I heard about Cardbarrel recently and decided to take a shot at it. I will say I found it a bit difficult to navigate. I had to know exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to track down some older wantlist stuff and had to navigate by year and set. Most of the older stuff is not designated by team, so I could not simply search for "Red Sox". I likely would have gotten more stuff, but it took a long time to find the stuff I did.
Anyway, enough of that, here is what I did find:
1. Rob Woodward. Woodward was a 3rd round draft pick by the Red Sox in the 1981 draft. He spent parts of four seasons in the Majors with the Red Sox, never appearing in more than nine games. He had a 4-4 record with a 5.04 ERA in 100 innings, starting 14 out of his 24 games. He struck out 45 and walked 36. After the 1989 season, he went to the Orioles system for a couple years.
2. Jim Rice. This card completed the 1986 Sportflics team set for me. Rice had his last great season in 1986 when he hit .324/.384/.490 with 20 home runs and 110 RBIs. He had 200 hits and 39 doubles and scored 98 runs. He was an All Star and finished third in the MVP vote.
3. Dwight Evans. This card completes the 1990 Score Superstars insert (?) set. Evans was in his final season with the Red Sox in 1990. Primarily the DH, he hit .249/.349/.391 with 13 home runs and 63 RBIs.
4. Luis Rivera. 1992 Bowman has eluded me for the most part. I have still not finished the set. Rivera was one player I needed. Rivera is probably the player I liked the least when I started watching baseball in 1991. I realize now that that was kind of irrational. He had his best season in Boston in 1991 when he hit .258/.318/.384 with eight home runs and 40 RBIs.
5. Scott Taylor. Taylor was a 28th round pick in the 1988 draft. He spent parts of two seasons with the Red Sox in 1992 and 1993. In 20 games, he had a record of 1-2 with a 6.31 ERA. The southpaw pitched in 25.2 innings and struck out 15 while walking 16.
6. Jeff McNeely. This card completed the 1992 Donruss Rookies team set. McNeely was a second round pick in the 1989 draft. I was pretty excited about him early on, thinking he would be a decent hitter with a lot of speed. He ended up playing in just 21 games with the Red Sox in 1993, but he hit .297/.409/.378 with six stolen bases. He was eventually traded to the Cardinals in the deal for Luis Alicea. His 21 games were his only Major League experience.
7. Babe Ruth. I got several of the Conlon Babe Ruth Collection Red Sox cards. There are a small handful of them left. This card looks at his World Series pitching experience.
8. Babe Ruth. This one looked at his 1916 season when he led the league in ERA.
9. Babe Ruth. This one looks at his pitching duels against Walter Johnson. Ruth came out on top more often than not.
10. Babe Ruth. This card looks at his nine shutouts in 1916.
11. Babe Ruth. This card looks at his record in World Series play.
12. Babe Ruth. This card reviews Ruth's first Major League victory in 1914.
13. Babe Ruth. And this is a trivia card.
14. Nate Minchey. Minchey was the subject of several trades in his career. He started out with the Expos and was traded to the Braves before making the Majors in the deal that sent Zane Smith to the Expos. He was notably the primary return the Red Sox got when they sent Jeff Reardon to the Braves. He made his Major League debut with the Red Sox in 1993 and pitched in 13 games with the Red Sox over three seasons. He had a 3-7 record with a 6.53 ERA. He was traded to the Cardinals before the 1995 season in the same Alicea deal along with McNeely, but returned to Boston in 1996.
15. Frank Rodriguez. Rodriguez was one of the biggest prospects I remember from my earliest days of collecting. He was a two-way player and there was some question whether he would play shortstop or pitch. He eventually settled on pitching and made his way up to Boston in 1995. It was a big deal when he made his debut. Unfortunately, he did not do much in Boston, winding up with a 0-2 record and a 10.57 ERA in 15.1 innings. He was traded to the Twins at the deadline for closer Rick Aguilera, a trade that worked out for Boston. Rodriguez never became the ace he was expected to be.
16. Scott Cooper. Cooper had his first All Star season in 1993 when he took over third base from Wade Boggs. Cooper hit .279/.355/.397 with nine home runs, 29 doubles and 63 RBIs. Probably not the most deserving of All Stars.
17. Mike Greenwell. Greenwell hit .315/.379/.480 in 1993, it was his final season hitting over .300. He did finish his career with a .303 career batting average. Greenwell had 170 hits, 38 doubles, 13 home runs and 72 RBIs. Greenwell walked more than he struck out, walking 54 times versus 46 strikeouts.
18. Jose Malave. Malave was a power-hitting outfield prospect that could not make the transition to the Majors. My hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska has an independent league baseball team called the Saltdogs. I went to a game in the early 2000's I think and Malave was playing for the other team.
19. Sad Sam Jones. Jones was an underrated pitcher in the Deadball Era. He represented the primary return the Red Sox received in the trade of Tris Speaker to the Indians. In 1918, Jones led the league in winning percentage when he had a record of 16-5. He had a 2.25 ERA that season. Jones would be a 23-game winner in 1921 before he was traded to the Yankees like so many of Boston's best players in those days.
20. Bobby Doerr. With this card of the HOF second-baseman, I completed this Conlon set. I was thinking about this the other day. I wish there were sets like this still, that had a focus on baseball from prior to World War II. I would especially like to see some more stuff from the Deadball Era and the 1920's.
21. Tony Pena. Pena was an early favorite player due to his unique catching stance and his Gold Glove Award in 1991. That seemed like a very big deal to me at the beginning of my fandom. It didn't hurt that that was the last Gold Glove a Red Sox player would win until 2005. Sort of insane when you think about it.
22. Gar Finnvold. Finnvold was a 6th-round draft pick by the Red Sox in 1990. Despite poor records in the minor leagues, he had decent ERA numbers and made his ML debut in 1994. He pitched in eight games, but had a record of 0-4 and a 5.94 ERA in 36.1 innings pitched. He struck out 17 and walked 15. He had injury issues the next two seasons, and that was it for his career.
23. Ryan McGuire. McGuire was a 3rd-round pick by the Red Sox in the 1993 draft. He had decent numbers in the minors but was traded to the Expos prior to the 1996 season. He was part of the package Boston sent in exchange for Wil Cordero. McGuire did make it to the Majors, playing for six seasons with the Expos, Mets, Marlins and Orioles. He hit .211/.306/.311 with seven home runs and 55 RBIs in his career.
24. Aaron Sele. I remember Sele coming to the Majors in 1993. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting that season, behind Tim Salmon and Jason Bere. Sele was 7-2 with a 2.74 ERA in 111.2 innings pitched over 18 games. Injuries slowed his development, particularly in 1995.
25. Mike Greenwell. In 1994, Greenwell had one of his worst seasons. That year he hit .269/.348/.453 with 11 home runs, 25 doubles and 45 RBIs. He still walked more than he struck out. Greenwell had a very underrated career.
26. Greg Blosser. Blosser seemed to be an eternal prospect in the early years of my fandom. Every year there would be cards promising a great career. He was the 16th overall pick in the 1989 draft and had some huge power in the minors. He played in just 22 games in the Majors though with a .077 average and no home runs.
27. Billy Hatcher. I remember Hatcher being acquired in the 1992 season for Tom Bolton. Hatcher provided an immediate spark, stealing home in one game. He was one of my favorite, underrated players in 1993 when he hit .287/.336/.400 with nine home runs and 14 stolen bases. Hatcher was eventually traded to the Phillies in a deal for Wes Chamberlain.
28. Otis Nixon. Nixon was a huge deal to me when he was acquired. The Red Sox are not typically known for having players who steal a lot of bases. Nixon's 42 stolen bases in 1994 was the most by a Red Sox player since Tommy Harper set the then-team record of 54 in 1973. And it would be the last time a Red Sox player stole 40 until Jacoby Ellsbury's rookie season of 2008. Nixon could have broken the team record had the season not ended due to the strike, and then he was traded to the Rangers for Jose Canseco.
29. Rich Rowland. I love this Sportflics card, it has a really cool action shot that is not clear in this scan. Rowland was acquired in a deal that sent John Flaherty to the Tigers. He had a decent rookie season in 1994, hitting .229/.295/.483 with nine home runs and 20 RBIs in 46 games as the backup to Damon Berryhill.
30. Aaron Sele. And I will close out the package with another Sele card. Sele would eventually be traded to the Rangers in a deal that brought Jim Leyritz and Damon Buford to the Red Sox.
I do anticipate using Cardbarrel in the future, but I would need some significant time to find stuff.
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