A Stop at the LCS

I was in my hometown yesterday doing some holiday shopping and decided to stop off at the LCS that I spent a lot of time at growing up.  He used to hold Red Sox cards for me, but has since stopped doing that since I am there so rarely.  That's disappointing, but I can usually still find something to spend my money on.  This time, I decided to focus on one of the vintage binders.  And boy, did I find some nice stuff.

Behold:

1.  1966 Topps Rico Petrocelli.  I think Topps should bring back the giant trophy for the All Star Rookie Team.  Man, that thing was cool.  Petrocelli had a decent rookie season in 1965, hitting .232/.309/.412 with 13 home runs and 33 RBIs, not bad for a rookie shortstop in those days.  He was a fantastic fielder though.  A few years later he would start hitting for a ton of power for a shortstop.

2.  1968 Topps Jim Lonborg.  This is a league leader card for victories.  Lonborg tied for the league lead with 22 en route to his Cy Young Award.  Earl Wilson, who had been with the Red Sox into the 1966 season was second.

3.  1968 Topps Reggie Smith.  Another card with the trophy.  I have been thinking a lot about Smith's career since Harold Baines was elected to the Hall of Fame.  I have long thought that Smith was dropped off the ballot far too soon.  He was a terrific player who finished with a line of .287/.366/.489 with 314 home runs, 1,092 RBIs, and 137 stolen bases.  He was also a terrific defensive player.  He is possibly a borderline case, but I think he should be reconsidered.

4.  1973 Kellogg's Carlton Fisk.  I had to do some checking on this one.  I did not realize this was a Kellogg's card because it is not the same kind of material the Kellogg's cards were known for.  Still, I am thrilled to add this card of the Hall of Famer.

5.  1974 Topps Tommy Harper/Lou Brock.  This is another League Leader card.  This was one just nine times a Red Sox player led the league in stolen bases (Ellsbury 3x, Harper, Jensen, DiMaggio, Werber 2x, Myer).  Harper's 54 steals was a team single season record until Jacoby Ellsbury stole 70 in 2009.   

6.  1979 Kellogg's Carl Yastrzemski.  This was the last 1979 Kellogg's card I needed to complete the team set.   Previously I had Eckersley, Evans, Lynn, and Rice.

I was definitely happy with the vintage additions.  But I wanted to see if I could get some stuff out of packs.  He had jumbo packs of Bowman Draft and was having a sale on older boxes.  I took a chance on 2017 Topps Update, with the hopes that I would add a rare Lin parallel and maybe some inserts that I still needed.  I also still needed three base cards.

1.  2017 Topps Update Sam Travis.  Here was the first of the three base cards I needed.  I do not expect Travis to be with the team much longer.  He is likely to be leapfrogged on the depth chart by Josh Ockimey and Michael Chavis.

2.  2017 Topps Update Ben Taylor.  Taylor was kind of a nice story in 2017, surprising everyone by making it on the opening day roster.  But Boston removed him from the 40 man roster and the Indians claimed him.

3.  2017 Topps Update Salute Andrew Benintendi.  This ended up being the only insert I pulled for the Red Sox that I needed.  This same shot appears on a Benintendi insert in 2017 Topps Fire.

4.  2017 Topps Update Andrew Benintendi.  And this was the last base card I needed.  Benny is currently a handful of cards behind Tzu-Wei Lin, but I expect him to skyrocket in number of cards next year.

5.  2017 Topps Update Craig Kimbrel AS VAR.  This is my favorite card I pulled.  This is one of those photo variations.  I tried to add this card awhile ago, but could not work anything out.  I am absolutely thrilled about this one.

6.  2018 Bowman Draft Nick Decker.  The only Red Sox card I pulled from Bowman Draft was a pretty good one.  Decker has some big raw power.  He did not play much since being drafted, but he is quite young and has plenty of time to develop into a power-hitting outfielder.

So this was a nice, successful trip.  The Kimbrel is my favorite card I pulled, and one of my favorite pack pulls in a long time.  It is kind of a toss-up between it, the Petrocelli, the Smith, or the Fisk as to which my absolute favorite addition is, but it is hard to beat the Kimbrel.  Nothing beats the feeling of pulling a good card from a pack.