Top 5 Hall of Fame: Ichiro Suzuki

 

On July 27th, the Hall of Fame will officially recognize 5 new members. As I have done in years past, I will be honoring these great ball players in my own way throughout the week. Appropriately batting lead off is the Hall of Fame's first Asian member, the iconic Ichiro Suzuki. In tribute to his extraordinary career, I humbly present my 5 favorite cards of his that I own:

 

2001 Upper Deck Victory

#564 Ichiro Suzuki (ROO, RC)

 

I pretty much stopped collecting from 1993 - 2015, so the fact I have a Hall of Famer's rookie card from this gap in my hobby collection is pretty cool to me! Of course, people debate if a player coming over from the NPB are on the same level as traditional rookies. Ichiro sure didn't play like one, hitting .350 with 242 hits and 56 stolen bases in his first taste of MLB baseball. (Fun fact: The runner-up to Ichiro in the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year Award was none other than fellow 2025 inductee C.C. Sabathia!)

 

2010 Topps

#515 Seattle Mariners Franchise History (FH)

Of course, Ichiro didn't just win the Rookie of the Year Award in 2001, he also became just the 2nd player to win the MVP Award in his rookie year. He joined Ken Griffey Jr. as the only Seattle Mariners to win the award.

 

2012 Topps Opening Day

#50 Ichiro Suzuki

 

Ichiro wasn't just a great hitter. Starting (again) with his rookie season, Ichiro won 10 straight Gold Glove Awards for his fielding. Only Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays have won more as outfielders!

 

2018 Topps Update - Memorial Day Camo

#US153 Japan's Finest (VC, SN25)

 

As a collector, I'm not a big fan of the Camo parallels. But how could I not include this one? Being numbered to just 25 copies, it's a pretty rare card. (I'm the only member of the TCDB that owns one!) Ichiro's success helped pave the way for more Japanese players to play in North America, including this young Angels rookie that I heard was pretty good in his own right...

 

2024 Stadium Club

#244 Ichiro

 

It's truly amazing what Ichiro has accomplished in his big league career: Over 3,000 hits, including a single season record 262 in 2004. 10 Gold Gloves, 2 batting titles, 10 All-Star nods, 3 silver sluggers plus the ROY and MVP Awards. To think that he didn't even start in MLB until he was 27 years old!

 

Ichiro was an amazing player, and this honor is well deserved. Congrats, Ichiro!

Blog Bat Around: Fun Facts Chain

I follow a few baseball-centric groups on Facebook. One day, one of them posted an image with a series of facts that was nothing short of amazing. Check this out:

 

2016 Stadium Club
#214 Madison Bumgarner

Madison Bumgarner has more grand slams than...

 

2016 Topps Archives #9 Prince Fielder

 

Prince Fielder, who has more inside-the-park home runs than...

 

1991 Score #10 Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson, who has fewer steals of home than...

 

1994 Megacards Ruthian Shots
#1 Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, who has as many shutouts as...

 

2000 Stadium Club #164 Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez! 

 

Here's the image from the post, so I can give proper credit to the media account that came up with this:

 

 

It's fascinating, isn't it? You don't think of pitchers out-slugging hitters, or big burly guys doing things on the bases more than the greatest lead-off hitter of all time. The stats are just wild, and it gave me an idea for a blog bat around. You're assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to post a string of fun facts connecting players. Make it as long as you want, but I think a minimum of 2 facts connecting 3 players is expected. 

 

As I was deciding to try my own, I decided to basically continue with the original poster's chain and come up with a fun fact about Pedro. Did you know that over the course of his career he hit 2 triples? I thought that was noteworthy and with a little finagling I can tell you that...

 

2002 Fleer Tradition - Diamond Tributes
#4DT Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez hit more triples in the 1990's than...

 

1990 Upper Deck #171 Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire, who has fewer intentional base on balls than...

 

1991 Score #860 John Olerud (FRAN)

John Olerud, who won as many batting titles as... 

2024 Stadium Club #171 Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, who has more saves than... 

 

2016 Topps #600 Madison Bumgarner

 

Madison Bumgarner! 

 

Look, I even circled back to Bumgarner!  Now it's your turn - have fun with it!

5 Envelopes, 5 Thank You's

It's rare for me to get 5 PWE of baseball cards in the same week, let alone the same day. So imagine my surprise when Johnny (Johnny's Trading Spot) sent 5 rectangular acts of generosity!

 

Each envelope deserves it's own look, as well as it's own thank you!

 

Envelope #1

 

The last time Johnny sent me cards, he sent me a bunch of those 582 Montgomery Club parallels. With these 7, I'm missing just 6 Red Sox of the 31 from the set. I may have to keep an eye out for those ones and try to complete the team set! The other 3 cards come from a sheet of reusable decals that Johnny picked up on the cheap. 

Favorite Card: Those decals are so offbeat, I'm going to give the nod to the Red Sox logo for once!

 

Thank you for envelope #1 Johnny!

 

Envelope #2

This is the envelope that contains the most variety. It contains World Series Champions in Pedro, Ortiz, and Nixon, a trio of excellent Stadium Club cards, and my first card of former prospect Kyle Teel (who was in consideration for a personal collection attempt until they traded him).

 

Favorite Card: The Boggs card was one of my Top 10 Red Sox cards for 2022! (That reminds me, I should start compiling candidates for this year's list...)

 

Thank you for envelope #2 Johnny!

 

Envelope #3

 

This is my firat real look at the Panini Prizm set since Panini lost their license to use current Major League players.  I will say it's a fun mix of players - I really can't complain about adding some personal favorites to the collection. Parallels are of course frustrating - too many refractor types using the same colors. (Both of those red cards are from different parallels sets! Good grief!)

 

Favorite Card: The red Mike Lowell card is a "pulsar prizm parallel" (say that 5x fast!) serial numbered to 499.

 

Thank you for envelope #3 Johnny!

 

Envelope #4

More Panini! There's some doubles here, but that's just fine with me! I also receive both of the Red Sox cards to appear on last year's 1989 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary All-Stars insert set. 

 

Favorite Card: I always liked the design of the 1989 All-Star cards, and the Ted Williams proves that it works with players from pretty much any era. 

Thank you for envelope #4 Johnny!

 Envelope #5

We finish things off with even more Panini Prizm! This batch includes Louis Tiant and Pedro Martinez, as well my first cards of the #1 MLB prospect Roman Anthony! Anthony, the also included Marcelo Mayer, and the previously mentioned Kyle Teel made up Boston's "Big 3" prospects, until Teel was superseded and eventually replaced by current Rookie Of the Year front-runner Christian Campbell. With this envelop, I'm just 2 cards short of the team set! (Yoshida and Rafaela have been added to the TCDB want list!)

 

Favorite Card: El Tiante will always be a leading contender for favorite card!

 

Thank you for envelope #5 Johnny, and for being an amazingly generous person!

Trolled By A Box Of Stadium Club

When you are primarily a team collector, opening packs is pretty hit or miss. Some days the cardboard gods smile upon you, other days you get shut out.

I think this is the first time where the powers that be actually pointed and laughed at me.

I had an opportunity around Christmastime to purchase a hanger box of Stadium Club. I've become a little more selective when cards happen to show up in my local stores, having only purchased the base set and holiday sets. Stadium Club has always been a good rip, so I bought it.

 

8 packs, each with 10 cards. I had hope that maybe one or two cards would be feature Red Sox players, and would have considered the purchase to me an resounding success even if my lone Red Sox card happened to be the Greatest Red Sox card of 2024. Alas, I did not get any Boston players. What the box did provide in abundance was Yankees:

 

Oh, and each of the 8 packs contained one red parallel. Yeah, you can guess how well that went!

 

 

16 Yankee cards, an average of 2 per pack. Really, Stadium Club, you could collate the box just a little? It's bad enough when 20% of the cards are of one team, but it's 10 times worse when it's your favorite team's rival!

 

The cardboard gods did make it up to me again somewhat. Despite the wicked burn, just before the year ended I once again had the chance to pick up a trio the smaller hanger packs. Again, no Red Sox base cards, but the included pink parallels look pretty:

 

Here's hoping I'll have continued good luck ripping cards in 2025!

Santa Oren Strikes Again!

I don't know what I did to end up on Santa Oren's "nice list", but once again I was surprised by an unexpected mailing from the long time blog reader and collector extraordinaire. As is his M.O., he sent a nice full padded envelope full of goodies. Rather than show off everything, I'm going to highlight my 10 favorites:

10. 2021 Topps Gold Label - Class 2 Black

#93 David Ortiz

We'll start things off with this shiny Ortiz, which initially confused me as being a color parallel of a "class" parallel...Gold Label is just so weird. Pretty though!

 

9. 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary lot

 

Speaking of shiny, I'm always appreciative of these Chrome Platinum Anniversary cards, especially when they include cards of Luis Tiant and Roger Clemens. Danny Santana looks so out of place in this group!

 

8. 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter - Relics 

#AGR-JLO Jed Lowrie (MEM)

 

Oren often sends me some fun "hits" and this time is no different. This relic is from Red Sox fan favorite and Athletics' All-Star Jed Lowrie.

 

7. 1996 Leaf Signature Series - Autographs Bronze

#NNO Dwayne Hosey

 

The Leaf Signature Series always looks nice, even if it is of a player who only played 52 games in the Majors! Fun fact: After his MLB career ended, he played in Japan and won the 1997 Central League home run title, beating out Japanese legend Hideki Matsui!

 

6. 1999 SP Signature Edition - Autographs

#ShH Shea Hillenbrand (AU)

 

You have my respect if you remembered that Shea Hillenbrand was the starting 3rd baseman for the AL in the 2002 All-Star Game!

 

5. 2023 Topps Archives

#77 Tris Speaker   

 

This card was declared the Greatest Red Sox Card of 2023 by yours truly. Why? Because how many cards out there show a Hall of Famer getting kneed in the groin?

 

4. 2019 Topps Update - Major League Material

#MLM-MC Michael Chavis (MEM)

 The "Ice Horse" was a 1st round draft pick for the Red Sox in 2014. I really like the design of this card with the color fade to black and white. A tipping the cap pose if always a bonus too.

 

 3. 2023 Stadium Club - Autographs

#SCBA-NC Narciso Crook (AU)

 

This is a fun autograph, for no other reason that Crook never played a single game as a member of the Red Sox. Also, he has this card in the Stadium Club set, but not a normal base card.

 

2. 2023 Stadium Club - Blue Foil

#284 David Ortiz (SN50)

 

Beloved Hall of Famer? check. Celebration from a World Series victory? check. Serial numbered to 50 copies? check!

 

1. 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter - Framed Mini Relics

#MFR-DO David Ortiz

 

Safe to say my collection of David Ortiz cards received a nice boost thanks to Oren! This is my 3rd David Ortiz relic, which is surprising since I don't actively hunt down relics. I'm pretty sure each one has been gifted to me somehow.

Thanks again for all the great cards Oren! May 2025 be filled with lots of wonderful cards for your collection!

 

 

The Greatest Red Sox Cards Of 2024

As the end of 2024 approaches, it's time to once again list the 10 greatest Red Sox cards of the past year. According to the TCDB, there have been 11, 225 Red Sox cards produced this year. Now, I'm not going to tell you I looked at every one, but I did manage to weed through thousands and thousands of useless parallels to bring you the cream of the crop. Enjoy!

10. 2024 Stadium Club

#9 Jarren Duran

 

'Murica!

9. 2024 Choice Salem Red Sox

#02 Juan Montero

 

I try to stick with Major League cards on this list, but every now and then a minor league issue just looks so artistically pleasing it beats out the "player on a computer generated background" inserts of the world. I couldn't tell you anything about the player, but this shot of a happy ballplayer behind a fence  just represents everything innocent and good with the game.

8. 2024 Topps Update 

- Legendary Homefield Advantage

#LHA-11 Babe Ruth

 

I don't own this card yet, but I can tell it would look sweet in person. Well done collage of black and white photography, with a shiny overlay.

7. 2024 Topps Now

#438 Jarren Duran

I'm not a fan of the All-Star Game jerseys, and the more I look at Duran's arm tattoos the more they look like a toddler scribbled on him, but there's a lot to like about this card. Bat-shaped trophies are cool, you get a double shot of Duran thanks to the Jumbotron, a great view of the Globe life park field, and as a bonus, a Ted Williams name-drop.

6. 2024 Topps

#187 Joe Jacques (RC)

I was all set to comment how his name appropriately sounds like a term for an athlete, but according to Baseball Reference, it's pronounced like "jakes" and not "jocks". Oh well, he still wins the best Red Sox card in the base set award thanks to some rather pretty but probably cold weather.

5. 2024 Topps Now

#59 Boston Red Sox

Hard to believe that the team that broke the curse was 20 years ago already. Red Sox fans were treated to a great look back this year with an on the field reunion plus a great Netflix documentary (highly recommended). I'm pretty sure those are Tim Wakefield's kids on the right (R.I.P. Wake).

4. 2024 Topps Heritage 

- Baseball Flashbacks

#BF-15 Fred Lynn

These two cool cats took the baseball world by storm in 1975, and the "Gold Dust Twins" have never looked better in their dapper tuxes!

3. 2024 Topps Now

#194 Romy Gonzalez

All the recent talk about the idea of a Golden Batter rule being discussed makes me appreciate this card even more. Romy is a bench/utility guy who stepped up when the team needed him and delivered. No one could have expected him to be the hero that day, but for his efforts he got one amazing card.

2. 2024 Choice Portland Sea Dogs

#11 Tyler McDonough

I became aware of this one-of-a-kind card thanks to a post from The Best Bubble. The only thing preventing it from being the #1 card of the year is that it's a minor league card. I'd love to see a shot like this in a Topps base set though...

1. 2024 Stadium Club

#69 Jason Varitek

Varitek, in full catcher's gear, stares intently as an orbital streak of light and motion hits his glove. I bet he didn't even blink. Throw something that fast at me and I'll flinch every time. I am not the statuesque warrior that Varitek and the men who play that position can claim to be.

So there you have it! Do you agree with my rankings? Any cards that I might have missed?

Relive The Greatest Red Sox Cards Of:

2019 *** 2020 *** 2021 *** 2022 *** 2023

Top 5 Hall Of Fame Tribute: Rickey Henderson

There will never be another Rickey Henderson. Baseball greatness is often compared to greatness that came before. Shohei Ohtani is the Japanese Babe Ruth. Mike Trout was once considered this generation's Mickey Mantle. I would be surprised is any ballplayer, now or in the future, gets mentioned as a contemporary of the great Rickey Henderson. 

As I usual do when a Hall of Famer passes, I go through my collection and hope I have 5 good cards to show off. With Henderson, I had trouble narrowing down to 5 great cards. In the end, I decided to honor the "Man of Steal" with 5 cards all depicting him sliding into base, because that's the enduring image we got from Rickey over a thousand times in his career. Humbly, I present my Top 5 favorite "sliding" Rickey Henderson cards in my collection:

 

1990 Score #698 Rickey Henderson (HL, ALCS)

 

Although speed and Rickey Henderson go hand in hand, it's important to remember he was not a one trick pony. With over 3000 hits and over 2000 walks, he was a master of getting on base. 81 times he led off a game with a home run. Henderson made things happen.

1991 Topps #670 Rickey Henderson

 

Last year, Elly De La Cruz led the majors with 66 stolen bases. If he matched that feat every year for the next 19 years, he still would trail Rickey's stolen base total.

1992 Donruss #193 Rickey Henderson

 

In 1982, Henderson set the single season record for stolen bases with 130, just 13 off from the number of base hits he had that season! He was actually caught stealing an amazing 42 times that year!

 

1993 Fleer #294 Rickey Henderson 

One of his most impressive games happened on July 29, 1989. He walked four times in that game, thus having no official at-bats. He recorded an amazing 5 stolen bases in that game!

 

2021 Stadium Club #235 Rickey Henderson 

Obviously, Henderson made his mark mostly with the Oakland Athletics, as well as some peak career years with the Yankees. Even though he bounced around at the end of his career playing for a total of 9 different teams, he kept playing well and kept stealing bases until his final season in 2003 at the age of 44. He stole over 100 bases after the age of 40, and the only two seasons where he didn't reach at least 20 thefts in a year were his final two ones.

He was arguably the greatest player of the 80's, and energy and confidence made him a favorite of baseball fans everywhere. Rest in peace Rickey. There will never be another player like you.