Adrian Gonzalez, We Hardly Knew Ye - A Red Sox Player Collection

When the Red Sox and Dodgers agreed on that gigantic salary dump they called a trade a few weeks back, I was both excited and disappointed. Excited that my favorite team managed to unload one of the worst contracts in MLB history (at least so far), as well as a pitcher that had declined in both on field performance as well as general character.  Disappointed that the best hitter on the Red Sox was what made the offer acceptable to Los Angeles, and that I'd never get to see Adrian Gonzalez take another at-bat in a Red Sox uniform.

The more I thought about it, I decided it would be interesting to try an Adrian Gonzalez player collection.  I generally shy away from player collecting, but in this case I'm going to restrict it to Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox cards.  I have no interest in anything from his days with Texas or San Diego prior to Boston, nor will I be clamoring for that first card to show him in a Dodgers uniform.  I like this approach because while we're still talking hundreds of cards, it makes the total number of cards out there much more manageable.  Best of all, I won't have the "what if he gets traded" anxiousness, because it already happened.  Each new card I pick up will be one more for the Red Sox collection.

Before I show any new stuff, here's what I've already got towards the collection:

This Gypsy Queen Framed Green parallel is the first Gonzalez Red Sox card I ended up with.  I pulled it from a retail rack pack last summer.

Of course I picked up the Framed Paper parallel as well, numbered to 999 copies.  I still say the Gypsy Queen framed parallels were the best looking cards of 2011.

Limited to just 60 copies, for now this 2011 Topps Black parallel is my lowest numbered (and most valuable) Gonzalez card.  That will change very soon though...

I truly have no recollection of how this 2011 Topps Update card came into my possession.  It may have been a trade package.  If you sent it to me, then thank you!

2011 Bowman's Best insert snagged last summer from Check Out My Cards...

One of my current favorites is this 3D insert from 2011 Topps Lineage.  I know these are based on the extremely rare Topps 3D cards from the late '60s, but as a child of the '80s they remind me of Kelloggs and Sportflics.

The next three cards are recent eBay pickups, all parallels from the 2011 Topps Update Series set. Two Diamond Anniversary cards...

...and a Gold parallel, serial numbered to 2011.

Oddly enough I have this Gold parallel card but not the base version.

Here's an example of an awful and unnecessary Topps insert.  It's been just over a year since this card was printed and neither of these guys are Red Sox any longer.  Sigh.

I picked up a 2012 Allen & Ginter Red Sox team set a while back.  Gonzalez is a short print in this set.

These next two cards both came in a trade package from Night Owl. In addition to Adrian's base card from 2012 Opening Day, he also sent along this Fantasy Squad insert:

I don't normally buy much Opening Day, so these two were much appreciated.

This Topps Attax card also came from Greg, in the same package I'm pretty sure.

Here's Adrian's 2012 Topps Archives base card, based on the 1980 Topps design.  Along with the card that led off this post, it's the only Gonzalez Red Sox card I have that I actually pulled myself from a pack.

Finally, here's a 2012 Gypsy Queen base card.  This one came in an awesome surprise package from Casie at Drop the Gloves.  I still have a half-written thank you post in the drafts folder, but there were a ton of cards in the envelope resulting in quite a bit of scanning work.  I will get it up soon though.

So begins my Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox collection.  16 cards and counting, a very modest start considering all that's out there.  If you've got any that I don't have available for trade let me know...