Failed Prospects Pt. 3: Greg Blosser

Since I have been a fan, there have been several players with huge expectations in the Red Sox minor league system. Some of these players, such as Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra, Trot Nixon, Jon Lester, and others meet those expectations. Others are not as fortunate.

GREG BLOSSER
Greg Blosser was the Red Sox first draft pick in the 1989 draft (16th overall), even picked before Mo Vaughn. That draft produced a lot of busts and Blosser is certainly worthy of being included with the likes of Tyler Houston, Roger Salkeld, Jeff Jackson, Donald Harris, Paul Coleman, Earl Cunningham, and others. Blosser's big weapon was power. He was expected to be the Red Sox left-fielder of the future, eventually taking over for Mike Greenwell.

In 1990, Blosser hit 18 home runs for Single A Lynchburg. He had a down season in 1991, but hit 22 for New Britain in 1992 and 23 for Pawtucket in 1993. He was brought up to the Majors for the first time in 1993. He had 30 at-bats for Boston in 1993 and only had one extra-base hit, a double and one RBI.

In 1994, he hit 17 home runs again for Pawtucket and made it back to Boston for 15 more at-bats. This time, he could not manage a single extra base hit. Blosser would never make it back to the Majors. His MLB line: .077/.200/.103/.303. Pretty bad. Blosser bounced around for several teams in the minors, continuing to hit lots of home runs, but never making it back.

That is a bust.

One-Card Wonder Pt. 3: Chris Nabholz

For whatever reason, sometimes I am only able to find one card of certain players. To be considered a One-Card Wonder, a player must have been active since 1991 (when I started paying attention).

CHRIS NABHOLZ
I am pretty sure this is the only Red Sox card of Chris Nabholz in existence. Nabholz was supposed to be a rising star with the Expos in the early 1990's. He never really developed into the kind of pitcher he was supposed to be though. The Expos traded him to the Indians before the 1994 season for two minor leaguers who never panned out.

During 1994, the Indians sent Nabholz and Steve Farr to the Red Sox for Jeff Russell. Nabholz only pitched in eight games with Boston, going 3-4 with a 6.64 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 42 innings and 29 walks. The Red Sox non-tendered him at the end of the season and he caught on with the Cubs for 34 unimpressive games in relief.

One-Year Wonder Pt. 4: Hideo Nomo

Every once in awhile, the Red Sox pick up a veteran player for a year, or just the stretch run that was a star at one point that I become fascinated with. It's a player that is basically only a role player at that point in their career, but may show flashes of their old brilliance. It's so unusual to see them as a member of the Red Sox, that I try to find as many of their cards as possible. This series will be about some of those players.

HIDEO NOMO
Hideo Nomo was a sensation in 1995 with the Dodgers. He was the first Japanese pitcher to make a major impact at the Major League level. His pitching windup was kind of funky and lead to a lot of strikeouts. He even pitched a no-hitter, in Colorado of all places. Unfortunately, by the time he came to the Red Sox, he was at a bit of a career crossroads. He had bounced from the Dodgers to the Mets to the Brewers to the Tigers in the previous three years and was not putting up the numbers he put up his first three seasons in LA.

The Red Sox signed Nomo as a free agent to help stabilize the rotation after Pedro Martinez. Nomo would go on to be the team's top starter that year, due mostly to Pedro's injury, but he did have a good year.

Nomo went 13-10 with a 4.50 ERA. He lead the American League in strikeouts with 220 and strikeouts per nine innings with 10.0. He also lead the league in walks with 96. His WAR was 2.9. Nomo also pitched the first Red Sox no-hitter since 1965 (Dave Morehead) against the Baltimore Orioles in his first start of the season. It was certainly a decent year.

I was very disappointed when Boston did not bring Nomo back in 2002. They could have used him, as John Burkett, who was signed to basically replace Nomo, did not have as good of a year as Nomo did for the Dodgers in 2002.

Baseball Card Spotlight: Topps Fan Favorites

One of my favorite sets of all time was the Topps Fan Favorites sets. Topps had been doing Archives for a couple of years and then decided to take things in a slightly different direction. The decision was to continue with the idea of Archives, but to feature cards of players who were fan favorites and put new pictures on old card designs. The idea was fresh and original. The company also decided to include autograph versions of most of the cards. The players were a collection of stars, minor stars, and players who were beloved by the fans. 2003 As I mentioned, I really liked this set. I bought three retail boxes of the 2003 set and eventually compiled all of the Red Sox from the set in those boxes, not often that I can do that. The Red Sox that year included: 21 Carlton Fisk 48 Dwight Evans 54 Luis Tiant 73 Jim Piersall 77 Fred Lynn 78 Jim Rice 121 Carl Yastrzemski 147 Wade Boggs All of those players also have autographs in the set. But then there was a card that did not have a non-autographed base version, Bill Lee.There were also game-used cards of Jim Rice and Fred Lynn in the set. The only disappointment I had was that the original autograph checklist included Oil Can Boyd and Mike Greenwell, who were never actually released. 2004 The next year, the company released another set. That year, the team set for the Red Sox was not nearly as large, only four cards this time. 17 George Scott 75 Carl Yastrzemski 103 Dennis Eckersley 112 Jim Rice I bought a hobby box of this product and it was pretty easy to get all of the Red Sox this time. I also managed to get the George Scott autograph card in the box. 2005 2005 was the last year Topps produced Fan Favorites. It was the only year I did not pick up any packs of the set, so I bought all the cards myself. The set was more varied for the Red Sox this year, and there were more than in 2004, but not as many as 2003. The Red Sox team set was: 69 Jim Lonborg 78 Carl Yastrzemski 97 Johnny Pesky 101 Marty Barrett 125 Wade Boggs 141 Theo Epstein The inclusion of Epstein was definitely interesting. I bought the autograph card of Marty Barrett. Unfortunately, Topps stopped doing Fan Favorites the next year. I would have liked to see them continue as it was a great set. Some players I wanted to see: Mike Greenwell Oil Can Boyd Bruce Hurst Ellis Burks Reggie Smith Jackie Jensen Ted Williams Frank Malzone Dick Radatz Dom DiMaggio Ken Harrelson Tony Conigliaro Rico Petrocelli

Boxscore: May 26, 2006 Red Sox 8 vs. Devil Rays 4

This is the only game so far that I have attended at Fenway Park.

My parents took me to Boston as a gift for graduating from law school. We spent a long weekend there doing a bunch of tourist stuff. The main reason for going though was to see this game. We were lucky to see a game at all as it was raining pretty hard immediately before the game.

David Wells started the game and pitched pretty well for 4.1 innings until being taken out after a line drive caught him in the knee. He gave up five hits and one earned run on a home run to Carl Crawford. Julian Tavarez came in to pitch 2.1 innings to pick up the win. He gave up two more runs. Keith Foulke pitched .1 innings and gave up another run. Rudy Seanez then came in to pitch 1.2 innings and handed it off to Jonathan Papelbon, the rookie closer who saved the game, getting the last out. The Red Sox bullpen got the job done, but it was pretty ugly. That was not a good year for the bullpen other than Papelbon.

The offensive star was Mike Lowell who had three hits, including a home run and a double. He drove in two runs. David Ortiz also added a double and single, driving in four. The other two runs were driven in by Mark Loretta and Trot Nixon. Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, and Wily Mo Pena each had a single and a run. Alex Gonzalez had three hits and a run. Manny Ramirez also had a single and Willie Harris appeared as a defensive replacement for Pena.

All in all, this was a great game and is still the only time I have been to Fenway Park.

Search for BoSox Pt. 4: Topps Million Card Giveaway

Topps Million Card Giveaway is a promotion that has been going for on for this year in which the company inserts promo cards with a code to redeem for an original Topps card. I have not been buying too many packs this year, so I only had two of these redemption cards. Several months ago I redeemed them and these were the cards that I won:

As you can see, nothing terribly interesting.

Rod Gaspar was a Mets outfielder who played 118 games in 1969 at all three outfield positions. He was not a terribly good hitter and was mostly just a backup option. He never played close to as often again. I had never heard of Gaspar before.

Pete Rose Jr. is famous for being Pete Rose's son. He had 16 at bats in the Major Leagues with the Reds and was never heard from again. Despite this, he still managed to get into some legal trouble for steroid use.

Well, I was not terribly happy with these pickups and did not do much with them. I left the website alone for a long time.

Last week though, I decided to look closer at the site and I realized that I could trade my cards for something else. So, I went through the process and identified several cards I would have liked and offered trades. Most of them were fairly preposterous, and were rejected right away.

I turned down a trade offer for a 1988 Topps George Brett and I ended up trading the Gaspar for this:
Gerry Moses was a Red Sox catcher who played in the All Star Game in 1970. Expect a post about him, as this was definitely a questionable choice. Still, trading a Mets card of a player I have never heard of for a vintage Red Sox card is pretty good for me.

I ended up trading the Rose for this:
I honestly did not think I would get anything for this one, and just offered it up for virtually anything I could. Ripley only pitched in 31 games for the Red Sox in two years, going 5-6 with a 5.36 ERA, 60 strikeouts in 137.2 innings with one save. Not terribly impressive. But again, getting it for a Pete Rose Jr. card from 1998 made me pretty happy.

In hindsight, I was pretty lucky to get anything before 1987, when card production got pretty out of control. I was very lucky to trade the Rose for anything at all. I did have the cards shipped to me, so I could include them in my collection. I am looking forward to getting some more of these redemptions. I have some cards I would really like to try for.

Adrian Beltre wins Silver Slugger

Link.

Adrian Beltre won the Silver Slugger Award today. He was the only Red Sox player to win one, marking the tenth year in a row that a Red Sox player won one. Congratulations Mr. Beltre. Now hopefully, Boston will re-sign him. I loved watching him this year.

Unknown Heroes Pt. 4: Rich Garces

El Guapo, as Rich Garces was known, was a middle reliever with what could charitably be called a weight problem. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, Garces was hugely popular with Red Sox fans, a bit of a cult hero to be honest. He was a bit of a jolly heavyset man.

Garces was picked up off the scrap heap prior to the 1996 season to serve as another option in the bullpen. He eventually pitched in 37 games, with a bad ERA, but a great strikeout ratio. He then pitched in only 12 games the next year but he bounced back to have a good year in 1998. After being re-signed as a free agent after the 1998 season, Garces had a huge year in 1999. He went 5-1 with a 1.55 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 40.2 innings. It was in 1999 that Garces's popularity grew.

In 2000, Garces had his best record, 8-1, but his ERA increased. However, he did strike out 69 in 74.2 innings. He was once again good in 2001, though his numbers continued to slide a bit. 2002 was a bad year and Garces was released in August. His popularity remained, but he never again pitched in the Major Leagues.

Underrated Seasons: Trot Nixon 2003

Trot Nixon put up some big years, which were not really noticed. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that he was often replaced in the lineup due to having some problems with left-handed pitching. Nevertheless, he really had some great years and 2003 was the best of them.

In 2003, Nixon put up a slash line of .306/.396/.578/.975, all of which were career highs, by a significant margin. Nixon also 28 home runs, a career high, and drove in 87 runs. He also walked 65 times. Nixon's OPS+ was 149 and his WAR was 3.7, those are big-time numbers. Yet, Nixon was neither an All Star, nor a Silver Slugger, and he did not garner a single MVP vote, despite playing for a playoff-bound Red Sox team.

Defensively, Nixon struggled a bit in 2003, despite being otherwise a great defensive player. Still, Nixon had a big year at the plate and was not really noticed much for it.

Feature: The Secret to Being a Great Closer in the 1980's/1990's

I have always been a fan of closers. I am not really sure why, but next to catcher, closer is my favorite position. Maybe because there are so few really good ones. It takes a lot of talent to put together a Hall of Fame career, or even a long-lasting career as a closer.

That being said, the Red Sox when I first started watching were on a pretty good hot streak with closers. They had a lot of good ones.

Let's look at some of these players:

LEE SMITH (1988-1990)
Lee Smith was a mountain of a man, and an incredibly intimidating presence on the mound. He was acquired from the Cubs for Calvin Schiraldi and Al Nipper before the 1988 season and put up some big numbers for the Red Sox. In 2+ seasons with Boston he went 12-7, with a 3.05 ERA, 209 strikeouts in 168.2 innings, and 58 saves. He was traded to the Cardinals for Tom Brunansky during the 1990 season, a trade that was not particularly great for Boston.

JEFF REARDON (1990-1992)
Signed as a free agent from the Twins before the 1990 season, his signing necessitated the trade of Smith. He was not quite as good as Smith though, going 8-9, with a 3.41 ERA, 109 strikeouts in 153 innings, and 88 saves. Reardon did break the team record for saves in a season in 1991 when he saved 40 and was selected to the All Star Game that year. The next year, Reardon broke Rollie Fingers's career record for saves, which was soon surrendered to former teammate Smith. Reardon was traded to the Braves during the 1992 season for Nate Minchey and a minor leaguer.

JEFF RUSSELL (1993-1994)
Jeff Russell was signed as a free agent from the Athletics and was part of the overhaul of the Red Sox in 1993. Russell had a good year in 1993, going 1-4 with a 2.70 ERA, 45 strikeouts in 46.2 innings, and 33 saves. His numbers completely fell off a cliff in 1994 though and he was traded to the Indians for Chris Nabholz and Steve Farr.

RICK AGUILERA (1995)
Rick Aguilera was picked up from the Twins in July of 1995 for the stretch run since the Red Sox were in contention and really did not have a closer. Aguilera went 2-2, 2.67, with 23 strikeouts in 30.1 innings, and 20 saves, almost single-handedly saving the team's season. He was allowed to leave as a free agent after the year and returned to the Twins.

So, what is the secret to being a great closer from 1988-1995? Look closely:





IT"S THE FACIAL HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Papelbon, take note.

Hall of Fame Worthy? Pt. 2: Dom DiMaggio

The Hall of Fame has inducted many players who were borderline choices, and many players who deserve induction have been on the outside looking in. I want to look at some players to determine if they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

DOM DIMAGGIO
There was a big push in recent years to try to get Dom DiMaggio into the Hall of Fame via the Veterans' Committee. But, is it really warranted?

Dom DiMaggio was a good player. He was an excellent contact hitter with some speed. He was also well-regarded as a fine fielder. He had a career OPS of .802, which is pretty decent considering he was never really a power hitter. His slash line was .298/.383/.419. Certainly good numbers, especially considering he played a prime defensive position, center field. DiMaggio twice lead the league in runs, and lead the league in triples and stolen bases once. He was also a seven-time All Star. He walked significantly more often than he struck out (750 bases on balls, compared to 571 strike outs). Only in his last season, when he played only three games, was he below-average from an OPS+ point of view. So, he was definitely a good player, and he was a part of several very good Red Sox teams.

However, DiMaggio's career was only 11 seasons. He did miss three years during what would have been the prime of his career when he was serving the country in World War II. Who knows what DiMaggio's numbers may have looked like if he had played those other three seasons. He did not have much power, 14 home runs was his career high and he only once hit more than 10 otherwise. Even though he lead the league in stolen bases one year, that number was only 15 as players did not steal nearly as often in his time period. His career high was 16.

THE VERDICT
When it comes down to it, DiMaggio was a very good player who did not play long enough to put together the kind of stats needed to gain entry into the Hall of Fame. If he had played those additional three seasons that he lost to wartime service, we may be having a different discussion. As much as I would love to see him inducted, it will not happen. His recent death also makes it unlikely that he will get more consideration.

Questionable All Stars Pt. 2: Jose Offerman

The All Star selection process is such a subjective procedure that sometimes deserving players get left off. Then there are times when players who do not deserve to be All Stars are named to the team.

JOSE OFFERMAN
The Red Sox made a controversial decision prior to the 1999 season. They were not able to bring Mo Vaughn back and then-GM Dan Duquette decided to replace him with light-hitting Jose Offerman. Offerman was coming off a season for the Royals in which he hit .315/.403/.438, lead the league in triples, and stole 45 bases. It was certainly a good year for Offerman, although he was a defensive liability at second base.

Duquette signed Offerman to an insane four-year contract worth around seven million a year. He was lambasted in the press for the contract. Offerman started off the 1999 season scorching hot though, hitting .330/.405/.497 at the end of May. He slumped in June and July though and was at .273/.352/.402 at the All Star break. Based almost completely on his first two months of play, Offerman was named to the All Star team as a reserve second-baseman.

Offerman would go on to a season line of .294/.391/.435, certainly decent numbers. He was a good leadoff hitter, drawing 96 walks against 79 strikeouts. He also hit eight home runs and stole 18 bases. He was caught stealing 12 times and his defensive numbers were once again terrible though. Offerman was a good player in 1999, but it is hard to make the argument that he deserved to be an All Star. The fact that he played second base for a well-regarded team certainly helped him. It is also important to remember that Offerman was an All Star before, in 1995 with the Dodgers.

Offerman remained with Boston into the 2002 season, but he was never nearly as good at the plate as he was in 1999. His defensive numbers did improve, but that was mostly due to playing increasingly at first base. However, his bat was incredibly anemic for a first-baseman, so he became increasingly useless. He also mysteriously stopped stealing bases, stealing zero in 2000, five in 2001, and eight in 2002 before he was finally sent out of town.

Busts Pt. 2: Ivan Calderon

Sometimes, offseason acquisitions work out. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes, they are spectacular failures.

IVAN CALDERON
Ivan Calderon was part of the big makeover of the Red Sox in 1993. He was brought in to play right field and designated hitter, sharing both positions with fellow new acquisition Andre Dawson. In the late 1980's/early 1990's, Calderon was viewed as a decent five tool player. He hit for power, could steal bases, had decent contact skills and a good batting eye, and he was pretty good in the field. Calderon was an All Star in 1991 while with the Expos, but he was injured for much of the year in 1992.

The Red Sox acquired him anyway, buying low on him and only giving up Terry Powers and Mike Gardiner, neither of whom did much after that. Calderon though, continued to have injury problems and only played in 73 games. He was still a good defensive player putting up a WAR number on defense of 1.0, but his hitting stats were atrocious. Calderon went .221/.291/.291 with only one home run and 19 RBIs. He did steal four bases, but was also caught twice. Calderon was released in August and hooked back up with the White Sox, but it was clear his career was over.

Calderon was murdered in 2003 when he was shot seven times in the back and head in a bar in Puerto Rico.

Failed Prospects Pt. 2: Jeff McNeely

Since I have been a fan, there have been several players with huge expectations in the Red Sox minor league system. Some of these players, such as Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra, Trot Nixon, Jon Lester, and others meet those expectations. Others are not as fortunate.

JEFF MCNEELY
It seems like the Red Sox had a lot of highly regarded prospects in the early 1990's who just did not pull it together. Jeff McNeely is another one of those players. McNeely was drafted in the second round of the 1989 draft and was expected to be the Red Sox center-fielder of the future, eventually taking over for Ellis Burks.

McNeely was rated the #20 prospect in Baseball America in 1991, and #16 in 1992. His minor league stats in 1991 looked great: .322/.436/.421 and 38 stolen bases. He slumped quite a bit in 1992 in AA, but bounced back in 1993 to put up better numbers in AAA Pawtucket. He even merited a call-up to the majors in September.

In 1993 with the Boston Red Sox, McNeely appeared in 21 games and went .297/.409/.378. Obviously power was not part of his game, but his batting average and on-base percentage were both decent. He also stole six bases and walked seven times. But this was the only time he would appear in the majors. He slumped again in AAA in 1994 while with Boston and then was traded after the season in the deal for Luis Alicea.

McNeely's numbers continued to drop and he ended up bouncing around a little bit, never touching the majors again.

One-Card Wonder Pt. 2: Jeff Richardson

For whatever reason, sometimes I am only able to find one card of certain players. To be considered a One-Card Wonder, a player must have been active since 1991 (when I started paying attention).

JEFF RICHARDSON
When the Red Sox acquired Jeff Richardson during Spring Training of 1993, I was pretty excited. Not because Richardson was a good player, not because I expected him to be a good player, but because Richardson was a Nebraskan. Richardson was born and continues to live in Grand Island, NE where he currently runs a sports bar. I would have had a chance to meet him too, if I stuck around St. Paul, NE a little longer.

Richardson was picked up in a trade with Pittsburgh in exchange for Daryl Irvine. He was to be a utility infielder shuttling back and forth between the minors and majors. And that's pretty much all he did. He played in 15 games with the Red Sox. His slash line was .208/.240/.292. Definitely nothing special. He only had two doubles as extra base hits and drove in two runs. Still he was a decent defensive player and was worth 0.5 WAR due exclusively to his defense.

Somehow, despite only having 27 at-bats in 1993 and not having played more than six games since 1989, Richardson merited inclusion in the 1993 Topps Traded set, which is where this card is from. It is his only Boston Red Sox card.

After 1993, Richardson never saw Major League action again.

Boxscore: May 20, 2001 Red Sox 10 Royals 3

This one ranks as my personal favorite Red Sox game I attended. A couple of friends and I decided after our sophomore years of college were over to do a road trip down to Kansas City to see the Royals take on the Red Sox on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. My friends were huge Royals fan so there was some good-natured banter going on during the drive down there.

Well, the Red Sox absolutely beat the Royals into submission that day. The final score was 10-3, and the Red Sox hit five home runs.

Jason Varitek was the star of the day, hitting three home runs himself and driving in seven of the Red Sox runs. He also had a run-scoring single to go 4-4 with three runs scored. He came into the game with only two home runs on the year. Varitek looked to be a breakout star that year, but he broke his elbow making a sliding catch before the All Star game and was out the rest of the year. This though, was one of his best games.

The game also featured home runs from Carl Everett and Manny Ramirez, in addition to doubles by Ramirez, Dante Bichette, and Brian Daubach. Trot Nixon drove in the other Red Sox run. Shea Hillenbrand also had two hits in the game and scored three times. Jose Offerman also had a hit and Mike Lansing, Darren Lewis, and Scott Hatteberg all appeared in the game. Offerman had a terrible day on defense committing two errors, and Bichette also had one in the outfield.

Frank Castillo started the game and had a great performance, pitching six innings and giving up one unearned run. He struck out three. Rich Garces and former Royal Hipolito Pichardo also appeared in the game, each surrendering a run.

Unknown Heroes Pt. 3: Reggie Jefferson

I do not really remember how Reggie Jefferson ended up with the Red Sox. It seems like one day he was just suddenly there. This occurred in 1995 and he went largely unnoticed at that time. He played in only 45 games, but they were productive. He was mostly a backup option at designated hitter whenever Jose Canseco went down with an injury. I did not think much of him at the time.

It was in 1996 that Jefferson became a favorite unnoticed player of mine. Jefferson had a great year in 1996. His slash line was .347/.388/.593 and he would have won the batting title had he gotten a few more at bats. He also hit 19 home runs, 30 doubles, and had 74 RBIs. Jefferson again mostly played DH but also spent time at first and in left field to cover for Mo Vaughn and Mike Greenwell.

In 1997, Jefferson became the principal DH near the trading deadline when platoon partner Mike Stanley was traded to the Yankees. At that time, Jefferson was leading the league in batting average, but would slump and come in at .319. Jefferson also had a 22 game hitting streak in 1997 and hit 13 home runs. Unfortunately, left-handed pitchers ate Jefferson alive, so he was never really considered a viable starter at any position. He was at his best in a platoon situation.

Jefferson had a great year in 1998 again, while only playing part time due to the platoon and injuries. He hit .306/.374/.520 to have his second best season since coming to Boston. In 1999, he struggled and was granted free agency at the end of the season. He never played again in the Major Leagues. He was only 30 when he retired.

Reggie Jefferson finished his career with a .300 batting average, making him one of only a handful of players to have a career batting average of .300 with no All Star appearances. Jefferson had an uncanny knack for coming up with a big hit and was a lot of fun to watch. He just was a great hitter when he was at his best. He was certainly at his best with Boston from 1996-1998 and I really enjoyed watching him.

Baseball Card Spotlight: Food Issues

In the last couple of decades, food issues have been decreasing dramatically. There was a time when you could get baseball cards in virtually any product, from magazines to frozen pizzas to pop to cereal to dessert cakes, baseball cards were everywhere. Unfortunately, that time has passed for the most part.  

Also unfortunately, I was never really all that much into baseball cards at the time that you could find them virtually anywhere. I do remember getting some cards from Tombstone pizzas and other places, but for the most part, I missed out on it. 

However, for a couple of years in the early 2000's, food issues were back. These five cards in the above scan are the only Red Sox I remember getting as food issues. All of these were easier to pick up due to working at Target at the time. 

2001 TOPPS POST PEDRO MARTINEZ 

Two cards came in a box of Post cereal brands. Luckily, one of them could be seen in a cutout on the front of the box. So, I knew exactly which box of Honey Grahams to get to get my Pedro Martinez card. The other card was the player who stole the AL MVP from Pedro in 1999: Texas's Ivan Rodriguez. 

2001 TOPPS CRACKER JACK PEDRO MARTINEZ 

When I noticed that baseball cards could be found in Cracker Jack packages, I decided to try them out. Well, it's a good thing that I found out that I liked the caramel popcorn and peanuts because it was several packages before I finally found this Pedro Martinez card. I don't remember who else I went through, nor do I know where the hell the rest of my cards went. 

2002 UPPER DECK TWIZZLERS NOMAR GARCIAPARRA (2) 

You could see these cards somewhat through the packages of Twizzlers. So I went through packages to find the two that had these two different versions of Nomar Garciaparra cards. Each package only had one card. 

2002 TOPPS CRACKER JACK PEDRO MARTINEZ 

I think I found this in only the second or third package I opened. So, I lucked out this time. I don't know of any other food issues out there at this time. I hope one day they make it back, because it's such a good feeling to open up a food item and find a Red Sox card staring at me.

Underrated Seasons: Dennis Eckersley 1979

What was the most valuable season by Dennis Eckersley? Would you believe that it was 1979?

It's often forgotten just how good of a starting pitcher Dennis Eckersley was prior to becoming one of the greatest closers of all time. Eckersley was once one of the best starting pitchers in the American League and even performed reasonably well with the Chicago Cubs. Eckersley won 20 games with the Red Sox in 1978 and was fourth in the Cy Young voting.

However, in 1979 Eckersley was even better. He won only 17 games, losing 10, but his ERA was the same at 2.99, and his WHIP was lower at 1.18. He lead the league in adjusted ERA+ and pitched 17 complete games. More to the point though, Eck's WAR that year was 6.8, which was the highest in the Major Leagues that year. And for all that, Eck finished seventh in the Cy Young voting, gaining just one vote.

It's often forgotten that Eck was once a great starter. He may not have been good enough to make the Hall of Fame, but he was certainly a talented pitcher.

Hall of Fame Worthy? Pt. 1: Johnny Pesky

The Hall of Fame has inducted many players who were borderline choices, and many players who deserve induction have been on the outside looking in. I want to look at some players to determine if they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

JOHNNY PESKY
Johnny Pesky was one of the key members of the Red Sox during the 1940's. The shortstop and third-baseman was an excellent contact hitter and as at least decent in the field. But, is Pesky worthy of Cooperstown induction?

Pesky had virtually no power, but hit for high averages and got on base at an extremely impressive clip. Pesky also accumulated more than 200 hits in each of his first three seasons which book-ended some WWII service time. Pesky had one of the all-time great rookie seasons for a shortstop, going .331/.375/.416 with 205 hits to lead the league.

He was an All Star for the only time in 1946 and lead the league again in hits and at-bats in 1946 and 1947. Pesky continued to perform at a high level for a couple more years in Boston but then bounced around the league for a few years before calling it a career. Later, he went on to be a manager, broadcaster, and several other positions with the Red Sox.

THE VERDICT:
Pesky's peak was fairly brief and he was basically finished after 1953. The three years of military service could have made this a more difficult decision, but the fact of the matter is that Pesky was not good enough for long enough to be a Hall of Famer.