Baseball Bios – Jason Varitek
The Red Sox Team Captain and His 2004 Career Year The last team captain of the Boston Red Sox, Jason Varitek spent parts of 15 seasons with Boston. He made his major league debut with a base hit in his first and only major league at-bat in 1997. Varitek was acquired by the Red Sox […]
Brief Baseball Bios – Earl Wilson
While the 1960 Topps baseball set is rightly better known for a much more valuable Red Sox rookie card in Carl Yastrzemski, another Boston rookie card also deserves attention: that of starting pitcher Earl Wilson. The right-handed Wilson actually didn’t start off that well in his two first two Major League Baseball stints in 1959 […]
Sparky Lyle 1969 Topps – A Baseball Rookie Card Review
Sparky Lyle was a great left-handed relief pitcher for a number of teams, most notably the New York Yankees. But, his career began with the Boston Red Sox, where none other than Ted Williams suggested he start throwing a slider. That became the pitch that defined his career. While it wasn’t a career that would […]
Kent Mercker 2001 Topps – A Boston Red Sox Baseball Card Review
Kent Mercker may not be one of the most recognizable names in Boston Red Sox baseball history. But, while researching another article, Mercker’s name came up and I recalled that he pitched for the Red Sox. Indeed, Mercker did start five games after being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999. It was a […]
Brief Baseball Bios – Wes Farrell
Wes Farrell, brother of Hall of Fame Catcher Rick Ferrell, played for the Boston Red Sox from 1934-1937 Wes Farrell was a right-handed pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1927 to 1941. He pitched mainly for the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. He also pitched for the Washington Senators, and hung on for a […]
Rich Garces – “El Guapo” and His Career Year in the Boston Red Sox Bullpen
While not eligible for my Junk Wax Dynasty series, Rich Garces himself did in fact begin his career in the infamous era of overproduction for sports cards. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for Garces, setup men don’t get much love at all in the sports card hobby. Who they do get love from are the sports fans, […]
Trot Nixon – An Unsung Hero of the 1999 to 2005 Red Sox
Christopher Trotman Nixon, better known as “Trot,” was a first-round selection of the Boston Red Sox. Despite how highly Nixon was regarded, his first few seasons in the minor leagues weren’t all that exciting. Nixon did get called up to the Major Leagues in 1996, and got 2 hits in 4 at-bats. His 1997 season […]
Brief Baseball Bios – Jeff Bagwell
The Boston Red Sox were lucky to have Mo Vaughn come up to the Major Leagues after dealing away one of their better prospects in Jeff Bagwell. Of course, Bagwell is now well-known to be part of one of the most lop-sided trades in history, when he was dealt in 1990 to the Houston Astros […]
Brief Baseball Bios – Dwight Evans
Dwight Evans was a very good baseball player, who played from 1972-2001, all but one year of that with the Boston Red Sox. He racked up 65.1 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in his career according to FanGraphs and 66.7 WAR on Baseball-Reference. This puts his contributions in the area of Hall-of-Famers Duke Snider, Roberto Alomar, […]
Jose Canseco – The Red Sox Years
In one of the better trades the Red Sox made in the 1990’s, the Red Sox traded speedy, defensive minded outfielder Otis Nixon and infielder Luis Ortiz to the Texas Rangers for outfielder Jose Canseco. Obviously, it was a bit of a salary dump, with the Rangers clearly thinking they could replace Canseco’s bat with […]