My Current Red Sox Focus Is...

...to not focus on any one or more players and just get as wide a variety as possible.  Sure, it's nice to get players that are currently with the team, particularly young up and coming stars like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts.  But I also like getting cards of the players that had short stints with Boston and did not get too many cards.  That is why I have been particularly happy with my recent acquisitions of cards of players like Kelly Johnson, Scott Schoeneweis, Heinie Manush, Edward Mujica, and others.  And it is why I am happy with this card, that only cost me a couple of cards that did not have a place in my collection:

This is Jeff Bailey.  Bailey was your classic 4A player, too good to be in Pawtucket, not good enough to play in Boston.  He had some big power numbers for a years in Pawtucket, but could never stick around in the Majors.  It didn't help that he did not make his Major League debut until he was 28.  He spent parts of three seasons in Boston, hitting six homers in 159 plate appearances.  He just could not crack a Red Sox roster that already featured Kevin Youkilis at first base.  Bailey is listed as an outfielder here, but he mostly played first.

2009 was a great Upper Deck set.  Not only did they have Bailey with the Red Sox, but the set also featured cards of Mark Kotsay, George Kottaras, Javier Lopez, Takashi Saito, and Jonathan Van Every, a bunch of players who had very few cards for their Red Sox stints.  That is my kind of set.