I Prefer My Nachos Grande

The internet is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Oh, sure it’s mostly used these days for misinformation campaigns. But, every once in a while its goodness shines though. Such as the other day when I received a tweet from Chris over at Nachos Grande. He was spending some time going through blogger’s want lists, and he had found some cards off mine. All he needed was an address, and the cards would be on their way.

Does it get any better than that?

It wasn’t much longer before an envelope arrived with a handful of cards to add to my collection. Which cards were in there? I’m glad you asked!

Chris made a nice dent in my 2011 Gypsy Queen needs. I like the look of GQ this year. It has a classic elegance without getting too frilly about it. These three guys run the spectrum of fan favorites. Youkilis was beloved when he was in Boston, and most considered his time here too short. But, when you need to make room for the great Will Middlebrooks, sacrifices need to be made. David Ortiz, of course, practically spent his entire career in Boston, and people are still hoping for at least one more season to be added on. Crawford, on the other hand, couldn’t be run out of town fast enough for most fans. While I never understood the vile, most fans were pleased that 2011 was Crawford’s only full season in Boston.

More variety! Lester was a complex player. He went from being ridiculed for wondering why he wasn’t the ace of the staff, to being the most important piece of any pitching staff in baseball history. All without having his performance changing. It was all about perception. I guess a ring will do that for you sometimes. Speaking of rings, Speaker has a couple of those himself. I’ve always felt sorry for Speaker. He was from the wrong time. A player of his talents should be revered in Boston. There should be statues of him everywhere. But, he played before there was even video of him. He can’t have his number retired…he didn’t wear one. His greatness is lost to history a bit.

Finally, Chris included these great 2008 Allen and Ginter needs. Wait. What’s that? Cespedes wasn’t on the Red Sox in 2008? He wouldn’t play for the Sox until 2014? Did A&G use an old design to predict the future? Nope. These are custom cards created by Chris’s pal Ryan. I can’t underestimate how great these cards are in person. They’ll look fantastic next to their 2008 friends in my binder.

So, a huge thank you to Chris. The cards are much appreciated. And, even though they weren’t required, a return package is on its way to you. Hope you like it.

Thanks again!

Red Sox All-Ring Team

I’m not sure how the topic came up. But, at some point recently, a buddy of mine and I started wondering what the Red Sox all ring winning team would be. You know, it’s one of those tangents people get on during discussions sometimes. I thought it might be fun to see what that team might look like.

The first question that needs to be answered before starting an exercise like this is, what qualifies someone to be on the team?  I think the original topic was something along the lines of best World Series performers. But, does that mean the players who performed the best during the World Series? Is that a lifetime award? What about Someone like Manny Ramirez who had one great World Series as part of an amazing career. Does he lose out to someone like Jacoby Ellsbury who had two World Series trips to star in? What about Jake Peavy? A wonderful pitcher with a long career, who didn’t have the best trip to the Series.

So, I decided to just go with career. Overall. The best players to ever win a ring with the Sox. The all-ring team. Maybe one day I’ll try an all-World Series Championship team. But, that’s for another time.

So, who do I think is the best team you can make up of players who won a ring by playing in a World Series game with the champion Red Sox? I’m glad you asked.

OK. You didn’t ask. But here’s my answer anyway.

DH: David Ortiz. Let’s start with the easy one. He’s the only DH to play for a World Series champion Red Sox team. He might later be the only full-time DH in the Hall of Fame. End of discussion.

C: Jason Varitek. Not much more difficult. But, there’s at least some competition. Sort of. I don’t think TEK would be scared of Saltalamacchia or Sam Agnew. But, they’re there.

1B: Kevin Youkilis. The Red Sox have had a surprising lack of depth at first on their World Series winners. As much as I want to go with Stuffy McInnis for comedic value alone, it has to be one of the modern guys. So, is it Youk or Napoli? I think it’s safe to say that Youkilis had the better career. Barely. So far.

2B: Dustin Pedroia. I promise you, the early championship teams had some good players. But, best I can tell Pedroia is the only World Champion Red Sox second baseman with an MVP award on his shelf. 

SS: Orlando Cabrera. Seriuosly, how did the Red Sox win eight titles but still have their best shortstop be Cabrera? But, it’s not Drew or Lugo. (Maybe one day this will be Bogaerts?) And, no offense to Everett Scott, but how he won three rings with the Sox is beyond me. So, I go with OC.

3B: Jimmy Collins. Welcome to the team 1903 champs! Honestly, someone like Mike Lowell could make a pretty strong argument. But, Collins is in the Hall of Fame, so I don’t care to think about it anymore.

OF: Manny Ramirez, Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth. Basically Ruth and Speaker might be more obvious choices than anyone but Ortiz. The only possible reason you’d have to exclude either of them is if you argue over the selection rules. Ruth played in three World Series with the Red Sox, but only played in the outfield in one of them…in two games. So, he’d be the closest to not making it, but only on a technicality. The only question with Ramirez is if a Hall of Famer like Harry Hooper would beat out a non-Hall of Famer. But, it’s hard to argue against Ramirez’s career numbers. He gets the spot.

SP: Cy Young, Pedro Martinez. That’s it. I’ll have Young go games 1,3,4,5,7 and Pedro go games 2 and 6. Sound like a plan? Honestly, I narrowed it down to a top ten. From there, as much as I want to include Babe Ruth, his career as a pitcher wasn’t quite long enough. (Although, if it was based solely on performance in the World Series itself, he’d be an automatic inclusion.) Same with Smoky Joe Wood. If this was based solely on time with the Red Sox, he’d be hard to ignore. He was THAT good in 1912. Jake Peavy has that Cy Young, but not sure he really had enough of a career other than that. Lackey never even won the Cy Young. Curt Schilling has to be on the team. He’s the closest of the bunch to being a Hall of Famer. So, that leaves me with Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester for two spots. So, I’m dropping Lester because his career is just too short. Final answer: Cy Young, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett.

CL: Jonathan Papelbon. Can I use Cy Young here? I really wanted to go with Keith Foulke here. But, I think Papelbon has had a more sustained career as a closer. You really can’t go wrong with either one, though.

So, there’s my team.

Who makes it on yours?

Kevin Youkilis Live

When I wished Kevin Youkilis a happy 36^th birthday a few days ago, I admitted that I was never a big fan of his. It’s not like I disliked him or anything. He just never really did anything for me. I don’t really know why. I was wondering if he didn’t perform very well when I was at Fenway. That might have been enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Looks like it’s time to dive into the scorecards again.

Looking them over, it appears that I saw Youk play in 30 games at Fenway. (Again, at least I scored 30 games Youk played in.) How did he do?

In 103 AB, Youk batted .437 with 7 HR and 30 RBI. Wow. Doesn’t look like he performed that poorly.

In fact, if you project those totals over a 660 AB season, he would have hit 45 HR, and driven in 179 runs. Damn. He walked a lot too. During those 30 games, his OBP was 0.521. Add that to his 0.748 SLG, and he had an OPS in games I attended of 1.268.

Yeah, those are MVP type numbers.

I saw Youk over a pretty good cross section too. From once in 2005, to twice in 2012. You’d expect that, after all, for a position player. I probably saw him most of the time I went to the park.

Clearly, it wasn’t his performance while I was there that didn’t draw me to Youkilis. I guess it’s still a mystery. After all, with that performance during games I attended, I should be idolizing the guy. Huh.

How did Youk do in games you attended?

From a Night Owl

Not too long ago, Night Owl was complaining about his 2011 Allen & Ginter set. It was taking too long to complete the darn thing. I was ashamed to realize that I was sitting on a stack of A&G’s, and hadn’t checked his lists. I was able to find a dozen or so cards he needed, and gladly sent them his way. He was nice enough to send me something back in return. Let’s take a look at some of the package I received.

The two 2006 Opening Day cards complete my Red Sox team set. Fantastic! It never works that the last two guys you need are the two biggest stars. But, that’s the way it fell this time. The 2009 Topps Matsuzaka card is great. It’s always nice to remember that Dice-K really had a wonderful 2009 season. Probably a nice card for Phillies fans too. The Team USA card is a lot of fun. If I’m not mistaken, this is the play where Jeter tried to twist Youk’s ankle. As National Chicle cards go, the JD Drew is near the top. It’s a very nice likeness of Drew, and the background is clean. Wonderful.

Of course, I skipped over the crown jewel. The 2011 Topps Lineage ’75 mini relic. What an amazing card. I share Night Owl’s admiration of the 1975 Topps set. I think it’s the best set out there, and it is the only full set I’m currently trying to complete. A mini version of Youk would have been enough. But, the jersey just makes it incredible.

So, a hearty thank you to Night Owl for the wonderful shipment.

Hope that A&G set gets finished soon.

Card of the Week

2008 Topps #258 Classic Combos

I like how Topps has started doing their “classic combos” subsets. Back in the day, cards like these would feature awkward posed shots of two players quickly taken before a game. I always used to wonder if they would take a picture of as many different combinations as they could, and find something to do with them later. But, the last few years, the company has moved towards standard action shots that happen to feature multiple players. That’s how you end up with this shot of Youkilis celebrating with Manny. At least they’re not fighting in the dugout. But, it’s a nice use of a shot. Rather than making a card of either Manny or Youk prominently feature the other player, they made it a card of the both of them. Perfect.

The card itself is OK. I still think the 2008 Topps cards have too much border. But, at least the Sox have the right amount of letters in their name so the bubbles don’t look weird. The Reds have too few, and the Diamondbacks have too may. It throws the composition all off. But, the Sox look about right. And, the team colors just work with the card.

Not too shabby.

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.

Visitor's Views

It’s once again time to inject some opposing viewpoints into this blog. Since the Texas Rangers will be visiting Friendly Fenway tonight, I contacted Texas Rangers Cards. I asked him to answer a couple questions for me since it’s a great Rangers blog. He, thankfully, agreed. I asked him the same questions I asked all my visiting fans. I wonder how the answers compare. Here’s what he had to say:

When did you start blogging?
My first post was on January 15, 2008. I've tried to do six posts a week since. I take Sundays off.

What is the theme/goal of your blog?
Collecting the Texas Rangers. I try to follow the current team and talk about past players while posting pictures of my Rangers collection. I try to showcase both cards and memorabilia but most of the posts end up being cards.

Which member/group of the Rangers are you most confident in?
Michael Young is the first name that comes to mind. He seems to be a steadying influence with the younger players and a team-oriented guy. He also produces no matter what. If the Rangers had a captain I don't see how they could go with anyone other than him. Besides Michael I always like to see Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Vladimir Guerrero, and Elvis Andrus in the lineup.

Which member/group of the Rangers concerns you the most?
The pitching. Always seems to be a weak area with Texas. The addition of Cliff Lee and Darren Oliver helps. Rich Harden has been about the disappointment I feared that he would be. Hopefully Feliz, Francisco, Lewis, and Wilson can all live up to their potential.

Which member of the Red Sox scares you the most? (Yes, you have to pick one)
Kevin Youkilis. He's gonna hurt you day in and day out at the plate.

Which member of the Red Sox do you like the least?
Don't really have an entry for this category now that Manny Ramirez is gone. There are very few players that I actively dislike but he is one of them.

What’s your prediction for the upcoming Red Sox/Rangers series?
Going to go out on the edge here and say that the series will split 2-2. Perhaps I should go more after the series last year but it's hard to discount Fenway.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say the number “36”?
Four more than Jon Matlack's number.

I hope these questions offer some insight into the Visitor’s Section. (If you have a question you wish I had asked, let me know. If I do this again with other visiting teams, maybe I’ll use it.) Thanks again to Texas Rangers Cardsfor helping me out. I wish the Rangers luck.

When they're not playing the Red Sox.

TTM Success!

Red Sox opening weekend got another boost at Section 36 headquarters when Sunday’s mail brought the beloved self-addressed envelope. The postmark from Fort Myers Florida confirmed that goodness lay within.

Without being able to wait, I ripped open the envelope to find this beauty of a card signed by Sox star Kevin Youkilis. I found it interesting that one the very same day that Marie names him her most hated Red Sox; I would get this gift from him. That must be Sox karma of some kind.

The card makes a great canvas for an autograph. The solid background and old-fashioned painting really make the signature stand out. It was especially fortunate since this was not the card I sent to have signed. Frankly, I wasn’t pleased with the card I sent…a 2009 Topps Heritage. It contained a large headshot of Youkilis that I was afraid would obstruct a potential signature. Thankfully, that issue was avoided with the gem that Youkilis sent my way.

It made me wonder, though. This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten something back that I didn’t send in the first place. I understand when players send back pre-printed cards, or fan club information. They just have those made up ahead of time, and have them placed in the return envelope. But, what happens in this case? Does Youkilis, or one of his assistants, open up a whole stack of letters, and lose track of which cards went with which? It would make sense that they would just open the one letter at a time though. Do they do it on purpose? Do they just open everything, save the SASE’s and set the cards in a stack. Once Youkilis gets a minute, he signs the stack, and someone sticks the cards into whichever envelope comes up next. I guess that would make sense. Sort of an assembly line mentality. What about the times I’ve gotten more than I asked for? Juan Gonzalez once sent me two cards, neither of which was the one I sent. Former NE Patriot Chris Slade once returned the card I sent, along with six others. Is someone randomly stuffing however many cards they feel like into envelopes? Did Slade buy a stack of his own cards at some point, and pre-sign them? Then, he just added some to everything he sent out? Once again, the life of a professional athlete is a mystery to me, which shouldn’t be too surprising. No matter the reason, I’m pleased to have the newest addition to my collection.

A big thanks to Kevin Youkilis.

What’s with the crowd?

I featured this 2010 Topps Kevin Youkilis card when I discussed the new baseball card releases. I happened to be looking at it yesterday, when I noticed the crowd in the background. I have to wonder what exactly was going on.

The focus of the picture is, naturally, Kevin Youkilis. He’s making a play on a ball. The ball is still in his hand as he is about to make some sort of running or jumping throw. Pretty cool, right? Not if you ask the people sitting behind him.

I can clearly make out about 20-25 people in the stands. Two of them are sitting back with their arms crossed. Two of them are sitting with the head in their hand. None of them are smiling. None of them are even pretending to be having a good time. Judging from the outfits their wearing, it looks like a beautiful summer day. They have some pretty good seats. They just couldn’t care less.

I’m willing to give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt, and assume this picture was taking during warm-ups. If this was live game action, just by accident you’d think someone would be following the play. But, still. Show a little interest! Nobody is even involved in a discussion with their neighbor. Nobody is writing in a scorebook, or flipping through the day’s program. It looks like they’re all forced to be there.

Check out the kid in the front row. Let me say that again…in the front row! He could not be more bored. An MVP candidate is making a play about 20 feet from him, and he can barely even bring himself to watch. What is this, LA? The two ladies behind him in red aren’t much better. They are just waiting for this torture to be over. I don’t care if the Sox are losing 20-0. Look alive! The girl in blue on the left at least looks involved. She’s leaning in a bit, and looking in the general direction of Youkilis. The girl with the white straps on the right is also looking in the general area, but not with much excitement. The guy behind her is also so bored he needs to prop his head up. These are fans in the first couple rows behind third base? Really? I know it’s risky to make a judgment from one snapshot in time. But come on Fenway. You’re embarrassing us here.

Get in the game!

List of 36: Best Red Sox Third Basemen of the Past 36 years

1. Wade Boggs 

2. Kevin Youkilis 

3. Rico Petrocelli

4. Mike Lowell 

5. Carney Lansford 

6. Bill Mueller 

7. Scott Cooper 

8. Butch Hobson 

9. Glenn Hoffman 

10. Tim Naehring 

11. John Valentin 

12. Shea Hillenbrand 

13. Freddy Sanchez 

14. Ed Jurak 

15. Jed Lowrie 

16. Wilton Veras 

17. Juan Bell 

18. Carlos Baerga 

19. Luis Ortiz 

20. Mike Benjamin 

21. Lou Merloni 

22. Ed Romero 

23. Bill Selby 

24. Jack Brohamer 

25. Ernest Riles 

26. Chris Donnels 

27. Dick McAuliffe 

28. Bob Heise 

29. John Kennedy 

30. Buddy Hunter 

31. Esteban Beltre 

32. Terry Hughes 

33. Frank Duffy 

34. Jim Tatum 

35. Sean Berry 

36. Gary Gaetti

The Teixeira Tease

The big free agent left on the market is, of course Mark Teixeira. (Although recent reports have him headed to NY) His signing has been the cause of endless speculation this off-season. Frankly, free agent speculation is my favorite reporting. In the effort to scoop everyone else, reporters…even otherwise reputable ones…will throw out any meaningless piece of information they can. Lead stories like, “so and so talking to this team” or “this team shows interest in so and so” are laughable. Frankly, doesn’t every team in the majors have interest in Mark Teixeira? Would a GM calling Boras to check in really be a story? How does one team “have the lead” in the process? Does the highest offer make them the leaders? If that was the case, why hasn’t the offer been accepted? It’s great.

In this particular case, my question involves why the Red Sox are so interested in Mark Teixeira. Like I said, every team could use a 30 home run gold glove first baseman. I just wonder why the Sox are so eager to get this one when they already have one. Kevin Youkilis is a former gold glove winner, and looks to be a player who can give you 30 home runs and 100 RBI. So, would Teixeira really be much of an upgrade? What if you move Youk to third? Then you have Lowell in the way. Didn’t everyone just practically beg Theo to sign Lowell for as long as he wanted? Suddenly, he’s an expendable part? There’s been talk of moving Ortiz to make room for Tex. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of getting “another” 30 home run guy if you get rid of one of the ones you already have? For the money the Sox would have to spend, I don’t really see the fit.

Which I guess is one of the problems I have with Theo. He doesn’t seem to look ahead very well when it comes to free agents. Did Theo not know that Tex would be on the market this winter? Sure you can’t depend on a guy not extending his contract. But, don’t we know that Boras doesn’t do contract extensions? Did he sign Lowell knowing he was going to push this hard just one year later? What about Lugo? He signed him to a huge contract. Did he not know that Lowrie was coming right behind him? What exactly is going on with the revolving door at shortstop? Or Coco? Was Ellsbury’s speed invisible to Theo to the point that he had to trade away Varitek’s replacement to get Coco? Where is the planning? I don’t get it.

I’m not going to sit here and say that Mark Teixeira wouldn’t improve the team. If you replaced Lowell or Youkilis with him, the team would be better in the long run. I’m just not convinced it would be that much better. Especially since you then have spare parts. Ortiz, Lowell, or Youk would be odd man out. Do you trade one? For what exactly? Youkilis probably has the most value. Which position do the Sox need a player equal in value to the second runner up to MVP? Unless you’re trading for Joe Mauer, everything else is taken. The Sox are set at second. There are no shortstops that good out there. Third is still plugged. The outfield is pretty set with bay, Ells, and Drew. The rotation? Even if there was a top of the rotation guy available…the Sox don’t really need it. Their current top three is just fine. The resultant moves would just make a mess. Signing Teixeira looks like one of those moves GMs make just to make a move, and look good in the papers.

I thought Theo was above all that.