Lin-sane in the Membrane

Hopefully Lin will appear in Topps Update this year, or maybe even Bowman Draft.  I am running out of easy-to-find cards of him.  There are still a lot of rare parallels out there, which I am worried I have run out of time to find, but the easy stuff is mostly gone.

I was hoping that he would receive a Topps Now card over the weekend.  He was a big part of the victory on Friday night, along with Sam Travis.  Both players hit their first career Major League home runs in the game and both helped the team tie and later win the game.  Lin himself scored the winning run in the game in which Boston clinched the East on Thursday, then drove in the tying run and scoring the winning run in the game on Friday.  It was also the 105th win of the season for the Red Sox, tying a franchise record.  So I thought both players would appear on a card commemorating their first home runs leading to tying a franchise record.  Alas, it did not happen.

Lin has been used mostly as a pinch-runner since returning to the big leagues in early September.  He has a shot at a postseason slot due to his speed and infield defense.  He even started in center field on Friday.  His versatility and ability to hit for contact will be the key to staying in the Majors.  Then hopefully he will appear on more cards.

Here are the recent additions:

1.  2013 Bowman Chrome Mini Refractor.  My scanner does not do refractors much justice.  It is serial-numbered to 125.  There are still multiple colored refractors out there from this set.

2.  2018 Topps Inception Magenta.  Not all that dissimilar from the Purple card, except that this one is serial-numbered to 99 and the Purple is 150.  From Inception, I still need the orange, the 1/1 (which apparently sold on Ebay a little while ago making it unlikely that I will find it), and any printing plates.  The Orange is less rare than the Blue, so it should show up eventually.

3.  2018 Finest Autographs Blue Refractor.  This is my fourth variation of this autograph card, joining the base version, Green Refractor, and Green Wave Refractor.  The Blue is not as rare as either of the Greens, but it took several attempts to add this one.  This is my tenth Lin auto to date.

4.  2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Missing Nameplate.  This is another variation of the Gypsy Queen card.  At this rate, I might just get all of the parallels before the base card.  I should say that I have the base card coming soon, but I also have another parallel.  Which one will get here first?  Despite the fact that this is called "Missing Nameplate", it is actually the team name that is missing, directly underneath the position.  I am still missing the B/W, Red, and Black parallels, all of which are fairly rare.

5.  2013 Bowman Chrome Prospects Purple Refractor.  One of the great player collector goals is completing the Rainbow, typically Bowman Chrome Refractors.  I am concerned I may be too late to actually do this with his 2013 issue.  I now have the Purple, Green, Blue, Blue Wave, and regular Refractors on top of his base card.  I have not been able to accomplish this with any of my other player collections either.  Varitek is closest with the 2008 Bowman Chrome cards.  I just need the Red Refractor (yes, I have the Superfractor).

6.  2018 Topps Big League Black and White.  This card is serial-numbered to 50.  The Red 1/1 is the last parallel I need for this set.

That's it for now.