Repack Haiku #266 (Mike MacFarlane)

Thirteen year career

Spent mainly with the Royals

Stints with Sox and A's

 

1989 Topps
#479 Mike MacFarlane (RC)

 

I forgot he spent one year in Boston (1995) catching Tim Wakefield's knuckleballs. This is one of 1989 Topps underappreciated photos.

The Golden Sox Project (Chris Sale League Leaders)

Two weeks ago, I showed off some Red Sox cards that Greg (Night Owl Cards) sent along for his contribution to a Time Travel Trading trade. I immediately claimed the lot, and this card was the key reason why. Chris Sale's League Leaders card becomes the 11th addition to my Golden Sox project.

 

 

For whatever reason, the back of Sale's card lists the 2017 AL ERA leaders, a stat Chris Sale did not lead in that year. He did come in second though to Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber. He did however lead the league in innings pitched and strikeouts, and was the runner up to the AL Cy Young Award.

The Golden Sox Project page has been updated - 11 cards down, 20 to go! Thanks Greg!

Ranking Rod's Relinquished Red Sox Reproductions

Back in May, Rod (Padrographs) sold off team lots of cards for a quarter/card. I figured that was a worthwhile price to add some Red Sox additions to my collection.  The lot contained 43 cards, 22 of them being Rod's custom cards. I'm going to show off the card in two posts, starting with the customs Rod has made. 

Rather than show off every card individually, I've picked a Top10 of noteworthy favorites:

10. Charlie Baker

 

I'm not a politics guy, so I'm not quite sure what I'll end up doing with this one. It's autographed though, which is pretty cool.

 

9. Buddy Hunter

 

Well, first off, he just has a great name. The only picture of him you'll see on a commercially issued set is from the 1972-73 Venezuelan Winter League Stickers set.

 

8. Gary Waslewski

 

His claim to fame is getting traded from the Red Sox to the Cardinals for veteran infielder Dick Schofield.

 

7. Duane Wilson

 

I suspect an unfortunate injury cut short his career. He made two starts. In his first, he allowed 0 ER over 6 IP. The second start saw him lasting only 1/3 of an inning (4 ER).

 

6.  Rollie Sheldon

 

What a way to start a career! In each of his first two seasons, he won a World Series ring with the Yankees, without even pitching in the postseason!

 

5.  Carmen Fanzone

 

Fanzone started out with the Red Sox in 1970 before moving on to a few years with the Cubs. Two of his 3 Topps cards mention his talent playing the trumpet!

 

4.  Brian Denman

 

His hometown is listed as Buffalo, NY. Shout out to a fellow Western New Yorker!

 

3. John Lickert

 

Here we have the Red Sox equivalent to "Moonlight" Graham!  On September 19. 1981, Lickert stepped onto the field at Fenway to catch the 9th inning. Four batters later the game was over and so was Lickert's Major League career. No at-bats, just that one brief moment on the field.

2. Chuck Hartenstein

 

The Red Sox were the last of three teams Hartenstein played for in 1970. That would have been the end of his time in the Majors until 7 years later when he joined the expansion Toronto Blue Jays. (His 1977 Topps card is particularly groovy, man!)

 

1. Jim Landis

 

 

The most prominent player from the group. With the White Sox, he was a 2x All-Star who won 5 consecutive Gold Gloves. He finished his career in 1967 playing 5 games for Boston.

 

Thanks for the cards, Rod!

Repack Haiku #265 (Frank Seminara)

This Ivy League grad

Went from fastballs to finance

High ranked advisor

 

1990 Line Drive AA
#618 Frank Seminara

Source: Italian Americans In Baseball (A fantastic web site too - worth checking out!)

 

Blog Trade Recap: Cards From Baseball Cards Come To Life!

It's safe to say I've done more trades with Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life!) than anyone else. This is a rare trade that isn't within the scope of my Time Travel Trading Project. Back in June, Bo showed off some cards he won at an auction. He ended up with a lot of doubles, especially from the 1992 Fleer Roger Clemens Career Highlights insert set.

 

 

Roger was my favorite player growing up, so of course I would be interested in completing this set. This lot pushes me over the 50% mark, so I've added it to my So Close! page. The Greenwell is a 1994 Tombstone pizza food issue. It's the first one from that set I've seen, and Gator is the lone Red Sox player in the set. 

Favorite Card: Can't go wrong with any of them really. I'm picking the third Clemens on the bottom row, only because I knew I had seen the photo before. I initially thought it was "stolen" from Topps' 1987 All-Star card, but after going through my collection via the TCDB, I found Fleer had used it earlier in one of their box sets:

1989 Fleer SuperStars
#9 Roger Clemens

Thanks for the trade, Bo!

Trapped In Time: Remnants Of The 20th Trade

 

If you read the latest Time Travel Trading update, you'll know that I found a trade partner for the Zorro card! Don Mueller however didn't get any bites, so he gets retired and added to my personal collection. 

Today's remnant isn't the most exciting card, but may be on your want list if your working on this set, or one of those player collectors that collects cards if they just even mention your guy's name:

 

Trade #20 - Chris (The Collector)
Traded 07/06/18: 1964 Topps #186 Roman Mejias, 1976-77 Topps (hockey) #129 Jacques Lemaire, 1981-82 Topps (basketball) #14 Moses Malone, 2017 Bowman #9 Carlos Correa, 2018 Topps Opening Day - Team Traditions and Celebrations #TTC-SC "Sweet Caroline"

Received 07/09/18:

• 2012 Topps #396 Yoenis Cespedes (RC) (See Trade #25)
• 1993-94 Fleer (basketball) #224 Michael Jordan (LL) (See Trade #29)
• 1986 Sportflics #64 Bert Blyleven/Jerry Koosman/John Denny (See Trade #24)
• 1986 Sportflics #122 John Tudor (See Trade #40)
• 1982 Donruss #NNO Checklist 545-653
• 1982 Fleer #660 Specials Checklist (See Trade #23)
• 1980 Topps #157 Willie Wilson (See Trade #166)
• 1977 Topps (football) #206 Cleveland Browns (CL) (See Trade #29)
• 1977 Topps (football) #269 Archie Griffin (RC) (See Trade #29)
• 1974 Topps #17 Doug Bird (RC) (See Trade #24)
• 1958 Topps #371 Marty Keough (RC) (See Trade #32)

 

Can I say how much I miss writing the little stories for each Time Travel trade? Looking back at this one, I was incredibly proud of the ones I did. Probably some of my best writing, at least from a creative standpoint. I guess the writer's block came at a good time though. The way this project has grown since then, it would be way too much extra work. Still, I miss it and I tell myself that if inspiration ever struck, maybe an occasional story or two may show up some day. It hasn't happened yet, but who knows?

Anyway, back to the card. This was my second trade with Chris (The Collector), and as you can see, the cards he sent did quite well, generating 7 new trades! Sadly, this lowly checklist remains unwanted:

If you're working on the 1982 Donruss set, the checklists are considered part of the set despite being unnumbered. If you're a high-level player collector, a lot of great names show up here (Shooty Babitt!). Ten Hall of Famers are listed on this checklist, including Cal Ripken Jr's rookie card.

The checklist is on the chopping block! Trade for it now or it gets retired!

Repack Haiku #264 (Rich Ireland)

Threw three no-hitters

His senior year of high school

Lasted just two years

 

1993 Topps #767 Rich Ireland (DP)

His pro career was over by 1993, having appeared in just 18 Gulf Coast League games. This article suggests he may have struggled with weight issues, but no concrete reason why this promising young pitcher just disappeared from the game.