It's not all mail days this week. After seeing a bunch of raves about Topps Holiday being such a fun break, I picked up a Mega Box as well as one of those ball things. This was in different days and I will get to those. The big news is of course the Dodgers winning the World Series. But I also snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in my jury trial this last week. But nobody wants to hear about that, so let's see some cards.
Up first is the Mega Box break:
1. Garrett Crochet. The best Red Sox card from either of the breaks was this Crochet card, which is the Silver Glitter parallel. I am expecting Crochet to be the runner-up in the Cy Young vote. He also had a terrific performance in Game 1 of the ALDS.
2. Alex Bregman. Bregman is a Silver Slugger finalist, but stands next to no chance at it since Jose Ramirez is also a finalist. Bregman is the biggest free agent decision Boston has. He has not yet officially opted out, but it is expected.
Here we have a bunch of Rafaela cards, and one Alex Bregman. As I am writing this, it has been announced that Rafaela won the Gold Glove Award this year. Absolutely well-deserved. I want to highlight the Topps T205 cards. Topps had this set in 2003 and it was one of my favorite sets, so I am thrilled to see it be revived this year instead of T206 which has been done to death.
Up next is a TCDB trade:
1. Ceddanne Rafaela. I have tried working out trades for this card a couple times and finally pulled it off.
2. Wilyer Abreu. Abreu also won the Gold Glove today. This is his second. I was pretty surprised by this because of his time on the IL.
3. Wilyer Abreu. There are three Abreu cards in this trade. He is finally starting to gain some traction in my collection.
4. Wilyer Abreu.
5. Chris Martin. Martin had a great stint in Boston, not many middle relievers get Cy Young votes, but he did in 2023.
6. Alex Bregman. The third Bregman card in this post.
7. Fred Lynn. Since we are talking Gold Glove Awards today, Lynn won four in his career, all with the Red Sox.
8. Aroldis Chapman. I was no huge fan of Chapman coming into the season, but he really won me over with his electrifying performance this year. He saved 32 games, went 3-5 with a 1.17 ERA and struck out 85 batters in 61.1 innings.
Another Rafaela card. This is my first variation of the 2023 Select Youth Explosion autograph.
And here is the Holiday ball break:
1. Walker Buehler. One of these days I will catch up on some of the One-Year Wonders. Buehler qualifies. Let's just say that things did not work out as hoped with Buehler this year, which was very disappointing.
2. Ceddanne Rafaela. Yep, got a Rafaela in a pack. He seems to come to me in packs reasonably often. What I love about this card is that it is the only card in the team set where the photo has changed from his flagship set release.
3. Jarren Duran. I'm probably going to get Duran into my Century Club just in time for him to be traded.
And the next two scans are more TCDB trades.
1. Mike Myers. The award for the most random player to appear this year is Myers, with this card appropriately arriving in the mail on Halloween. Myers was an effective LOOGY for several years and had a 3.44 ERA in 90 games for the Red Sox over two seasons (just 52.1 innings). He was on the 2004 World Series roster.
2. Bronson Arroyo. I love how Panini puts some random retired players in their sets. Last year was Mike Lowell. Arroyo is weird because he was a fan favorite player, but spent far more time with the Reds than the Red Sox.
3. Tris Speaker. Nice shot that I have not seen before.
4. Terry Francona. Still my favorite manager to get cards of. Francona will be in the Hall of Fame someday.
5. Bronson Arroyo. The most random player to appear more than once in my pickups. I had fewer than 20 cards coming into the week and I add two at the same time?
6. Marcelo Mayer. I am looking forward to seeing what Mayer can do over a full season, but he needs a steady position. This will be one of the stories of the offseason.
1. Carl Yastrzemski. Going back to Gold Gloves, Yaz won seven, obviously all with Boston. This is the second most in team history. Dwight Evans won eight.
2. Roger Clemens. Seven-time Cy Young winner Clemens should have won at least one more, in 1990.
3. Ted Williams. Williams was certainly NOT a Gold Glove winner.
4. Kutter Crawford. I would like to see him healthy again next season. He was good for 180 innings in 2024 and led the league in games started. There is something to be said for that.
5. David Ortiz. Another player who could not be mistaken for a Gold Glover. I maintain he wasn't as bad at first when he had to play there, and he did make a great play in the 2004 World Series throwing out Jeff Suppan returning to third base in a critical situation.
6. Babe Ruth. I still love grabbing Ruth cards that show him with the Red Sox.
That's it for today. I might be able to start posting more regularly now since I got my laptop back.
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