Appreciations And Other Randomness

 

Everybody have a good Thanksgiving? I hope so. In the spirit of being thankful, today seemed like a good day for another post of random thank you's, thoughts and whatnot. 

 

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I'm going to start things off with a much-overdue thank you. Way back in May, I did a Time Travel Trade with the wonderful Mark Z. He included a bonus card with that trade, and it was fully my intent to properly showcase that act of generosity, I just kept putting it off until now. This Tim Wakefield was the last Red Sox card I needed from the 2006 base set. Thanks Mark!

 

 

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The day after Thanksgiving is when my family and I traditionally decorate for Christmas. I'll be putting up the tree today, and oddly enough that has inspired a future blog post for me. Stay tuned! 

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As much as I want Luis Tiant to get the necessary votes on the "Classic Era" ballot, I fear he'll once again fall short. I'm hoping Dick Allen finally gets in after falling a single vote short his last time up. Plus from what I've read, Negro League player/manager Vic Harris sounds like someone who should have been inducted a long time ago. I can't see the committee voting in more than two guys, so I fear Tiant will have to wait again. (Although, he's stated that if he didn't get elected while he lived, he didn't want to get in post-posthumously.) As for the main ballot, I usually do a post in January about that, and I've already begun doing my research.

 

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I'm also thankful for these bonus cards from Chris (formerly of The Collector blog). Since he abruptly closed the blog, I feel bad for not thanking him sooner for these awesome cards. Wherever you are, Chris, I hope you and your family are well.

 

 (Love that Varitek card!)

 

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The Red Sox have been heavily mentioned in a lot of big names, both for free agents and trade targets. After these past few years, that's encouraging, and I hope they get one big acquisition this season. Soto would obviously be the Christmas wish list player, but an ace or two would be just fine with me.

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One last thank you, this one for a TCDB member named Peter, who included a bonus 2024 Topps Red Sox need in our trade from earlier this year.

 

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Speaking of 2024 Topps, awhile back I mentioned in a post how I was trying to complete the set, but hadn't gotten around to putting up a want list. I got a lot of messages from people willing to help with that endeavor. As of today, I'm still 180 cards short from the set being completed, and it looks like I won't be finding any more packs at my local retail outlets, so if anybody has some extras to trade, here's what I have left to track down:

9, 33, 76, 85, 98, 102, 115, 122, 136, 141, 142, 143, 161, 162, 164, 166, 175, 180, 183, 185, 208, 221, 225, 227, 231, 237, 242, 245, 253, 259, 277, 281, 289, 290, 297, 303, 307, 308, 309, 310, 319, 321, 323, 326, 332, 333, 335, 338, 341, 345, 348, 349, 352, 355, 362, 366, 368, 379, 387, 390, 391, 393, 396, 404, 405, 411, 415, 417, 418, 420, 422, 425, 427, 434, 437, 438, 439, 447, 448, 450, 453, 454, 455, 456, 458, 459, 460, 467, 468, 469, 473, 475, 479, 480, 483, 486, 487, 489, 490, 491, 492, 494,     498, 501, 506, 510, 512, 515, 519, 521, 528, 530, 532, 534, 535, 538, 540, 543, 546, 548, 552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 565, 569, 570, 571, 578, 579, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 588, 589, 590, 591, 595, 596, 600, 602, 608, 609, 610, 611, 614, 616, 621, 624, 626, 628, 633, 635, 637, 638, 639, 640, 641, 643, 645, 651, 655, 657, 668, 669, 674, 675, 677, 684, 686, 688, 689, 690, 691, 692, 694, 697 (Whew, that was a lot to type out! Hope I didn't make any mistakes!)

 

It's mostly Series 2, which I haven't seen out in wild around here. 

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Going back to the lack of success from finding baseball cards at my local Wally World. It's been a struggle, and now in their wisdom the store by where I work has started putting there collectable cardboard product in locked cases. That's going to be a big nope from me, even if they do start putting baseball cards back out. I'm not looking to spend an extra half hour to track down an employee to unlock a case just so I can get a pack or two. Oddly enough, the Wal-Mart closest to my house hasn't done this yet, so I may start perusing there more often.

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I am hoping get lucky once at Wal-Mart and be able to nab a box of the Topps Holiday set. I like how they incorporated the neon design this year, making it the best holiday set since 2019's garland theme.

 

 

These are so much better than those holiday-themed parallels they throw in the base and update packs!

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Award season ended last week, and the big awards (MVP and Cy Young) were anticlimactic, weren't they?  It seems like those players had those awards locked up before September even started. I disagree with the ROY awards though. In the AL, I'm puzzled how Wilyer Abreu didn't at least make Top 3. He was a Gold Glover, among the leaders in most offensive categories, and finished with a higher WAR than Gil, Cowser, or Wells. In the NL, it was much tighter, but Jackson Merrill should have won. Kid skipped AAA to the big leagues, and was put in a position he had never played before (center field). I don't think he got enough credit for that. I don't vote, so those that did obviously thought otherwise!

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I must be getting forgetful in my old age, because I made a TCDB trade and never posted about it! It was just a single card for single card trade, but Richard (from Hamilton, NJ) helped me get the last 1982 Topps Red Sox card I needed!

 

Thanks Richard!

 

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I am officially challenging my fellow bloggers to Whamageddon - Essentially, starting December 1st, you see how long you can go without hearing the Wham version of "Last Christmas". Once you hear it, you're out and you put the tag #whamageddon on your blog. FYI - It's not a Christmas song! It's a sappy song about someone getting dumped on that particular holiday, and nothing in the lyrics evokes anything Christmasy. Rant over....

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One last thank you - to you, for reading this humble little blog. I appreciate the support and friendships you've brought to my little corner of the world!