Total Red Sox

I have mixed feelings about the return of Topps Total.  The brand meant two things to collectors: 1. player selection and 2. inexpensive.  The return does accomplish the first part, but definitely not the second one.  There are several players in the new Topps Total that do not receive many cards, but packs cost $10.00 for ten cards and are only available online.  They are also being released in nine 100 card waves so you only get ten cards from each wave.

I am tracking down the Red Sox singles and recently picked up the Wave 2 cards.  Matt Barnes and Rick Porcello are not exceedingly rare, though they usually only show up in larger sets.  For Porcello, that's odd since he is a former Cy Young Award winner.  But then there is Heath Hembree, who is the primary reason I went for this lot.  I only had one card of Hembree before and it was a Prizm card, so the team logo was airbrushed out and it came after he was acquired, so it was unlikely that it was a Red Sox card in the first place.  So, of course I went for this. 

Beyond Frustrated

Over the last couple of weeks, I have picked up several blasters.  I have picked up two blasters of Leather and Lumber, two blasters of Stadium Club, a blaster of Prizm, and then a hanger pack of Topps Series 2.  The title of the post alludes to this:

Those are all of the new Red Sox cards I have added from all of those blasters.  Just four cards (there were two duplicates).  Also, you will note that all four are from Topps Series 2.  No Leather and Lumber.  No Stadium Club.  No Prizm.  I did not pull a single Red Sox card from any of those blasters.  Not one.  It is one of my worst cold streaks.  And I'm really annoyed by it.  I know a lot of people that would say just to stop buying packs, but I love the feeling of opening a pack and finding a Red Sox card that I needed.  And I am excited about those cards that I did pull, particularly the Ted Williams insert.  So I will keep opening packs.  The streak has to end somewhere.

Here are the team totals:

NEW YORK YANKEES: 12

NEW YORK METS: 11
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 10
ATLANTA BRAVES: 9
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 9
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 9
CHICAGO CUBS: 8
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 8
MINNESOTA TWINS: 8
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 8
CINCINNATI REDS: 7
DETROIT TIGERS: 7
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 7
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 7
BOSTON RED SOX: 6
HOUSTON ASTROS: 6
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 6
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 6
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 5
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 5
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 5
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: 5
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 4
MIAMI MARLINS: 4
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 4
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 4
SEATTLE MARINERS: 4
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 3
COLORADO ROCKIES: 2
TEXAS RANGERS: 1

At least I'm not a Rangers fan.  Yeesh. 

BOSTON RED SOX: 80
ATLANTA BRAVES: 74
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 71
HOUSTON ASTROS: 69
NEW YORK YANKEES: 67
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 65
NEW YORK METS: 59
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 58
CHICAGO CUBS: 55
WASHINGTON NATIONALS/MONTREAL EXPOS: 53
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 52
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 52
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 51
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 50
DETROIT TIGERS: 48
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 48
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 47
MINNESOTA TWINS: 47
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 46
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 45
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 44
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 42
SEATTLE MARINERS: 41
COLORADO ROCKIES: 40
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 39
CINCINNATI REDS: 39
MIAMI MARLINS: 39
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 36
TEXAS RANGERS: 36
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 31
OTHER: 2

Boston remains on top even though the lead has shrunk.

Topps Series 2 Hanger Pack

I was at the store and just grabbed a hanger pack.  It said it was guaranteed to have two of the Mookie Betts inserts, so I thought why not?

Here are the Red Sox:

In half the number of cards, I pulled two more Red Sox cards than the previous blasters.  That was pretty damn impressive.  On top of the base cards of Pearce, Benintendi, and Leon, I pulled two of the Mookie inserts, a Ted Williams Iconic card reprint, and the best card of the lot: a Mookie Betts insert that also had the 150 Years parallel stamp.  Not bad at all.

Here is the breakdown:

BOSTON RED SOX: 7
MINNESOTA TWINS: 5
NEW YORK YANKEES: 4
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 4
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 3
CHICAGO CUBS: 3
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 3
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 3
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 3
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 2
ATLANTA BRAVES: 2
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 2
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 2
HOUSTON ASTROS: 2
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 2
MIAMI MARLINS: 2
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 2
NEW YORK METS: 2
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 2
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 2
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: 2
COLORADO ROCKIES: 1
DETROIT TIGERS: 1
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 1
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 1
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 1
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 1
SEATTLE MARINERS: 1
TEXAS RANGERS: 1
CINCINNATI REDS: 0

Not shocking to see Boston way in the lead here. 

BOSTON RED SOX: 74
ATLANTA BRAVES: 65
HOUSTON ASTROS: 63
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 61
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 56
NEW YORK YANKEES: 55
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 52
NEW YORK METS: 48
WASHINGTON NATIONALS/MONTREAL EXPOS: 48
CHICAGO CUBS: 47
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 47
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 45
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 44
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 44
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 44
DETROIT TIGERS: 41
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 40
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 39
MINNESOTA TWINS: 39
COLORADO ROCKIES: 38
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 38
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 37
SEATTLE MARINERS: 37
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 36
MIAMI MARLINS: 35
TEXAS RANGERS: 35
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 34
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 33
CINCINNATI REDS: 32
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 27
OTHER: 2

And the Red Sox are now way ahead: nine cards ahead of the second-place team.  The Braves once held such a lead though, so anything could happen.

Lin Card #107

This is quite the rare card.  This is the 2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Red parallel of Tzu-Wei Lin.  It is serial-numbered to just 10.  It was quite the bidding war, but I came out ahead.  Nice to add this one to the new player collection.  As I said before, hopefully Lin will make it back.  With the way Marco Hernandez has been playing though, who knows what will happen.