A Ripping Good Mailday 05/20

What a horrible title to this one.  Anyway the reason this got the title is the following:

That is a 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter Rip Card of Mike Cameron.  Unfortunately the previous owner already ripped it open, otherwise I would have had to give up a LOT more for it.  This is the first Rip Card I have ever had.  I definitely like the player selection too as I do not have a lot of cards of Mike Cameron with the Red Sox.

And one more quick trade as well.  I am getting a little tired of the same picture of Bobby Doerr on almost every single card.  I have about 75 cards of Doerr and probably half of them have that picture.  I think the Silver Ice Bowman parallels are a lot more common this year than last year.  I never pulled a single one last year and it took months before I had my first Red Sox.  I have pulled three this year and I just got this Jon Lester in a trade.

My Favorite Retro Set: 2003 Topps 205

There have not been a lot of sets that I have picked up more than one hobby box for, but 2003 Topps 205 was one.  Maybe that is not fair because I picked up one for each series of this one.  I have always preferred this set to the Topps 206 sets that they have done a couple of times.  I do not really know why.  There is more of a design to this one.  It is not just a simple picture of the player, there is more to it.

Of course the major reason to love the set is the minis.  This is one set that I worked hard on adding a bunch of minis.  I always like minis anyway, but this is one that I really focused my energy on finding the minis.

Just like the 206 sets, 205 had a variety of backs.  The above picture is the Cycle Purple back.  There were several others as well.  One thing I spent a lot of time on was tracking down as many of the variations of the Hanley Ramirez rookie card as I could find.  I ended up with all but the two Bazooka backs.

Of course there was an impressive relic set as well.  The Red Sox had several notable players in this set, including Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, Jeremy Giambi, and a Derek Lowe hat card that I am still trying to find.

Series 2 was released late enough that they were able to include Curt Schilling as a Red Sox despite the fact that he was acquired in a trade in November, 2003.

2003 Topps 205 has always been a favorite set of mine.  It is definitely my favorite retro set.  I wish Topps would give it another shot.  But then there are a lot of sets I want Topps to bring back.

A Trade with a Nocturnal Raptor

I recently completed a trade with Greg, aka Night Owl.  As we are both team collectors, I figured we had something in common and could mutually help each other.  So I sent him a bunch of mid to late 90's cards, including a bunch of Pacific and he sent me these which I surprisingly did not have:

1.  2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Manny Ramirez.  I am still discovering cards I did not realize I did not have.  I had a bunch of these cards and did not realize I did not have the team set.

2.  2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Daisuke Matsuzaka.  See above.  Surely this is it for the base set.

3.  1994 Collector's Choice Otis Nixon.  The speedster only spent one year in Boston, and it was the strike-shortened 1994 season.  He still stole 42 bases.  I like guys who can steal because Boston has had so few of them over the years.

4.  2008 Upper Deck Icons David Ortiz.  I never had much of this set before.  I might be close to the base team set.  Still need the elusive George Kottaras RC though.

5.  2008 Upper Deck Icons Kevin Youkilis.  A nice closeup of Youk's batting stance.  I would describe it as "unorthodox".

6.  2008 Upper Deck X Jonathan Papelbon.  Here is another one I had no idea I did not have.

7.  2008 Upper Deck Documentary Mike Lowell.  This is the set that keeps going and going and going and...

8.  2008 Upper Deck Documentary Jacoby Ellsbury.  ...going and going and going.

9.  2010 Topps National Chicle Kevin Youkilis.  I had the Bazooka version.  This is the base.

10.  2008 Upper Deck Timelines Josh Beckett (1994 All Time Heroes).  Timelines is a set I had very little of.

11.  2008 Upper Deck Timelines Jason Bay.  I will have to check into this set and see what I still need.  I recall some interesting looking cards that I still need.

12.  2008 Upper Deck Documentary Jon Lester.  And more from this set.

13.  2012 Panini Prizm Will Middlebrooks.  I commented on Night Owl's post about this card.  He did not seem to care much for them.  I think they are ugly too, but I have to have everything and trading is better than buying in my eyes.

14.  2010 Topps Chrome Xfractor Jason Bay.  This is the card that set the trade in motion.  Jason Bay is one of those players I just love getting cards of.

15.  1978 Topps Rick Wise.  No trade would be complete without some vintage.  Well, that's not true but it's definitely nice.

16.  2013 Bowman Gold Will Middlebrooks.  Another card that I commented on.  Middlebrooks is starting to come around offensively this year.  He could just be a very streaky hitter.

Thanks for the trade, Greg!

One-Year Wonder Pt. 19: Rocco Baldelli

Every once in awhile, the Red Sox pick up a veteran player for a year, or just the stretch run that was a star at one point that I become fascinated with. It's a player that is basically only a role player at that point in their career, but may show flashes of their old brilliance. It's so unusual to see them as a member of the Red Sox, that I try to find as many of their cards as possible. This series will be about some of those players.

It seems like there were a lot of these One-Year Wonders in 2009.  Rocco Baldelli joined Takashi Saito, John Smoltz, and Billy Wagner.  Baldelli though got a lot more cards made, and some pretty nice ones too.

Baldelli had been suffering from a rare mitochondrial disease for years to this point.  It sapped his energy and prevented him from reaching his full potential as a player.  He had not played in a full season since 2004.  It was a very unfortunate situation.  He was brought in to Boston in 2009 to act as a reserve outfielder, a job he performed capably. 

Baldelli made it into 62 games in 2009 and finished with a batting line of .253/.311/.433 with seven home runs and 23 RBIs.  It was his versatility as an outfielder that was his best quality.  He played all three outfield positions, designated hitter, and even a little third base.

Unfortunately, Baldelli continued to deal with his disease.  He returned to Tampa Bay the next season but then retired.

Season in Review: 2001

There was a lot of promise for the Red Sox in 2001.  Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra were superstars.  Manny Ramirez was signed to a huge contract.  Unfortunately  injuries decimated the team.  Garciaparra and Martinez each missed significant parts of the season.  Jason Varitek also missed half the season with an elbow injury.  Jimy Williams was fired partway through the season and pitching coach Joe Kerrigan was named interim manager.  Boston finished 82-79 but did finish in second place.

FIVE FAVORITE PLAYERS

Nomar Garciaparra

Garciaparra only managed to play in 21 games in 2001.  He missed significant time early in the season with a wrist injury from being hit by a pitch in 2000.  He eventually made it back but then was hurt again and was out for the rest of the season.  He was decent when healthy, hitting .289/.352/.470 with four home runs and eight RBIs.

Pedro Martinez

Martinez only pitched in 18 games, going 7-3 with a 2.39 ERA and 163 strikeouts in 116.2 innings.  He also missed significant time with injuries but was very impressive in the short time he was active.

Jason Varitek

Varitek was in the midst of a breakout season when he broke his elbow making an outstanding catch in foul grounds.  To that point he was hitting .293/.371/.489 with seven home runs 25 RBIs.  The injury stunted his development for a couple of years.

Trot Nixon

2001 was a breakout season for Trot Nixon.  The right-fielder batted .280/.376/.505 with 27 home runs and 88 RBIs.  He lead the team with 100 runs scored and was second with 79 walks.

Tim Wakefield

The knuckleballer was a valuable member of the team once again, doing anything that was asked of him.  He went 9-12 with a 3.90 ERA in 45 games.  He started 17 and picked up three saves.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Brian Daubach

Daubach put in another productive season in 2001.  He hit .263/.350/.509 with 22 home runs and 71 RBIs.  

Dante Bichette

2001 was Bichette's final season in the Major Leagues.  It was not a bad season either.  The former slugger hit .286/.325/.460 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs.  

Derek Lowe

Lowe struggled in 2001.  He eventually lost his closer's role after blowing several games.  He was eventually moved into the rotation where he began to flourish again.  His record was 5-10 with a 3.53 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 91.2 innings.  He picked up 24 saves before leaving becoming a starter.

FAVORITE ACQUISITIONS

Manny Ramirez

After signing a massive contract, Ramirez proved to be everything he was expected to be, winning the Silver Slugger award and was Boston's only All Star.  He finished the season with a batting line of .306/.405/.609 with 41 home runs and 125 RBIs. 

Hideo Nomo

Nomo was signed as a free agent prior to the season and became one of the better pitchers on the team.  His first start was a no-hitter, the first for the Red Sox since 1965.  He lead the league with 220 strikeouts and 96 walks.  He went 13-10 with a 4.50 ERA in his only season with the Red Sox.

FAVORITE MIDSEASON ACQUISITIONS

Ugueth Urbina

Urbina was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Expos at the July trading deadline for Tomo Ohka and Rich Rundles.  He pitched in 19 games down the stretch with a 2.25 ERA and saved nine games, striking out 32 in 20 innings.

Doug Mirabelli

After Varitek's injury it was clear that Scott Hatteberg was not going to cut it at catcher.  Boston traded Justin Duchscherer to the Rangers for Mirabelli who had a great season.  He hit .270/.360/.518 with nine home runs and was impressive defensively.

FAVORITE ROOKIE

Shea Hillenbrand

Hillenbrand made his Major League debut in 2001 at third base despite playing catcher, among other positions, in the minors.  Hillenbrand was not terribly good at drawing walks, picking up only 13 on the season, but he did hit .263/.291/.391 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS

Carl Everett

After a great 2000 season, Everett struggled quite a bit in 2001.  He was also a problem in the clubhouse.  Everett's numbers were down to just .257/.323/.438 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs.  He also only stole nine bases.  He was traded for Darren Oliver after the season.

John Valentin

Valentin was still recovering from his injuries the previous season.  He came back to play shortstop after Garciaparra's injury.  But Valentin only made it into 20 games and did not produce well when he played.  His career with the Red Sox was over.

05/17-05/19: Red Sox Sweep Twins

The Red Sox played the Twins in Minnesota this weekend.  They had a four game set in Fenway a couple of weeks ago and the Twins won three out of the four so Boston was looking for a little bit of revenge in this set.  They had it.

05/17: Red Sox 3 (25-17) Twins 2

This game went into extra innings.  It was a low-scoring game with the Red Sox tying it in the seventh and winning in the tenth.  The seventh win of the season once again eluded Clay Buchholz even though he pitched very well.  Jonny Gomes won the game in the 10th with a sacrifice fly, scoring Dustin Pedroia.  Alex Wilson got the win and Koji Uehara took the save.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  7 innings, 2 earned runs, 9 strikeouts, 3 walks

05/18: Red Sox 12 (26-17) Twins 5

It was closer than the score appeared.  Boston pulled way ahead in the seventh inning.  Ryan Dempster was wild, walking six in less than five innings.  David Ortiz had a big game, hitting two home runs and driving in six.  Daniel Nava also homered.  Craig Breslow got his first win of the season.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DAVID ORTIZ:  3 for 4, 3 runs, 6 RBIs, 2 home runs

05/19: Red Sox 5 (27-17) Twins 1

John Lackey got the win after pitching six innings of one-hit ball.  He came out after a three hour rain delay interrupted the game.  But Andrew Miller, Koji Uehara, and Junichi Tazawa kept up.  Will Middlebrooks and Dustin Pedroia each homered.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DUSTIN PEDROIA:  2 for 5, 3 RBIs, 2 runs, home run

1991 Topps #269 Joe Hesketh

In this series, I look at my first team set: 1991 Topps.  This was the set I started my baseball card collection with.

Joe Hesketh was never a player I had a ton of cards of.  I think that is more due to the fact that there just were not many cards of him.  This was my first one.  There were not a lot of cards of him made in 1991.  Hesketh only appeared in Topps in 1991.  He did get into most of the sets in 1992 but that was due to his outstanding 1991 season.

Boston was Hesketh's third team in 1990.  He also played for the Expos and Braves.  Hesketh appeared in 12 games for the Red Sox, starting two of them.  He struck out 26 in 25.2 innings and was a productive southpaw for Boston for parts of five seasons.

One Small Trade and a Bowman Blaster Break (With Tradebait)

Packages have slowed way down lately.  I have not been getting too many trades done.  It's depressing.  I need more going on.

This is the small trade package I got yesterday.  I moved a bunch of base Cardinals cards from 2013 for these cards:

1.  2005 Studio Portraits Gray/Sepia/Diamond Kings Curt Schilling #d/30.  There were approximately 8,256 different variations of these Studio Portraits inserts.  I now have one each of Schilling, Carl Yastrzemski, and Carlton Fisk.  I like them but I probably will not go way out of my way to acquire a bunch of them.  Now if they had included Jason Varitek in the checklist I would probably make an exception.

2.  2001 Topps Gold Mike Lansing #d/2001.  Mike Lansing did not have a long career with the Red Sox.  The team was forced to take him and his salary on in a trade with the Rockies in order to acquire Rolando Arrojo in 2000.  He did not do much for Boston, but he did make a tumbling catch late in the game during Hideo Nomo's no-hitter which saved the feat.

3.  2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini GQ Red Carlton Fisk.  I like minis quite a bit but I am not obsessive about them.  I do like to get a lot of Fisk cards, mainly because of the fact that I love catchers.

4.  2010 Topps Gold Jason Bay #d/2010.  I love the action shot on this Bay card.  I really liked watching Bay in his short stint with the Red Sox.  He had an incredible 2009 season for the Red Sox and did a great job replacing Manny Ramirez in left field, plus he was not nearly as much trouble in the clubhouse.

Today I went to court in a nearby town.  I sometimes like to stop at the stores in other towns to see if I have any better luck with packs.  It sounds strange, but it worked last year.  I was having terrible luck with Topps Series 2, only managing to pull two Red Sox cards out of several blasters and rack packs.  That and a number of doubles of the two cards I had.  Just bad collation.  So I picked up a blaster in the other town when I had a hearing and did really well.  Today I went for a Bowman blaster.

1.  2013 Bowman Top 100 Allen Webster.  This card made the entire box worth it.  This is my first card of the pitcher who is one of the keys to last year's huge trade with the Dodgers.  What a great-looking card.

2.  2013 Bowman Prospects William Cuevas.  Based on the information on the back, it would appear that Cuevas has talent, unfortunately he was 22 in A-Ball.  I am not sure he has more of a ceiling than a middle reliever, if he ever makes it to the Majors.  Not a big-time prospect.

3.  2013 Bowman Jon Lester.  Lester has been terrific this year.  Always happy to add cards of him.

And next we have the tradebait.  Anyone want anything?

I have been having real good luck with retail this year.  This is my first auto of the year, but I have pulled three relics.  That's pretty crazy.  This was a pretty good break with the orange parallel, auto, mini refractor, and of course the Webster card.

05/14-05/16: Red Sox Take 2 of 3 from Rays

This may be the way I do these things from now on.  It is just easier to discuss the series as a whole rather than in individual games.

The Red Sox won two out of three games from the Tampa Bay Rays.  It was the first series win the Red Sox have had in the last couple of weeks.

05/14: Rays 5 Red Sox 3 (22-17)
This one started off promisingly with a three run home run from David Ortiz in the first inning.  But that was pretty much it for the offense the rest of the game and John Lackey imploded in the fourth inning, giving up five runs, capped by two runs scoring when Mike Napoli lost the ball in the lights on a pop up.  It was an embarrassing way to lose.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DAVID ORTIZ:  1 for 4, 3 run home run

05/15: Red Sox 9 (23-17) Rays 2
Game 2 went much better as the Red Sox exploded for eight runs in the third inning thanks to a grand slam by Stephen Drew.  Will Middlebrooks later homered as well.  Jon Lester was very good, giving up only two runs in seven innings with no walks.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

STEPHEN DREW:  2 for 3, 2 runs, grand slam

05/16: Red Sox 4 (24-17) Rays 3
The Red Sox trailed until the ninth inning 3-1.  Then Fernando Rodney was wild, walking the bases loaded.  With two outs, Middlebrooks came up and doubled, driving in three runs to give Boston the lead.  Junichi Tazawa nailed down the ninth inning.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

WILL MIDDLEBROOKS:  1 for 3, 3 run double, walk

Red Sox With No Cards Pt. 4: Gary Gaetti

Wait, Gary Gaetti was with the Red Sox?  Yep, just look at the above picture for proof.  In 1999, Gaetti was signed as a free agent in early April to help out at designated hitter.  He was 41 years old.  There are no card of him with the Red Sox though because he played just five games with the Red Sox before retiring.  He had eleven plate appearances drawing a walk and not recording a single hit.  He struck out three times but did manage an RBI.  So yes, it makes sense that there are no cards of Gaetti with the Red Sox, but it is still disappointing.

Card Shop Buys and Pack Breaks from My Birthday Weekend

As I mentioned a few days ago, it was my birthday on Tuesday.  It was also my grandmother's birthday and my mother-in-law's birthday.  It was also Mother's Day yesterday.  So yeah, it was pretty busy.  I went back to my hometown over the weekend and had a chance to go to the card shop that I used to go to all the time when I was growing up.  The owner knows me pretty well and always pulled Red Sox for me.  He has not been doing it lately because it has been a long time since I have been back, but he still had an old pile, so I flipped through it and found some stuff.

This is the result of my search.  The Kevin Youkilis is the copper parallel, which was 2007's version of the black parallel due to the fact that all of the cards were black.  Manny Ramirez is numbered 10/10.  Then there are some random David Ortiz cards and the Bowman Draft base card of Jose Iglesias which was number 6 on my Most Wanted list.

Then I bought a box of 2009 Topps Heritage High Number.  I still need a lot of cards from that set and they are prominent on my Want List, so if anyone has any of them, please let me know.  This was not a terrific box for me honestly.  I pulled the below cards.  Each pack contained two cards from 2009 Update and Highlights, which explains the Takashi Saito.

And now, for the tradebait from the weekend pack pickups.  If you see anything you want and have some Red Sox for trade, preferably from my wantlist, please comment or email me to trade.

The McCutchen has been traded.

Red Sox Drop 2 of 3 from the Blue Jays

Boston continued to struggle this weekend losing two of three from the Blue Jays.  I was away all weekend so I was not able to do this for each game.  I am not going to get too in-depth into the summaries, I might just list Players of the Game.

MAY 10, 2013: Red Sox 5 (22-14) Blue Jays 0

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JON LESTER: Complete game, 2 hits, shutout, 5 strikeouts

May 11, 2013: Blue Jays 3 Red Sox 2 (22-15)

Clay Buchholz pitched well but stand-in closer Junichi Tazawa gave up the game-winning home run in the ninth inning.  Boston needs Bailey back soon.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

CLAY BUCHHOLZ: 8 innings, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts

May 12, 2013: Blue Jays 12 Red Sox 4 (22-16)

Ryan Dempster did not have it in this game at all.  Boston was crushed by five home runs, two by Jose Bautista.  The injury bug came back and took David Ross (concussion) and Shane Victorino (ribs).

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

MIKE NAPOLI: 3 for 4, home run, double, 2 runs

Mailday 05/08 and Pack Break 05/09 and Some Tradebait

The last few days have been pretty busy for me.  Boston has been terrible over the last week which has kind of sucked the fun out of blogging about them. 

The one trade package I received so far was a small one.  I sent a Nolan Ryan SP from Gypsy Queen to an individual in a nearby very small town (oddly enough) for two cards from 2012 Bowman Chrome, the Jacoby Ellsbury base and the refractor of Boss Moanaroa, one of my favorite names in the Red Sox system. Moanaroa is an aboriginal native of Australia.  His brother Moko once played in Boston's system as well.  Boss is more talented and stands a slightly better shot at making the Majors, but I am not holding my breath honestly.  I would love it if he makes it, it just does not seem all that likely.

Yesterday was my birthday.  To celebrate I bought a blaster of 2013 Bowman and a blister pack of 2013 Heritage.  I did not get any Red Sox out of the Heritage which was disappointing.  I got the following from the Bowman blaster:

I am counting the Prospect Challenge card because I always count them if they have a picture of a Red Sox player on them.  In this case it is Matt Barnes.  

Here is the tradebait.  As you can see it was a good day for Chase Headley and Ryan Zimmerman.  I also got two nifty Pirates refractors.  I am currently in talks to trade one or both of them, but if anyone has any trade offers, please comment here.

05/09: Twins 5 Red Sox 3 (21-14)

The Red Sox are officially slumping.  Bad defense, not enough offense, and pitching problems have taken a once-promising season and plunged it into doubt.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

JOHN LACKEY: 7 innings, 1 earned run (5 total), walk, 8 strikeouts