2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Lot

I showed off the Jason Varitek card the other day.  I determine this was a set that I had to try to get for the Red Sox.  It featured a number of off-the-wall players from the past, some obvious legends, and a sizable contingent of players from the 2021 roster.  So, to begin with, I bought a decent-sized lot of the base cards.

1.  Ted Williams.  What is there really to say about Williams that hasn't been said a million times?  If you're going to have a representative sample of the team's history, you HAVE to include Williams who is the all-time franchise player.  I do not see his throne being usurped any time soon.

2.  Luis Tiant.  I still think it is a travesty that Tiant is not in the Hall of Fame.  I had some hope after the Eras Committees voted in the likes of Jack Morris, Harold Baines, Jim Kaat and others.  Then they went and changed the way the Eras Committees look, which will make it more difficult.

3.  Mo Vaughn.  Often forgotten about these days is how great of a hitter Vaughn was with the Red Sox.  Beyond just his extraordinary power which saw him hit 230 home runs for the Red Sox.  Vaughn hit .304/.394/.542 and had two 200 hit seasons.  He struck out a lot, but also walked a lot.  He was a terrific hitter who, I believe, would have been a Hall of Famer had he stayed in Boston and continued lining hits off the wall.

4.  Carlton Fisk.  Fisk is the team's all-time greatest catcher and a Hall of Famer.  He won the Rookie of the Year unanimously in 1972.  His defense seems to have been underrated though as he won just one Gold Glove in his entire career.

5.  Fred Lynn.  Like Vaughn, Lynn is another player who might have been a Hall of Famer had he stayed in Boston and stayed healthy.  Lynn was a phenom immediately upon making the Majors and is the first player to have won MVP and Rookie of the Year the same year.  Lynn was hitting .308/.383/.520 with 124 home runs, 521 RBIs and 43 stolen bases when he was traded to the Angels.  He won the batting title in 1979.

6.  Bobby Doerr.  Doerr is a Hall of Famer, but he had to be elected by the Veteran's Committee 35 years after his retirement.  This is partly due to having an abbreviated career that was ended by injuries.  Doerr was a terrific hitter for a second-baseman in that era, hitting .288/.362/.461 with 223 home runs.  He drove in more than 100 runs six times.  Had he had a lengthier career, he might be high among the top second-basemen of all time.

7.  Kevin Millar.  This is one of the off-the-wall choices, but Millar has been in some sets since his retirement from baseball.  Millar spent three seasons with the Red Sox after they snagged him prior to a sale to a Japanese team.  He was a good hitter who fit the Moneyball model of a player who could get on base, which was such a big thing at the time.  He hit .282/.362/.451 with Boston and had some big clutch moments in 2004, such as the base hit off Mariano Rivera setting up the blown save in Game 4 of the ALCS.

8.  Rafael Devers.  By default, Devers has taken over as the largest current player in my collection.  I already have over 200 cards of him as of writing this (there are a lot in coming posts).  He is not far behind Xander Bogaerts or Mookie Betts right now and could start to make a run at Dustin Pedroia.  Devers was named the 2022 Red Sox MVP last night.  He is the player the organization has chosen to build around in the future.

9.  Alex Verdugo.  There was some concern that Verdugo would be traded this offseason.  I have said before and I will say again, he could be a breakout candidate this season.  I think he started to really put it together in the second half of last season and became a very good contact hitter.  I think he will build on that this season.

10.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez will be re-joining Mookie Betts with the Dodgers in 2023.  He declined shockingly in 2022, only managing to hit .274 with 16 home runs, though he did manage 43 doubles.  That is not the Martinez I will choose to remember for his time in Boston though.  The 2018 Martinez was a one-man wrecking crew that won two Silver Sluggers the same year.  

11.  Christian Vazquez.  One of the more devastating departures for me personally.  I have been a big fan of Vazquez for a long time and I really feel like he wanted to stay in Boston.  His final Red Sox numbers were a line of .262/.311/.389 with 54 home runs and 266 RBIs.  He had many clutch moments, in particular his walk-off home run against the Rays in Game 3 of the ALDS in 2021.

12.  Xander Bogaerts.  Another shocking departure, Bogaerts will play with the Padres in 2023.  He is seemingly on a potential Hall of Fame track, but just look back at Mo Vaughn and Fred Lynn from this post to see players that declined after leaving Boston.  Bogaerts played longer before leaving the team though, so he may not have as much to prove yet.  He leaves with a line of .292/.356/.458 with 156 home runs and 683 RBIs.  

13.  Danny Santana.  Sort of an unusual choice for a 2021 set that came out in 2022.  Santana did not provide much during his brief stint with Boston, but he did score the decisive run in the ALDS against the Rays.  Otherwise, he hit .181 with five home runs for the Red Sox, not quite what they were hoping for.

14.  Hunter Renfroe.  Renfroe exceeded expectations in what turned out to be his only season with the Red Sox.  He hit .259/.315/.501 with 31 home runs and 96 RBIs and for a time looked like an obvious Gold Glover.  He was shockingly traded away to the Brewers after the season in a deal that has yet to make much sense.  He had a similar season with the Brewers and Boston could have used his bat in 2022.  The Brewers then traded him to the Angels in an even more confounding deal.

15.  Roger Clemens.  Clemens should be a Hall of Famer.  He is arguably one of the greatest pitchers of all time.  He turned in a record of 192-111 with the Red Sox, tying the all-time team wins mark with Cy Young.  He had an ERA of 3.06 and struck out 2,590 batters in 2,776 innings pitched with 856 walks.  He won three Cy Young Awards, an MVP and was an All Star five times.  He is the likely the greatest pitcher in team history.

16.  Martin Perez.  It was shocking that Perez ended up an All Star and a Cy Young candidate in 2022 with the Rangers.  After all, he spent the previous two years in Boston pitching to a 10-13 record with a 4.65 ERA.  In 164 innings, he struck out 143 batters while walking 64.  I always liked him and felt like he was better than he was showing in Boston.  2022 proved me correct, but I do not think he will have another year like it.

17.  Nathan Eovaldi.  I talked a bit about his career yesterday, so I will instead talk about Eovaldi's postseason career today.  In eleven games, he is 4-3 with a 3.14 ERA.  He has pitched 43 innings in the postseason and struck out 41 while walking just eight.  One of those losses was the extra-inning relief outing in the World Series against the Dodgers.  He has rightfully developed a reputation for being a good big-game pitcher.  He will pitch for the Rangers in 2023.

18.  Eduardo Rodriguez.  This is another player I was upset to see leave.  Rodriguez seemed to be coming into his own in 2019 when he finished sixth in the Cy Young vote after going 19-6 with a 3.81 ERA and 213 strikeouts.  He missed the entire 2020 season due to health issues, then bounced back in 2021, going 13-8 with a 4.74 ERA and 185 strikeouts.  Then he left for Detroit.  That hasn't gone real well for him yet, due to some personal issues though.

19.  Tanner Houck.  Houck is an intriguing pitcher.  He could start, pitch in the bullpen for multiple innings or close.  He has done all three in his short time with Boston.  It would be nice for the team to figure out how best to maximize his ability.

So that's it for this lot.  I still have a LONG way to go on this set too.