2015 In Review

I almost forgot to do one of these.  2015 was not a great year to be a Red Sox fan, but some good stuff happened.  They finished in last place but saw the emergence of a number of good, young players.  Players like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Blake Swihart look like solid players for years to come.  David Ortiz hit his 500th home run and announced that 2016 would be his final season.  Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez disappointed in their first season in Boston, but should be able to bounce back and are still on the team for 2016.  We also saw a number of acquisitions that should start to pay dividends in 2016 with the free agent acquisition of David Price, the trade for Craig Kimbrel, and the international free agent signing of Yoan Moncada.

As for cards, I was not quite as active as I usually am.  I was very busy with work all year, but that did not stop me for picking up some stuff.

I made a few hobby goals, which were as follows:

1.  Knock a couple of cards off of my Top 10 List. 

As of today, that list is:

• 1. 2006 Flair Showcase Hot Gloves #14 J.T. Snow
• 2. 2013 Topps Archives 1989 All Stars Retail #WM Will Middlebrooks
• 3. 2005 Diamond Kings #325 Edgar Renteria
• 4. 2013 Topps Turkey Red #52 Dustin Pedroia
• 5. 2011 Topps Heritage #500 Peter Bourjos/Ryan Kalish/Daniel Nava/Chris Heisey/Logan Morrison SP
• 6. 1996 Donruss Diamond Kings #2 Mo Vaughn
• 7. 2009 Topps Heritage #445b John Smoltz
• 8. 2014 Donruss Signatures #36 Daniel Nava
• 9. 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Nicknames #16 Shane Victorino 
• 10. 2010 Topps Tribute #89 Babe Ruth T205

Some of those should be easy.  Some of them will be pretty difficult.  I would love to add the #1 card, if I can ever find it.

2.  Get up to 500 David Ortiz cards.  I have 487 so this should not be hard.

3.  Get up to 900 Jason Varitek cards.  I have 875 so this will be a little tougher, especially since there are not a ton still out there.

So, how did I do?

1.  I picked up the following: 3, 8, 9, and 10.  None of them were terribly difficult to find, but the key is that I got them.

2.  I now have 522 David Ortiz cards.

3.  I did not make this one.  I only made it to 884.

I will probably not make any goals for my Red Sox collection other than to continue to get cards from my wantlists and more Varitek cards.

My favorite card from a pack this year was this one:



That's it for now.  Enjoy your New Year's.