The Worst Red Sox Team of All Time Pt. 22: Wilcy Moore

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.

Wilcy Moore did not make it to the Major Leagues until the age of 29, but he did it with the 1927 Yankees, one of the greatest teams of all time.  Moore was used primarily as a relief ace, but he put up some terrific numbers.  In 50 games pitched, he started 12, Moore had a record of 19-7, with a league-leading 2.28 ERA and 13 saves.  He pitched 213 innings.  Moore's numbers declined the next couple of seasons and he found himself back in minor league purgatory for the 1930 season.  

The Red Sox drafted him from the Rule 5 Draft and inserted him into their pitching staff for the 1931 season.  His record of 11-13 was deceiving because he actually had a very good year.  Pitching in a role similar to his time with the '27 Yankees, he pitched in 53 games with 15 starts.  He threw 185.1 innings with a 3.88 ERA and saved eight games to lead the league.  

Moore started the 1932 season with the Red Sox, but had a record of 4-10 with a 5.23 ERA with four saves in 84.1 innings.  The Yankees, needing some bullpen help, acquired him from Boston for Gordon "Dusty" Rhodes.  Moore stepped up and pitched well for the Yankees the rest of the way, of course.  He had an ERA of 2.52 in 25 innings.  He pitched one more year for the Yankees and struggled.  That was it for his Major League career.  

Moore had a 15-23 record with the Red Sox.  He threw 269.2 innings, striking out 65 and walking 97 with an ERA of 4.31 and 12 saves.  He was a relief ace at a time when there were very few, but his inconsistency from year to year and starting his Major League career at almost 30 years of age prevented him from having a lengthy career.

2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th Pt. 5: Nomar Garciaparra

NAME: Nomar Garciaparra

POSITION: Shortstop

WHY IS HE HERE?  Arguably the best shortstop in team history, Garciaparra won the 1997 A.L. Rookie of the Year, was an All Star five times with the Red Sox and won a Silver Slugger.  He led the league in batting average twice, as well as hits, doubles and triples once each.  Garciaparra was one of the few players still active when this set was released.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN IN 2001?  Absolutely.  He was still playing at the time, but he looked like a future Hall of Famer and was the biggest star on the team.

ANY BETTER CHOICES IN 2001?  As I said, he is arguably the best shortstop in team history and the only players with potential cases above him will be here later.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN NOW?  Yes.  He put up another couple of All Star seasons after this set was released.  He still has an argument for best shortstop in team history.

ANY BETTER CHOICES NOW?  I would not take Nomar out, but I would definitely include Xander Bogaerts, another player who would have a possible argument as best shortstop in team history.

Red Sox in Cooperstown Pt. 45: David Ortiz

DAVID ORTIZ 

Years in Boston: 2003-2016 (.290/.386/.570, 483 home runs, 524 doubles, 1,530 RBIs)

Best Year in Boston: 2006 (.287/.413/.636, 54 home runs, 137 RBIs)

David Ortiz has to be one of the single greatest free agent bargains in the history of the game.  Ortiz was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as an international free agent and rose through the same system that produced Alex Rodriguez around the same time.  But in September of 1996, he was sent to the Minnesota Twins as a player to be named later in the deal that brought Dave Hollins to the Mariners.  The Mariners in those days made a lot of silly moves.  

Ortiz spent the next six seasons with the Twins, but only twice played in more than 100 games.  His power was evident as he hit 58 home runs during this time period, with a high of 20 in 2002, but the Twins wanted him to become something he was not.  The Twins thought that they could turn him into a contact hitter with occasional home run power.  After several seasons of attempting this, they decided to cut bait and non-tendered him in December of 2002.  Ortiz was on the market for a little while until Pedro Martinez contacted Red Sox management and put in a good word for him.  He was signed shortly thereafter for $1 million.  

2003 would be the turning point in Ortiz's career, but it did not start off real promising.  The Red Sox had brought in a number of hitters who kind of clogged up the first base and designated hitter spots, including Kevin Millar and Jeremy Giambi.  In addition, they had to find playing time for two third-basemen in Shea Hillenbrand and Bill Mueller.  So Ortiz struggled to get playing time for the first few months.  Eventually though, Hillenbrand was traded for relief help and Giambi's struggles made it easy to move on from him.  Ortiz found himself the primary designated hitter.  He did not let this opportunity pass him by as he hit .288/.369/.592 with 31 home runs and 101 RBIs, leading to a fifth place MVP spot.

The next season was when Ortiz became a legend.  He showed his 2003 season was not a fluke by hitting .301/.380/.603 with 41 home runs and 139 RBIs, making his first All Star team.  Then, he showed his incredible ability to hit in the clutch in the postseason.  First was the walkoff home run that sent the Angels home in the ALDS.  Then, he hit a stunning walkoff home run against the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALCS.  It was a must-win game for the Red Sox after being down 3-0 in the series and having just tied the game off of Mariano Rivera in the ninth.  He was not done though and hit a walkoff single in Game 5.  Ortiz hit .387 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in the ALCS win and was named the MVP.  He also homered in the World Series against the Cardinals.

From 2003 through 2007, Ortiz finished in the top five in the MVP balloting every season, finishing as high as second in 2005.  He led the league in RBIs twice, home runs once and walks once during this time period.  He set the team's single season record for home runs in 2006 with 54, surpassing Jimmie Foxx's nearly seventy-year old record of 50.  During this time period he helped the Red Sox to another World Championship in 2007.

In 2008, some cracks began to appear.  He got off to a very slow start and only ended up hitting .264 with 23 home runs and 89 RBIs.  2009 saw his batting average dip all the way to .238, but he hit 28 home runs and drove in 99.  There were concerns that he was waning, but he rebounded somewhat in 2010, hitting .270 with 32 home runs and 102 RBIs.  He was rejuvenated after that, suffering some minor injuries but staying mostly in line.

2013 was Ortiz's third World Championship season.  In the regular season, he was once again an All Star and won the Silver Slugger while finishing tenth in the MVP voting.  He hit .309/.395/.564 with 30 home runs and 103 RBIs.  Then, he reminded the baseball world of his clutch hitting ability in the postseason.  He hit two home runs off of the Rays in the ALDS.  He did not do much in the ALCS against the Tigers except for one at-bat that may be one of the greatest at-bats in postseason history.  Boston had struggled against the exceptional pitching of the Tigers in Game 1 and it was getting late in Game 2 when Ortiz came to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth against Joaquin Benoit down 5-1.  He sent a Benoit pitch (who he had never homered against previously) into the bullpen, along with a chasing Torii Hunter to tie the game and provide the turning point in the series.

In the 2013 World Series, Ortiz was other-worldly.  The Cardinals tried to pitch to him early on, but he was crushing everything.  Even his outs were hit hard.  Eventually, they just stopped pitching to him altogether.  Ortiz ended up that World Series with a line of .688/.760/1.188 with two home runs and six RBIs to lead Boston to the title.  He was an easy choice for World Series MVP.

Ortiz's average dipped again in the next two seasons, but his home runs and RBIs remained at a high level and he eventually hit his 500th career home run.  He announced prior to the 2016 season that he would retire at the end of the year and it became his victory lap.  Teams lavished gifts on him throughout the season while he continued to wear out their pitchers.  He had what was probably one of his greatest seasons, hitting .315/.401/.620 with 38 home runs.  He led the league in slugging percentage, doubles (48, not bad for an old guy), RBIs (127) and OPS (1.021) and was an All Star and won the Silver Slugger while finishing fifth in the MVP vote.  Unfortunately Boston was bounced in the first round of the postseason and could not win one last time for the big guy.  Ortiz took to the field shortly after the last out at Fenway and tearfully waved goodbye one last time as an active player.

Ortiz's legacy is as an incredible clutch hitter who helped lead Boston to three World Championships, almost unheard of prior to his arrival (Harry Hooper has four, but that was 100 years ago).  He was an All Star ten times, won seven Silver Slugger Awards, was a Home Run Derby Champ and won the MVPs in both the ALCS and World Series.  He finished in the top five of league MVP voting five times.  He hit 541 career home runs, including 483 with the Red Sox, which is more than any other player not named Ted Williams.  Ortiz is a Red Sox icon and he was one of the faces of the game for many years.  There was some concern about his candidacy for the Hall of Fame, but when the voting was announced, he made it in with some room to spare.  Some writers did not vote for him because he was a designated hitter for the great majority of his career, others were convinced he used PEDs, though there was little, if any, proof of that.  When it all came down to it though, Ortiz marched into the Hall of Fame wearing a Red Sox cap.

Your 1981 Red Sox Pt. 29: Mike Torrez

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

Mike Torrez's legacy with the Red Sox is primarily giving up the home run to Bucky Bleeping Dent.  But that largely ignores the fact that Torrez was a serviceable starting pitcher for Boston for five years.  He had an 18-year career, winning 185 career games with a roughly league-average ERA.  That is a pretty valuable career.  His career WAR was a solid, if unspectacular, 22.9.  Had he played during the current era he would have easily made $10 million a year.

Torrez was one of the rare players to defect from the Yankees to the Red Sox.  He had been acquired by the Yankees early in the 1977 season and had a decent year, winning 14 games with a 3.82 ERA.  With Boston, he was expected to be a middle rotation starter, joining a rotation featuring Luis Tiant, Bill Lee, Dennis Eckersley and Reggie Cleveland.  Torrez did his job admirably, going 16-13 with a 3.96 ERA in 250 innings pitched.  He drew the start in Game #163, a one-game playoff against the Yankees to determine the A.L. East division winner.  He was pitching well too, with a lead in the seventh inning, before giving up the Dent homer.

The next season, his record was the same, but his ERA ballooned and he led the league in earned runs allowed and walks, not a good combination.  In 1980, his numbers declined even further, with an ERA of 5.08 and a record of 9-16.  Things were not looking great for Torrez at that time, having declined each season.  But then came 1981.

1981 was Torrez's best season with the Red Sox.  In the strike-shortened season, Torrez pitched in 22 games, starting all of them, and spanning 127 innings.  He had a 10-3 record, his best winning percentage of his career, with a 3.68 ERA.  He notched 54 strikeouts and 51 walks and threw two complete games.  Torrez had the best year on the staff, leading the team in victories and ERA.

The next season though, Torrez's numbers reverted to his 1980 form.  He was 9-9 with a 5.23 ERA.  After the 1982 season, he was traded to the Mets for a player who never made it to the Majors.  He led the league in losses, earned runs and walks.  He pitched for one more season with the Mets and A's before hanging it up.  

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.

A Couple Wong Optics

I have been trying to limit the Wong posts if I can, trying to put as many together as I can.  I tend to post cards in the order I receive them.  So, when I get a card that breaks up the string of Wong cards, then there is a different post.  This post is a short one because there is a non-Wong card coming for tomorrow.  It just so happens that both of the cards for today come from Donruss Optic.

Here is yet another of those patriotic Prizm parallels.  There are a number of these, as I have said.  I have the Liberty, Freedom, Spirit of '76 and now, this Red, White & Blue.  There is also an Eagle Prizm, but that is a 1/1.

And here is the Black Prizm Autograph card.  This is now my sixth Rated Rookie Signature card.  

That's it for now.  As usual, more to come.

Topps Now: May 10, 2023

It is odd to think about, but Kenley Jansen is seventh all-time in saves.  He notched his 400th save on May 10, just the seventh pitcher to make that milestone.  Jansen was incredible to start the season.  After picking up #400, he had a couple of rough outings against the Cardinals but looks like he is getting back on track now.  Jansen has been as advertised since being acquired by the Red Sox.  It is great to have a true closer again.  

I went to look at the Baseball Reference page for all-time saves leaders in preparation for this post.  The top 24 are shown and include several former Red Sox.  Here they are:

3.  Lee Smith (478, 58 with Red Sox)

6.  Billy Wagner (422, 0 with Red Sox)

7.  Kenley Jansen (405, 14 with Red Sox so far)

8.  Craig Kimbrel (403, 108 with Red Sox)

9.  Dennis Eckersley (390, 1 with Red Sox)

11.  Jonathan Papelbon (368, 219 with Red Sox)

12.  Jeff Reardon (367, 88 with Red Sox)

22.  Todd Jones (319, 0 with Red Sox)

23.  Rick Aguilera (318, 20 with Red Sox)

Topps Now: April 19, 2023

I am trying to think of the players who made their debut in my collection with Topps Now cards.  The most recent example, prior to this one, is Masataka Yoshida.  I believe Nathan Eovaldi and Steve Pearce were.  Brandon Phillips remains the only player in my collection whose only card is a Topps Now card.  Well, until this one, but I do expect that to change.

Last year's trade of Christian Vazquez to the Astros was devastating to me.  I was a huge Vazquez fan.  But that trade opened up playing time for Connor Wong, who has since become my newest mini-player collection, and it also brought the Red Sox two prospects.  

Enmanuel Valdez looks like Juan Soto at the plate and has a plus hit tool.  He is something of a disaster in the field though, so I do not think he will stick in the Majors this time.  Some seasoning in the minors and finding a permanent position will help him, but he has been hitting well, until a recent slump.

On April 19, he made his Major League debut and picked up two hits.  He will likely be sent down once Trevor Story is ready, but he has impressed in his first stint in the Majors, until his recent slump.  It will not be long before he starts appearing in sets.

The Next Wong

As usual, the next several packages I have gotten in have been primarily Connor Wong cards.  And so here is the next update.

Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph Blue Ray Wave Refractor.  Oddly this card was not from the Sonic set, but rather from the basic Chrome set.  I think this is a really interesting card.  Is it necessary?  Definitely not.  Is it cool?  Yeah.

Topps Gypsy Queen Team Logo Swap.  One of the parallel variations from Gypsy Queen.  There is very little distinguishing this from the base set.  The team logo is a bit different.  

Panini Prizm Red Shimmer.  I have the Silver and Purple Shimmer parallels.  This is the Red.  This is serial-numbered to seven.  The other Shimmer parallels are similarly numbered, making them some of the rarer cards in my collection.

Topps Heritage Red and base.  One of my big losses in this collection is the 2022 Topps Heritage Red.  I bought it from a seller on Ebay, who then could not find the card and cancelled the sale.  It is a card that has not shown up on the site since.  The red border cards were only in Target Mega Boxes, so they are not easy to find.  I wanted to grab this year's card early.  The seller included the base card as an extra, and I still needed it.  So, that knocks off two cards.  Heritage is Wong's only appearance in a set so far this year, but with the way he has been playing, I expect that to change.

Stadium Club Chrome Wave Refractor.  I was outbid on an auction for this card a few weeks back when I was driving home from my parents' house.  I jumped on it when it showed up on Mercari.  What is interesting about the Stadium Club Chrome card is that Wong is listed as a catcher/third-baseman.  He played exactly one inning there in his Major League career.  It would have been more correct to list him as a second-baseman, but he has not played much there in the Majors either.

Topps Chrome Logofractor Future Stars Blue.  I always like blue parallels.  This one is numbered to 150.  I am not really familiar with the Logofractor set, other than this insert set and an autograph card, so I am not sure what distinguishes it from any of the other Chrome sets.

Panini Select Rookie Jersey Autographs Holo.  I had not grabbed any variations of this card until this one.  I have a couple more coming now.  There are a few other cards out there that I have not started grabbing variants of, but not a ton.

That's it for now.  More to come obviously.  Wong is definitely the fastest growing player in my collection, probably ever.  Just a couple months ago, I only had four cards of him.

Big League Blaster

I was watching for Big League about a month or so ago and never saw it on the shelves.  I have since moved on to watching for Heritage (especially since Connor Wong is in the set), so of course Big League finally shows up.  I went ahead and grabbed one.

1.  Justin Turner.  Turner and J.D. Martinez essentially switched places.  Turner fits in well with Boston, and of course there are several of his former teammates on the team.  Turner is having a decent, if not particularly noteworthy season, this year.  It is his presence in the clubhouse though that has been his biggest asset to this team.

2.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo is one of those former teammates.  He has been one of the more consistent players on the team, finally having the kind of season Boston envisioned when he was the primary return in the Mookie Betts deal.  He has a chance to make his first All Star team this year.

A Wantlist Trade from the Forum

This trade took a few weeks to really come together.  There were a lot of moving parts to it and, quite honestly, my heart was not really in it that much.  It was coming about at a time that I was hyper-focused on my Connor Wong collection and this trade features no cards of him.  But, eventually it all worked out and knocked off 21 cards from my wantlist, and a lot of them are from 15-20 years ago, cards that are becoming increasingly harder to find, especially the commons.

1.  Derek Lowe.  One of the greatest trades in Red Sox history was acquiring Lowe AND Jason Varitek for Heathcliff Slocumb.  Lowe was a two-time All Star, as a closer and a starting pitcher, saved 40 games one year and won 20 games another year.  He also won the deciding games in each postseason series in 2004.

2.  Manny Ramirez.  From one of the greatest trades of all time to one of the greatest free agent signings of all time.  Ramirez seemed expensive at the time, but he was well worth the money.  He led the league in home runs once and batting average once and won six Silver Slugger Awards and was an All Star eight times.

3.  David Ortiz.  I believe this is a shot from Ortiz's first All Star Game in 2004.  Ortiz made the most of his first appearance by homering.  

4.  Carlton Fisk.  This is an over-used photo of the Hall of Famer that appeared in a ton of sets in the late 90's/early 2000's.

5.  Josh Beckett.  I was watching a Youtube video about the greatest win/win trades of all time and the trade in which Boston got Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett from the Marlins for a package including Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez was listed.  I have to say I agree.  Even better for Boston was that this was so instrumental in them winning the 2007 World Series.  Beckett and Lowell won the two postseason MVP awards.

6.  David Ortiz.

7.  Wade Boggs.  Known as The Chicken Man for his odd superstition of eating chicken before every game.  He had a lot of superstitions, but that was the most well-known.

8.  Jake Cosart.  Cosart was the 3rd round pick in the 2014 draft and was the younger brother of Marlins and Padres pitcher Jarred Cosart.  Jake never made it to the Majors.  The 2014 draft resulted in a lot of players with Major League experience, but most of whom have struggled.  Michael Chavis, Michael Kopech, Sam Travis and Jalen Beeks were all taken in that draft.

9.  Triston Casas.  Casas struggled greatly for the first month of this season, but looks to be coming around.  The power and batting eye have been for real, but the struggle has been making solid contact that does not result in outs.  He is also something of a character.

10.  Xander Bogaerts.  After a scorching start to the season with his new team, Xander has come back down to earth and seems to be dealing with wrist injuries that have hampered his last couple of seasons.

11.  Roger Clemens.  I am currently reading a book about the 1986 Red Sox.  Clemens of course had his breakout season that year, capturing both the Cy Young and MVP Awards.  He also struck out 20 batters in a game for the first time in history and won the All Star Game MVP.  Unfortunately, he struggled in the postseason and his exit in Game 6 of the World Series was a highly controversial moment.

12.  Chris Sale.  Sale was pitching really well until leaving a game against the Rays early.  He is back on the IL.  Hopefully he can make it back quickly.

13.  Rafael Devers.  Devers has been struggling lately.  It probably doesn't help that most of the offense has been struggling, so there is no real protection in the lineup for him.  

14.  David Price.  I still maintain Price should have been the World Series MVP in 2018.  I am happy for Steve Pearce of course, but Price exorcised his postseason demons and was incredible.

15.  Darwinzon Hernandez.  I feel like I have been getting a lot of Hernandez cards lately, which is odd since he is no longer with the team.

16.  Chris Sale.

17.  Mookie Betts.  I still want to eventually get all of the cards from this 2019 insert set.  When does Connor Wong get a 30-card set devoted to him?

18.  Mookie Betts.

19.  Nick Pivetta.  Pivetta was recently moved to the bullpen after struggling in the rotation.  Of course, a lot of Boston's starters have been struggling.

20.  Bobby Dalbec.  Dalbec has been mashing in the minors.  Unfortunately, he just cannot seem to make that last in the Majors.  I think he is going to be traded.

21.  Josh Winckowski.  This card I was excited about.  Winckowski has been great in the bullpen.  He was the primary return in the Andrew Benintendi deal (Franchy Cordero was the only Major Leaguer, but I maintain Winckowski was the bigger deal).  It is great to see him thrive.

Wong Mailday

I ran out of creative titles right now.  It hasn't been the best day as I am writing this, but at least I have cards to show off.

In something of a steal, I managed to acquired both the Stadium Club Members Only and Stadium Club Chrome Xfractor in a trade on TCDB for one Ronald Acuna insert card.  Not even an exceptionally rare one.  The Members Only card is the big surprise here.  I had not seen this card on Ebay prior to winning it.  That has since changed, but with a $50.00 starting bid.  These were one per case.  They do not tend to sell for a lot, but they are exceedingly rare.  

Keeping with the Stadium Club theme, here is the Green Refractor.  

This is the Purple Refractor of the Topps Chrome 1987 Silver Pack card.  I had to try to acquire this a couple of times.  I bought it once and the seller figured out he had sold it already.  I have no idea why this keeps happening with this collection.  Luckily I did not have to wait long for another copy to pop up.

Here is the Orange Refractor Finest Autograph which gets me one step closer to the rainbow.  I highly doubt I will ever track them all down, but I am closer.

And closing things out is the Panini Mosaic Green Fluorescent, which is numbered to ten.  I have seen this card pop up twice in two weeks.  Hopefully the Orange will pop up again some day soon.

Macho Macho Man

I was Zippy-Zapped recently.  I knew this one was coming.  Masataka Yoshida has become common ground for that Yankees fan and I.  Yoshida is fun to watch, a truly great hitter so far in his career.  He sent me this Bowman rookie card, my first non-Topps Now card of him thus far.  I am sure things will pick up as the season goes on because he has definitely attracted notice.  He is even better than I thought he would be, and I had decent expectations for him.

Thanks Kenny!  I do have something for you going out this week.

A Colorful Wong Trio

As I said the other day, after it looked like things were slowing down, it picked right back up.  I guess I kind of got a second wind with the collection.  Not really sure why.  Maybe it is because he appears in his first set in 2023.  It would still be nice to find those cards that got cancelled or I never received.  That would really help.

This will be a colorful post.

Finest Rookie Autographs Blue Refractor.  The Finest Refractor autos were one of my favorite aspects of my Tzu-Wei Lin mini collection.  They are not quite that high here, but I still definitely like them.  The blue matches the ink well here.  

Panini Select Neon Green.  Here is a nice, bright green card.  Sure, it's one of the two photos seen ALL THE TIME in Panini sets, but it is an interesting color idea.

Donruss Optic Liberty.  Closing things out for today is another patriotic parallel from Donruss Optic.  This is the Liberty Prizm, serial-numbered to 25.  It is another purchase off of Mercari.  Unfortunately, it popped up on Ebay for cheaper just days after I received this.  Oh well, at least I have it.

2022 Panini Mosaic Blaster

I took a chance on a Panini Mosaic blaster recently.  I still needed quite a few base cards and some Wong parallels.  I had some rewards points from my Target card to use, so it did not actually cost me anything.  That's a good thing.

Xander Bogaerts.  Yep.  This base card is all I got.  Technically, there was a Connor Wong base card (of course I did just a couple days after getting one) and a Rafael Devers Big Fly Green Mosaic (just horrible luck), but I already had both of those.  So, this was a pretty bad break for me.  At least I got one card, even if it is a player that is no longer with the team and who spurned the team on returning.  I did pull some cards to be used as trade bait, but we will see what I can work out on that stuff.

2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th Pt. 4: Tex Hughson

NAME: Tex Hughson

POSITION: Starting Pitcher

WHY IS HE HERE?:  Three-time All Star and one of the aces of the staff in the pennant-winning season in 1946.  Two-time 20 game winner led the league in wins once, winning percentage once, complete games twice, innings pitched once and strikeouts once.  Career record of 96-54 with a 2.94 ERA.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN IN 2001?:  Yes.

ANY BETTER CHOICES IN 2001?  Most of the better choices are here.  Hughson was the top starting pitcher on a pennant-winning team so his place is fairly well-assured.  His career was not long due to injuries but his performance in 1946 makes him a good bet.

WOULD I PUT HIM IN NOW?:  Probably.

ANY BETTER CHOICES NOW?  Obviously you want the same kind of correlating players in now, so Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Chris Sale would need to be included, but probably not at the expense of Hughson.  Rather they should be alongside him.

Rumors of This Collection Slowing Down Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Who started saying that anyway?

This post is going to be large.  Buckle up.

Up first is the Gypsy Queen Blue parallel.  The seller included some random extras.  I always enjoy those, especially when they result in a card I need, like this Martin Perez card.  I always liked Perez during his time with Boston.  Too bad he was not as good as he has been since returning to Texas.

Up next is the Panini Mosaic Rookie Autographs Choice Fusion Red and Yellow Mosaic.  That's a mouthful.  This is only my second parallel of this card.  

Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph Gold Refractor.  I had to buy this card twice.  I originally bought it for a great deal on Mercari, but the seller never responded to me, which is sort of a problem on that site.  So I had to get it on Ebay, but it cost more.  That was annoying.

Stadium Club Black Foil.  The Stadium Club photo is one of the few that is not repeated in any other set, unless you count Stadium Club Chrome. 

Panini Prizm Rookie Autographs Burgundy Cracked Ice.  This, on the other hand, is a photo that appears A LOT.  It's already the second time we have see it in this post.  And there will be more.  That is one thing I am looking forward to as he has seen more playing time.

Donruss Optic Rookie Autographs Cracked Ice Black.  See?  This is the third time we have seen it in this post.

Panini Chronicles Rookies and Stars Gold.  This is a great photo, one of my favorites, though it does appear in a few sets.  It is not nearly as over-used.  Plus, you can't tell Panini does not have a license here.  This is serial-numbered to just ten.

Panini Mosaic Mosaic parallel and base.  I grabbed these two from the same seller.  I was supposed to get the base card awhile ago in a lot that included the Orange Fluorescent Mosaic parallel, but the seller never sent the cards and never responded to messages.  That seller has been getting nothing but negative feedback for the last month, so I am not alone.  The base was easy to find again.  I have yet to find the Orange Fluorescent though.  It was numbered to 25, so I would think another will show up some day.  Hopefully.

Topps 582 Montgomery.  Now this is one of those cards that is special just because of a stamp on it.  Still, it's another Wong card.

Donruss Optic Rookie Autographs Green Mojo Prizm.  Did I miss a meeting when we decided this design means "Mojo"?  Panini is not the only one to do it, Bowman does too.

Topps Independence Day.  Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that last year's Independence Day parallel design was just some red stars on the sides of the card.  In years past, it has been a full design in the background of the card.  This just feels kind of lazy.

Stadium Club 1992 rookie design variation.  This is a card I have been looking for since I started this collection.  I did not realize how rare it was until I targeted it.  I eventually found it by searching for a misspelling of his first name.  Sometimes you get deals that way.  It was probably my number one target other than the two cards I never received and haven't been able to find again.

Bowman Sterling Red Refractor.  Numbered to just five, this is one of the rarest cards in my collection to date.  I do have two 1/1s and a card numbered to two.

Topps Chrome Orange Wave Refractor.  I was a bit surprised when I won this.  It was the subject of a bidding war for awhile and I threw in a barely serious bid with about 30 seconds left and barely won it.

Topps Chrome Sonic Edition Gold RayWave Refractor.  Sonic is one of the more unique sets.  Just a Chrome knockoff, the parallels are surprisingly interesting.  This is not one of the best ones but it is still pretty cool.

Bowman Purple.  There is also a Purple Pattern, which is SLIGHTLY different on the border.  Why?  Who knows?

Panini Select Tie-Dye.  This is serial-numbered to 20.  Definitely one of the more outlandishly colorful parallels so far.  

Panini Absolute Rookie Threads Retail Red.  There are still basic swatch relics out there.  Not nearly as many as the mid-2000's though.

Panini Diamond Kings Artist's Proof Gold.  Yet another one of the same pose, but I still love the Diamond Kings cards.

Bowman Blue Pattern.  Again, there is also a regular Blue.  Strange.

Donruss Optic Quantum Prizm.  How they decided on Quantum for a parallel idea, I have no idea.  How this represents "Quantum", I have even less of an idea.

Topps Pristine Orange Refractor.  This is not quite the same photo, but it is so close as to be basically the same one.  His left leg is not quite as high.

Topps Gallery Green.  There is also a Green Pattern parallel.  This is another picture that does not appear in other sets.

Bowman Green.  There is also a Neon Green parallel, which I already have.

Topps Foilboard Retail.  There is also a Foilboard Hobby.  The only differences seem to be the serial number and a slightly different pattern.

Topps Chrome Sonic Edition Yellow Green Pulse Refractor.  This is one of the better Sonic parallels.

Panini Mosaic Green Mosaic.  There has been a lot of green over the last few cards.

Panini Prizm Bronze Donut Circles.  Yep, Donut Circles.  Quite the parallel.  

So, with all of these cards, I have now taken over the top spot on TCDB for Connor Wong collectors.  That does not mean there is not someone else out there, but I on top there.  Wong is also currently the second-largest active player in my collection.  At the rate I am going on this collection, it may not take much longer before he overtakes Rafael Devers.