Cards from Chris

Recently, a reader named Chris reached out to me asking me to take some Red Sox cards off of his hands.  Of course I am always willing to oblige and recently received a nice, fat package of cards in the mail from him.  Most of the cards were from the mid to late 2000's, a time period that I was far more focused on my Jason Varitek collection, so there were a surprising amount of new cards in the package.  Here are the new ones:

Jonathan Papelbon:  Tons of Papelbon cards were in this package, including five of these Generation Now cards.  I once considered going for the entire run of these cards, but never really got around to it.  Papelbon is Boston's all-time saves leader and had some terrific seasons.

Kyle Larson:  I had no idea who Kyle Larson is.  I don't really care for these First Pitch cards.  They just don't do anything for me.

Daisuke Matsuzaka:  There were a number of Matsuzaka cards as well.  One of my favorite Matsuzaka memories is of him getting a base hit and driving in a couple of runs in Game 4 of the 2007 World Series.

Manny Ramirez:  And there were a lot of Manny Ramirez cards.  Manny had just a ton of cards issued during his Boston career.  It would have been very easy for me to get 1,000 cards of him, but I just never really wanted to do that.  I did not have to chase them, they would find me.

Josh Beckett:  Beckett was the 2007 ALCS MVP for the Red Sox as well as the 2003 World Series MVP for the Marlins.  He was an incredible clutch performer.

Julio Lugo:  He led the team in stolen bases in 2007, but was otherwise a disappointment.  He did perform well in the World Series though, so no real complaints there.

Mark Loretta:  Loretta spent just one season with Boston, but hit .285, played excellent defense and was voted to start in the All Star Game in 2006.  All in all, that was a pretty good season, but Dustin Pedroia was ready to take over.

Hideki Okajima:  Boston's top middle reliever in 2007 was voted into the All Star Game that year in the final vote.  I always liked Okajima a little better than Matsuzaka.  Okajima came at the same time but was generally more effective, mostly because he did not nibble at the corners so much.

Jed Lowrie:  Lowrie never seemed to put it together in Boston, and still seems to be having that problem.  He did have some moments where he looked like a potential star, including a very impressive run in early 2011 where he was hitting .400 through the first month of the season.

Michael Bowden:  Drafted in the supplemental first round of the 2005 draft, Bowden was one of five players to be picked by Boston in the first round.  All five made the Majors, but Bowden and Craig Hansen did not play long in the Majors.  Jed Lowrie, Clay Buchholz, and Jacoby Ellsbury all became regular Major Leaguers though.

Manny Delcarmen:  For a couple of years, Delcarmen was one of Boston's most reliable middle relievers.  He had a terrific season in 2007 and was very good in 2008.  He declined after that and was out of the Majors after the 2010 season.

Jonathan Van Every:  Van Every spent just a handful of games with Boston in three straight seasons, but he actually pitched a little bit in two of those seasons.  Not many position players can say that.

Thanks for the cards, Chris!