A few weeks ago, Shane from the great blog, Shoebox Legends contacted me and proposed an AL East rivals trade. Since I am a Yankee fan, the overwhelming majority of the Red Sox in my possession are certainly fair game, so I agreed readily. The other day an envelope arrived from Shane. Here's the goods.
A trio of Bowman Heritage rookies that I didn't already have start things off. For a while I had the Hughes and Chamberlain on a want list, but I really only looked for them half-heartedly. Once they both left NY, they really got put on the back burner, but it is nice to finally have these cards that I had on one of my official lists a few years back. The last one is Kei Igawa. I try my best to forget guys like him(Hideki Irabu anyone...). The only card that really stands out in my mind that I have is one that was given out at the National one year.
Next up, another Hughes and another Chamberlain. Very nice additions. I really like that Fleer Tradition Banner Season design, and this is the first Yankee that I have.
A little Mo and an appearance from the Captain make me happy. This Ultra Rising Stars appeared long after I had stopped collecting that product. The design reminds me of something from the late '90's.
I also like the Topps Turkey Red inserts, but until this arrived, I had no idea that there were refractor parallels of them as well.
I'm probably one of the few Yankee collectors that miss Chien-Ming Wang. I like to remember the few seasons that he was pretty dominant and came up just shy of being a 20 game winner, before injuries derailed his career. Shane's envelope didn't just focus on the more modern day players though.
These two from the '70's are right up my alley. I wish Topps would create a design similar to this for either traded or season highlight cards. I love the 'ripped from the headlines' feel.
There were also a few cards of Yankees legends thrown in for good measure! The Mantle came from a retail 'cereal box' configuration(I think) and is a shiny refractor, though it's tough to tell from the scan. The 2 GQ's are framed parallels, as is the Ruth Masterpieces. I particularly love the Action Packed Gehrig. All in all a great selection of cards that will now have a home in friendly territory.
A huge thanks Shane! You may not have thought that there was anything fantastic in here, but I would disagree. I have a large stack of BoSox to send your way, I just need to check them against your Zistle list. I'm open to taking cards of your AL East rivals anytime!
