Shiny Madness

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.

Hall of Fame Worthy? Pt. 20: Jonathan Papelbon

 

Let's do another one of these, shall we?  Jonathan Papelbon was on the ballot for the BBWAA in 2022 and dropped off after the first ballot.  He is not going to have another shot until he is eligible on the Eras Committee in about ten years or so.  So, this is definitely not a real urgent candidacy.

It is pretty obvious that voters do not really know what to do with relief pitchers.  There are obvious inductees like Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Dennis Eckersley, but Lee Smith took until he was first eligible on the Eras Committee to get elected.  Billy Wagner looks like he may get in next year.  Otherwise, the only relievers in the Hall are Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers and Hoyt Wilhelm.  

It is extremely difficult to find a real good metric to compare relief pitchers since the role has changed so much over the years.  Wilhelm, Gossage, Fingers and Sutter all came from an era in which relievers might pitch a couple of innings a game.  Smith came in toward the end of that era.  Eckersley spent half his career as a starter.  So, Papelbon could only adequately be compared to Rivera and Hoffman.  So, let's start there.  I will put Wagner in as well since his induction seems imminent.

RIVERA: 82-60, 2.21 ERA, 652 saves, 1.000 WHIP, 1,173 strikeouts, 56.3 WAR

HOFFMAN: 61-75, 2.87 ERA, 601 saves, 1.058 WHIP, 1,133 strikeouts, 28.0 WAR

WAGNER: 47-40, 2.31 ERA, 422 saves, 0.998 WHIP, 1,196 strikeouts, 27.7 WAR

PAPELBON: 41-36, 2.44 ERA, 368 saves, 1.043 WHIP, 808 strikeouts, 23.3 WAR

Well, in looking at those numbers, it is pretty clear what the Wagner argument is.  Holy smokes, he was dominant.  One of the obvious barriers to Papelbon's induction is the brevity of his career.  He falls far short in the counting stats primarily because he pitched just 12 years and 725.2 innings.  Those numbers are far smaller than any of the other three.  His record, ERA and WHIP are favorable to Hoffman though.  Let's look at some other rate stats:

RIVERA: 8.2 SO9, 4.10 SO/W, 2.76 FIP

HOFFMAN: 9.4 SO9, 3.69 SO/W, 3.08 FIP

WAGNER: 11.9 SO9, 3.99 SO/W, 2.73 FIP

PAPELBON: 10.0 SO9, 4.37 SO/W, 2.81 FIP

That is a little more interesting.  Again, Wagner presents a compelling case based on these stats, but Papelbon has the better strikeouts per nine innings among the rest, and has the best strikeout to walk ratio.  His FIP is better than Wagner's and comparable, but higher than Wagner and Rivera, and better than Hoffman.  This seems to present a better argument for Papelbon.

There is a metric called R-JAWS that specifically rates relievers and this metric rates Papelbon fairly highly.  Papelbon comes in 10th all-time, behind Rivera, Eckersley, Wilhelm, Gossage and Hoffman (and Wagner), but ahead of Smith, Fingers and Sutter.  He also comes in behind Joe Nathan, Firpo Marberry and Tom Gordon.  I do not really see anyone making arguments for Marberry and Gordon, so that is not terribly helpful.

Papelbon finished second in the A.L. Rookie of the Year vote in 2006, and might have won it had he not gone on the disabled list for the last month of the season.  He never received any votes for Cy Young or MVP, but did get named to six All Star teams.  Papelbon never led the league in any major categories, but he was consistently in the top ten in saves and is eleventh all time.  He was also a beast in the postseason, appearing in 18 games, pitching 27 innings with an ERA of 1.00.  He had a record of 2-1, struck out 23 and walked eight, while saving seven games.  

THE VERDICT

Longevity seems to be a big problem for Papelbon.  He was certainly a consistent and dominant relief pitcher.  He just did not pitch long enough and his innings total was significantly less than even Wagner.  Many voters are using Wagner's innings as a reason not to vote for him, so that is not helpful with Papelbon.  I just do not see him getting in.  Papelbon will have to settle for being in the Red Sox Hall of Fame, and he holds the team record for saves (219), so that appears a safe bet.

2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th Pt. 3: Birdie Tebbetts

NAME: Birdie Tebbetts

POSITION: Catcher.  

WHY IS HE HERE?:  Local-ish catcher (from Vermont) who spent three-plus seasons in Boston during a period when the team was competing with the Yankees for the pennant.  Tebbetts was a two-time All Star and hit .287 during his time with Boston.  He was a highly-respected leader behind the plate.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN IN 2001?:  Probably not.  

ANY BETTER CHOICES IN 2001?:  Tebbetts is one of four catchers in the set, two of whom clearly belong here.  Tebbetts is a bit of a weird choice, but he was a two-time All Star.  But so was Rich Gedman, who also played longer than Tebbetts.  Other possible choices that did not appear in this set were Bill Carrigan, who was a player/manager and is the only manager to lead the team to consecutive World Series titles (should have gotten him in right there) and Sammy White, who was an All Star and spent most of the 50's behind the plate.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN NOW?:  No.  Since this set, there are even more choices that would be better than Tebbetts.

ANY BETTER CHOICES NOW?:  Obviously there is Jason Varitek, who had only been in the Majors for four seasons at the time this set was released, and had not yet been an All Star.  Victor Martinez was a short-term player, like Tebbetts, who was an All Star.  There's also Christian Vazquez, who had a nice career with Boston.  

The Worst Red Sox Team of All Time Pt. 20: John Michaels

Failure is often even more fascinating than success. I am definitely intrigued by the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the worst Red Sox team of all time. The team finished with a record of 43-111, for a winning percentage of .279 and very little went right.

John Michaels is another obscure member of the 1932 Red Sox team.  1932 was his only season in the Major Leagues, though he did appear in a reasonable number of games during the season.  Michaels was pitching in the minor leagues when he was sent to the Red Sox Major League team in December of 1931.  Michaels spent most of the season in Boston, pitching in 28 games, primarily as a reliever.

The southpaw Michaels made his Major League debut in the fourth game of the season, entering the game in the fourth inning and pitching just one-third of an inning.  He walked a batter and allowed a hit, but got the last out of the inning.  

Michaels threw 80.2 innings and made eight starts during the season.  Michaels finished with a record of 1-6, his only win came in a complete game 6-5 win over the Yankees.  He allowed five runs, four earned, striking out one and walking two.  Michaels notched 16 strikeouts and 27 walks over the season.  

After the 1932 season, Michaels pitched a few years in the Cardinals system, followed by a one-year return to the Red Sox.  He never made it back to the Majors.

Red Sox in Cooperstown Pt. 43: Tom Yawkey

TOM YAWKEY 

Years Owning the Red Sox: 1933-1976

Best Year Owning the Red Sox: 1946

Tom Yawkey owned the Boston Red Sox for 44 years, longer than any other owner in team history.  He was beloved by his players and was popular among the fans and media.  As the years have gone on though, his legacy has become more clouded with revelations about his potential involvement in the team's inability to integrate in the 1940's and 1950's.  The street that was once named after him in front of Fenway Park has been renamed as the team has tried to distance itself from Yawkey.  

Yawkey likely deserves at least some of the criticism for not integrating earlier.  He was the owner after all and could have forced the issue.  He also likely should be criticized for being unable to field a championship team.  The Red Sox contended for much of Yawkey's ownership, but only made the World Series three times, each time losing in seven games.  Had the team been able to strike a better balance between player development and bringing in big stars, they may have won more.  The team though often seemed to be in one phase or the other, and almost never both.  When Yawkey first bought the team, the team had very few good players and no real farm system.  Yawkey resorted to buying players from teams that were struggling financially.  By the 1940's the team was developing its own stars, but not spending as much on outside talent, and in particular, did not have enough pitching.  Then the 1950's saw the Red Sox try, but largely fail, to develop good players, and this was where not bringing in the talented black players hurt the team the most.  There was a massive influx of talent as other teams signed players from the Negro Leagues, but Boston, for whatever reason, did not get involved.  The team finally started to come back around in the late 1960's and early 1970's when Yawkey brought in GM Dick O'Connell, who had a clear plan.  The team fought its way back into contention with some of the most balanced rosters they ever had under Yawkey's ownership.  Yawkey though, died in 1976, never achieving his dream of seeing the Red Sox win the World Series.

As I said, there is a fair amount to criticize about Yawkey.  But one thing is clear: if not for Yawkey, the Red Sox may not still exist.  When Yawkey took over the team, the Red Sox had been a bottom-dwelling team for more than a decade.  Since 1919, the team was more known selling its only good players away than for anything it did on the field.  Yawkey put an end to that, fixed up Fenway Park, and brought good players in.  He essentially saved the franchise from oblivion.  And for that, he does deserve to be remembered.  

Yawkey has an extremely complicated legacy.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.  I think it is safe to say that if he was eligible today, he likely would not be elected, but that does not mean that his election was unwarranted at the time.  I really cannot say whether he should have been elected or not.  I do not think there is any clear standards for executives to be elected to the Hall of Fame.  Yawkey revitalized an organization and ran it for 44 years.  That cannot really be said of that many other executives in the Hall.

Living Set: Alex Verdugo

 

So, I guess Living Set is still going.  I guess I should not be surprised by that.  I do wonder if there have been any players who have appeared in the four-plus year going set more than once.  I am sure if there has been, it is almost certainly a Yankee player.  Probably Aaron Judge.  I could check, but I am not that motivated right now.  

Anyway, here is Alex Verdugo, who is still my pick for a breakout season in 2023.  As of this writing, he has had a good start to the season.  Hopefully that will continue.  I would love to see him develop into an All Star-caliber player.  

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.

Unknown Heroes Pt. 47: Tzu-Wei Lin

Readers who have been following me for more a few years may remember my obsession with Tzu-Wei Lin.  I super-collected him for a little while, starting shortly after his debut in 2017 and leading up to him leaving as a minor league free agent.  I have been working on putting my Red Sox collection up on TCDB, starting with what I figured was an easy way in and starting with Tzu-Wei Lin.  Not surprisingly, when checking my ranking among other people on the site, I come out way ahead.  I may do a post with what all I have figured out on that site some day.  

But anyway, today I am showing off a new acquisition for my Lin collection:

Apologies for the bad picture.  This is the 2013 Bowman Chrome Prospects Pink Refractor.  I recently found this on Ebay and decided I would grab it.  I still need the black, gold, orange, red, super and yellow refractors from this set.  That is quite a ways to go still.

Lin spent parts of four seasons with the Red Sox, never quite reaching the level of success he had in the minors.  He had a promising start to his Major League career, hitting .268/.369/.339 in 25 games in 2017, playing mostly shortstop and third base.  He had a bit of a longer look in 2018, but his hitting stats declined, though he did hit for a bit more power.  Lin managed to hit his only Major League home run and traveled with the team during the postseason run.  He was just an injury away from appearing in the postseason.  

Unfortunately, things went downhill after that.  His numbers in the minors declined and he got fewer opportunities in 2019.  He played in just 13 games in the Majors that year, hitting just .200.  Boston also started bringing in players like Marco Hernandez, who were also lefty-batting utility players.  Nevertheless, he held on and was given a big opportunity when Brock Holt left after the 2019 season.  Lin stayed in the Majors the entire COVID-shortened season, appearing in 26 games and becoming a true super-utility player.  He played every position that season except first base and third base.  He even caught and pitched.  Unfortunately, his hitting tanked and he put up just a .154/.182/.173 line.  The writing was on the wall.

Lin was not offered a contract after the season and he signed with the Twins as a minor league free agent.  His final line in Boston was .223/.298/.316 with nine doubles, three triples, a home run, 27 runs scored, 12 RBIs and two stolen bases.  He ended up appearing in just one game with the Twins, playing in left field for two innings without a plate appearance.  To date, that was his last appearance in the Majors.  He spent the 2022 season in the Mets system, but hit just .136 and was released in August.  I do not know if he will get another chance.  

Lin did appear in the World Baseball Classic for Chinese Taipei and homered in a game against Italy.  

All-Time One-Year Wonder Update: Right-Handed Starting Pitcher

I recently grabbed this autograph card of Michael Wacha, so it is time to determine if he can unseat Hideo Nomo as the top one-year wonder right-handed starter.

Wacha was signed as a free agent from the Rays prior to the lockout in the offseason before 2022.  He had been a rookie standout with the Cardinals and pitched in the 2013 World Series against the Red Sox.  He pitched three terrific games in the postseason, leading up to the World Series and was named the NLCS MVP.  He pitched another great game in Game 2 of the World Series, winning it, but then losing the clinching Game 6.

Wacha was an All Star in 2015, but then injuries started to take their toll.  He was eventually allowed to leave for the Mets in 2020.  He had a rough season there and continued to struggle in 2021 with the Rays.  Not a lot was expected of him coming to the Red Sox, but he surprised everyone with the season he had.

2022 saw Wacha have his best season since his injury-shortened 2018.  He quickly proved to be the most consistent of Boston's starters, though he did still miss some time due to injuries.  Wacha put up a very impressive 11-2 record in 23 games started, pitching 127.1 innings with a 3.32 ERA.  He struck out 104 while walking just 31.  He threw a shutout, which ended up leading the league.  He recorded a 4.14 FIP, 1.115 WHIP and 3.35 strikeout to walk ratio.

So, how does he compare to my All-Time One-Year Wonder Right-Handed Starter?  Well, Wacha had a better winning percentage by a significant margin (.846 to .565) and ERA (Nomo was 4.50) and he generally had better rate stats, beating Nomo in BB9 (2.2 to 4.4) and strikeouts to walks (Nomo was 2.29).  He also ended up having a higher WAR (3.3 to 3.1) despite the fact that he pitched ten fewer games and more than 70 fewer innings.  Finally, he walked significantly fewer batters.  Nomo led the league with 96 walks, more than three times as many as Wacha.  So analytics seem to prefer Wacha.

The biggest point against Wacha is obviously the fact that he pitched in fewer games and fewer innings.  That allowed Nomo to record some numbers higher than Wacha.  First and foremost would be the number of victories.  Nomo won 13 games, two more than Wacha, but had Wacha pitched more, he likely would have tied that.  Nomo threw 198 innings as well.  Nomo also has Wacha beat in shutouts (two), complete games (two) and strikeouts (220).  Strikeouts is the biggest point in Nomo's favor as Wacha would likely not have come close to that number even if he had pitched 198 innings.  Nomo led the league in strikeouts and SO9 (10.0).  

So where does that leave us?  I am tempted to give the title over to Wacha, because he seems to have been generally better than Nomo, but health is extremely important as well.  The Red Sox were able to count on Nomo to make almost every start in 2001 and he threw nearly 200 innings.  Coupled with his league lead in strikeouts and the no-hitter, and I think I am going to keep Nomo as the winner.  Plus, there is the fact that Nomo was a more well-known pitcher and that I was generally much more invested in seeing Nomo pitch, and there is the answer.  

Any thoughts?  Agree?  Disagree?

Another Lot of Devers

Here I have yet another lot of Rafael Devers cards purchased off of Ebay.  I may be done with these, unless I find something really good again in my quest for 300.  This was a lot of 28 cards, 13 of which were new to me.  With a decent price, I decided that was worth it.

Most of these are base cards, but there are some highlights.  First off is the relic card.  Believe it or not, I think this is my first Devers relic card.  I do have an autograph card previously, and I may have to look back at it, but I'm pretty sure this is my first.  That seems really odd.  

Several of these cards came from Panini, including a couple of Chronicles cards.  I'm pretty sure I could come close to 300 Devers cards just by hunting down the rest of the Chronicles cards I need.  There is also the Donruss Optic version of the Diamond King card.  I have heard that Panini will not be producing baseball cards in 2023, I hope that is not true, but I suspect it might be.  Panini's deal with the Player's Union has ended.  I would hope they could at least still produce historical sets, like the Diamond Kings set.  We need another really good historical set with big player selection.

But, back to Devers:

Here we have another Chronicles card and a couple more random cards, including the Home Run Challenge game card, which I never took part in.  I like the Chrome Refractor version of the 1965 insert as well.

So, that's 13 more Devers cards, bringing me up to 245 cards.  55 to go.

Your 1981 Red Sox Pt. 26: Bob Stanley

In this series, I will look at each player who played in 1981, the year I was born. Because, why not?   

When Bob Stanley retired, he had pitched in more games than any other Red Sox pitcher in history and also recorded more saves than anyone (132).  He still holds the games record with 637 games pitched, 47 more than the second-place Tim Wakefield, but he has been passed on the saves list by Jonathan Papelbon.  Stanley spent his entire 13-year career with the Red Sox and pitched in a number of roles, though most often as a reliever.  I have covered Stanley before, looking at his entire career, so this post will be mostly looking at his 1981 season.

Stanley was in his fifth season with the Red Sox in 1981.  He had already contributed in a number of ways by this time.  When he started out, he was more of a swingman, starting occasionally but also appearing in relief.  In 1978, he spent most of the season in the bullpen and had a terrific season, finishing with a record of 15-2, 10 saves and a 2.60 ERA.  He made his first All Star game in 1979 when he was more of a starter.  He did a little of both in 1980.

1981 saw Stanley in primarily a relief role.  In the strike-shortened season, he appeared in 35 games, pitching 98.1 innings, finishing out 14 of them and only starting one.  It was not one of Stanley's better seasons as his 3.83 ERA resulted in an ERA+ of just 102.  A WHIP of 1.500 and 3.5 BB/9 were his worst marks of his season to that point.  He also walked more batters (38) than he struck out (28) for the first time in his career.  Nevertheless, his numbers were not all bad.  He did finish with a record of 10-8.

Stanley would improve significantly over the next couple of seasons and have his career-best season in 1983.  He would stick around in Boston through the 1989 season and finish with a career record of 115-97 and a 3.64 ERA.  It is unfortunate that one of the things he is most remembered for is being unable to close out Game 6 of the 1986 World Series because Stanley did a lot for the Red Sox.

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.

More Aoki Cards

I bought another couple of Aoki cards from one seller because I really needed to add one in particular to my collection.

1.  Eric Hosmer.  Longtime readers know that player selection is a big deal to me.  I felt that Hosmer had a chance to go without getting any Red Sox cards.  That has not been the case as he has appeared in a few sets, but there was no way he was going to get a lot.  This card was actually the first one I was aware of, but it took a long time for Topps to send these out.

2.  Bobby Dalbec.  Since I was buying the Hosmer card, I decided to add a couple more to make the shipping more worthwhile.  Dalbec has been playing well in Spring Training, but then that has always been the case for him.  We will see what happens in the season, if he is not traded first.

3.  Andrew Benintendi.  This is from 2020.  Benintendi is already gone of course and will be with the White Sox in 2023.  He just could not get back on track with the Red Sox after beginning to struggle in 2018.

One Year Wonder Pt. 31: Garrett Richards

Garrett Richards always seemed like he was just on the cusp of turning into a very good pitcher.  He had a couple of great seasons in 2014 and 2015, then suffered significant injury setbacks over the next few years.  He was finally mostly healthy in 2020 and had some decent pitching metrics.  It allowed the Red Sox to take a flyer on him in 2021, signing him to a one-year deal.

Richards started the 2021 season in the rotation.  He was very inconsistent, seemingly alternating poor starts and good ones.  He seemed to be trending in the right direction after a start in which he struck out ten over seven one-run innings against the Mets.  But early in the season, MLB announced new rules which were meant to crack down on substances used for gripping the ball.  Richards was one of the pitchers who suffered greatly from this change.  After his ERA increased to over 5.00, he was removed from the rotation and put in the bullpen.

Richards flourished for awhile in the bullpen and even notched three saves, even though he was not the primary closer.  Two of those saves involved him pitching three innings of scoreless ball.  Both times he struck out four batters.  His final numbers in the regular season were a record of 7-8, an ERA of 4.87 in 136.2 innings pitched (his most since 2015).  He struck out 115 batters and walked 60.  He only appeared in the postseason for a third of an inning against the Rays in the ALDS, allowing no hits or walks.  After the season, Richards signed a deal with the Rangers and pitched mostly out of the bullpen.  

So, how does he measure up on my All-Time One-Year Wonder post?  He qualifies more as a starter than a reliever, but it does not really matter where you put him.  He is not unseating either Hideo Nomo or Takashi Saito.

We Need Another Knuckleballer

1.  Tim Wakefield.  This is a Chrome Platinum Anniversary parallel of knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.  I bought this card from the same seller as one of the Sandy Alomar Jr. parallels I showed off awhile back (I was way ahead on Red Sox posts).  There has not been a regular knuckleball pitcher in the Majors since R.A. Dickey retired in 2017.  Steven Wright was still active at the time, but pitched in just 20 games in 2018, 16 in relief, and then just six in 2019.  There have been a couple of short-term knuckleballers since, but nobody that stuck around.  This is a travesty.  The knuckleball is one of the most entertaining pitches to watch, but it's hard to throw well.  Wakefield is one of my favorite pitchers of all time.  He had a really good career with the Red Sox.

2.  Alex Verdugo.  The seller threw in a ton of base singles as extras.  Mostly 2022 Topps and Chrome, along with some other randomness.  Among them was this Verdugo card that was miscut pretty badly, but I still needed it.  And it adds another Verdugo card.  It puts me at 57.  100 remains an outside possibility this year.

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.

2021 Topps All Star Rookie Cup Cards

Yesterday, I did some cards from the Steve Aoki set.  Today, I am showing a couple of cards from the 2021 Topps All Star Rookie Cup set that kind of went by unnoticed by me.  I vaguely remember looking at it when it came out and checking for Sandy Alomar Jr. cards, but he did not appear in the set and I lost track of it.  It was another online set and when I bought the Aoki cards, I bought a couple of these as well.

1.  Rafael Devers.  Of course I had to grab the Devers card.  I am a little confused by this set using older designs, particularly when it comes to Devers being shown with the 1964 design.  I do love this trophy though, much more elaborate than the later trophy design.  Devers was the 2017 All Star Rookie Third-Baseman even though he did not play the full season.  He hit .284/.338/.482 with ten home runs, 30 RBIs and 14 doubles in just 58 games.

2.  Carlton Fisk.  Fisk is one of my favorite Hall of Famers to get cards of.  Fisk at least played during 1987, but he was far from a rookie.  Also, this picture came from a few years after his rookie season.  Fisk was the 1972 All Star Rookie for catcher.  It was an easy choice since he was the unanimous Rookie of the Year.  He hit .293/.370/.538 with 22 home runs and 61 RBIs.

Steve Aoki Lot

Another of the online only Topps sets from last year was the Topps X Steve Aoki-curated set.  This was released in a couple of waves and included a lot of Red Sox cards.  That, in conjunction with the fact that there were several players in new uniforms after the trading deadline, meant that I was actually kind of interested in this set.  Here is the first few cards I picked up from it.

1.  Alex Verdugo.  Perhaps a third goal may be in the works.  I guess it kind of depends on what kind of year Verdugo puts up, but maybe it's time to push him to 100.  I have mid-50's right now.  That may not be super easy.

2.  Rafael Devers.  I think the Devers goal is definitely within reach.  Still a lot of cards to get, but I suspect he will appear in just about every set along with having lots of inserts.  With Bogaerts gone, Devers is the face of the franchise.

3.  Tommy Pham.  This is one of the updated players.  Pham has appeared on more cards than I expected, and is even shown with the Red Sox in 2023 Topps.  That's fine with me because I really liked Pham.  I was hoping Boston would bring him back as a fourth outfielder, but Rob Refsnyder had better numbers and is significantly better defensively.

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.

2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th Pt. 2: Mel Parnell

NAME: Mel Parnell

POSITION: Starting Pitcher.  

WHY IS HE HERE?:  He is a career Red Sox and is the winningest southpaw in Red Sox history, yes, more than Babe Ruth, Bill Lee, Bruce Hurst and Jon Lester.  He is a two-time All Star and finished fourth in the MVP vote in 1949.  Had there been a Cy Young Award at the time, he likely would have won as he led the league in wins and ERA.  He won 20 games twice and pitched a no-hitter.  He had a career 123-75 record with a 3.50 ERA.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN IN 2001?:  Yes.

ANY BETTER CHOICES IN 2001?:  Probably not.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN NOW?:  Probably.  Parnell is somewhat forgotten now because his career was shortened due to injury, but since he is still the winningest lefty in team history, he probably still has a place.

ANY BETTER CHOICES NOW?:  Probably not.  I maybe would consider Jon Lester and/or Chris Sale, but I don't think I would replace Parnell with either of them.