Lemme tell you, being stuck in a luxury hotel for three days is no picnic. I mean, I am right by the waterfront and downtown, how on earth am I supposed to cope and keep myself occupied? I mean, I had to have lunch with a couple of good friends at a wonderful (tastefully named) deli. And then I could easily walk to one of my old and all time favorite baseball card haunts, the venerable Bay State Coin. I have known the proprietor Andy for almost 20 years and I even have worked there and done some online work for him over the years. He is a prickly yet loveable character; they don't make them like him anymore. He is a huge Cardinals and Stan Musial fan (and erstwhile Albert Pujols supporter as well, though bring his name up now and all you will get is a loudly shouted "traitor!!!"). He is also one of the biggest Celtics fans I know. He goes to just about every home game and in fact I found out today that he has been to every Celtics home playoff game since 1966 but two - and one of those he missed to meet Stan Musial. Anyway, Andy was happy to see me as I don't get in much to see him anymore. We gabbed and jabbed for an hour or so and then, just so I wouldn't appear to be a freeloader, looked at some of this years Topps inserts. Seeing how I have some time to kill, I will now show them. You will have to forgive me as I do not have access to a scanner and my photography skills are not exactly on par with Ansel Adams, but being a refugee, I am making do with what I have.
First, I saw that he had multiple copies of my favorite insert set from the first series of 2012 Topps, the Classic Walk Offs:
While not the best designed cards in the world, I do like the subject matter (they would be far better if they enlarged the main picture and better highlighted the background secondary picture, but who am I, a graphic designer?). They got a nice mix of modern and vintage players and with the inclusion of such memorable homers like Bill Mazeroski, David Ortiz, and of course, Carlton Fisk, it is a very comprehensive set as well. I don't always like to mix current and retired players on a page, but this set kind of calls for it. I also kind of like how they got Jay Bruce and Jim Thome in the exact same pose. I am glad I didn't have to go online to find these and pick them off one by one. There is something to be said for a well stocked Local Card Shop.
I also picked up a few Mets and player odds and ends from this years inserts that I didn't have yet:
There is an awesome Dwight Gooden card that I had been hungering for. As memory fades from the 1980's, we have all forgotten how awesome Doc really was. Also, with the same old school players in the same Topps sets over and over again, it is nice to see someone as underutilized as the Doctor used and I'd like to see them use him more - to the point where I get sick of him. Just like, say, Tom Seaver (this is, of course, preposterous, as I could never get tired of Tom Seaver). I grabbed the Golden Moments, which I wasn't sure if I had or not, and a rare non-Mets card of him. I really dig those horrifyingly ugly 80's White Sox unis. There is also the David Wright Golden Memories, which I thought $30 a Week Habit had sent me - turns out he sent me something much better. Lastly, I grabbed a bunch of the 1987 mini type cards, just because, well, minis!!! The Roberto Clemente is a wonderful photo that I hadn't seen before, too bad my picture on the hotel bed does it no justice. Oh wait! I forgot Yaz! How could I forget about Yaz? I am not entirely sure if I have expounded on my love of Carl Yastrzemski on this blog yet. I am not going to now, but trust me, he is one of my all time favs. I am puzzled about the logo on that card. Is that a Red Sox B? Is that current? Period? Is that just a mistake and it is a Brooklyn Dodgers B? I am stumped and to be honest, I just don't have the energy right now to go looking it up...not with all the great bars in Boston just waiting for me to go and drown my sorrows in.
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