Blind Trading With The Writer's Journey

575 cards is nothing to take lightly. I received this huge box from Jason at The Writer’s Journey on Monday. I have been afraid of it and in awe of it all week. While there were older packages that I still needed to sort through first, this box has been calling me. Tuesday, I took a look in the box. Wednesday, I put the box in order. Thursday, I sorted through the cards. Today, I’m writing about it.

Each time I sorted through the box, I was captured by one card. A 1997 Stadium Club Matrix card of Frank Thomas. To fully appreciate this card, you have to see it in person. Frank Thomas stands alone, while everyone else in the background dies a horrible radiated death. If you tilt the card, you can see the people in the stands and the person on the field start to glow and eventually melt away in some sort of apocalyptic goo. Frank is unharmed and seems to be running away from the devastation like the smart hitter he is.

One card does represent the box, but does it represent it fairly? I have been debating on how to tackle the review of this box. This is a monumental task ahead. An adventure, if you will.

I decided to separate the doubles and focus on the cards that I do not have. I have walked through the sea of dead cards, and they are of little use to me now. I begin my journey by leaving them behind.
The first thing that I encountered on my journey through the box was disc shaped. Perhaps a miniature version of the Wheel Of Fish? STUPID!!! YOU’RE SO STUPID!! These were no cast offs from fish related game shows! These were Collector’s Coins from 7-11.

1984 7-11 Super Star Sports Coins
XVII – Ron Kittle
XXIII – LaMarr Hoyt These were better than fish wheels! These had moving pictures!

Next I encountered some gigantic cards and a few stickers. I always thought of these things as the adult who never quite got the memo to grow up. He’d sit there in his conductor hat, guiding an HO scale model train around in a circle. Sure there would be the pretty scenery, but it would turn out to be fake and the imaginary passengers would get suspicious after they saw the same picture of a mountain every 30 seconds.

1988 Topps Big
197 – Carlton Fisk
224 – Harold Baines

1988 Topps Yearbook Stickers
286 – Donnie Hill
287 – Ken Williams

1990 Topps Stickers
158 – Harold Baines AS Now, I had the task of navigating through actual standard sized cards. The oldest one was a 1966 Topps White Sox Rookies card, which I had two copies of already. That’s OK, I love the vintage cards! If only there was a low budget show to convey my journey through the wild kingdom of cards. 1973 Topps
604 – Dennis O’Toole

1982 Donruss
319 – Tony LaRussa
445 – Vada Pinson

1988 Toys R Us
16 – Fred Manrique

1989 Donruss
58 – Melido Perez

1989 Topps Rookies
16 – Melido Perez (miscut)

1990 CMC
16 – Marcus Lawton
24 – Dana Williams
25 – Tracy Woodson

1990 Panini
41 – Ozzie Guillen

1991 Line Drive
73 – Jose Ventura
630 – Jeff Carter
650 – Coaches

1991 U.S. Playing Card
2D – Carlton Fisk
9D – Harold Baines
2H – Ozzie Guillen

1992 Classic Best
150 – Rogelio Nunez
239 – James Bishop

1992 Panini
128 – Ozzie Guillen

1992 Pinnacle
300 – Scott Ruffcorn Scott Ruffcorn got number 300 in a set? Amazing.

1992 Score
532 – Ron Karkovice

1993 Donruss
725 – Harold Baines

1993 Score
609 – Wilson Alvarez

1993 Topps Gold
175 – Kirk McCaskill
612 – Byron Mathews

1994 Donruss
341 – Frank Thomas
447 – Joey Cora

1994 Donruss SE
79 – Ozzie Guillen

1994 Score
631 – Frank Thomas

1994 Ted Williams
152 – Pat Seerey

1994 Ultra
34 – Roberto Hernandez

1995 Bazooka
5 – Jason Bere
26 – Robin Ventura
35 – Wilson Alvarez

1995 Donruss
378 – Robin Ventura

1995 Donruss Top Of The Order
Alex Fernandez
Ron Karkovice

1995 Fleer
119 – Roberto Hernandez

1995 Leaf
69 – Alex Fernandez

1995 Pinnacle
41 – Lance Johnson

1996 Select
11 – Frank Thomas

1997 Collector’s Choice
293 – Dave Martinez
294 – Jaime Navarro
300 – Frank Thomas
328 – Frank Thomas
329 – Albert Belle
469 – Jeff Abbott

1997 Collector’s Choice Big Shots
10 – Frank Thomas

1997 Collector’s Choice You Crash The Game
CG9 – Albert Belle

1997 Fleer Million Dollar Moments
32 – Frank Thomas

1997 Pinnacle Inside
118 – Alex Fernandez

1997 Score
26 – Frank Thomas
131 – Roberto Hernandez
214 – Tony Phillips
218 – Lyle Mouton
232 – Alex Fernandez
233 – Ron Karkovice

1997 Stadium Club Matrix
213 – Frank Thomas Avert your eyes!!!!!

1998 Bowman Chrome International
42 – Albert Belle

1998 Collector’s Choice
39 – Harold Baines
102 – Magglio Ordonez

1998 Pacific Online
169 – Tom Fordham
180 – Mike Sirotka
182 – Frank Thomas

1998 Score
111 – Robin Ventura
134 – Dave Martinez

1998 Skybox Dugout Access
97 – Mike Caruso

1998 Stadium Club
295 – Matt Karchner

1998 Topps
141 – Jaime Navarro

1998 Topps Milestone
MS10 – Frank Thomas

1998 Upper Deck
81 – Doug Drabek
143 – Frank Thomas
264 – Jeff Abbott
556 – Carlos Lee

1999 Bowman’s Best
20 – Frank Thomas

1999 Fleer Tradition
298 – Jeff Abbott

1999 – Pacific Prism
32 – Albert Belle

1999 Topps
6 – Ray Durham
84 – Mike Caruso
173 – Mike Cameron
456 – Frank Thomas

1999 UD Victory
101 – Jaime Navarro

2000 Fleer Tradition
143 – Paul Konerko
160 – Mike Caruso
185 – Jim Parque

2000 Fleer Tradition Dividends
6 – Frank Thomas

2000 Impact
42 – Kip Wells
95 – Paul Konerko

2000 Topps
205 – Kip Wells
214 – Jason Strumm/Rob Purvis
251 – Harold Baines
318 – Mike Sirotka
443 – Joe Crede
470 – Frank Thomas

2000 Topps Gallery
47 – Frank Thomas

2000 Topps Opening Day
27 – Frank Thomas
158 – Paul Konerko

2000 Upper Deck
331 – Harold Baines
350 – Brian Simmons

2000 Upper Deck Victory
318 – Frank Thomas/Magglio Ordonez CL

2001 Bowman Heritage
88 – David Wells
325 – Kip Wells

2001 Fleer Tradition
397 – Frank Thomas

2001 MLB Showdown
108 – Jose Valentin

2001 Sunoco Dream Team
6 – Carlton Fisk

2001 Topps
78 – Harold Baines
122 – Paul Konerko
137 – Herb Perry
197 – Bobby Howry
223 – Jose Valentin
256 – Greg Norton
492 – Ray Durham
537 – Magglio Ordonez
727 – Jon Rauch
758 – White Sox Team

2001 Topps Archives
167 – Greg Luzinski

2001 Upper Deck
19 – Mark Buehrle
78 – Joe Borchard

2002 Donruss Fan Club
117 – Carlos Lee

2002 Fleer Tradition
108 – Chris Singleton
164 – David Wells
231 – Kip Wells

2002 Topps
278 – Jerry Manuel
He's back, And this time, he's mad. Gandhi II! No more mister passive resistance, he's out to kick some butt. This is one bad mother you don't wanna mess with.

2002 Topps Opening Day
18 – Magglio Ordonez

2002 Upper Deck Victory
201 – Magglio Ordonez
204 – Aaron Rowand
210 – Royce Clayton
212 – Frank Thomas

2002 Upper Deck Vintage
107 – Frank Thomas
112 – Jon Garland
114 – Joe Crede/Josh Fogg

2003 Bazooka
55 – Edwin Almonte

2003 Diamond Kings
20 – Paul Konerko

2003 Donruss
44 – Jon Adkins

2003 Fleer Tradition
156 – Matt Ginter
227 – Carlos Lee

2003 Topps
47 – Mark Buehrle
413 – Jon Garland
443 – Flash Gordon

2003 Upper Deck
122 – Jose Valentin

2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants
53 – Luis Aparicio
Frankly, I can’t believe all the good fortune to come out of this box! At first it seemed like I was getting nothing but cards that I already had, but actually sorting these out, I find a huge chunk of my want list now gone.

Unfortunately, I am now cleaned out of Reds to send back. Fortunately, I have called in a favor and I am waiting for a package of 150 Reds cards to arrive. This should put me over the 575 card restriction. When these cards arrive, they will be lovingly loaded into a box with the remaining 425+ cards that I have found already.
Thank you, Jason! Well, it appears that my work on this planet is finished, so I must now return to my home planet of Zarquon. Let’s all go bowling!