With the London Olympics starting up, it reminded me of an
important question. Do I put cards of players shown as members of Team USA in my Red Sox collection?
This wouldn’t be a
big deal were it not for two players. Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek. They
are both major Red Sox stars. If you made an all-time Red Sox team, they would
both be on it…probably as starters. They both started their careers with the
Sox. Nomar was drafted by the Sox. Varitek made his ML debut with Boston, and
never wore another uniform. I’m not talking about Tino Martinez in a Cardinals
collection. These are Red Sox players. Unquestionable.
But, not on their
rookie cards. Ordinarily, that would be an obvious reason for exclusion. I
don’t have any David Ortiz rookie cards in my Red Sox binders. (Or anywhere
else in my collection, for that matter.) He’s not a Red Sox player on his
rookies. Bleh. That’s clearer though. There’s he is on his card looking at me
from his Twins uniform. It just shouts out at you as being wrong.
Varitek and Nomar
are different. It’s not a card of another Major League team. Is it more similar
to a minor league team? I have Nomar minor league cards in my Red Sox
collection. Of course, they were Red Sox minor league affiliates. So, they were
clearly Red Sox Organization cards. Not quite the same.
It’s probably closer
to a college card. Since both of them were at Georgia Tech at the time, that’s
the team they were on. Would I put other college cards on my Red Sox
collection? I have. I grabbed a Mo Vaughn card from his Cape Cod League days,
and it resides in my Red Sox binder. Although, that’s really a remnant from a
Mo Vaughn player collection that has since dissolved. The card was too neat not
to hold onto. But, it does give me a precedent…sort of.
So, what’s the
standard practice? Do Olympic cards make it into a team collection? Does the
player matter? Does the timing of the Olympic appearance matter? Does anything
else?
Can I have a 1992
Topps Red Sox collection without two all-time greats?
