In Honor of Pedro Entering the Hall with the Red Sox...

I promised some time ago that I would show off some Pedro Martinez cards.  On Thursday it was announced that Pedro would be depicted with a Red Sox cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.  It was kind of an obvious selection, but at any rate, I figured in honor of that announcement I would show off some Pedros:

 

In this first scan, you can see my very first Pedro Martinez card, the 1998 Fleer Tradition.  Sure that is actually him in an Expos uniform, but I still felt I should show off the card that started it all.  I got that one in a pack and was very excited.

The third card in the scan is from the 2001 Post set, possibly the last time cards appeared in boxes of cereal.  It was not much of a surprise as this card was visible on the box.

The fourth card was my first Pedro game-used card, only my third game-used Red Sox card overall.

The second card in this scan is one of the rare bat cards, also with teammates Manny Ramirez, Trot Nixon, and Shea Hillenbrand.

The seventh card was my first patch card of Pedro.

The next one shows the massive size difference of the two most dominant pitchers of the late 1990's.

Here we have a couple of very low-numbered Pedro relics.  The Diamond Kings bat/jersey is numbered out of 25 and the Playoff Honors patch is numbered out of 10.  I love those Leaf Exhibits cards in the first row.

We have some unusual items in this scan.  The first card is a game-used ball card and the second card features two game-used base pieces.  I think I like those Sportscasters inserts even more than the Exhibits.  

So there you go.  Some of my favorite Pedro Martinez cards.  Now that he is a Hall of Famer, I suspect we will see even more cards of him this year.

Nice Trade Package

I have made a number of trades lately that will help fill some holes.  There are a ton of 2014 cards on my wantlist right now, so this definitely helped with that.  

The first trade was for a few Cardinals cards and resulted in this:

1.  2014 Bowman Chrome Mini Xander Bogaerts.  Xander has been growing in my collection.  Hopefully he is ready to become the star we suspect he will be this year.

2.  2014 Bowman Prospects Purple Trey Ball.  Ball improved as the season went on last year, which is good, because he is one of the highest draft picks Boston has had in years.

3.  2014 Topps Update Future is Now Mookie Betts 1.  Betts is going to be one of the fastest growing players in my collection in 2015.  I am up to 10 now.  It is likely I will be near 30 or 40 by the end of the year.

4.  2014 Topps Wal Mart Blue Koji Uehara.  Uehara was one of the fastest growing players last year.  He is currently one of my favorite players to compile cards of.

5.  1995 Fleer Update Vaughn Eshelman.  Eshelman was one of the rare Rule 5 players Boston picked up that stuck around for a while.  He was immediately successful winning his first three starts in 1995.

6.  1995 Fleer Update Lee Tinsley.  Tinsley was a fairly decent regular for Boston in 1995, hitting .284/.359/.402 with seven home runs and 18 stolen bases.

7.  1996 Fleer Dwayne Hosey.  Hosey had a terrific stretch in the end of 1995, displacing Lee Tinsley and Willie McGee while hitting .338/.408/.618 with three home runs in 24 games.  He was given the starting job in 1996, but could not hold on to it.

8.  2014 Bowman 1989 Wade Boggs.  There were a few of these nice-looking inserts last year for the Red Sox.  I have the Bogaerts, now I have the Boggs.  I think there is an Ellsbury as well.  I am not as excited about the Ellsbury for obvious reasons.

1991 Topps #530 Roger Clemens

In this series, I look at my first team set: 1991 Topps. This was the set I started my baseball card collection with.

I have been neglecting some of my ongoing series for a long time.  I am going to try to get back into them.  This is yet another example of a great photo from this set.  We have the Rocket standing in front of the Green Monster next to the words "Strike Out".  A great-looking picture.

Clemens was one of the best pitchers in the game at this time.  He should have won the Cy Young Award in 1990, which would have been his third award.  Bob Welch of the A's took it home though, almost exclusively due to his 27 wins.  Welch was 27-6 with a 2.95 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 238 innings.  Clemens, on the other hand, was 21-6 with a league-leading 1.93 ERA and 209 strikeouts in 228.1 innings.  Other than the victories, Clemens was pretty obviously the better pitcher.

He would go on to win his third Cy Young Award in 1991 though.  It would be his last with the Red Sox, though he would win four more in his career with three other teams.  The less said about those years, the better.

I Love Free Stuff

I received this today for free:

This is a jersey card from last year's Panini Immaculate Collection of Carl Crawford.  The jersey piece is green, so it may be from a St. Patrick's Day game, or it could be from his Tampa Bay days.  I have no idea.  The important part is, it was free.  Awesome.

Let's See Some Variteks

There was a thread topic recently about whether anyone had any complete player runs with all parallels from one set.  That got me thinking about my Varitek collection, since I am a ways away from anything impressive with my Sandy Alomar Jr. collection.  I do have a couple of runs with Varitek.  And since things have been slow on this blog recently, not many new Red Sox cards to show off of late, though that will change soon, I thought I would show them off.

First off, the 2005 Leaf Certified Materials run:

The base did not show up well, but that is the non-game-used portion.  The Mirror Black is at the bottom and is numbered 1/1.

And here is the game-used portion:

Oddly, the emerald cards were the last ones that I got of each of these.  It is my understanding that there is supposed to be a Mirror Black Autograph, but I have never seen that one.  The Emerald bat was the last one that I picked up, which did not happen until 2009. 

And now, my favorite one, the 2000 Pacific Prism complete run:

This one took some time to complete too.  None of the cards were terribly rare, but not a lot of people really opened much Pacific for some reason.  I love this set personally.  It is disappointing that the Prism set that Alomar appeared in did not have as many parallels.

And now, just because I can, I am going to show off some of my favorite Varitek cards:

 This button card was my first really high-end Varitek card and still one of my favorites. 

My first MLB Logo patch card.  I actually have three different Varitek MLB Logo cards.

This was my second one and my favorite.

Now for some high-end cards with teammates:

Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Manny Ramirez.

David Ortiz, oddly listed as a 1B, and Jonathan Papelbon.

And Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, and Curt Schilling.

Finally, my all-time favorite Varitek card, my bat barrel:

Thanks for stopping.

Congratulations Pedro Martinez! (And John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, and Craig Biggio)

We have for new Hall of Famers today, two of whom have had some time with the Red Sox.  I liked Biggio and Johnson, but since this is a Red Sox blog, Smoltz and Martinez are the big names.  Smoltz spent just a small part of his career with the Red Sox and was not terribly impressive, but hey, it was his last season and he definitely deserves this.

But Pedro Martinez will likely make it into the Hall of Fame wearing a Red Sox cap on his plaque.  So, he is definitely the highlight here for me.  So because of that, I am showing off my favorite Pedro Martinez card in my collection.

As for the other Red Sox:

-Curt Schilling actually increased his vote total, as did Roger Clemens

-Nomar Garciaparra stays on the ballot, getting just over 5% of the vote

So there you go.  Some day, I will dig out a bunch of my Pedro Martinez cards, and I have a lot, over 600 in fact.

Topps Chrome Blaster

I complained earlier that I had horrible luck with packs last year.  Well on Friday I decided to see if my luck had changed with the new year.  Spoiler alert: Yes.

1.  Koji Uehara.  The first pack yielded a base card of Koji Uehara, one of my current favorite players.

2.  Xfractor Xander Bogaerts RC.  Damn nice pull if I do say so myself.  A terrific parallel of the X-man.

3.  David Ortiz.  Now up to 489, 11 to go to meet my goal.

4.  Purple Refractor Jon Lester.  I will miss Lester.  He has been a big part of the team since he was drafted in 2002.  I remember when he was almost traded to the Rangers along with Manny Ramirez for Alex Rodriguez.

And here is the tradebait:

As usual, I am taking offers for Red Sox I need.  Mookie Betts is a priority right now, as well as anything on my wantlist.  Of course Sandy Alomar Jr. cards would also help.

First New Card of 2015

1.  2014 Topps Chrome 1989 David Ortiz.  I did a one for one trade that lead to this card.  A nice insert of Ortiz.  I am one card closer to one of my 2015 goals.

My Annual Hall of Fame Post

As I (try) to do every year, I am going to be looking at the Hall of Fame ballot and give my unsolicited opinions.

RICH AURILIA:
This is probably the biggest "huh?" on the ballot.  I do remember when Aurilia was a pretty good player for the Giants.  He had a great year in 2001.  Still, if he gets a single vote, I will be very surprised.
MY VOTE: No.

JEFF BAGWELL:
He is statistically one of the Top 10 first-basemen in history.  For some reason steroid rumors have plagued his candidacy despite the fact that he was never really implicated when he played.  I will always wonder what he could have done had he never been traded from the Red Sox.  Boston had Mo Vaughn though who was almost as good for a few years.
MY VOTE: Yes.

CRAIG BIGGIO:
He should be getting in this year after falling just two painful votes short last year.  He had a unique career, coming up as a catcher and then moving, successfully, to second base, with some center field thrown in a couple of times.  He also racked up over 3,000 hits.
MY VOTE: Yes.

BARRY BONDS:
Okay, my view on PEDs: if it was legal at the time in the game, then it should not keep players out.  Bonds was one of the best players in the game before the steroids.  Bonds is the all-time and single season home run leader.
MY VOTE: Yes.

AARON BOONE:
His candidacy is based entirely on his ALCS-winning home run.  That came against the Red Sox.  He has a colorful nickname because of it.
MY VOTE: No.  And not just because of his moment against the Red Sox.

TONY CLARK:
Clark had some nice seasons for Detroit after moving Cecil Fielder out of town.  He was also a well-respected leader during the labor crisis of 2002, which was his only season in Boston, also his worst season.  But he was never really a great player.
MY VOTE: No.

ROGER CLEMENS:
Like Bonds, he should be in despite the steroid rumors.  Clemens was an all-time great pitcher who won multiple Cy Young Awards, an MVP, and a ton of other honors.  He is one of the greatest Red Sox pitchers ever.
MY VOTE: Yes.

CARLOS DELGADO:
Delgado quietly put together a fine career but was largely overshadowed by bigger sluggers during his career.  He actually came fairly close to 500 home runs, which I had no idea.  I remember him mostly due to my little brother's fandom.  Unfortunately if you are going to play a power position like first base, you better be incredible to get in the Hall.
MY VOTE: No.

JERMAINE DYE:
A fine player with some fine seasons.  But again, other than some select moments, such as the 2005 World Series, he was largely overshadowed by players on his own team.  Not a good sign for Hall of Fame candidacy.
MY VOTE: No.

DARIN ERSTAD:
I was a big fan of Erstad.  Being a Nebraskan, I remember him from his college days as our best hitter and the kicker on our football team.  So I have always had a soft spot for him.  But other than his terrific 2000 season in which he racked up 240 hits, he was never really a star player.
MY VOTE: No.

CLIFF FLOYD:
Floyd was the subject of a lot of hype when he was in the minors with the Expos.  But he did not quite live up to the hype.  Sure, he had a good career, but he was never really in the discussion as one of the top players in the league in any season.
MY VOTE: No.

NOMAR GARCIAPARRA:
Yes his career was a little short.  Yes, he declined significantly after being traded from the Red Sox.  But from 1997 to 2003, he was one of the best players in the league.  And he was a shortstop.  I am probably biased on this one because Nomar was one of my favorite players.  But he was a two-time batting champ and a Rookie of the Year.  I think he should be in.
MY VOTE: Yes.

BRIAN GILES:
Giles was a pretty good outfielder for the Indians, Pirates, and Padres.  He had a career .902 OPS, which is impressive, and surprising since I was only sort of aware that he was playing most of the time.
MY VOTE: No.

TOM GORDON:
Flash had quite the varied career.  He was a starter in Kansas City, a dominant closer in Boston, and then became a very good setup man.  He had a great season in 1998 for the Red Sox, but not much else that distinguished him.
MY VOTE: No.

EDDIE GUARDADO:
Everyday Eddie was a pretty solid closer for the Twins for a few years, but to get in as a closer, you have to be really special.  Guardado just wasn't and he only ended up with 187 saves for his career.  That is not going to get it done.
MY VOTE: No.

RANDY JOHNSON:
A lock for the Hall of Fame.  One of the best left-handers ever.  No question.
MY VOTE: Yes.  

JEFF KENT:
Kent was one of the best-hitting second basemen of all time.  He did it kind of quietly until he got to San Francisco when he won the 2000 MVP.  He and Bonds were an offensive force.
MY VOTE: Yes.

EDGAR MARTINEZ:
Paul Molitor and Frank Thomas have paved the way for a full-time designated hitter to get into the Hall of Fame.  DH is a position, though it is a specialized position.  We have closers in the Hall, though it is necessary for them to be really special.  DH should be the same way.  Edgar was special.
MY VOTE: Yes.

PEDRO MARTINEZ:
Three-time Cy Young winner.  Had one of the greatest seasons by a pitcher ever in 1999.  Yes, his career was short, but he was electrifying.  One of two shoe-ins for the Hall.
MY VOTE: Yes.

DON MATTINGLY:
It is probably a bit hypocritical of me to vote Nomar in, but not Mattingly.  Mattingly had a similarly short peak when he was one of the best hitters in the game.  One difference makes me more comfortable with that.  Position.
MY VOTE: No.

FRED MCGRIFF:
If he had made it to 500 home runs, his chances would have been better.  McGriff was always a very good hitter, but he was seldomly the biggest star on his own team.  He very quietly put together a great career, but he never really felt like a Hall of Famer when he was playing.
MY VOTE: No.

MARK MCGWIRE:
Yes, steroids were a big issue.  Yes, he is being punished, though his 1998 season helped bring baseball back to the masses.  A relatively shorter career and several injury-marred years make his candidacy a little tougher.  But he did hit 563 home runs, albeit in a time when everyone was hitting home runs.
MY VOTE: Yes, for 1998.

MIKE MUSSINA:
I am coming around on Mussina's candidacy.  A very consistent pitcher over the course of his career.  I wanted Boston to sign him in 2001 originally instead of Manny Ramirez.  No real eye-popping statistics though.
MY VOTE: No, but I could be convinced.

TROY PERCIVAL:
Another closer, though with a lot better stats than Guardado.  I remember him as a particularly nasty closer for the Angels.  Still not enough.
MY VOTE: No.

MIKE PIAZZA:
Probably miscast as a catcher, but he could really hit.  Steroid cloud hanging over him though it is pretty much all speculation.
MY VOTE: Yes.

TIM RAINES:
Overshadowed by Rickey Henderson, but he was a terrific base-stealer and leadoff hitter for the Expos.
MY VOTE: Yes.

CURT SCHILLING:
A surprisingly strong case when looking past the low number of wins.  He was one of the best control pitchers of all time.  He was also a terrific postseason performer.  His late-career stint as one of the best pitchers in the game from 2001 to 2004 propels his candidacy.
MY VOTE: Yes.

JASON SCHMIDT:
Kind of a head-scratcher on this ballot.  Occasional good seasons but not enough of them and not good enough.
MY VOTE: No.

GARY SHEFFIELD:
A great hitter for a long time, he did manage to get to 500 home runs.  May have been more of a product of his era.  Did use steroids, though he claims it was mistakenly.
MY VOTE: No, but I can be convinced.

LEE SMITH:
Once held the career saves record.  That mark has since been obliterated.  I really liked Lee Smith but if he is not in yet, he likely never will be.
MY VOTE: No, regrettably.

JOHN SMOLTZ:
More than 200 wins and a Cy Young Award as a starter.  More than 150 saves as a closer.  Part of a terrific Braves staff that already features two Hall of Famers.  Smoltz makes three.
MY VOTE: Yes.

SAMMY SOSA:
Another steroid guy.  He hit 60 home runs three times and had 600 for his career, but that is pretty much it.
MY VOTE: No, but I could be convinced.

ALAN TRAMMELL:
At least as good as Ripken, Ozzie Smith, and Barry Larkin.  One of the best shortstops of the 1980's before Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Nomar Garciaparra revolutionized offense for the position.  Nevertheless, he should be in, as so should his double play partner.
MY VOTE: Yes.

LARRY WALKER:
This one is tough.  Other than a terrific 1997 season, he was never really one of the best players in the league.  His stats may have been inflated by Coors Field, though I have not studied them in depth.  A great hitter though and a tough choice.
MY VOTE: Probably not, but I could be convinced otherwise.

CONCLUSIONS
So my picks are Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Nomar Garciaparra, Randy Johnson, Jeff Kent, Edgar Martinez, Pedro Martinez, Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, and Alan Trammell.

If I was forced to do just ten, I would drop Kent, Edgar, McGwire, Raines, and Trammell, but I would have a hard time doing it.

PREDICTIONS
Welcome to the Hall Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez.  Bagwell and Piazza barely miss.  Nomar barely gets 5% to stay on the ballot.

2015: Looking Ahead

I don't typically make collecting goals, so this is going to be a little weird.  Nevertheless, here we are:

1.  Knock a couple of cards off of my Top 10 List. 

As of today, that list is:

• 1. 2006 Flair Showcase Hot Gloves #14 J.T. Snow
• 2. 2013 Topps Archives 1989 All Stars Retail #WM Will Middlebrooks
• 3. 2005 Diamond Kings #325 Edgar Renteria
• 4. 2013 Topps Turkey Red #52 Dustin Pedroia
• 5. 2011 Topps Heritage #500 Peter Bourjos/Ryan Kalish/Daniel Nava/Chris Heisey/Logan Morrison SP
• 6. 1996 Donruss Diamond Kings #2 Mo Vaughn
• 7. 2009 Topps Heritage #445b John Smoltz
• 8. 2014 Donruss Signatures #36 Daniel Nava
• 9. 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Nicknames #16 Shane Victorino
• 10. 2010 Topps Tribute #89 Babe Ruth T205

Some of those should be easy.  Some of them will be pretty difficult.  I would love to add the #1 card, if I can ever find it.

2.  Get up to 500 David Ortiz cards.  I have 487 so this should not be hard.

3.  Get up to 900 Jason Varitek cards.  I have 875 so this will be a little tougher, especially since there are not a ton still out there.

So nothing too difficult here.  I would love to make some more trades, move some more of my stuff I don't want, and knock a bunch of stuff off my wantlist.  Pretty easy.

2014: Looking Back

It was kind of a bad year to be a Red Sox fan.  The BoSox finished in last place for the second time in three years, though the other year they won the World Series, so it is not so bad.  It was kind of a rough year for my collection too.  Not as many trades as I would have liked and a ton of cards left on my wantlist right now.

Nevertheless, there were some highlights.

BEST CARD FROM A PACK
This was a very bad year for pack pulls.  I probably bought more boxes with no Red Sox in them than in any other year.  It was particularly disappointing since 2013 was so good.  Anyway, here they are.  I could not decide between these two:

2014 Panini Prizm Red, White, & Blue David Ortiz

One of three retail-only parallels from a special pack bought from Target, this is the first time one of those packs worked for me.

2014 Topps Update SP Mookie Betts

Easily one of my favorite players of the year and one of the most exciting to look forward to next year.  This was a great pull for me.

BEST CARD SOMEONE SENT ME UNSOLICITED
I will have to break this one up between two people who sent a number of packages to me this year.

Zippy Zappy Edition
1961 Fleer George Pipgras

I have never owned a card from this set before and Pipgras is such a unique player to be depicted in a Red Sox uniform due to his very short stint in Boston.

Mark Hoyle Edition
1973 Topps Dwight Evans RC

Mark sent me a ton of great cards, but the rookie card of Dwight Evans blows them away.  Just a terrific card.

FAVORITE EBAY BUY
2012 Topps Commemorative Rings Babe Ruth

Gotta love the Babe.

FAVORITE CARD FROM A TRADE I EXPECTED
2014 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor Mookie Betts

Yes, another Mookie.  Yes, he is that exciting.  I still can't believe I managed to trade so little for this card.

BEST CARLOS QUINTANA ADDITION
1991 Score Pepsi Carlos Quintana

Who else would be excited about a Carlos Quintana card?

BEST JASON VARITEK ADDITION
2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Sportdiscs

Varitek re-emerged in this set and it took me awhile to find some of these.

BEST PHOTO
2014 Stadium Club David Ortiz

What else?  One of the few Stadium Club Red Sox cards I have actually managed to get, this shot is terrific.

So that's it for now.  Hopefully next year will be a little bit better.

A Wantlist Hit

I made a trade to get the last of the 2013 Topps Heritage cards I needed.  Here is the 2013 Heritage Dustin Pedroia short print.

I am not sure Dustin would be proud of this shot.  It definitely showcases his receding hairline.  He has more hair on his face than on his head. 

"O" No, Another Red Sox Trade

I recently made a trade with Ryan who writes that Orioles blog.   He had opened a blaster of Topps Update and had better Red Sox luck than I have, pulling a Red Sox insert, so we organized a trade.  This is the one:

1.  2014 Topps Update World Series Heroes Jonathan Papelbon.  Papelbon was of course the closer in the 2007 World Series for the Red Sox and struck out Seth Smith to end the Series.  This was his reaction, a classic moment for Red Sox fans. 

Xander

I got this card in the mail today from a forum trade:

This is the 1989 Bowman is Back insert of Xander Bogaerts.  This was a card on my wantlist due to the retro design with a modern flare.  Also, Xander is one of my favorite newer players for the Red Sox.  Hopefully he will have a better season next year.

A Very Random Trade with an Indians Collector

I sent a bunch of Indians cards to a forum member and received the following batch of Red Sox cards in return:

1.  2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Xander Bogaerts.  A card off of my wantlist.  I am looking forward to a better season from the X-Man.

2.  2005 Absolute Memorabilia Blue Edgar Renteria.  Renteria was a player I really wanted Boston to sign after the 2004 season.  They did, but unfortunately he was pretty bad.

3.  2008 Bowman Chrome Refractor Mike Lowell.  2007's World Series MVP.

4.  2010 Bowman 1992 Throwback David Ortiz.  I have a goal currently of reaching 500 David Ortiz cards.  I am about 13 away.  Any help would be appreciated.

5.  2010 Bowman Topps 100 Josh Reddick.  I really liked Reddick, particularly for a walkoff game-winning single against Mariano Rivera in 2011.  Unfortunately he was traded to Oakland for Andrew Bailey, a trade which did not work out for Boston.

6.  2011 Bowman Topps 100 Garin Cecchini.  I suspect Cecchini is on the trading block.

7.  2011 Bowman Topps 100 Jose Iglesias.  I loved watching Iglesias at short, but with Xander around, he was not going to stick around.

8.  2012 Topps Blockbusters Josh Beckett.  This was a trade that worked out for both teams as Boston also got Lowell and the Marlins got Hanley Ramirez.

9.  2012 Topps Gold Sparkle Clay Buchholz.  Buchholz is the only holdover in the rotation from 2013.

10.  2012 Topps Gold Sparkle Adrian Gonzalez.  In his brief tenure with the Red Sox, Gonzalez won a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, was an All Star, and came in second in the Home Run Derby.

11.  2012 Topps Gold Sparkle Kelly Shoppach.  Shoppach was supposed to be the next great Red Sox catcher in the mid 2000's, but with Varitek still playing well, he was expendable and was traded to the Indians in the Coco Crisp trade.  He returned in 2012 but was shipped to the Mets for Pedro Beato midseason.

A Holiday Zippy Zapping

Kenny from apparently Torren' Up Cards now, recently sent me a random package of cards. 

1.  2013 Sega Card-Gen Jonny Gomes.  I liked Jonny Gomes and it is disappointing that he was traded. 

2.  2013 Sega Card-Gen Dustin Pedroia.  Excellent looking photo here of Pedroia turning the double play.

3.  2005 Portland Sea Dogs Hanley Ramirez.  Yep, Hanley is back.  Pretty excited.

4.  Nomar Garciaparra flip book.  I remember when these came out and even think I saw this Nomar.  But I never picked it up.  I love this item.  A terrific oddball item to my collection.

Thanks Kenny!  I know I owe you some stuff.

Some Needed Topps Base from S.Mack Talk

I was recently contacted by Jimmy over at S.Mack Talk about a trade.  He is apparently a huge Shane Mack fan, a player who spent a brief and injury-riddled, but somewhat productive period with the Red Sox in 1997.  He offered to send me a bunch of Topps base cards I needed for my Red Sox collection for a couple of inserts.

1.  2014 Topps Update David Ross.  I love this shot of the backup catcher showing off his World Series Championship ring.

2.  2014 Topps Update Edward Mujica.  After a shaky start, Mujica started to settle in a little bit.  That will be big next year as he will be expected to be a major part of the bullpen.

3.  2014 Topps Update Allen Craig.  Craig is tradebait right now as having both him and Daniel Nava on the same team is a little superfluous, though Craig has the better history.

4.  2014 Topps Will Middlebrooks.  Middlebrooks is definitely at a crossroads.  He has failed to impress in each of the last two seasons after an explosive rookie season in 2012.  I will always remember him fondly for his two-homer game in Kansas City at the game my wife took me to in May, 2012 though.

5.  2014 Topps Mike Napoli.  Nap had another strong season in 2014 but missed a bunch of time with injuries.  He did take to first base seemlessly.

6.  2014 Topps Update Kelly Johnson.  Likely the only card Kelly Johnson will have with Boston.  He was acquired from the Yankees for Stephen Drew at the July trading deadline, then dealt to the Orioles for Jemile Weeks at the August trading deadline.  Although it is pretty cool to have a Red Sox card of him.

7.  2014 Topps David Ortiz.  Seriously, I need more Ortiz cards.

8.  2014 Topps A.J. Pierzynski.  Another short-lived Red Sox player.  Pierzynski was signed prior to the season then traded to the Cardinals in late Spring.

Thanks Jimmy!

A Random Trade

The following four cards arrived as a trade from the forums:

1.  2008 Stadium Club 1st Day Chris Carter.  Carter was acquired from the Nationals for Wily Mo Pena.  He is obviously not the same Chris Carter that currently plays for the Astros.  Carter played a total of 13 games over two seasons with the Red Sox and then 100 games for the Mets.  He has not been seen in the Majors since.

2.  2008 Upper Deck Superstar Scrapbook David Ortiz.  I think I need more Ortiz cards.  Hmm...

3.  2009 Topps Legends of the Game Tris Speaker.  I did a lot of thinking about whether to consider this a Red Sox card.  Speaker is wearing a Cleveland Indians uniform here.  But the back focuses exclusively on his time with the Red Sox in 1912.  I decided since there were no logos, the back would control.  But I am not thrilled about it.

4.  2010 Topps 206 Bronze Victor Martinez.  V-Mart re-upped with the Tigers this year after a monster season.  I liked him a little when he was in Boston but I never quite got over the fact that he forced Jason Varitek out of the starting lineup.  It was better for the team though and Varitek took it graciously.  Another sign of a true leader.

LCS Buys

I was in my hometown over Thanksgiving weekend and stopped by the local card shop that I used to visit all the time when I was growing up.  He had a few things for me:

1.  2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph Fred Lynn.  This was the last of the 2013 autographs that I needed from this set.  I loved the Fan Favorites set and wish Topps would make it its own set again.

2.  2013 Topps Blue Sparkle David Ortiz.  This card does not show up very well, but it is a nice-looking card in person.

3.  2013 Topps Archives Day Glo Will Middlebrooks.  Speaking of not showing up well.  This border is bright orange and barely shows at all here.

1st Allen Craig

A one-card trade brought me this blue Allen Craig parallel.  Craig was hurt for most of the time he was in Boston this year after coming over with Joe Kelly in the John Lackey trade.  Craig managed to hurt the Red Sox a little in the 2013 World Series, coming up with a big hit off of Koji in Game 3 and eventually scored the winning run on the Will Middlebrooks obstruction play.  His time in Boston will likely be brief as I suspect he will be traded.