Tzu-Wei Lin Card #109

Yes, I am still working on my Tzu-Wei Lin collection, but with no new cards released since Series 1 of 2019 Topps, there just have not been very many to add.  That is until this card showed up.  This is the 2017 Topps Update Vintage Stock parallel, numbered to 99.  I had no idea this card would take so long to find.  It did not seem like one of the harder parallels to find, but here we are.

Lin's future is pretty murky right now.  Boston does seem to be moving on from Brock Holt, who as a left-handed utility infielder was one of the players in Lin's way.  But they kept Marco Hernandez, who does the exact same thing, and brought in Jose Peraza, who is a right-handed hitter, but is also anticipated to be used at a number of positions.  A strong Spring Training would help solidify Lin's chances and it is notable that he was not non-tendered or DFA'd.  Hopefully he makes it to the Majors full-time in 2020. 

Zippy Zapping Pt. 2

I stayed away from the Holiday boxes of Topps this year, figuring I would just trade for the cards I needed.  Luckily the major card I wanted came from a certain Luis Torrens super-collector.  This is Darwinzon Hernandez's Chrome rookie card.  I have mentioned a few times how much I like Hernandez on this blog.  Getting this card randomly was a nice surprise.

Thanks Kenny!

2019 Panini Chronicles Blaster

Panini Chronicles is an odd set.  It pays tribute to the past of some of the brands it has absorbed, such as Donruss, Leaf, Score, Pinnacle and more.  And it is one large set, with a whole bunch of subsets, or insert sets, or however you want to categorize them.  I took a pretty big chance when I stopped at Walmart on my way home from a metal concert and bought a blaster.  At just 23 total cards, the odds were not great that I would have a decent Red Sox showing.  I was also hoping that for the price I would get an autograph or something, though that is rarely if ever, a primary reason for me to buy packs.  I just want the Red Sox pulls.

Actually, considering there were just 23 cards in the blaster, this is an extraordinary showing for the Red Sox.  The Chavis is a Contenders Optic Season Ticket, an homage to a Leaf brand.  The caricature of Mookie Betts is a callback to the early 1990's Score All Star subset cards that featured similar such illustrations.  This is a welcome return because I liked those cards quite a bit when I was a young collector.  And finally, we have another Leaf callback with the Certified Mookie Betts.  This was a great blaster.

Here is the breakdown:

BOSTON RED SOX: 3
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 3
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 2
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 2
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 2
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 2
SEATTLE MARINERS: 2
CHICAGO CUBS: 1
CINCINNATI REDS: 1
COLORADO ROCKIES: 1
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 1
NEW YORK YANKEES: 1
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 1
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 1
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 0
ATLANTA BRAVES: 0
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 0
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 0
DETROIT TIGERS: 0
HOUSTON ASTROS: 0
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 0
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 0
MIAMI MARLINS: 0
MINNESOTA TWINS: 0
NEW YORK METS: 0
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 0
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 0
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 0
TEXAS RANGERS: 0
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: 0

The Red Sox tie for the lead with the Blue Jays and there are a LOT of 0's in that breakdown. 

BOSTON RED SOX: 114
NEW YORK YANKEES: 111
ATLANTA BRAVES: 109
HOUSTON ASTROS: 102
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 101
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 95
CHICAGO CUBS: 87
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 86
NEW YORK METS: 85
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 85
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 82
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 78
WASHINGTON NATIONALS/MONTREAL EXPOS: 77
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 74
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 73
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 73
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 72

KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 71
SEATTLE MARINERS: 71
MINNESOTA TWINS: 69
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 67
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 65
COLORADO ROCKIES: 65
DETROIT TIGERS: 64
CINCINNATI REDS: 62
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 61
MIAMI MARLINS: 56
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 53
TEXAS RANGERS: 53
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 51
OTHER: 16

Not surprisingly there was not a lot of movement here.  The Red Sox extend their slim lead over the Yankees and Braves. 

COMC Order

This was another COMC order that started off with a Sandy Alomar Jr. card (or two in this case) and ended with a bunch of new Red Sox cards.  

Where do we begin?  There is a lot of good stuff in this package.  Steve Pearce, the 2018 World Series MVP makes three appearances, including a card celebrating his World Series heroics and a Topps Total card.  The Brock Holt card is a Throwback Thursday card, which is kind of an odd thing given how few of those cards are out there.  I think this card came out shortly after Holt's cycle against the Yankees in the 2018 postseason.  The J.D. Martinez is an action shot short print from 2019 Heritage.  Durbin Feltman was a 2018 draft pick who could make it to the Majors in 2020.  I picked up a random Johnny Damon card and a Wade Boggs Monikers card.  Finally, a Nathan Eovaldi insert?  Yes please. 

Picking one card out as a favorite amongst these cards is really hard.  Only the Damon was not on my wantlist, and that's only because it is a parallel of a card that is on my wantlist.  Honestly it is probably between the Boggs and the Eovaldi and I might lean toward Eovaldi since he is so much harder to find cards of with the Red Sox.

2019 Topps Gallery Box

I bought a box of Topps Gallery.  The price was pretty high, but it had two autographs in the box and was a set that I had not gotten any Red Sox cards from yet.  So I thought it would be worth a shot.  

Here are the Red Sox:

Not super exciting pulls.  The Andrew Benintendi is apparently some type of short-printed card, so it was certainly not bad.  I was kind of hoping for an autograph, but my A&G Porcello relic I pulled earlier this year probably is the best I will pull for a couple years.  Nevertheless, it was a decent performance, but not what I had hoped.

Here is the breakdown:

ATLANTA BRAVES: 8
CHICAGO CUBS: 7
HOUSTON ASTROS: 7
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 6
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 5
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 5
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 5
MINNESOTA TWINS: 4
NEW YORK METS: 4
NEW YORK YANKEES: 4
SEATTLE MARINERS: 4
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: 4
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 3
BOSTON RED SOX: 3
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 3
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 3
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 3
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 3
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 3
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 2
CINCINNATI REDS: 2
COLORADO ROCKIES: 2
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 2
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 2
TEXAS RANGERS: 2
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 1
DETROIT TIGERS: 1
MIAMI MARLINS: 1
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 1
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 1

And the updated totals:
BOSTON RED SOX: 111
NEW YORK YANKEES: 110
ATLANTA BRAVES: 109
HOUSTON ASTROS: 102
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 101
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 93
CHICAGO CUBS: 86
NEW YORK METS: 85
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 85
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 82
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 82
WASHINGTON NATIONALS/MONTREAL EXPOS: 77
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 76
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 73
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 73
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 71

PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 71
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 69
MINNESOTA TWINS: 69
SEATTLE MARINERS: 69
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 67
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 65
COLORADO ROCKIES: 64
DETROIT TIGERS: 64
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 61
CINCINNATI REDS: 61
MIAMI MARLINS: 56
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 53
TEXAS RANGERS: 53
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 51
OTHER: 16

With another bad Red Sox showing, the Yankees pull to within one card of the lead, with the Braves right behind.  Getting way too close.

Topps Total Mailday With a Surprise

I did decide to purchase the Wave 9 Topps Total Red Sox cards, mostly because of Ryan Weber, who is a new player in my Red Sox collection.  The three cards were supposed to be Weber, Andrew Benintendi and Sam Travis, which was supposed to be his second card of the set, for reasons that are not entirely clear.  Then, I got the cards:

Notice, no Sam Travis, and instead Andrew Cashner.  This made me happy because Cashner is also new to my collection, the team's big in-season acquisition.  It did not work out well, but I still wanted to add a card of him.  Weber was used as an opener a couple of times and was decent early in the season, but his success did not last.  Cashner was pretty bad from the get-go. 

The way Topps did the return of Total last year was awful, but I did like the fact that it was able to produce cards of players with new uniforms throughout the year.  These may be the only Red Sox cards of Weber and Cashner.

2019 Topps Update Hanger Pack #2

I still had a handful of Red Sox cards to get from Topps Update, so I took another chance with a hanger pack.  The results were not great:

Just two base cards this time, and only one of them was new.  That would be the Betts card as I got the Martinez in the prior hanger pack.  

Here is the breakdown:

NEW YORK YANKEES: 7
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 6
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 5
HOUSTON ASTROS: 4
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 4
MINNESOTA TWINS: 4
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 4
COLORADO ROCKIES: 3
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 3
SEATTLE MARINERS: 3
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 2
BOSTON RED SOX: 2
CINCINNATI REDS: 2
DETROIT TIGERS: 2
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 2
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 2
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: 2
ATLANTA BRAVES: 1
CHICAGO CUBS: 1
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 1
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 1
MIAMI MARLINS: 1
NEW YORK METS: 1
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 1
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 1
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 1
TEXAS RANGERS: 1
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 1
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 0
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 0

That Yankee number is ridiculous.

And the updated totals:
BOSTON RED SOX: 108
NEW YORK YANKEES: 106
ATLANTA BRAVES: 101
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 98
HOUSTON ASTROS: 95
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 88
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 82
NEW YORK METS: 81
CHICAGO CUBS: 79
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 79
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 76
WASHINGTON NATIONALS/MONTREAL EXPOS: 73
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 72
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 71
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 71
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 70

KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 66
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 66
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 65
SEATTLE MARINERS: 65
MINNESOTA TWINS: 65
DETROIT TIGERS: 63
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 62
COLORADO ROCKIES: 62
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 60
CINCINNATI REDS: 59
MIAMI MARLINS: 55
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 51
TEXAS RANGERS: 51
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 48
OTHER: 16

And with the very strong Yankee showing, they move into second place, just two cards below the Red Sox.

A Zippy Zapping #1

I am still working on catching up on cards I received some time ago.  Here we come to the first of two Zippy Zappings I received recently.  The highlights of this package were the Update cards that I needed of Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Chavis.  Eovaldi had a rough 2019 after signing a big free agent contract and a remarkable showing in the 2018 postseason.  Chavis was an early 2019 bright spot for Boston.  Sean Coyle was a prospect for the Red Sox at the beginning of the decade but never took the next step to the Majors unfortunately. 

Thanks Kenny!

Two Brand New Players to the Red Sox Collection

I placed a COMC order recently to get a Sandy Alomar Jr. buyback auto I always wanted and decided to beef up the package a little bit by adding cards of players who have yet to appear in my collection, though not through any fault of my own:

1.  Bobby Poyner.  This is the rainbow foil parallel of Poyner, a lefty reliever who made an impact in short work in 2018, but was not nearly as impressive in 2019.  He has a decent strikeout rate and could still turn into a decent southpaw reliever, even with the new rules requiring a pitcher to pitch to at least three batters or to the end of the inning.  What a stupid rule by the way.

2.  Gorkys Hernandez.  This is the blue parallel from Topps Big League.  Hernandez ended up playing a lot more than he should have due to injuries down the stretch.  He was a decent defensive outfielder, but hit just .143/.218/.245, which is pretty unacceptable.

2019 Topps Update Hanger Pack #1

Topps Update is typically one of the sets I look forward to the most.  This is due to having new cards of players who were acquired during the season or were rookie call-ups, or just players who emerged to play bigger roles than were expected.  Unfortunately the Red Sox checklist for Update this year really did not contain many brand-new players.  For instance Andrew Cashner, Boston's big in-season acquisition, is noticeably absent.  As are players like Jhoulys Chacin (I'm predicting his appearance on a Red Sox With No Cards post) and even Josh Taylor, who emerged to be a bullpen weapon.  Nevertheless, I still bought some wax.  

Here are the Red Sox from my first Topps Update hanger pack.  

Well, we have a nice Mookie insert, a rookie card of Darwinzon Hernandez and an All Star card of J.D. Martinez.  That is a decent, though not particularly noteworthy showing for a hanger pack.  The Mookie is the highlight of course, but Hernandez looks like a good up-and-coming pitching talent.

The breakdown:

NEW YORK YANKEES: 5
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 4
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 4
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 4
SEATTLE MARINERS: 4
BOSTON RED SOX: 3
CINCINNATI REDS: 3
COLORADO ROCKIES: 3
HOUSTON ASTROS: 3
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 3
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 3
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 3
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 3
ATLANTA BRAVES: 2
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 2
DETROIT TIGERS: 2
MINNESOTA TWINS: 2
NEW YORK METS: 2
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 2
TEXAS RANGERS: 2
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: 2
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 1
CHICAGO CUBS: 1
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 1
OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 1
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 1
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 1
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 0
MIAMI MARLINS: 0
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 0

And the updated totals:
BOSTON RED SOX: 106
ATLANTA BRAVES: 100
NEW YORK YANKEES: 99
LOS ANGELES ANGELS: 95
HOUSTON ASTROS: 91
CLEVELAND INDIANS: 88
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 81
NEW YORK METS: 80
CHICAGO CUBS: 78
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: 78
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: 72
MILWAUKEE BREWERS: 72
WASHINGTON NATIONALS/MONTREAL EXPOS: 71
SAN DIEGO PADRES: 69
TAMPA BAY RAYS: 67
KANSAS CITY ROYALS: 65
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 65
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: 64

OAKLAND ATHLETICS: 63
SEATTLE MARINERS: 62
DETROIT TIGERS: 61
MINNESOTA TWINS: 61
COLORADO ROCKIES: 59
BALTIMORE ORIOLES: 58
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: 57
CINCINNATI REDS: 57
MIAMI MARLINS: 54
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 50
TEXAS RANGERS: 50
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 47
OTHER: 16

Boston retains a lead with the Yankees starting to make a move, annoyingly enough. 

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #942

These cards do not scan too well.  This card is much better looking in person.  This is a 2019 Topps Clearly Authentic 1952 Design card.  And yes, it is autographed.  I really like this card because it is so unique-looking.  The acetate material is see-through giving the card a film-strip appearance to it.  58 cards to go. 

Certified Darwinzon

Darwinzon Hernandez had a very impressive season for a debut.  He tailed off toward the end, but was one of the bright spots in the Red Sox bullpen.  His 16.9 strikeouts per nine innings is absolute insanity.  He does need to cut down on the walks though.  Hernandez may have a bright future in Boston and I am looking forward to him making the next step in 2020.

This card took me a couple of tries to get.  I first made the deal for the card instead of the Chavis card I showed a couple of days ago, but I never received.  The other party ended up sending me the Chavis to make up for it.  I then went out and bought this card, because honestly I like Hernandez better than Chavis and I really wanted this card.

Holiday Trade

Another small trade to show off today brought in a couple of Topps Holiday cards from 2018.  One year later.  Both cards were on my wantlist, and I never complain about getting new Red Sox cards.  Plus, both players are elite stars on the team.  So no complaints.  It is not the most exciting mailday in the world, but they are still new Red Sox cards.

Throwback Chavis

Just a one-card mailday to show off today and this one was a pretty small trade.  It did net me one of those elusive Throwback Thursday cards that can be a bit pricey.  So it is always nice to add them in a trade.  One of the bright spots early in the 2019 season was the emergence of Michael Chavis, who has had a tumultuous rise to the Majors, to put it mildly.  A first round draft pick in 2014 who seemed to flounder for the first few years, then started to move up the ranks, only to be suspended for violations of the drug testing program, Chavis made his debut in 2019 and showed off some prodigious power.  It did not take a real long time for the league to adjust and before he could adjust to that, he went down with a season-ending injury.  Not a bad year for Chavis, but not really a guy who can be absolutely counted on in 2020 yet either.  I suspect he will have first crack at either first or second base in 2020.

Topps Now: September 17, 2019

This card celebrates the grandson of legendary Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski coming to Fenway Park for the first time.  Mike Yastrzemski was a bright spot for the Giants in 2019 after toiling in the minors for several seasons with the Orioles.  He played in Fenway Park for the first time and homered in his first game in Boston.  The back of the card features the two standing side by side.  That was a real neat moment this year.

Random Small Trade

This was a small trade that mostly knocked some wantlist needs off.  There are not a ton of cards that are real exciting, unless you are a Red Sox collector.  I love the 150 Years inserts that the Pedro Martinez card came from and the insert with Chris Sale and Randy Johnson, two lefty strikeout machines, is pretty cool as well.  Otherwise, just a bunch of random cards here.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #941

Whoa.

I talked about the cool inscription on my last Varitek auto.  This one blows it out of the water.  Coming from 2019 Topps Five Star, Varitek inscribed this with a reference to the two World Championship teams he played for.  Added to its rarity (numbered out of just 20), this quickly became a favorite card in my Varitek collection.

Does Clemens Have a Cooperstown Shot This Year?

Current polls have him right on the line to get inducted this year.  I follow the ballots on Twitter and there have not been a lot that have been released to the public yet, but they look decent for Clemens's shot.  Now, it seems like the people who do not release their ballots publicly by and large are those that are anti-PED players, so it is likely Clemens will miss again, but if he is making progress, he could get in soon.  These cards came in a trade package and give me an excuse to talk about Clemens.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #940 (Plus More)

This was actually a trade package that brought me a Varitek autograph that I did not have.  This is the 2017 Museum Collection Archival Autographs and it is a great card because Varitek also signed his uniform number.  That kind of inscription is a lot of fun. 

I also got the J.D. Martinez relic, which is the first in my collection, and the Diamond King card of Betts that is in the design of the 1985 subset.  I still love Diamond Kings, and this looks great because the fact that there is no team insignia is barely noticeable.

Random Wantlist Hit Mailday

I am working on catching up the maildays.  I actually received this quite awhile ago, but it was a pretty good trade that knocked a bunch of cards off my wantlist, including a lot of lesser players, which I always appreciate.

It is not too often these days that I get cards of players like Bronson Arroyo, Gabe Kapler and Paul Quantrill added to my collection.  These are cards I needed for a long time.  There are some newer ones thrown in too, like the Gold Label cards that include David Price.

The second part of the package included a bunch of random inserts.  Unfortunately the Ted Williams is a duplicate, but the rest are new.  The Mike Lowell is fun because it is celebrating the 2007 World Series Championship.  Lowell was the World Series MVP that year.