One of the things I discovered as I was inputting my Red Sox collection on to Trading Card Database is that parallels are somewhat underrepresented in my collection. There are SO many parallels out there that it is basically impossible to get all of them for just one player, much less an entire team. I add them when I can in trades, but they are not added to my wantlist because there are so many. I tend to get them more when I have a mini player collection going. I get a lot of Varitek parallels for example.
One day I was browsing Ebay and I came across a lot of 64 mostly parallel cards, all Red Sox of course. The price was a little much, but I decided to take the plunge because it seemed highly unlikely I would find a better deal like this. All of the cards were from 2020 to 2022 and came mostly from Topps Chrome and various Panini sets. 61 of the 64 cards were new to me, so that was another point in favor. So, here is the lot:
1. Alex Verdugo. It's early in the season, but Verdugo has indeed been one of the more consistent hitters on the team this year.
2. Connor Wong. Wong looks like he is slowly moving into the starting catcher role. Reese McGuire has been hitting reasonably well, but Wong has been significantly better at controlling the running game.
3. Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts has been off to a great start with his new team. Of course there was no reason to believe he wouldn't be good in the short term. The issue is what he looks like after year four of his 11 year deal.
4. Xander Bogaerts.
5. Jarren Duran. Duran has been doing well in the minors, he might get another shot in the Majors soon. It will likely be his last shot in Boston.
6. Chris Sale. Sale is finally healthy, but he is having some difficulty spotting his pitches. That has led to some rough games in the early going.
7. Trevor Story. Story's injury has caused some major issues to the team, such as Bobby Dalbec playing shortstop.
8. Nick Pivetta. Pivetta has been decent in the early going. He is trying to prove he can stick in the rotation this year, and it is an important year for that with young pitchers like Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock and Brayan Bello knocking.
9. J.D. Martinez. Martinez is another member of the 2018 World Champions to find himself on a new team this year. In his case, he is with the Dodgers.
10. Jarren Duran. There are a LOT of Duran cards in this lot.
11. Carl Yastrzemski. One of the very few retired players in this lot. Also, the only Hall of Famer.
12. Jackie Bradley Jr. JBJ is yet another 2018 World Champion on a new team. He is with the Royals.
13. Jackie Bradley Jr.
14. Andrew Benintendi. The fourth 2018 Champ on a new team, Benintendi has joined the White Sox.
15. Hirokazu Sawamura. I really liked Sawamura. He was prone to completely breaking down at times, but when he was right, he was very difficult to hit. I was disappointed to see his stint in the Majors end how it did.
16. Andrew Benintendi.
17. Nathan Eovaldi. The fifth 2018 Champ on a new team, Eovaldi is with the Rangers.
18. Luis Tiant. Will Tiant EVER make it to the Hall? His next potential shot is 2025.
19. Jackie Bradley Jr. This is probably my favorite card from the lot. This is a Blue Sparkle Refractor from 2022 Heritage High Numbers. What is weird, and seems to happen with the Chrome parallels in Heritage, is that the base is photoshopped to show JBJ with another team, in his case the Blue Jays.
20. J.D. Martinez.
21. Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber was the 2022 N.L. home run leader. He will be fondly remembered in Boston for his short stint in 2021.
22. Chris Sale.
23. Kutter Crawford. Crawford entered the season in the Red Sox starting rotation, but recently was sent down to stay stretched out as starting pitching depth.
24. Nathan Eovaldi.
25. Nathan Eovaldi.
26. Alex Verdugo. Verdugo appears several times in this lot as well, but I really welcomed that.
27. Alex Verdugo.
28. J.D. Martinez.
29. J.D. Martinez.
30. Chris Sale.
31. Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts is another player heavily represented in this lot. That has him increasing his lead over Rafael Devers, who has been quickly gaining on him.
32. Connor Wong.
33. Carl Yastrzemski.
34. Carl Yastrzemski. I kind of like this card too, especially with the parallel color scheme.
35. Xander Bogaerts.
36. Xander Bogaerts.
37. Alex Verdugo.
38. Alex Verdugo.
39. Xander Bogaerts.
40. Eduardo Rodriguez. I would like to go back and add some more E-Rod cards. I always liked him. I should have collected him more.
41. Xander Bogaerts.
42. Rafael Devers. Devers does appear a few times in this lot. He is off to a good start, which is somewhat unusual for him.
43. Jarren Duran.
44. Jarren Duran.
45. Jarren Duran.
46. Jarren Duran.
47. Connor Seabold. Seabold was acquired by Boston in the same deal as Pivetta, but Seabold struggled greatly and was released during the offseason.
48. Connor Wong. Wong might be becoming one of my favorite under-the-radar players, though I would still like to see Jorge Alfaro come up.
49. Rafael Devers.
50. Jarren Duran.
51. Alex Verdugo.
52. Roger Clemens. The last of the retired greats. Like Tiant, Clemens should be in the Hall of Fame.
53. Chris Sale.
54. Chris Sale.
55. Nathan Eovaldi.
56. Alex Verdugo.
57. Connor Seabold.
58. Connor Seabold.
59. Jarren Duran.
60. Hirokazu Sawamura.
61. Rafael Devers. This is a good way to end the lot.
So, lots of new cards and a lot of players added several cards to my collection. Here are the top gainers:
1. Jarren Duran: Eight cards. Duran has firmly entrenched himself in the top five current Red Sox players. Man, I need to add some cards of guys like Tanner Houck.
2. Tie: Alex Verdugo and Xander Bogaerts: Seven cards. It will not be too long before Rafael Devers overtakes Bogaerts, but it will not be after this. Verdugo is improving his chances of making it to 100 cards by the end of the year.
3. Chris Sale: Five cards. Sale is in second place among current Red Sox. He is not in danger of losing that spot any time soon.
After that, there were a bunch of guys between one and four cards.
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