Got Some Work to Do

It has been a very long time and I am going to slowly work my way back into things.  These scans have been sitting on a draft of a post for a long time.  Unfortunately, I do not really remember how I acquired all of these cards.  I will gradually catch up with all of my newer cards in the next few days.

I am pretty sure this one was a trade on one of the forums:

1.  2017 Topps Bunt Hanley Ramirez.  Topps Bunt is a set that I liked quite a bit for its player selection.  I want to complete the team set.  This Hanley card is a nice start.  Hanley was a player that I enjoyed when he was going well, but was frustrated with when he was not.  Unfortunately his stint in Boston was more of a bust, other than his terrific 2016 season.

2.  2017 Topps Archives Hanley Ramirez.  Archives is another set I have a lot of work to do on.

3.  2017 Topps Archives Rick Porcello.  This helps a little bit.  Porcello was of course the Cy Young Award Winner in 2016 for the Red Sox and is having a nice season this year, most of the time.

4.  2017 Topps Bunt Infinite Drew Pomeranz.  This was one of the reasons that I was most interested in the Bunt set.  Some great inserts with some very good player selection.  Pomeranz won 17 games for Boston in 2017 and should have a lot more cardboard out there.

5.  2017 Topps Bunt Programs Jackie Bradley Jr.  Unfortunately JBJ is having a rough season this year, but his defense never slumps.

6.  2017 Topps Bunt Perspectives Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts is having a nice season, hard to believe that he is not among the top five best offensive shortstops in the league despite his .276/.341/.504 line with 13 home runs so far.

Pretty sure this was another trade (though it could have been the same one) of mostly older needs:

1.  2000 Skybox Dominion Nomar Garciaparra.  Again, this trade was mostly holes from years ago.

2.  2000 Skybox Dominion Wilton Veras.  I remember when this guy was the top prospect for the Red Sox.  He was a gigantic bust.  He was decent in 1999 in little work with a .288/.323/.398 line in 36 games but was .244/.278/.299 in 49 games in 2000, and never made it back to the Majors.

3.  2000 Skybox Dominion Jose Offerman.  After a decent 1999 season, Offerman was another huge free agent bust, never coming close to the numbers he put up with the Royals.  He was particularly disappointing since he was the major free agent signing after Mo Vaughn defected to the Angels.

4.  1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars Derek Lowe.  Lowe was a fan favorite for most of his Red Sox tenure.  He made All Star games as both a closer and a starter and finished third in the Cy Young vote in 2002.  He also won the deciding Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS and Game 4 of the 2004 World Series. 

5.  2013 Topps Opening Day David Ortiz.  Nice throwback uniform on Ortiz here.

6.  2011 Bowman Platinum Dustin Pedroia.  Hopefully Pedroia will make it back from his injury.  He played very briefly this year before heading back to the DL.  He needs a few more quality seasons to seal his HOF chances, but he is running out of time.

7.  2008 Topps Heritage Jonathan Papelbon.  Papelbon is the all-time leader in saves for the Red Sox with 219.  No one else is particularly close.  Craig Kimbrel has 91, so he has a ways to go.

8.  2004 Upper Deck Diamond Collection Nomar Garciaparra. 

9.  2000 Ultra Nomar Garciaparra.  This trade was obviously filled with Nomars.  I have a lot of cards of Nomar on my wantlist.  Player selection is a big deal to me and I just do not like to get the same players all the time, even if they are one of my favorites, as Nomar was for a long time.

Up next is a Topps Now card, to date the last one I have bought, other than a team set.

2017 Topps Now Doug Fister.  Fister had some good games for the Red Sox after being acquired to shore up the pitching staff, and this one-hitter was the biggest.  I had to add this card with the concern that it would be his only Red Sox card.  It wasn't, though I still do not have the other one.

This was a one-card trade, but once one of my favorite players:

2005 Topps Gold Kevin Youkilis.  It is a shame that Youkilis declined so much in his last two seasons in Boston.  He was a huge part of the team for many years.  He was a three-time All Star and finished third in the MVP race in 2008. 

Another trade to fill in some more holes:

1.  1964 Topps Frank Malzone.  The highly underrated third-baseman was nearing the end of his career when this card was released.  Had he not started so late, Malzone might have been a borderline Hall of Famer.  He was coming off an All Star season when this card was released and would go to the 1964 game as well, his sixth and last.  He declined quickly after that.

2.  2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Across the Years David Ortiz.  Boston has finally found a hitter worthy of following in David Ortiz's footsteps in J.D. Martinez.  Ortiz will present a very interesting Hall of Fame debate.

3.  2014 Topps Spring Fever Dustin Pedroia.  Pedroia is the current active player of whom I have the most cards.

4.  2016 Topps Spring Fever Dustin Pedroia.

5.  2016 Bowman's Best Xander Bogaerts.  I figured out after I made this scan that I already had this card.  Whoops.

6.  2016 Bowman's Best Mookie Betts.  Will Mookie win the MVP this year?  Hopefully so.

7.  2016 Bowman's Best David Ortiz. 

8.  2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Johnny Damon.  I have noticed a lot of sets including retired players in the sets lately.  I like this trend quite a bit because I still like getting cards of players who have been gone for awhile.  Weirdly, they seem to pick a handful every year to show in multiple sets.  2017 was the year of Johnny Damon with the Red Sox apparently.

9.  2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Chris Sale.  Will Chris Sale finally win the Cy Young Award this season?  Hopefully so, but probably not with the way Luis Severino has been pitching.

10.  2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Mookie Betts. 

11.  2017 Topps Allen & Ginter David Ortiz.

12.  2017 Topps Gypsy Queen Jackie Bradley Jr.

13.  2017 Topps Archives Pedro Martinez.  Pedro appears in a lot of sets recently too.

14.  1961 Topps Gary Geiger.  Geiger was the Red Sox center-fielder in the early half of the 1960's, who might have had a better career had he not been so injury-prone.  He had his best full season in 1961 when he hit .232/.349/.407 with 18 home runs and 16 stolen bases.  He was acquired in a deal with Cleveland along with Vic Wertz for Jimmy Piersall.

15.  2017 Topps Gold Label Chris Sale.  This is the Class 1 version. 

16.  2017 Topps Gold Label Mookie Betts.  This is the Class 3 version.

And finally, the last forum trade that I have made to date:

1.  2017 Topps Chrome Negative David Ortiz.

2.  2017 Topps Chrome Negative Jackie Bradley Jr.

3.  2017 Topps Chrome Negative Dustin Pedroia.

I will have several more scans in the coming days.  My collecting has definitely slowed, but I am way behind.  Lately, I have really only been buying packs.  I have updated my wantlist, which took several days and will be updating my tradelist as well.  This may take awhile.