Repack Haiku #435 (Jose DeJesus)

Got complete game win

After own family said

He would lose to Mets

 

1989 Donruss #558 Jose DeJesus  (RC)

 

As a member of the last place Phillies in 1991, Brooklyn native DeJesus was visiting family. His team was set to face the Mets, and one of his own relatives taunted him by saying he was going to lose to a very hot New York team. He went on to beat New York, not giving up any runs until the 9th inning.

 

Source: https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/june-28-1991-phillies-beat-the-mets-behind-jose-de-jesuss-pitching/

The Greatest Red Sox To Have Played With Clayton Kershaw

2025 Topps Now
#734 Clayton Kershaw

 

While doing my last post, I did some research and discovered that Dodger great Clayton Kershaw played with exactly 50 players who had donned the Boston uniform at some point in their career. It was too much research for just a fun bit of trivia, so I decided to maximize the results of my efforts.

 

After his Dodgers won the World Series, Kershaw retired on top and started the clock for his certain Hall of Fame induction. In honor of this great player, I thought it would be fun to list the 10 greatest former Red Sox who had the honor of playing with "Kid K" over the course of his 18 years in Los Angeles. The players chosen have the greatest combined WAR from their time in both Boston and LA.

 

1. Mookie Betts (75.2 combined WAR)

2019 Topps Big League
#200 Mookie Betts

 

Who else would you expect to head this list but another future Hall of Famer?  Betts has played an even 6 years for both ballclubs, and still has a higher WAR as a member of the Red Sox (42.4) than he does with the Dodgers (32.7). 

 

2. Nomar Garciaparra (42.9 combined WAR)

2002 Stadium Club
#24 Nomar Garciaparra

Nomah! Garciaparra was on a Hall of Fame path himself until injuries hit him and made him an average player for the back half of his career. Although he bounced back for one more All-Star season as a Dodger in 2006, he three year tenure there only accounts for 1.7 WAR. The rest (41.2) is all Boston.

 

3. Manny Ramierez (39.5 combined WAR)

2008 Topps
#26 Manny Ramirez (PSH, ALDS)

 

When the Red Sox (33.2 WAR) traded Manny to the Dodgers (6.3 WAR) in 2008, Kershaw had just 10 MLB starts under his belt. He got a first-hand look at "Manny-wood"!

 

4. Justin Turner (36.7 combined WAR)

2017 Topps Archives
#182 Justin Turner

 

Turner becomes the first player here with more WAR as a Dodger (34.6) than as a Red Sox (2.1). The 2x All-Star had a brief 1 year layover in Boston in 2023.

 

5. Derek Lowe (32.6 combined WAR) 

1999 Fleer Tradition
#499 Derek Lowe

 

The first pitcher to make the list is Lowe. Despite spending twice as many years in Boston (19.4 WAR)  than L.A. (13.2 WAR), Lowe WAR splits between the two teams are pretty close. He was a workhorse for both teams, making over 30 starts each year from 2002 - 2011. 

 

6. Josh Beckett (24.6 combined WAR) 

2008 Upper Deck
#744 Josh Beckett (SH)

 

In 2012, Frank McCourt sold the Dodgers to a group that includes sports legends Magic Johnson and Billy Jean King. To show they were serious contenders, they made a massive trade with Boston to acquire 3 of their largest contracted players, including Beckett. Beckett was a World Series hero with the Red Sox (22.3 WAR), but his career eventually fizzed out as a Dodger (2.3 WAR).

 

7. Adrian Gonzalez (24.3 combined WAR)

2016 Stadium Club
#134 Adrian Gonzalez

 

Along with Beckett, Gonzalez came over in that same trade. He was an offensive powerhouse in less than 2 seasons with Boston (9.9 WAR), and continued to be a solid middle of the order bat afterwards in LA (14.4 WAR)

 

8. Kenley Jansen (20.8 combined WAR)

2017 Topps - MLB Awards
#RLY-2 Kenley Jansen

 

Jansen is 2 saves away from tying Lee Smith for 3rd place all-time in saves, and 24 saves short of becoming the 3rd member of the 500 save club. He's the Dodgers (18.7 WAR) all-time saves leader, and had a solid 2 year run with the Red Sox (2.1 WAR).

 

9. Enrique Hernandez (16.4 combined WAR)

2020 Topps
#135 Enrique Hernandez

 

Hernendez is regularly kissed by the cardboard gods, having great actions shots for both the Dodgers (11.1 WAR) and Red Sox (5.3 WAR).

 

10. J.D. Martinez (15.7 combined WAR)

2021 Topps - 1952 Topps Redux
#T52-12 J.D. Martinez

 

Martinez was one of the best free agent signings the Red Sox ever made. During his 5 years there (13.7 WAR), he made every single All-Star team. When he joined the Dodgers (2.0 WAR) the following season, he made the All-Star team for them as well.

 

Other notables: Hanley Ramirez (11.6), Walker Buehler (11.3), David Price (11.1), Alex Verdugo (11.1), Brad Penny (10.7), Rich Hill (10.1) 

 

Congrats on a great career Clayton Kershaw! You played with some great Red Sox during your time on the field! 

6 Degree Of Raffy: The Mookie Wilson Connection

It's time for another installment ("aka filler post") of 6 Degrees Of Raffy, where I connect a beloved card from my collection and connect the player depicted on it to current Red Sox Designated Hitter Rafael Devers. 

 

Well, that was unexpected. When I last did one one these 6 Degree posts, Rafael Devers was in just the 2nd year of a 10-year,  $313 contract he signed in 2024. He was a safe bet to be in Boston for awhile. Lo and behold, he with the Giants now, leaving me with the task of finding someone else to connect with.

 

The Red Sox are in a strange position right now. There are no mega-stars on the team, and no one that  is the obvious face of the franchise. For what it's worth, I think Roman Anthony will be that guy, but he just finished his rookie season and, although signed long -term, just doesn't have the credentials yet.

 

There is another young player the Sox have locked up long term that just so happened to win some hardware this month. Ceddanne Rafaela earned the first of what I suspect to eventually be multiple Gold Gloves. As luck would have it, he's also nicknamed "Raffy", making him the ideal pick for the successor to Devers in this series, for however long that ends up being.

 

We start with a randomly generated card from my collection:

Random TCDB Card: 

1992 Fleer #347 Mookie Wilson

Mookie Wilson is a well known figure in Red Sox lore. He is the curse personified, and a hero of the New York Mets. This card is actually his sunset card, with 1991 being his final season.

Teammates in the 1992 Fleer set
#347 Mookie Wilson	#343 Mike Timlin

Mookie's last season coincided with the rookie season of a young reliever in Toronto. Mike Timlin would go on to pitch over 1,000 games over 18 seasons. He won an amazing 4 World Series Championships, including the Blue Jay's back-to-back trophies in 1992 and 1993.

Teammates in the 2006 Topps set
#158 Mike Timlin	#50 Manny Ramirez

The other two rings were earned in Boston during their championships in 2004 and 2007. Since I'm now featuring cards in Boston, you would think it'd be easy to just continue using former Sox until I got to Rafaela. I could have easily done this, but rather than continuously featuring long-time Red Sox like David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, I decided to make a little detour instead...

Teammates in the 2008 Stadium Club set
#82 Manny Ramirez	#107 Clayton Kershaw (RC)

 

We're going to follow Manny to L.A.!  Manny's trade to the Dodgers in 2008 put him on the same team with the recently retired great, Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw made his MLB debut that same season and got a first hand look at "Manny being Manny".

Teammates in the 2022 Topps set
#41 Clayton Kershaw	#396 Kenley Jansen

 

Kershaw spent 18 years in the bigs, all with the Dodgers. I did the research, and Kershaw played with exactly 50 players who also spent time with the Red Sox. Lots of guys to choose from, and there were even a handful of guys that will help me complete the chain!

Teammates in the 2024 Topps set
#267 Kenley Jansen	#313 Ceddanne Rafaela (FS)

 

It seemed fitting that I go from one of the greatest starting pitchers in Dodgers history to one of the (if not the) greatest closers for the franchise. Jansen spent a couple years in Boston adding to his Hall-worthy resume, and that gave him the opportunity to team up with fan-favorite  Rafaela!

Degrees of Raffy: 5

 

 

Repack Haiku #434 (Joey Vierra)

Never reached Majors

Declined chance to play as scab

Got laugh from Jordan

 

1991 Line Drive AAA #273 Joey Vierra

 

Vierra was given a chance to make the big leagues in 1995 as a replacement player while the regular players were on strike. He turned down the chance, and never reached baseball's highest level. However, not many players can say they played with Michael Jordan, and according to the article I referenced, he made M.J. laugh by serving him coffee. 

 

Source: https://www.greatest21days.com/2010/12/joey-vierra-greatest-memory-128.html 

Comparing MVP Worthy Seasons

Just a fun little exercise I though of while trying to come up with some off-season stuff to blog about...

 

It's safe to say that a player had a pretty good season if they received at least one MVP vote that year. Most players would be lucky to have one or two such seasons. Recent Hall of Fame inductees Ichiro Suzuki and Dave Parker each had 9 such seasons, while Dick Allen had 7. Barry Bonds, who won more MVP Awards than anyone, had 15 seasons with MVP votes (in a row no less)! 

 

Obviously, the number of MVP-worthy seasons isn't an indicator of greatness on it's own, but it does paint a decent picture about how good a player was compared to his peers, especially if they get into the Top 10 or top 5.

 

With that in mind, take a look at the following chart:

 

All 5 of these players have had 7 seasons where they received at least 1 MVP vote, right on par with Allen. Based purely on this information, how would you rank these guys? Do you think any of them are Hall of Famers? There's some interesting data here. Player E, for example, never won an MVP award, but has more Top 10 finishes than the others and is tied for the most Top 5 finishes. Player B did win one, but it was the only time in his career he finished in the Top 5 and just 1 of 3 times in the Top 10. Players A and D have the same number of Top 10 and Top 5 finishes, but one was shut out for the MVP Award while the other won twice.

 

Before I reveal the players, again I'm going to ask: How many of these guys do you suspect are Hall of Famers? How would you rank them? (Personally, I'd go E, C, D, A, B but since I know who these guys are I can tell you in advance it is NOT how I would rank them given their careers and legacy.)

 

OK here we go...

 

 

Player A - Carlos Delgado

 

Player B - Jeff Kent

 

Player C - Don Mattingly

 

Player D - Dale Murphy

 

Player E - Gary Sheffield

 

Pretty interesting, huh? If you want to know why I picked these 5 players, it's because these 5 players are on the Hall of Fame's Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot, along with pitchers Roger Clemens (who had 10 MVP worthy season by the way) and Fernando Valenzuela (4 seasons), as well as the previously mentioned Barry Bonds. It's just a coincidence that each of these 5 had exactly 7 seasons with MVP votes. 

 

What do you think? Do any of these guys deserve to make the Hall? 

 

 

Repack Haiku #433 (Trevor Wilson)

Against the Astros

Threw immaculate inning,

Complete game shutout

 

1990 Donruss #414 Trevor Wilson

 

On June 7, 1992, Wilson threw a two-hit shutout against the Houston Astros. He capped off the dominate performance by throwing an immaculate inning in the top of the 9th, striking out Jeff Bagwell, Eric Anthony, and Rafael Ramirez on 9 pitches.

No Tricks, All Treats

 

A merry All Hallow's Eve to all of you! Soon my household coffers will be filled with the spoils of my underlings as they disguise themselves and traverse from house to house offering those that dare answer the call the choice between sweet confectionery payment or mischievous retribution...

 

Ah! Long has it been since I've uttered the famous query, but I find in my advanced age that treats do not abate this time of year, although their sweetness derives more from their giver's heart than the sugary content.

 

Alright, enough trying to be all eloquent and wordy... :) 

 

I have been on the receiving end of a lot of treats lately. I've already thanked Johnny for the 5 envelopes he's sent, but that was just one of many small favors that have come my way. 

 

Often I'll get some bonus cards during a Time Travel Trading swap. One such card came from a recent trade with Greg (Night Owl Cards). 

 

 

This card commemorates Duran's fantastic 2024 season. Statistically he came back down to Earth this past season, but he remains a solid contributor and fan favorite. It'll be interesting to see if he becomes the odd man out as the Red Sox seek to ease their outfield logjam.

 

When I announced that I was going to try and work on the 1977 Topps set, Tom (formerly of The Angels in Order), jumped in with a handful of cards towards the set build.

 

One thing I find myself appreciating more and more about this 1977 set are those wonderfully colorful uniforms. lots of dark red and baby blue in this bunch!

 

Johnny (Johnny's Trading Spot) absolutely floored me with his generosity. The Red Sox cards he sent were amazing enough, but then he had to send a padded envelope full of 1977 Topps cards!

 

He knocked out over 80 cards from my want list, including most of the Hall of Fame players I was missing! 
 

Greg (Crocodile Sports) was another person who sent some bonus cards with a Time Travel Trade.

 

These three cards were the last Red Sox cards I needed from the 1979 Topps set. I now have a complete run of Red Sox cards from the 1977-1995 Topps base sets!
 
Yet another trade partner, Joseph from the TCDB, sent along some bonus cards with his portion of the trade.

 

In addition to 1977 Topps, I also listed the 2024 Topps Heritage insert set devoted to Fred Lynn as a set I wanted to complete. Joseph gives me the first card I needed from this small 10 card set.

 

Finally, Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life!) delivered a few more cards from my want lists:

 

Thanks to Tom, Johnny, and Bo, I'm now down to needing just 23 cards to complete the 1977 Topps set! There's another local card show happening towards the end of November, so I'll be looking for those cards then. Otherwise, this set may have to wait until after the holidays to complete, but it'll happen!

 

My most heartfelt thanks to Greg G, Tom, Johnny, Greg B, Joseph and Bo for these amazing cards. You guys are the best and I hope your favorite sweet treat finds it's way into your plastic pumpkin tonight! 

Repack Haiku #432 (Next Generation)

Can this team do it?

Beat the mighty juggernaut,

Win the World Series?

 

2023 Topps
#216 Next Generation (CC, CL)

 

This wasn't planned. I have an ordered list of haiku cards mapped out well into next year. This card just happened to fall during the week of the World Series. Once the Jays beat the Mariners, I knew I had to write a more timely haiku to take advantage of the coincidence!

5 Envelopes, 5 Thank Yous (Again!)

There's a fun little statistic that always stuck with me as a fun bit of trivia. When MLB pitcher Jaime Moyer finished his 25-year career in 2012, he had, at that time, faced 8.9% of all hitters to have ever played in the Major Leagues. 

 

There's no way to prove this, but I'm willing to bet that Johnny (Johnny's Trading Spot) has at the least touched 8.9% of all baseball cards in existence. The sheer volume of cards he adds is made all the more impressive by the sheer volume of dime/quarter/cheap boxes he goes through finding deals galore. It makes his blog one of the more enjoyable reads out there.

 

Johnny is also hands down one of the most generous collectors out there. This is the second time this year that he has gifted me with 5 envelopes of Red Sox goodness. 

 

Just like before, each envelope deserves it's own look, as well as it's own thank you!

 

Envelope #1

 

When the PWE arrived in my mailbox, the envelope marked 1/5 was missing. It eventually showed up a week later, providing me with an extra day's worth of unexpected happiness. 

Favorite Card: I like the elegant stamp-based design of the Jacoby Ellsbury card! 

 

Thank you for envelope #1 Johnny!

 

Envelope #2

 

As I opened each envelope, I noticed Johnny had packed these in a way to give a nice visual mix. Each envelope contained a few 2006 Fleer cards, lots of Chrome goodness, and all but one contained some of the magazine cards he recently got his hands on.

 

Favorite Card: The Dwight Evans is such a fun card/sticker, and I like the photo used with it!

 

Thank you for envelope #2 Johnny!

 

Envelope #3

Of all the great names donning a Boston uniform, I finally saw one I didn't recognize: Alejandro Machado. His career consisted of 5 at-bats across 10 games in 2005. 

 

Favorite Card: The green Jackie Bradley Jr. card is a foil board parallel serial numbered to 499. Pretty sharp looking in hand!

 

Thank you for envelope #3 Johnny!

 

Envelope #4

 

I am 99.9% positive I had that Mike Greenwell once. I had a whole stack of Baseball Card magazines, and I never removed the cards from the publications. I don't know what happened to them, I may still have them buried in a box somewhere.

 

Favorite Card: That border on the the Phil Plantier card - I forgot Topps had it's own magazine, and that border is so very 90's!

Thank you for envelope #4 Johnny!

 Envelope #5

Thanks to these cards from Johnny, I'm only missing 3 of the 16 Red Sox cards from the 2006 Fleer list. Not a priority, but I will be on the lookout for David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon, and Craig Hansen to complete the team set someday.

 

Favorite Card: I don't know what that kanji says, but Hideki Okajima's card looks amazing.

 

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

 

Oh, there are more cards Johnny generously sent me, but those are for another post! Stay tuned! 

2025 World Series Tale Of The Tape

 

 

Last year, the Dodgers defeated a team from the AL East. They face another AL East team this year. Will the result be any different? Probably not, but here's hoping for a great series full of excitement. Since the AL East team I wanted to be here fell short, who should I root for? There are lots of little factors I take into consideration, so who has the edge?

 

Former Red Sox Players

 

Blue Jays: Tyler Heineman 

Dodgers: Mookie Betts, Enrique Hernandez 

2025 Topps Heritage
#487 Mookie Betts (SP)

If I can't root for my Red Sox, I can at least root for the guys who used to play for them. The Betts trade continues to haunt Red Sox fans, while Kiki had a brief 3-year detour to Boston before returning to the Dodgers. On the other side of the field, Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman played a whopping 2 games for the Red Sox last year.

Advantage: Dodgers
 

Shenandoah Valley Baseball League Alumni

 

Blue Jays: Trey Yesavage

Dodgers: none

2025 Topps Now #716 Trey Yesavage

The Shenandoah Valley Baseball League is a summer collegiate league that operates in my little corner of the world. I try to go to at least one game every year in support of my hometown team, the Waynesboro Generals. Trey Yesavage played for the team in Charlottesville just 3 years ago, and now he's in the World Series! 

 
Advantage: Blue Jays
 

University of Virginia Cavaliers Alumni

 

Blue Jays: Ernie Clement  

Dodgers: none 

 

2025 Topps #319 Ernie Clement

Go Wa-hoos! Living a short drive from Charlottesville, I've gone to a few UVa baseball games and try to keep up with them throughout the season. Former Cavalier Ernie Clement also has the distinction of being born in Rochester, NY where I went to college! Like most of the people from that region, he's also a huge Bills fan and uses the Bills "Shout!" song as his walk-up music!

 

Advantage: Blue Jays
 

Championship Drought

 

Blue Jays: 31 years

Dodgers: defending champions

 

1993 Donruss McDonald's
Toronto Blue Jays Great Moments
#23 1992 World Champions

When my favorite team finally won the World Series in 2004, it ended an 86-year drought. As a result, I've always had a soft spot for teams that haven't one in awhile. The last time the Blue Jays reached the World Series, I was in high school.

Advantage: Blue Jays

 

Personal Connection

 

I have zero connection to the Dodgers, outside of enjoying the blogs of a few Dodger fans. 

Growing up in the southern tier of NY State, I was often asked why I wasn't a Yankees or Mets fan. That never made sense to me, as the two closest teams to me geographically were actually in Cleveland and Toronto. I could even get Canadian TV channels on my TV if the weather was clear enough, and remember watching the Jays play once or twice. Toronto is also a beautiful city that I've actually visited once.

Advantage: Blue Jays

 

Spring Training Adventures

 

From 2017-2019, I went with my father-in-law and a friend to Spring Training in Florida every year. I got to see a lot of different teams over those years, and once got to see the Blue Jays take on the Pirates. I got an autograph of a Blue Jays coach at that game (Mike Mordecai), but a more noteworthy autograph came years before when I got a ball signed by numerous Astros players. One of them was current Jay and ALCS hero George Springer.

That's Springer's auto in the middle

Advantage: Blue Jays

 

Best 2025 Topps Base Set Card

2025 Topps #163 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

2025 Topps #353 Austin Barnes

Since this is primarily a baseball card blog, I figured this post should have a card show-off! I decided to pick each team's best card from the 2025 Topps base set. Neither team has cards that really stand out, but I'm giving the nod to Barnes in all of his catching gear glory.

Advantage: Dodgers

Final Talley: Blue Jays 5, Dodgers 2

 

Oh, Canada! 

Go Jays!