Fan Favorites Auto: Eddie Bressoud

One of my most anticipated sets each year is Topps Archives.  Not because I like the set itself, but because of the Fan Favorites autograph set.  Fan Favorites was one of my favorite sets when it came out in 2003 and I collected it the next two years.  It was such a cool idea.  Bringing a lot of players back that were popular, but maybe not the best players.  There were plenty of stars too.  Fan Favorites only exists at this time in the form of the autographed set in Archives, but the idea is the same.  Previous years have seen autographed Red Sox cards for players like Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, Rich Gedman, Kevin Millar, Mike Timlin, Jose Offerman and Carl Everett.  Last year's set was kind of disappointing because the only Red Sox player was the uber-short-printed Nomar Garciaparra.  I would much rather have an under-the-radar player that I can find easily.  Which brings us to 2022.

There are still two premium autographed cards.  Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs will be tough to find.  But, this Eddie Bressoud card was not.  This is exactly the kind of player I want to see.  Shortstop Bressoud played for the Red Sox from 1962 through 1965 after being acquired in a trade with the Giants for Don Buddin.  Boston got the better end of the deal as Bressoud found hitting in Fenway to his liking.  For Boston, he hit .270/.337/.435 with 57 home runs, 115 doubles and 208 RBIs.  He hit a career-high 20 home runs in 1963.  He was an All Star the next season when he hit a career-high .293/.372/.456.  The Red Sox were not great in those years, but Bressoud was a solid player.

The only complaint I have with this card is the design used.  This is the 1972 design and Bressoud was out of baseball long before then.  I think it should have been a 1963 or 1964 design.  Otherwise, this is a great card, and one of my favorites of the year.  Bressoud was definitely a surprising choice for an autograph card in 2022.