Red Sox A-Z: Y is for…

Youkilis, as in Kevin.

The Red Sox have had a surprisingly large number of players with a last name starting with “Y”, including a couple Hall of Famers. But, Youkilis gets the nod in this case because he is on just about everyone’s mind at the moment. The Red Sox have had an enormous off-season this year. Everyone is beyond excited about the additions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. Of course, a very important part of the signings is Kevin Youkilis.

Youkilis is a gold-glove first baseman. Youkilis is a two-time all-star at first base. He is the heart of the Boston Red Sox batting order. How could the Red Sox trade for another superstar first baseman with Youkilis on the roster? Because Youkilis can also play third base. That versatility is a huge asset for the Sox. Hopefully it doesn’t become a detriment to Youkilis’s career. That’s really what happened to Tim Wakefield. Because he could start or relieve, the Sox had him to both. So, he never really stuck at one position. He was never able to add up the stats the way he could at a dedicated position. It wasn’t his fault he was so good at starting that they stopped having him close. It wasn’t his fault that because he could come out of the pen they made other people starters. So, Wakefield has neither impressive career starter or reliever numbers. The same could happen to Youkilis. While it certainly looks like he’ll be at third from here on out, I’m sure they’ll flip him if they need to. So, he’ll miss the chance at being an all-time great first baseman, and third baseman. He’ll just have to shoot for great player.

To be honest, I’m not really a Youkilis fan. It’s nothing against him. He’s a great player. He’s a wonderful addition to the Red Sox (or any) line-up. But, he just doesn’t do anything for me. He doesn’t have Jacoby’s amazing speed. He doesn’t have the imposing fear of Manny. He reminds me of Tim Duncan. When you just do everything very well, without flair, it hurts your image. Sometimes I’d be at a Red Sox game, and wait an inning before going under the stands because Nomar was coming up. Or Manny was due. I don’t do that with Youkilis. He’s just another fine player on the team.

The first time I saw Youkilis play was on June 18, 2005. He was a pinch-hitter, interestingly enough, for Manny Ramirez. Manny had been hit by a pitch in his previous at-bat, so I wonder if that had something to do with it. Youkilis struck out in his only two at-bats that game. It got better from there.

So, as we start the 2011 season for the Red Sox, they have a new old first baseman. Hopefully the switch across the diamond will go as smoothly as it did the first time for Youkilis and the Red Sox. After all, if Youk is the Sox third baseman for the next six years, the Red Sox will be quite the team.

Y is for Youkilis, Kevin.

Card of the Week: 1978 Topps #345

What a great looking card. The card design is very understated, which wasn’t exactly typical for the seventies. But, the simple frame leaves it up to the picture to supply the pizzazz. This is a great “action” shot of Tiant making at least one fan very happy.

I always wonder when looking at older cards how the printing companies worked. Look at the “P” in the baseball in the upper right corner. It’s off-center. Why? Was the printing company unable to print it in the center of the ball? Was it a case of the different color plates not lining up properly from one printing to the next? Did Topps decide it wasn’t worth the effort to get it to print properly? The kids collecting cards weren’t going to notice a slight imperfection like that. Is it like that on all the Tiant cards? With this kind of sloppiness so widespread during the older sets, how did card collecting take off in the first place?

The offset P aside, I still think this is a wonderful card. Love the red hat. Love the face of Tiant. Love the simple glimpse into his day. Nicely dine.

Except for the P.

Show Me Your Underwear

Yes, there’s only two weeks left! One single fortnight is left to find all the items from the 2010 Section 36 Scavenger Hunt, including Red Sox underwear. (No, you don’t need to be wearing it in the picture…unless you realy want to.)

To find the list of items, click the link above, or the link on the sidebar. Remember, all the pictures are due before 12:36 on February 9, 2011. There’s still plenty of time, but it’s getting shorter by the day.

Keep looking, and keep taking pictures!

List of 36: Best Players I’ve Seen Play In Person

1. Roberto Alomar (Hall of Famer)

2. Josh Beckett (LCS MVP, WS MVP)

3. Wade Boggs (HOF)

4. Barry Bonds (7-time MVP)

5. Jose Canseco (MVP)

6. Roger Clemens (7-time Cy Young)

7. Bartolo Colon (Cy Young)

8. Dennis Eckersley (HOF)

9. Eric Gagne (Cy Young)

10. Nomar Garciaparra (2-time batting champ)

11. Jason Giambi (MVP)

12. Tom Glavine (300-wins)

13. Juan Gonzalez (MVP)

14. Ken Griffey Jr (All-Century Team)

15. Vladimir Guerrero (MVP)

16. Roy Halladay (2-time Cy Young)

17. Josh Hamilton (MVP)

18. Todd Helton (Batting Champ)

19. Rickey Henderson (HOF)

20. Randy Johnson (300 wins)

21. Chipper Jones (MVP)

22. Cliff Lee (Cy Young)

23. Greg Maddux (300 wins)

24. Pedro Martinez (3-time Cy Young)

25. Dustin Pedroia (MVP)

26. Mike Piazza (Catcher HR leader)

27. Cal Ripken (HOF)

28. Alex Rodriguez (3-time MVP)

29. Ivan Rodriguez (MVP)

30. CC Sabathia (Cy Young)

31. Bret Saberhagen (2-time Cy Young)

32. John Smoltz (Cy Young)

33. Ichiro Suzuki (MVP)

34. Miguel Tejada (MVP)

35. Frank Thomas (2-time MVP)

36. Mo Vaughn (MVP)

Who’s on your list?

How do Baseball Card Photographers take their pictures?

When you look through a stack of baseball cards, the variety of the shots always strikes me. You have shots in the dugout. Shots in the field. Shots at the plate. Action shots, and posed shots. I always wondered how they decided to take a picture of the third baseman backing up a throw, as opposed to the fielder making the throw, or the runner that caused the throw. Is it random? Luck? Skill? Do they just instinctively know which shot will make the best picture? How many pictures do they take each game? Do they have a system?

Being who I am, I suppose, I would have a system for myself to make sure I get a nice selection of shots of everyone. Say I went to a three-game series to take pictures. The first game, I’d focus on the home team. Every inning, I’d pick a position. In the top of that inning, I’d focus on that position in the field, taking as many shots as I could. So, if I picked left field in the first inning, I’d take shots of the left fielder all inning. If he’s standing in his ready position, click away. If he’s chasing down a flyball, click away. If he’s backing up a throw to third, click away. If he’s midair, making a diving grab, keep clicking. That would give me a nice selection of fielding shots of that player. In the bottom of the inning, take pictures of the batters. Swinging, stepping, checking, looking, shaking, whatever. So, now I have shots at the plate, and shots in the field. I’ve got every position player. Perfect.

The second game, I do the opposite. The same routine, but with the visiting team. Again, that gives me the chance to get a nice variety of shots of all the starters as they do the various things during the game. The third game of the series, I’d try to get everything else. Maybe that’s when I take some dugout shots. Or, shots of someone on-deck. Or, anyone who happens to be on base. Or, if I didn’t get many useable shots of a player before, I’d try to focus on him. Then, I’d have both teams covered, and have a great collection of shots.

Of course, I’d need a little flexibility when it came to the bench players. If a guy comes into the game late, I’d need to take advantage of the chance. Otherwise, I’d be stuck with bench/bullpen shots of the non-starters. Then, it would be off to another city to repeat the whole process over again.

I wonder if that’s how they do it.