New Wongs and More, Plus the Jason Varitek Quest for 1,500 (#1,002)

I will start trying to get caught up on my card posts, but this will take a long time.  I have quite a few cards to get through, many of which are Connor Wong cards. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, there exists a strong possibility that Wong may not be in Boston much longer, but I have a lot of cards of him coming up.

2022 Panini Diamond Kings DK Materials Signature.  This is the basic version of this card.  I have several parallels of it.

1.  Kenley Jansen.  Jansen looks like a potential future Hall of Famer.  He spent two seasons in Boston, and though he had kind of a rough ending with the team, he was largely successful, going 7-8 with 3.44 ERA, 56 saves and 114 strikeouts in 99.1 innings pitched.  He is still active this season and has 463 career saves as of this moment.  He has an outside shot at 500 career saves.

2.  Eduardo Rodriguez.  I still wish Boston had kept Rodriguez around, but he has continued to be inconsistent since leaving the Red Sox.  He is having a particularly rough season this year.

3.  Jason Varitek.  This is the 2003 Topps Pristine Blue Refractor.  To date, this is the last Jason Varitek card I have gotten.  I should probably remedy that.

4.  Enmanuel Valdez.  At the time of the trade of Christian Vazquez, Valdez was the player I thought was the best.  His complete inability to play defense though made it easier to move on from him.  He is currently languishing in Pittsburgh.

5.  David Hamilton.  I became a big fan of Hamilton last season after he stole 33 bases in 98 games.  He hit just enough to stay in the lineup, but got hurt later in the season.  Unfortunately he has struggled this season.

This trade featured a bunch of random base cards I needed, plus a couple of minis.  I want to talk about the minis.  The first is Bianca Smith, who made big news when she became the first black woman hired to be a coach for a professional baseball team.  She ended up only spending one season in the organization before moving on.  The Jarren Duran card is a rookie variation.  Notably I got one of these cards from this insert set in a pack, and that was Garrett Crochet.  

2022 Panini Immaculate Printing Plates Yellow.  This is pretty cool, a printing plate that is autographed and features a large three-color patch.

2022 Stadium Club Autographs Orange Foil.  This card is serial-numbered to just five.

2022 Panini Chronicles Contenders Optic Rookie Ticket Autographs Cracked Ice.  This is a card that I thought I had previously.  After figuring out I actually didn't, I decided to try to grab it.

2022 Panini Mosaic Black/Gold.  This card is serial-numbered to just eight.  

A Wong Update Plus the Jason Varitek Quest for 1,500 (#1,001)

Today I have a bunch of Connor Wong cards to show off, plus a random TCDB trade.

Up first is a bunch or rarer Panini cards:

1.  2022 Donruss Optic Photon Prizm.  I have no idea what the purpose of this parallel is, but it is another Connor Wong card.

2.  2022 Panini Chronicles Contenders Optic Pink.  This took a weirdly long time to find, but I did eventually.  It is serial-numbered to 50.

3.  2022 Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Signatures Green.  This one is serial-numbered to just five.

4.  2022 Panini Prizm Navy Blue Kaleidoscope.  I had to get this one because I got a J.T. Realmuto card in a pack.  I can't have a card of another player when I should have the Connor Wong.

Here is the trade:

1.  Mookie Betts.  Yes, I still get Mookie Betts cards.  I still hold out hope that he will wear a Red Sox cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.  At this point, I still think he had more great years with the Red Sox (including his best season, 2018) than with the Dodgers.

2.  Matt Kinney.  Kinney was a sixth-round pick of the Red Sox in 1995 and was making some progress toward the Majors when he was traded in the 1998 deal to the Twins for Greg Swindell and Orlando Merced (two players who never got Red Sox cards).  Kinney spent parts of five seasons in the Majors with the Twins, Brewers, Royals and Giants.  He had a 19-27 record with a 5.29 career ERA.  

3.  Masataka Yoshida.  He won't challenge for a batting title this season as I predicted, but he has been on fire lately.  I would still like to see him put it all together, but I kind of suspect it may not be in a Red Sox uniform.  The outfield is starting to get crowded in Boston.

4.  Triston Casas.  Casas should be back soon from a rib injury.  He won't hit 30 home runs like I predicted, but it will be great to get him back.

5.  Jason Varitek.  Here is card #1,001 of Varitek, seen jumping into Keith Foulke's arms after the groundout that sealed the 2004 World Championship, Boston's first since 1918.

6.  Kyle Weiland.  Weiland was a third-round pick by Boston in 2008 and made it to the Majors in 2011, pitching in seven games (five starts) with a 0-3 record and a 7.66 ERA.  In 24.2 innings, he struck out 13 and walked 12.  He was part of the package sent to Houston (along with Jed Lowrie) for Mark Melancon, a trade that did not work out well for Boston.  He didn't do much better with Houston.

And more Wong cards:

1.  2022 Panini Absolute Tools of the Trade 2 Swatch Gold.  I had to grab this one serial-numbered to 10.  The swatches included a red stripe and a button.  Definitely a cool card.

2.  2022 Donruss Optic Red Prizm.  This card also took a weirdly long time to find.  It is serial-numbered to 60.

3.  2022 Stadium Club Chrome Orange Refractor.  And this one is serial-numbered to 25.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #s 999 and 1,000! (Plus a Lot More)

This is one of the more eclectic maildays I have had in some time.  It was helped by the fact that it was my first mailday after some big winter storms delayed delivery for a few days (I had 18 inches of snow and was snowed in for four days).  I will get to it all, but spoiler alert: as the title says, I made it to a very big goal.

The All Aces insert set is one of the more interesting inserts I have seen in recent years.  It takes a formula that is not exactly groundbreaking (cards with playing card designs) but nevertheless results in a fantastic-looking set.  Of course I had to grab both Red Sox cards from the set: Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez.  I got to watch both of them at various times, though Clemens was not quite as dominant as he had been earlier in his career by the time I was really paying attention.

Up next is some vintage:

1.  1971 Topps Cal Koonce.  Koonce had a ten-year career in the Majors with the Cubs, Mets and Red Sox.  He was primarily a reliever and saved eleven games for the Mets in 1968.  The Red Sox purchased him from the Mets in 1970 and he went 3-4 with a 3.54 ERA in 76.1 innings, notching two saves.  The next season he was 0-1 with a 5.57 ERA in 21 innings and was released.

2.  1961 Fleer Greats Lefty Grove.  It is always a little exciting to see Grove in a Red Sox uniform.  He wears a Red Sox cap on his plaque but that always felt a little off.  He had some great seasons in Boston, but he was really at his most dominant with the A's.

Jason Varitek card #999 is from 2023 Topps Update 1988 35th Anniversary Chrome.  I have mentioned previously my preference for cards with the "C" on the chest.  Varitek has been the only official Red Sox captain during the time I have been a fan.

Like Grove, I love it when I can find Babe Ruth cards with the Red Sox.  This is the Orange Flash parallel from 2023 Panini Select.  Even better, the photo actually appears to be Ruth with the Red Sox.

2022 Stadium Club Rookie Autographs Gold Foil.  You didn't think I had stopped collecting Connor Wong did you?  Absolutely not.  Things have just slowed down as supply has dwindled.  This is a big one though: a 1/1 autograph card.  

Next is an insert lot I grabbed off of Ebay:

1.  Topps Cosmic Chrome Star Clusters Rafael Devers/Triston Casas.  Up first is a cool insert featuring two of the team's top hitters in Rafael Devers and Triston Casas.  I always liked cards with more than one player on them, even better if they were all Red Sox.  

2-5.  Yoshida!  This lot featured four new Masataka Yoshida cards for my collection.  The most interesting is definitely the pulp-like design for the Extraterrestrial Talent card from Cosmic Chrome.  

6-7.  Marcelo Mayer.  Mayer was the fourth overall pick in the 2021 Draft.  He was slowed by an injury last season but previously looked like a promising player.  This year will be very important in his development.  Boston seems to be banking on the rising talents of Mayer, Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel and Nick Yorke.

8-10.  Papi and Pedro.  These two currently hold the third and fourth spots on my list of largest Red Sox players.

1.  Lyonell James.  James was an international free agent from the 2019/2020 signing period.  He has some interesting tools, but has yet to harness them.  He is slated for A-ball in 2024.

2.  Justin Turner.  I still like to get relics of players when I can, particularly when it is someone I do not have yet.  This is my first Turner relic.  I really liked Justin Turner.  Maybe Boston can bring him back.  He was a good middle-of-the-order bat and a great clubhouse presence.

3.  Brayan Bello.  Bello, like Casas, is a rising star in my collection.  I do not have a lot of cards, but if he keeps developing, he will soon take off.

4.  Jason Varitek.  Here it is, #1,000!  This is the 2023 Topps Pristine Purple Refractor.  Now, I need to make a new goal.  Prepare for that.

1.  Ted Williams.  In 2003, after Williams's death, three Upper Deck sets featured large numbers of Williams cards as either part of the set or as an insert.  I always meant to get more of them.  I grabbed one here from Sweet Spot classic.

2.  Bill Renna.  From 1958 Topps, Renna played six years with the Yankees, Athletics (Philadelphia and Kansas City) and Red Sox.  He spent two seasons in Boston as an extra outfielder and hit .218/.315/.436 with four homers and 20 RBIs.

3.  Cy Young.  Another player I love getting cards of with the Red Sox.

4.  Mo Vaughn.  I had a couple of these inserts that I pulled from packs of 1997 Score back then.  I did not realize Vaughn had a card in the set.  I am leaning towards getting a bunch of Mo Vaughn cards.  He was one of my early favorites.

That's it for now.  There is a lot more to come as I expand back into more of a Red Sox team focus while waiting for new Connor Wong cards to come out.

Wong Update (500 Cards!) and the Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #998

The mailday roundup from January 1, 2024, my first mailday of the year, was full of Connor Wong cards.  There were some other random cards as well, such as the next step toward 1,000 Jason Varitek cards.  But, Varitek is not the only player headed for a major milestone.

 

1.  2022 Topps Chrome Logofractor Future Stars Autograph Orange.  Serial-numbered to 25, this card was graded, but I do not really care to own graded cards for the most part.  I did make an exception for my Play Ball Moe Berg card.  Surprisingly it came cheaper than I have seen other copies of this card.

2.  2022 Donruss Optic Rookie Autographs Navy Blue Cracked Ice.  I now have 19 variations of this same card.  This autograph is serial-numbered to 35.

3.  2023 Topps Heritage 1974 Stamps Carl Yastrzemski/Carlton Fisk/Rafael Devers/Jeter Downs.  Boy, Jeter Downs sticks out like a sore thumb among this group of players, doesn't he?  Yaz and Fisk are Hall of Famers and Devers is a big star.  Downs has done virtually nothing at the Major League level and is joining his fifth organization this year.  

4.  2023 Topps Chrome Update Prism Adam Duvall.  We are still waiting to see if Duvall will be a One-Year Wonder.  He started the 2023 season on fire, but then got hurt and took awhile to get going again.  He ended up hitting .247/.303/.531 with 21 home runs and 58 RBIs.  He played in just 92 games though.  It would have been interesting to see what he could have done with a full season at Fenway Park.

5.  2023 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini A&G Jason Varitek.  Varitek card #998 is a mini parallel from Allen & Ginter.  Two more to go.  

6.  2023 Donruss Dom DiMaggio.  At some point we need to try to give players some kind of credit for missing years of their career to military service.  DiMaggio accumulated 33.5 WAR during his 11-year career, but he missed three years of his prime to service in WWII.  The two years bookending that time he put up 5.4 and 4.5 WAR.  He could have easily added on an additional 12-15 WAR to his career numbers.  That would still leave him short on career WAR, but would likely push his peak closer to Hall of Fame numbers.

7.  2022 Topps Chrome Gold Wave Refractor Connor Wong.  With this card, Connor Wong is at 500 cards in my collection.  That seems utterly insane that a player with less than a full season's worth of games is at 500 cards in my collection.  Yet, here we are.

8.  2022 Panini Absolute Rookie Baseball Material Booklet Signatures Black/White Seams.  I kind of love this card with the silver ink on the black leather.  Just a striking signature.

9.  2022 Panini Prizm Red Wave Prizm.  Serial-numbered to 99, this is card #502 in the Connor Wong collection.  This is one I was kind of surprised when I saw.  I thought I would have gotten most of the higher numbered Prizm parallels.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #s 996 and 997 (Plus More)

I had to edit the last Varitek post.  That was actually card #995, not 996.  I lost count because I had already gotten #996 in by that point.

So, starting off is a TCDB trade that I worked out.  It started off as just the Varitek, but I expanded it.

1.  Jason Varitek.  Varitek card #996 is the Allen & Ginter Mini parallel.  Varitek has appeared in A&G a lot over the years, which I can definitely get behind.

2.  Luis Tiant/Nathan Eovaldi.  I had to have this insert.  I am a huge Tiant fan, even though I never saw him pitch live.  And to have him on a card with Nathan Eovaldi is great.  This card celebrates the fact that both pitchers led the league in shutouts in their respective seasons.  Tiant threw seven shutouts in 1974.  Eovaldi threw just one, but tied for the league lead, because starters almost never finish their games anymore.

3.  Kenley Jansen.  Just a base card, but I really liked Jansen this year.  I liked him even more since he achieved his landmark 400th save and was Boston's only All Star.

Up next is a random Connor Wong card:

Panini Chronicles Spectra Rookie Jersey Autographs Neon Pink.  Serial-numbered to 49.  I love the patch here.  I had to put this card in this post because I got it in between Varitek packages.

And finally, card #997, also from a TCDB trade.

Varitek card #997 is the base A&G card and is one of the short-printed cards.  Three to go.

And that's it for now.  More to come obviously.  

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #995

I have not abandoned the quest, despite the Connor Wong collection taking off.  Just slowed way down.  I am getting very close though.

Card #995 is from the Bob Ross The Joy of Baseball set.  I had to grab this one when I heard about it.  The background is a typical Bob Ross landscape scene and Varitek is seemingly walking across the river.  Very nice card and I am thrilled Varitek is in the set.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #994

I was pretty shocked when I saw that Jason Varitek appeared in the Topps Living Set.  Of course I had to grab it right away.  I am six cards away.  I have been pretty slow to add his cards since I have been spending most of my time on the other collection.  But I had to make an exception for this card.  

Wong and the Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #993

I recently had an occasion to make a two-card trade on TCDB for both of my major player collections in my Red Sox collection.  One could argue, probably factually, that my Sandy Alomar Jr. collection is my major player collection because it is wholly separate from my Red Sox collection and I have even more cards of him than any Red Sox player, including Jason Varitek.  But anyway, I got both a Connor Wong, who is the current subject of a big player collection, and Jason Varitek.

The Wong is the Panini Chronicles Contenders Optic Building Blocks parallel.  Sort of a Mosaic-like parallel.  

And card #993 in my Jason Varitek collection is the 2022 A&G Mini.  

This trade took a LONG time to get in.  I was starting to think it would not come in at all and prepared to re-buy the two cards.  I have mentioned before that I am somewhat obsessive-compulsive with my collection.  If I buy a card, I need that card to come in.  I can't stand thinking I am getting something and not get it.  That's why the ongoing lack of the Mosaic Orange Fluorescent and Heritage Red bothers me so much.  Luckily, this trade did come in, and neither card was terribly rare that they could not be replaced.

An Ebay Lot and the Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #992

I snagged another lot off of Ebay with a bunch of recent parallels, inserts and base cards from harder-to-find sets.  There were a few duplicates, but the majority of the cards were new to me, and the major reason I grabbed it was a new Jason Varitek card.  Once again, sorry for the scans.  I need a scanner.

1.  Chris Sale.  Sale is finally healthy this year.  His first couple starts have not been great, but he seems like he might be putting it together.  The Red Sox really need pitching, so if he can step up, it will be very helpful.

2.  Connor Wong.  I am really starting to like Wong.  He was injured most of Spring Training so he is still adjusting, but his defense has been impressive and he has surprising speed for a catcher.  I originally wanted him to start in the minors with Jorge Alfaro as the starting catcher, but I am quickly changing that opinion.

3.  Jarren Duran.  Duran looks like a different player this season.  Maybe he has finally put it all together and he can take advantage of his game-changing speed.  I love the photo here, celebrating a home run.

4.  J.D. Martinez.  There are quite a few Martinez cards in this lot.

5.  Bobby Dalbec.  Unlike Duran, it looks like Dalbec has still not been able to overcome his deficiencies.   He will likely be traded away like Michael Chavis was back in 2021.

6.  Xander Bogaerts.  There are quite a few Bogaerts cards in this lot.  That just means I will have to get that many more Rafael Devers cards to catch up.

7.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez card #2 in the lot.

8.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez card #3 in the lot.

9.  Chris Sale.  Sale card #2 in the lot.

10.  Trevor Story.  Story seems to be somewhat underrepresented in my collection.  His injury issues do not really help as it is often easy to forget he is even on the team.

11.  Trevor Story.  Story card #2 in the lot.

12.  Chris Sale.  Sale card #3 in the lot.

13.  Bobby Dalbec.  Dalbec card #2 in the lot.

14.  Triston Casas/Jarren Duran/C.J.Chatham.  Casas has had a slow start to the season.  Hopefully he will get it going.  Duran is on his second card in the lot.  Chatham was Boston's second round pick in 2016, but was cut loose a couple years ago.  He just never got it going.

15.  Blaze Jordan.  Jordan has a great name and massive power potential, but is still young and learning how to be a complete hitter.  It will be interesting to see whether he makes it to the Majors or not.

16.  Connor Wong.  This is Wong card #2 in the lot.

17.  Connor Wong.  This is Wong card #3 in the lot.  I will admit the number of Wong cards was a secondary reason to get this lot.  As I said, I am really beginning to like him.

18.  Jarren Duran.  This is Duran card #3 in the lot.

19.  Jarren Duran.  This is Duran card #4 in the lot.

20.  Jarren Duran.  This is Duran card #5 in the lot.

21.  Rafael Devers.  I needed that.  Not that I do not like getting Bogaerts cards, but I would prefer to get Devers cards.  I still have that 300 card goal.

22.  J.D. Martinez.  This is Martinez card #4 in the lot.

23.  Xander Bogaerts.  This is Bogaerts card #2 in the lot.

24.  Tommy Pham.  It was nice to add a Pham card too.  I liked him quite a bit and was somewhat disappointed Boston did not bring him back.

25.  Pedro Martinez.  I wonder sometimes about younger collectors' thoughts on pulling cards of retired players like this.  So many sets these days have retired players mixed in.  When I was getting into collecting, all of the sets seemed to have exclusively active players.  I think only Topps flagship is like that now, and it has a bunch of insert sets with retired players.

26.  Roger Clemens.  See?  Another one. 

27.  David Ortiz.  See?  Another one.  I love the moment this is from.

28.  Connor Seabold.  Seabold was extremely disappointing last season and was traded to the Rockies in the offseason.

29.  Carl Yastrzemski.  Here's another one.

30.  Ted Williams.  And another one.  I do love this picture though.

31.  Wade Boggs.  And another one.  This photo is interesting, showing Boggs with a bunch of chickens.  I cannot say I have seen this photo before.

32.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo has been the player I predicted he could be so far this season.  Plus, this card has the City Connect uniform.

33.  Jason Varitek.  And finally, Varitek card #992 is another parallel from 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary.  Potentially a goldmine for finding more Varitek cards.  This is the Blue Prism Refractor.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #991

I have been, I guess you could say "auditing" my collection recently.  I have been cataloguing everything on TCDB and that has led to some interesting gaps in my collection page.  Two Varitek cards appeared on my full team collection page that were not on the Varitek list page and not numbered, which led to me having two more cards than I thought I did.  I think my current count is correct.  Making this Piedmont back from 2022 Topps 206 my 991st Varitek card.

I was rather dismayed to learn that I have several cards that were not listed on TCDB, including a few buybacks and some weird stamped national oddballs of other cards.  So, my count on TCDB is 980.  I was also disappointed to learn I did not have the most Varitek cards on the site.  In fact, someone has 300 more cards.  I guess much of that can be attributed to the fact that after about 2008, Varitek was more of a secondary focus in my Red Sox collection.  I am missing a great number of parallels, particularly in recent years.

 Anyway, nine cards to 1,000.  Or 20.  Maybe.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #990

Jason Varitek card #988 comes from 2023 Topps Allen & Ginter.  This is the base short print card.  I discussed this image a bit recently.  I like that the "C" is visible on his jersey.  There really is not much more to say about this one.  10 cards to go.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #989

Card #987 comes from 2023 Topps.  This is the 1988 35th Anniversary Autographs card.  Varitek did not have a base card in the insert set.  I like the red jersey and the prominent "C" on his jersey.  I have a t-shirt jersey like this, red and with the "C".  11 cards to go.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #986, 987 and 988

One of my absolute favorite photos on a Varitek card is the 2020 Stadium Club aerial shot.  Of course I have to grab as many parallels as I can.  I recently purchased a lot that included three of the parallels I still needed.  From left to right, there is the Sepia, Chrome Refractor and Chrome Xfractor.  This gives me seven versions of this card.  It also puts me at 12 cards to go to make 1,000.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #985

I have mentioned before that my collecting goal for 2023 is to get Rafael Devers up to 300.  Well, I should add one.  I want to FINALLY make my goal of 1,000 Jason Varitek cards.  There are plenty of parallels from some of the recent singles, so I would think it is within my grasp sooner rather than later.

#985 is the mini parallel from 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter X.  15 to go.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #981 and 982

We have a two-fer today.

Up first is Jason Varitek card #981, which also happens to be card #402 for Dustin Pedroia and card #610 for Manny Ramirez.

This is the 2022 Topps Triple Threads Autograph Relic Trio Amethyst.  It is serial-numbered to 27 and contains autographs and jersey pieces for the three players I mentioned.  Ramirez, Varitek and Pedroia played together from late 2006 to mid 2008 and were starting position players on the 2007 World Championship team.

1.  Manny Ramirez.  This is my second Ramirez autograph card, I believe.  Ramirez hit .250 in the 2007 World Series.  He had a double and two RBIs.

2.  Jason Varitek.  I have no idea how many Varitek autograph cards I have.  A lot.  Varitek hit .333 in the World Series with two runs, a double and five RBI.  

3.  Dustin Pedroia.  This is my third Pedroia autograph.  He homered in his first at-bat in the World Series, which was also the Red Sox first at-bat.  He hit .278 with two runs, a double, a home run and four RBIs.

And here is card #982:

I mentioned I could get a lot of parallels from this set to add more Varitek cards.  This is the prism refractor that came four to a mega box.  This is my fourth parallel of Varitek from the set.

More Randomness and the Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #980

I bought a bunch of random singles from Burbank Sportscards recently.  Mostly, it was a way to add some cheap vintage cards, but it also added a Jason Varitek card to the collection.  There was not much rhyme or reason for most of the cards, but that's the fun of it.

1.  Dennis Bennett.  I decided the 1967 Topps set should be the next vintage team set I should collect after recently finishing the 1959 Topps team set.  Bennett was acquired in a rather poor trade from the Phillies for Dick Stuart.  After being acquired, it was learned that Bennett was hurt, but Boston chose not to revisit the trade.  Bennett spent parts of three seasons with Boston and went 12-13 with a 3.96 ERA, 166 strikeouts and 98 walks in 286.1 innings pitched.  

2.  Bob Tillman.  Tillman once held the Red Sox single season record for home runs by a catcher.  He hit 17 in a very good 1964 season.  That was eclipsed in Carlton Fisk's rookie season.  Tillman was my selection for the top Red Sox catcher of the 1960's.  He hit 49 career home runs with the Red Sox and batted .236/.307/.372.

3.  George Smith.  Smith spent just one season with the Red Sox and was the primary second-baseman in 1966.  He was not listed on my All-Time One-Year Wonder Second-Baseman post because he never played in more than 52 games in his other three seasons.  He was part of the return, along with George Thomas, when Boston sent former ace Bill Monbouquette to Detroit.  Smith hit .213/.283/.340 with eight home runs and 37 RBIs.

4.  Dan Osinski.  Osinski was acquired from the Braves along with Bob Sadowski for Lee Thomas and Arnold Earley.  Osinski spent two seasons in the bullpen with the Red Sox and was fairly impressive.  He had a 3.09 ERA in 131 innings pitched for the Red Sox and a record of 7-4.  He struck out 82 and walked 42.  His ERA in the Impossible Dream season was a terrific 2.54.  Despite that, he was released early in the 1968 season.

5.  Reggie Smith.  This is a slightly newer card of one of the most underrated players in baseball history, Reggie Smith.  I still think he has a possible Hall of Fame argument.  He just needs to get onto an Eras Committee ballot.  In 17 seasons, he hit .287/.366/.489 with 314 home runs and 1,092 RBIs.  With Boston, he hit .281/.354/.471 with 149 home runs and 536 RBIs.  He was an All Star twice and won his only Gold Glove in Boston.

6.  Jim Rice.  I was supposed to get this card in a package last year and never received it, so I had to buy it.  This is an oddball card from 1992 and I like the embossed design.  Rice of course is a Hall of Famer with the Red Sox.  Not that there is any competition.  

7.  Mike Lowell.  Lowell was the 2007 World Series MVP when he hit .400/.500/.800 with three doubles, a home run and four RBIs.  He also stole a base and scored six runs.  Lowell spent five seasons with the Red Sox and hit .290/.346/.468 with 80 home runs and 374 RBIs.  He was an All Star in 2007 and finished fifth in the MVP vote.  

8.  Alex Gonzalez.  I had been looking for this card for awhile.  Gonzalez was with the Red Sox in 2006 and then in 2009.  He had a reputation for being a glove-first shortstop.  In his first season, Gonzalez hit .255/.299/.397 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs, certainly living up to his reputation.  He did better in his second stint, hitting .284/.316/.453 in 44 games.  He hit five home runs and drove in 15 runs.  

9.  Manny Ramirez/Jason Varitek.  Here is the Varitek card from the Cut from the Same Cloth insert set.  I have a lot of these cards with Varitek paired with a couple of different players and several different colored parallels.  It is honestly surprising I did not have this one.  Yes, Manny Ramirez is on the card too.  Ramirez and Varitek were both on the 2004 and 2007 World Championship teams.  Ramirez was the 2004 World Series MVP.

10.  George Thomas.  I mentioned Thomas when I talked about George Smith.  They were acquired together.  Thomas spent six years in Boston primarily as a bench outfielder.  He never reached 70 games played in Boston.  His best season was 1970, when he hit .343/.420/.485.  In Boston, he hit .264/.338/.370 with nine home runs and 49 RBIs.

11.  Eddie Bressoud.  I talked about Bressoud recently.  After getting the Fan Favorites auto, I decided I should add another Bressoud card.  It is just my third Bressoud card, and the first one from his playing days.  This is the 1964 card, which is the year he made his only All Star team.

12.  Fred Lynn.  And closing things out with a Kellogg's card.  I love these oddball cards.  I would love it if we could get food issue oddballs again, but with the current climate of the sports card industry, that seems unlikely.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #979

Card #979 comes from 2022 Topps 206.  Am I the only one that is a little frustrated with all of the online-only sets?  What I do like about this card is that it is mini-sized, the size of the original T206 cards.  It certainly captures the feel of the cards.  An interesting thing I noticed is that Varitek's jersey does not feature the "C" for Captain on this card.  That seems a little surprising.  21 to go.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #978

Like the last two Varitek cards, #978 comes from 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary.  This is the Rose Gold Mini Diamonds parallel, which is kind of a mouthful.  This is the rarest of my Varitek parallels from this set so far, as it is numbered to 75.  It is also thus far the last of the Varitek cards I have gotten from this set.  Seems like there is some major room to add on here.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #977

This is the Aqua Wave Refractor of Jason Varitek, card #977.  23 to go.  I could probably make it up just by chasing a bunch of these parallels.  I don't think that's quite true, but there are a LOT of parallels from this set.  This is my second variation of this card.  There will be another one soon, but that's all I have so far.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #976

As you may have noticed, the numbers have changed on this post.  I went back through my list and determined there were a few team cards still on it that I thought I eliminated a long time ago.  So, back to #976.

This is from 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary, a set that inexplicably came out in summer of 2022.  This was a huge set with 37 Red Sox cards among the base set.  It was almost evenly split between current players (as in 2021 members of the team) and retired greats, or semi-greats.  There are some off-the-wall choices in the set, but I will get to some of those at a later time.  What is important is that Jason Varitek appears and there are a LOT of parallels.