From the Pedro Binder

2004 Topps AL Strikeout Leaders

First off, I have no idea what my scanner thinks. I understand if it doesn’t know where the white border of a card begins or ends. But, why it can’t at least follow the little red line is beyond me. Rest assured, in real life the card has a bottom.

I don’t know why, by I always seem to forget how good Pedro was after 2002. I don’t know why my mind mentally keeps ending his greatness with that should-have-been Cy Young year. That’s why it’s nice for me to see cards like this one reminding me that he was still pretty darn good in 2003. In fact, he finished second in the league in strikeouts. Not bad at all. Maybe it’s the fact that he didn’t lead the league by 50% that has me discounting his season. Much like I have a hard time treating Jon Lester like an ace because he isn’t Pedro, maybe I do the same thing to Pedro himself.

Anyway. About the card.

Yeah. There’s not much special here. I find myself wondering what I expect from league leader cards. There’s really only so many ways you can get three guys on once card and make it interesting. Unless you happen to have all three guys in one pic. I do wish they had put the strikeout totals on the front of the card. I think that’s pretty important when you’re talking about league leaders. I’m also not sure why the AL logo needed to be bigger than Pedro’s head. Maybe, instead of an enormous logo, they should put the picture of the all-time leader in the category? That might make the cards more interesting. Then we could see how Loaiza’s total matched up to Ryan. Or, maybe the active leader. Would also be a way for Topps to get another star onto the card.

But, that’s really all I have. It’s a card that serves its purpose, and works under the constraints it has.

Would have been better if Pedro were on the top.

I Scored!

April 17, 2011

Looking over this scorecard, this is about as close as the Red Sox got to the team they were supposed to have to run away with the rest of the league.

Start down at the pitcher’s spot. Lester threw six strong innings. He was pulled as much for having a huge lead as for any struggles he was having. Bard came in, and put out the fire with a strong inning. The rest of the bullpen just mopped things up. Just the way it was drawn up before the game.

The line-up was stacked, and it showed.  Even with the top two spots in the order doing absolutely nothing, the Sox put up eight runs. Just look at the second inning. That’s where the Sox pretty much won the game, and the only people who got hits were numbers 6-9 in the order. They all reached base, and all scored. That’s what you need if you want your team to succeed.

The hero of the game? It would be easy to go with Ellsbury and his three-run bomb from the nine spot. But, Saltalamacchia also had three RBI, and he spread them out a bit. So, I’m going to give him the nod for having more good at-bats.

The goat? Can I split it and give one horn each to Crawford and Pedroia? You can say that Crawford was more disappointing with that contract. But, Pedroia is the one with the MVP award on his shelf. In either case, having your top two hitters go 0-8 combined is not going to win you a lot of ballgames.

But, it did in this case. The pitching was everything they needed it to be, and the rest of the offense picked up the slack. The Sox cruised to a fairly ho-hum victory, which would happen a lot that season. Especially when the team was constructed the way it was on this day.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.

Collecting the Sox: Yard Sales

One of the more rewarding ways to Collect the Sox is though yard sales. Or, garage sales, or tag sales, or whetever else you want to call them. The Red Sox call theirs a Yard Sale, so let’s go with that. Even, though I’m not really talking about their sale. (Sure, it’s a great way to grab Red Sox stuff. I also can’t believe I haven’t been able to go yet. But, their sale is just too easy.)

There are two things about regular yard sales that make them so much fun. You never know what you’ll find, and the opportunities are everywhere.

The first reason really drives most people to yard sales. What will you find? Where will you find it? I don’t even mean the treasure hunting. Sure, you may find the occasional Ted Williams autographed baseball in a bag of used backyard playthings, or a Tris Speaker rookie card in the pages of an old dictionary. That’s not what gets you up on a Saturday. But, it’s the fact that Red Sox collectibles have infiltrated themselves to such a degree that they can pop up almost anywhere. If you’re looking for furniture, you can do a drive by viewing of a sale. Or, if you want baby clothes, you can fairly quickly see the general age group of a sale and be on your way. Not so with Red Sox collectibles. You can find them in homes of people with kids or grandkids. Couples just starting out, or ones who have amassed clutter for years. You can’t ignore any sale. Who knows who might have an old scorebook from a game they went to years ago. Or a souvenir cup they got on one of their trips to McDonalds. You have to look it all over. It’s part of the hunt.

But, that’s ok, because the volume of stuff out there is so great. With the number of yard sales every weekend, and that quantity of merchandise, you have a high chance of being rewarded for your efforts. And, some of it you really can’t get anywhere else. Sure, you can find anything online these days. But, are you really going to pay to ship a Red Sox drinking glass that you paid a quarter for? Of course not. But, you can grab one at a yard sale. Or a huge framed picture. Or a stuffed animal. Or stuff that doesn’t have enough demand to make it worth listing online, but would still be pretty cool. Even with ebay at your fingertips, the chances of getting some items just aren’t very high.

You’re also not going to break the piggy bank scoping out yard sales. Economical variety. What could be better?

Which makes me wish I went to yard sales more than I do. I love the adventure of it. Walking up the driveway, looking left and right for some red sox peeking out from behind a silverware tray. Anticipation leading to celebration is always a good time.

What’s your favorite Red Sox yard sale purchase?

How do you know the best group?

With the recent Yankees addition of Jacoby Ellsbury, some people are wondering if Gardner-Ellsbury-Ichiro could be the best defensive outfield ever. Whether it is, or not, it got me wondering what it means to have the best group.

I'm reminded of when Curt Schilling was traded to the Diamondbacks. People wondered if he and Randy Johnson were the best pitching tandem in baseball. ESPN even put out a poll. You could choose between them, or a couple of the Yankees starters, and probably a couple Braves starters. The one that got a lot of votes was "Pedro and any other Boston pitcher." the theory being that Pedro was so great, he carried whichever guy he was paired with to the top. And, he probably would have. But, does that make a good duo?

Or another example that has popped up recently when you talk about all the championships Boston has seen lately. Is this the best stretch ever? Well, not if you just count rings. After all, the Celtics of the 60's have that beat just on their own. But, do you have to somehow take into account the breadth of greatness? That all four teams have rings? Does there have to be some sort of standard deviation involved?

Back to the outfield. How do you pick the greatest outfield of all time? How about just the greatest Red Sox outfield? Do you just take one with Ted Williams or Babe Ruth in it, and call it a day? Or, would a more well-rounded version be better? Sure, if you add up the WAR for a Rice-Lynn-Evans outfield, you might not even reach Ted's WAR on his own. But, does the fact that they're all equally contributing have to count? Do you have to go look at the Golden Outfield with two future Hall-of-Famers on it? Is Williams+2 still better?

So, what do you think? Is the best outfield the one with the highest average member?

Or is it the one with the best outfielder?

2013 Scavenger Hunt

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t really want this season to end. That’s why this has taken so long to start up again. Basking in the glow a little bit longer. Less excited about turning the page. Plus, everyone waits until the last minute to do these things anyway, right? But, I think we’re ready. It’s time for the Sixth Annual Section 36 Scavenger Hunt! You remember how it works. Below, you’ll find a list of 36 items for you to try and find. When you find an item, take a picture of it and send it along to me in an e-mail. Whoever sends me pictures of the most items wins. Pretty simple, eh? We’ll make the end of the hunt be 12:36 PM eastern time on February 5, 2014. This both gives enough time to find the stuff, and fills the time right up to pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. Sound like fun? What do you win if you find the most items? Worldwide fame and admiration! I will post the winner’s name (and picture if one is provided) on this very site and hail them as the 2013 Scavenger Hunt Champion! I’m sure that Kayla has found her worldwide fame to be quite an honor this past year. If you actually want a prize you can hold in your hand, I’ll award a paperback copy of Mike Vaccaro’s fabulous book The First Fall Classic. I’m also including 200 different Red Sox baseball cards for the winner (Yes, there will be all-stars and Hall-of-Famers included). Not too bad, right? Ready to get started? Here is this year’s list of items to get pictures of:

1. Red Sox car magnet

2. Ticket to World Series game played by the Red Sox

3. Bob Marley CD

4. Official Program from 1999 All-Star game

5. “Sports Illustrated” magazine with Red Sox player on cover

6. Homemade “I’d Rather Be in Section 36” t-shirt

7. Red Sox rug

8. Wine bottle featuring Red Sox player

9. Red Sox pennant

10. Red Sox ice-cream carton

11. Red Sox player

12. Daniel Nava baseball card

13. Used official Section 36 scorecard

14. 2004 World Series baseball

15. Cy Young Statue

16. Jacoby Ellsbury replica jersey

17. 2006 Red Sox Media Guide

18. Red Sox paperweight

19. Autograph of member of 2009 Red Sox

20. Red Sox bikini

21. 2013 World Championship item

22. Mike Napoli t-shirt

23. Harry Hooper Hall of Fame plaque postcard

24. Red Sox coaster

25. Ticket stub from Section 36

26. Red Sox Coca-Cola item

27. Condiment with a picture of Red Sox player on it

28. Red Sox bat

29. Lansdowne St

30. 2007 World Championship banner

31. Red Sox license plate holder

32. Biography of Red Sox player

33. “Fenway Park 100 Seasons” baseball

34. Hallmark Ornament of Red Sox player

35. Female Red Sox fan

36. Male Red Sox fan

A quick clarification. Unless it says otherwise, “Red Sox Player” refers to anyone who ever played for the Sox in a regular season game. That counts even if the player isn’t depicted as a Red Sox player in the picture. So, Jim would be able to use anything from his Phillies Room depicting players like Curt Schilling and Jonathan Papelbon, even if they’re in their Phillies garb.

Now, since I want this to be a scavenger hunt, and not a google search, I’ll need a way to make sure you actually find these items yourself. So, in order to qualify any picture must have any one of these three things in it.

1. You. This might be the easiest way. If you’re in the picture, I can be pretty sure you actually found the item. This has one advantage in that it doesn’t have to be a new picture. If you went to Fenway last summer and took a picture on Lansdowne St, that would work. Or,
2. The Section 36 logo. Just have it showing somewhere in the picture. Or,
3. The address of this blog, “www.section-36.blogspot.com” , written somewhere in the picture. Either write it out on a piece of paper, on a sidewalk with chalk, on someone’s leg, whatever. (Just don’t vandalize anything).

That make sense? So, send in your pictures to me, section36 at gmail dot com (I bet you know which parts to replace with symbols) It would be nice if you told me which items you thought were in each picture. If there’s a tie between people who have the same number of found items, the tiebreaker will be the person who did it with the fewest number of pictures. If you get a picture of a Female Red Sox fan, wearing a Mike Napoli t-shirt, while holding a Red Sox bat, it would be 3 items in one picture. That’s a great start, although I’m sure you can do better. One year, Jere had over 20 items in a single photo! (If I need a second tiebreaker, I’ll have a vote to decide the best pictures.)

I think that covers everything! It’s now up to you to start sending me your pictures. I’ll keep reminding you as the months go by.

Good Luck!