A Charlie Brown Christmas Tree And Other Casualties

Rare is the package that can make me jump for joy, shed tears of sadness and curse the day. This package from dayf has managed to do the impossible... all three.

Things started out wonderfully. I approached dayf's bubble mailer with a sense of wonderment and giddiness. I opened it and out popped a note.

Merry Chistmas from Card Board Junkie

Then I pulled out a beautiful Tipton card of Fred Marsh. Oh, the sights this one piece of colored cardboard must have seen over the years. I can only begin to imagine. There are thumb tack holes and the wear is at a Costas wallet Mantle level.

Joy! Joy! Joy!

Upon the card protector was a sticky note.

The cardboard version of Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree...

Indeed! This was a card that was in need of some good old fashioned Christmas time love! That is exactly what it got and will continue to receive.

Out popped two stacks of cards wrapped in team bags with wrapping paper on them. I opened them up and saw this stack of awesome cards! There were 2008 Topps Heritage and a nice assortment of White Sox cards.

Joy! Joy! Joy!

As I started through both stacks, I came to a quick realization. More and more cards were coming up dinged. They were getting worse and worse as I got further down each pile. The two worst casualties were a Billy Pierce Topps Archives Reserve ultra shiny card and a Magglio Ordonez EX.

Curse! Curse! Curse!

I quickly came to realize that the post office banged this package around so much, that they managed to damage an EX card! That is made out of hard plastic sheets! How do you damage a card like that inside a bubble envelope?

The post office showed no mercy. Even 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights cards were dinged at the top! This tells me that it wasn't normal wear and tear that comes with age. This was done during the shipping itself.

Out of 67 cards from the two sealed stacks, nine were undamaged. Do you want to know what saved these cards from a post office inflicted death? A Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. That's right. The most damaged card in the whole lot. Card number 68. Fred Marsh personally saved nine cards during his last actions of life. Fred is now resting comfortably in seclusion to live out his remaining days.

These are the nine cards that he saved.

1991 Stadium Club Charter Member
9 - Carlton Fisk

1991 Stadium Club Members Only
14 - Carlton Fisk

1991 Upper Deck
367 - Carlton Fisk
677 - Ground Breaking (Fisk, Ventura)

2008 Topps Heritage
338 - Justin Verlander

2008 Topps Heritage Black Back
42 - Jason Jennings
52 - Omar Vizquel
265 - Aaron Rowand
286 - Tony Gwynn

For the rest, they will be waiting for replacement to eventually relieve them of their duties. They will stand proud, knowing that they fought a good battle, until they will be ultimately replaced.

Thank you, dayf! This package made me realize the true meaning of Christmas by experiencing all of the holiday emotions at once. The adventure was worth it!