards that I didn't have yet.  The only non-Red Sox card in the package was the 1993 O-Pee-Chee Yankees card in the upper right.  He's in a Red Sox uniform though, so I didn't catch it until it was already scanned.  Good thing my new years collecting resolution wasn't "no Yankees in any blog posts"!

Jim Rice was one of the best players from my childhood.  I didn't have very many of the oddballs that were included.  The Jason Varitek 2000 Pacific Prizm in the lower right is as shiny as they come.

And here are a couple of guys who only showed up once, but are Red Sox favorites of mine from years long gone.

Thanks so much, Adam!  I'm glad I could "help".

Oh, by the way, the Mariners, Indians, and Marlins are still not claimed!