October 11, 2021
Game 4 of the ALDS proved to be the deciding game. Boston sent Eduardo Rodriguez to the mound, and he was good enough, pitching five innings and giving up just two runs. The bullpen blew it though. Garrett Whitlock ended up pitching the final two innings and eventually got the win. Rafael Devers, who was terrific in the postseason, went 3-4 and hit a three-run home run in the third inning. Enrique Hernandez, who was also terrific in the postseason, eventually won the game on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, driving in Danny Santana. It was quite the ending to a surprising series. Boston was not expected to take out the Rays.
I always kind of liked these Topps Silk Collection cards. They made a big deal about them for a few years about ten years ago, but you do not really see them anymore. I still track them down occasionally though. I showed off my Jose Iglesias a few days ago. Here is my latest:
This Bill Hall is one that I always wanted. Hall only played the one season for Boston in 2010 and his only cards are variations on his Update card. That's unfortunate. I really liked Hall. He was so versatile that he was my All-Time One-Year Wonder utility player. He played all three outfield positions, second, third, shortstop and even pitched a game. Most of the time was split between left field and second base. Hall played in 119 games, hitting .247/.316/.456 with 18 home runs, 46 RBIs and nine stolen bases.
I tried my luck at a Bowman Chrome blaster. Not bad. Not great, but it could have been much worse.
1. J.D. Martinez. Martinez is now in his fifth season with the Red Sox and is probably the second or third best designated hitter in team history. David Ortiz is obviously number one. The competition is Jim Rice, I think. Martinez has been an All Star four times and won two Silver Sluggers. He has hit 123 home runs with the Red Sox.
2. Jeter Downs. This is one of those Mojo Prospect Refractor cards. Downs was one of the big pieces Boston acquired in the Mookie Betts deal. He recently made his Major League debut and had a big series against the Yankees last weekend, driving in the tying run and scoring the winning run in the third game. Downs could be trade bait at this point, unless Boston is unable to lock up Xander Bogaerts. Even then, Marcelo Mayer and Nick Yorke are coming.
I had to grab this card:
Autographs and relics have generally not been as important to me as they were about 15 years ago, but I still generally try to grab at least one for each player. So when something shows up for say, a backup catcher, you know I have to track it down. That is what happened here.
Kevin Plawecki has been the Red Sox backup catcher since 2020. He was my Underrated Player of the Year that first year. Generally, defense has been his strong point, but Plawecki has shown an impressive ability for contact hitting. He was very good at putting the ball in play last year, which led to him being used in some important clutch moments. Unfortunately, he has declined dramatically this season, leading likely to the end of the road for Plawecki in Boston.
This is the purple version of the Donruss Optic Signature Series card.
I bought a blaster of this product, essentially Panini's version of Chrome for the Donruss brand. Not much to show for it, unfortunately, just a couple of base cards.
Alex Verdugo and Bobby Dalbec join the collection. Verdugo has struggled at times this year, but generally performs well in the clutch. He essentially won a game against the Yankees a few days back. Dalbec is getting REALLY frustrating. He looks absolutely lost at the plate lately, swinging at pitches that are non-competitive and not playing well on defense. I have a hard time seeing him sticking around at this rate.
Every year Topps sells sets for each of the postseason teams for a ridiculous price. Yet, I still end up getting them. Last year was no different. The set was only ten cards this year.
1. Bobby Dalbec. As the hot team rookie in 2021, of course Dalbec was going to be in the set. Dalbec though, barely played, primarily due to the acquisition of Kyle Schwarber. He made it into eight games, getting 12 at-bats. He failed to register a single hit or walk and struck out five times.
2. Nathan Eovaldi. Eovaldi started and won the Wild Card game against the Yankees, pitching 5.1 innings, giving up just one earned run while striking out eight. He pitched five innings against the Rays, again striking out eight, but taking a no-decision. He struggled a bit more in the ALCS, pitching three games, but starting two. He got the win in Game 2, but losses in Games 4 and 6. He had a 6.97 ERA in the ALCS, but he added nine more strikeouts.
3. Christian Vazquez. Vazquez was a star in the ALDS after sitting out most of the Wild Card game. He played in four of the five games and hit .375. He drove in four runs and had one of the biggest moments of the series, homering to walk off the Rays in Game 3. He drove in two in the ALCS while playing in each of the six games.
4. Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts was one of the big hitting stars for Boston throughout the postseason. He homered and drove in two runs in each of the rounds. All told he hit .261, but that number was depressed by a lackluster showing in the second half of the ALCS, like most players not named Rafael Devers.
5. Rafael Devers. Speaking of Devers, he is quickly becoming one of the most impressive and prolific Red Sox hitters in postseason history. In 2021, all he did was .295 with five home runs, eleven runs scored and twelve RBIs. He already has eight home runs in his postseason career. Not bad for a player who is just 25 years old.
6. J.D. Martinez. Martinez played in just three of the ALDS games, but hit .467 with a home run and four RBIs. He also hit a couple of home runs in the ALCS against the Astros with six RBIs. One of those home runs was a grand slam. Not bad for a player whose participation in the postseason was at risk due to an ankle injury.
7. Hunter Renfroe. Renfroe struggled for most of the postseason. He had some decent moments in the ALDS and was involved in a weird play in which a fly ball bounced off the wall, off of him, and then over the wall for a ground-rule double. He had just two doubles among his seven hits and only drove in one run.
8. Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber was the big trade deadline acquisition in 2021. He was acquired to add another power bat to the lineup, and he lived up to it. He homered once in each round, including a grand slam in the ALCS. He drove in six runs in the postseason and even stole a base.
9. Alex Verdugo. Verdugo got to play in the postseason for the first time in 2021 and made the most of it, hitting .310 in the three rounds. He homered in the ALDS against the Rays and drove in six total runs. He also stole a base, scored five runs and walked five times as opposed to three strikeouts.
10. Chris Sale. Sale was injured most of 2021, coming back from Tommy John surgery. He struggled in his first game in the ALDS, giving up five runs in just one inning, but pitched significantly better in the ALCS. He started two games, pitching eight innings with nine strikeouts and three walks. He had an 0-1 record, but a 3.38 ERA.
There were some notable absences from this set. The biggest one was one of the biggest stars of the postseason: Enrique Hernandez. He hit five home runs and drove in nine runs and might have been the ALCS MVP had Boston moved on. Very little of the pitching staff was represented either. Nick Pivetta had a huge performance, as did Eduardo Rodriguez. And Garrett Whitlock was Boston's best rookie and held down the late innings. So, this set should have been a little bigger. I did get the autographed version of the set, and my card came earlier this year. I will show it off eventually.
Let's dive in to some more Topps Now cards.
September 2, 2021
I had to get this one. Garrett Richards just seemed like one of those players that cards were going to be hard to come by. He never really seemed to have a set role on the team and was not exactly dominant most of the time. He definitely seemed unlikely to get many Topps Now cards. So, I made sure to grab this one.
On September 2, the Red Sox took on the Rays in Tampa. Eduardo Rodriguez started the game and pitched well, throwing six innings of four-hit ball with no runs, one walk and six strikeouts. Boston could not muster any extra base hits but were leading 4-0. Enter Richards in the seventh, who pitched the last three innings, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out four for a nice, three-inning save. It was his second save of the season. He finished the season 7-8 with a 4.87 ERA, three saves, 115 strikeouts versus 60 walks in 136.2 innings.
September 22, 2021
The Red Sox rolled over the Mets in Boston, winning 12-5. Trade deadline pickup Kyle Schwarber had a huge game, going 3-4 with two home runs. Apparently Schwarber owns the Mets, which I am sure the Phillies had in mind when signing him. Schwarber's other hit was a double. He drove in four runs, scored four runs and walked once. Chris Sale started the game, pitching five effective innings, giving up just two runs and striking out eight.
I have not done one of these in something like six years. I am sure I could come up with a few more if I thought about it (looking at you Tzu-Wei Lin). Getting the below card was a good reason to resurrect this series.
Iglesias was signed to a big bonus as an international free agent in September of 2009. The Cuban-born infielder was spectacular defensively, but had a questionable bat. His first season in the minors saw him hit for a decent average, but no power. He made it up to the Majors for the first time in late 2011, but only played in ten games, mostly as a defensive replacement, though he did have two hits in just six at-bats. He had a little more of a look in the Majors in 2012 when the team struggled to a last-place finish, but he hit just .118 in 25 games.
Spring Training in 2013 saw Iglesias put on a show. He was so impressive that he made the Opening Day lineup. He was sent back down to the minors after a week, but came back in late May. Iglesias was a sensation, splitting time between shortstop and third base and hitting for a shockingly high batting average. Iglesias's strengths were his exceptional defense and his ability to make contact. He also had some impressive speed that allowed him to beat out plays at first base. Iglesias was hitting above .400 as late as July 6 before his average finally started coming down. He struggled after that for a few weeks. On July 30, Iglesias was hitting .330/.376/.409 with one home run, ten doubles, two triples, 19 RBIs and three stolen bases. That was the end of his first stint with Boston.
As good as Iglesias had been, Boston had a better player waiting in the wings at shortstop. Xander Bogaerts represented the team's future. Boston had a glut of shortstop prospects in fact. That made Iglesias expendable. What the team needed was more starting pitching to contend for the postseason. And there was a pretty good one on the table in Chicago, but Boston did not have quite enough to make the move. Enter the Detroit Tigers, who needed an infielder. A three-team deal developed in which Boston sent Iglesias to the Tigers and some prospects (one of whom was Frankie Montas currently a top starter with the A's) to the White Sox. The Tigers sent power-hitting outfielder Avisail Garcia to the White Sox, and Boston had their pitcher: Jake Peavy.
Iglesias continued to play well defensively for his new team, but his average continued to fall. At the end of the year, his line was a still decent .303/.349/.386 with three home runs and 29 RBIs. He ended up finishing second in the A.L. Rookie of the Year vote to Rays outfielder Wil Myers. Iglesias continued along the same lines for several more seasons, even making the All Star team in 2015. He played for the Tigers, Reds, Orioles and Angels. Then, he returned to Boston.
The Angels in 2021 were not going anywhere. Despite reasonable numbers, the team decided to cut Iglesias. Boston, needing some help due to injuries brought him back. And Iglesias went on a tear. Playing mostly second base, Iglesias played in 23 games down the stretch and hit .356/.406/.508 with one home run and seven RBIs. He was also a strong clubhouse presence, taking over the role of chief laundry-cart pusher during home run celebrations. Due to not joining the team until September, he was not eligible for the postseason roster. He stayed with the team though to continue pushing the laundry cart.
After the season, Iglesias signed a deal with the Rockies. He is still just 32, so it is entirely possible he could make a third stint with the Red Sox. If he does not though, his career line with Boston is a very impressive .293/.346/.382 with three home runs and 28 RBIs. And of course, he played some terrific defense.
I tried out another one of those group breaks for Panini Prizm last year. I do not remember how many boxes it was though. It was not massively successful, but there was some decent stuff.
Four cards among three players here. All three are currently with the Red Sox as of today and all are homegrown. Base cards include Xander Bogaerts, who is the senior member of the Red Sox roster at this time as he started back in 2013, and Tanner Houck, who is currently the team's closer. Bogaerts was signed as an international free agent out of Aruba. Houck was a first round draft pick in 2017.
After the base cards are an insert of Rafael Devers. Devers, like Bogaerts, was an international free agent, though he was from the Dominican Republic. This is from the Fearless insert set. Then, there is a green parallel of Houck as well.
This was not a great break, but there was some decent stuff here.
These random cards were picked up from the same seller (I think) on Ebay. There was no real rhyme or reason for them, they just kind of caught my eye.
1. Kevin Pillar. This was the Royal Blue parallel from Topps Update. I probably should have done an update post to my All-Time One-Year Wonder post for right fielders for Pillar. He was signed as a free agent prior to the 2020 season and was playing very well for Boston before being traded at the deadline to Colorado. Pillar ended up hitting .274/.325/.470 with four home runs, 13 RBIs and seven doubles in just 30 games. It would not have been enough to unseat Cody Ross (who was eventually replaced by Hunter Renfroe's 2021 season), but it was a good year.
2. Xander Bogaerts. This is a 2017 Gypsy Queen image variation of Bogaerts. I have always felt Bogaerts was somewhat underrepresented in my collection, so I grabbed this one. That doesn't appear to actually be true as he is close to passing Mookie Betts, but as long as he has played for Boston, he should be much higher.
Time for more Topps Now cards.
September 8, 2021
Boston took on Tampa Bay at Boston, winning the game 2-1. It was a low-scoring game, which Hunter Renfroe provided all of the offense. Boston was trailing 1-0 going into the bottom of the 8th inning after a strong pitching performance by Nathan Eovaldi. The bullpen gave up the sole run in the top of the inning. Renfroe came on with Kyle Schwarber on base and homered, giving the Red Sox the lead, and eventually, the win.
September 18, 2021
The Red Sox blew out the Orioles on September 18 9-3. Xander Bogaerts provided most of the offense, collecting three hits in five at-bats. He scored two runs and drove in four on two singles and a home run. Tanner Houck took the win. Boston notably wore their City Connect jerseys which garnered a bit of a cult status among fans which continues to this day.
Just a quick one-card post today. This is the Joe Rudi card from the 2021 Topps Spotlight 70 set featuring a bunch of fan favorite-type players. The cards were watercolor representations of older cards. I did not get nearly enough of these cards yet, which is disappointing because there was a surprising amount of Red Sox representation in the set. For one, there is this card. Now, most people do not associate Joe Rudi with the Red Sox. And for good reason. Rudi was actually originally acquired by Boston in 1976 along with Rollie Fingers in the famous deal voided by Bowie Kuhn. He was later acquired in the deal along with Frank Tanana in the trade that sent icon Fred Lynn to the Angels. Rudi did not play well for Boston, hitting just .180/.239/.352 with six home runs in 49 games. He played just just one more season in the big leagues, returning to Oakland, the team for whom he had his most success. So yeah, pretty shocking this card was chosen. It is also not the most interesting-looking Topps card. The 1982 set had a decent design, but this was just a profile shot. He has great looking cards in 1971, 1973 and 1974.
As I said, this set had some decent Red Sox representation. In the 70 card Series One set, there were five Red Sox. Including Rudi, there were also cards of Jim Rice, Rich Gedman, Luis Tiant and Mo Vaughn. Series Two featured five more with Dustin Pedroia, Tim Wakefield and then short-lived Red Sox tenured Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Juan Marichal and Fergie Jenkins. I need to track down some more cards.
When a team that has as long a history as the Red Sox it is natural to have players who have been largely forgotten. These are some players who simply do not get mentioned anymore or are largely forgotten.
Technically I covered Ferriss in a previous post, but he shared the post with Tex Hughson. And plus, I get to show off this card in this post:
This is a Diamond Signatures autographed card of Ferriss, released in 2006. This set had a number of autographed cards of players from the 1940's. I may have to grab a couple more, particularly the Mel Parnell.
Ferriss was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox prior to the 1942 season. He spent that year in the minors and showed some promise. He spent the next two seasons in military service then made it to the big leagues in 1945. That year he turned in one of the best rookie seasons by a Red Sox pitcher ever. Ferriss was an All Star and finished fourth in the MVP race after compiling a record of 21-10 with a 2.96 ERA in 264.2 innings pitched.
1946 saw Ferriss lead the rotation with a 25-6 record en route to the American League pennant. His ERA was 3.25 and he struck out 106 batters while walking 71 in 274 innings pitched. He was an All Star again and finished seventh in the MVP vote. He pitched in two games during the World Series, going 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA in 13.1 innings pitched. Unfortunately, pitching that many innings early on in his career caused some major issues with his arm. He had a 12-11 record with a 4.04 ERA in 218.1 innings pitched. 1948 saw him pitch more out of the bullpen, but he was just 7-3 with a 5.23 ERA.
Ferriss pitched in five games the next two seasons. He pitched in the Red Sox minor league system until 1952. He never made it back to the Majors and retired at the age of 30. Ferriss did not pitch long, but he was a big part of the rotation in the mid 1940's. He was one of the team's top pitchers in 1946.
Topps Now cards have been much easier for me to come by than anything else recently. Which kind of sucks in a way. But that's just how it has been with my isolation over the last couple years. Here are some more, all of which are from August 26, 2021, which must have been a slow day for other teams.
On August 26, 2021, the Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 12-2. There were several standout performances.
Chris Sale made the start in his continued return from Tommy John surgery, something I predicted he would eventually need years ago, even before coming to Boston. Sale pitched just over five innings, giving up two earned runs, two walks, and striking out eight. But in the third inning, he pitched his third career immaculate inning, striking out all three batters faced on nine straight strikes.
Rafael Devers became just the third player in franchise history to have multiple 30 home run seasons before turning 25. The others? Some guys named Ted Williams and Nomar Garciaparra. Pretty good company. Devers was 2-5 on the night with three RBIs. He also stole a base.
Rookie Bobby Dalbec was the big star of the night though. All Dalbec did was collect three hits in four at-bats and drive in seven of the team's runs. Five of those RBIs were collected on his two home runs that night. It was a big night for the rookie power hitter.
Up first is a base card of Bobby Dalbec. Dalbec strikes out a ton, but when he makes contact, it's loud. He hit 25 home runs as a rookie, and he even hit one in one of the games I saw in person last year. His 2022 season has been mostly forgettable though and I suspect he's going to fall into the category of guys like Will Middlebrooks and Michael Chavis. Guys who put up big power numbers right away, but Boston held onto them too long rather than trading at a time when their market was big.
Next is Tanner Houck. This is a retail-only parallel. Houck has seemingly settled in this year as the Red Sox closer. Last year, he was more of an all-purposes pitcher, starting and relieving. He started 13 games and also notched a save. Houck is a former first round draft pick.
Benintendi was traded to the Royals for Franchy Cordero, Josh Winckowski and three other minor leaguers. He has since improved somewhat, winning the Gold Glove and improving his batting average, but he is still not close to the player he looked like he would be during the first three seasons of his career.
Unfortunately, Topps decided not to bring back Topps Total in 2021. I always thought the online-only format of the set was kind of a bad idea. Who wants to buy a $10.00 pack online and get a bunch of middle-relievers and utility players? I loved the set, don't get me wrong, but I always just bought the singles I wanted.
With the loss of Topps Total, Topps did an online-only format for Topps 206. I still just pick up the singles I want. One wave had several I jumped on:
Jason Varitek: Of course I had to add this one. 29 cards to go to make my goal. Unfortunately, it is becoming harder to find them.
Frank Arellanes: Arellanes is noteworthy because he was in the original T206 set. It is kind of odd to see such an obscure player in a modern set. Odd, and awesome. Arellanes pitched just three seasons in the Majors, all with the Red Sox, from 1908-1910. He had a great year as a starter and reliever in 1909, pitching in 45 games, starting 28 and finishing a league-leading 15. He notched eight saves, though it was not an official stat at the time. He had a 2.18 ERA and a 16-12 record.
Christian Arroyo: Arroyo has started to get more cards in 2022, but in 2021 he was still pretty rare in sets. Arroyo had some great moments, including a late pinch-hit grand slam against the Braves. I thought he would be the primary second-baseman this year, but he is a bit too injury-prone and Boston signed Trevor Story.
August 24, 2021
Hunter Renfroe took over as my All-Time One-Year Right Fielder after a terrific 2021 season in which he hit .259/.315/.501 with 31 home runs and 96 RBIs. He led the league in assists, but also errors. Renfroe had a great game on August 24, clubbing two home runs and driving in five runs in a win over the Twins.
July 1, 2021
I picked up a parallel of this card, primarily because I thought this would be Danny Santana's only card with the Red Sox. It did not end up that way, which I will get to eventually, though no idea when. Santana did not do much for the Red Sox, but he provided some valuable pinch-running appearances, including in the final game of the ALDS. Oh yeah, Rafael Devers is on this card too, but there are plenty of Devers cards out there.
August 23, 2021
How about a walk-off grand slam? Recently re-acquired first-baseman Travis Shaw did just that on August 23, leading to an 8-4 victory over the Rangers. Shaw came up with the Red Sox and spent the first two seasons of his career with Boston, before being traded to the Brewers, for whom he had some very good seasons. He was plucked off of waivers by the Red Sox to provide some pop primarily as a pinch hitter, and also to spell Bobby Dalbec on occasion. This was his first game back with Boston and his biggest moment in his tenure with the Red Sox.
Pictured on this card are, from left to right: Xander Bogaerts, Alex Verdugo, J.D. Martinez and Bobby Dalbec.
Something that I feel I talk a lot about on this blog is how I was a big fan of Carlos Quintana when I first started watching baseball. He was the first kind of obscure player of whom I was inexplicably a big fan. Guys like Felix Doubront and Tzu-Wei Lin have joined him over the years. I still grab cards when I can find them, though there are not too many left. Last year, I picked up two off of Ebay on the same day.
On a somewhat related note, I kind of had this fascination with contributing to the SABR bio project by writing the bio on Quintana. Unfortunately, someone beat me to it recently. I was sort of devastated by that. I had been harboring this idea for a few years now, but just had not gotten going on it. I should have done it. My biggest hangup was trying to find out what he was doing now. How that was going to happen. I will have to pick someone else to write about I guess.
My blaster netted me two base cards, but they are two of my favorite players: Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo. Devers is turning into a beast. I really hope Boston manages to get him locked up for a long-term deal. I am still waiting for Verdugo to break out in a big way. Hopefully this will be the year he does just that.
This was my first relic of Dalbec. I really do not have any idea what to expect from Dalbec this year. He had a great Spring and he was excellent down the stretch last year, but he strikes out way too much. Chavis is a cautionary tale. He too came to Boston with some big power but high strikeout rates. Eventually, the strikeouts ate him alive and he could not be a productive hitter with that strikeout rate. He was dumped at the trading deadline last year for Austin "Big Fudge" Davis, a lefty middle reliever. I did have a couple of Chavis autographs previously, but no relics.
Beyond the relics, the lot consisted of a bunch of inserts. I really like the Select Phenom card of Dalbec and the die-cut Platinum Players card of Roger Clemens. And then there is the parallel mini of Alex Verdugo, one of my favorite current Red Sox players.
Anyway, 2021 had a few new Jason Varitek cards released. Not enough to make the last hurdle easy, but there were some. This is the Allen & Ginter relic card of Varitek. Nothing too exciting. Just a gray swatch of uniform, but still. Any new Varitek cards are greatly appreciated.
This one came from the subset of All Star starters that were released around the All Star Break. Taylor had the two third base starters: Nolan Arenado from the Cardinals and Rafael Devers. Devers made his first All Star team in 2021, though it likely should have been his second. He had a huge season last year, hitting .279/.352/.538 with 38 home runs, 101 runs scored and 113 RBIs. As good as he was, he is still just 25 years old. The sky may very well be the limit with Devers. Boston needs to lock him up. Do not make the same mistake they made with Mookie Betts.
