Top 5 Red Sox Relics

Among the multiple projects I've been working on with my cards over the last few months, one of them is transferring my relics and autographs into the correct penny sleeves and top loaders and keeping them in boxes.

Beforehand, I used to keep my relics and autos in sheets in a binder. However, once I started to accumulate more and the sheets were not working out, I knew I had to change this. 

With autographs and especially relic cards, it can get pretty tricky. They require all sorts of different-sized top loaders. There's nothing worse than a top loader too thin or too thick for the card.

After picking up some supplies at Sunday's baseball card show, I began to put a majority of my Red Sox relics and autographs into sleeves and top loaders and finally, into the AL relic/autograph box. Although I have more Red Sox hits than any other team with the possible exception of the Chicago Cubs, I realized around 90% of what I have for Red Sox hits are the relic cards.

Even though the popularity of relic cards is declining, you can still find some excellent relic cards for very little money, particularly from around 2002-2006. So, I've comprised a list of my 5 favorite Red Sox relic cards based on design, uniqueness, player, and other various factors that go into a relic card.

#5 2005 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Classic Careers Gold Luis Tiant

Wow, that sure is one complicated card description. Anyway, the Luis Tiant relic from '05 SP Legendary Cuts is actually the most recently-acquired relic card on the list. In fact, it was actually one of the pickups from Sunday's trip to the baseball card show that I saved for today. I didn't find the version numbered to 75 on COMC, so I assume what makes this card rarer is the gold border around the jersey swatch. 

#4 2006 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Materials Silver Jim Rice

Like the newly-acquired Tiant relic, the Jim Rice Legendary Materials relic from '06 SP Legendary Cuts is also a parallel, making it rarer than the base relic. The intricate silver border design makes this card numbered out of 199 as opposed to the base versions which are still serial numbered, but out of 225 copies. I didn't notice that the SP Legendary Cuts set showed up multiple times on this list until now. But after seeing these cards, I can understand why. 

#3 2003 Fleer Showcase Thunder Sticks Bat Manny Ramirez

Taking the Luis Tiant relic from '05 Legendary Cuts to a whole new level, this Manny Ramirez bat relic from the 2003 Fleer Showcase set is a standout relic card in the days where relics were probably more popular than ever. The Thunder Sticks relics seem to include all the big hitters of that era, and they are numbered out of 899 on the back of the card. Although Manny has been a controversial figure, even in Boston where he was a fan favorite, he's still one of my favorite all-time players to collect.

#2 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Red Framed Materials Pedro Martinez

At #2, we have the 4th consecutive card on this list to be serial numbered as the Pedro Martinez dual relic from '05 Diamond Kings is numbered to 100 copies on the back of the card. My reason for choosing this card for the list is actually quite simple. I love the red framed base cards of the 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings set. I'm also a huge fan of dual relics even though I don't have all too many of them. So, for a card to combine 2 things I really like and be numbered out of 100 copies makes it an easy choice for the list and a close 2nd to my favorite Red Sox relic card. 

#1 2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame Edition ARTifac Carl Yastrzemski

COMC wasn't able to tell me exactly what the name of this card is, so I just took my best guess. With that being said, I had multiple Carl Yastrzemski relics, both jersey, and bat, to choose from for this post. However, none of them intrigued me and were as interesting as his 2003 Topps Gallery HOF edition bat relic. It's a decent-sized relic, but what makes it even better are the colors and the detailed art of Yastrzemski and the stadium background. Whoever was in charge of these relics back in 2003 did an excellent job. I just wish I could find a couple more of them somewhere online.

I suppose relic cards will never regain the hype that they had when Fleer, Donruss, and Upper Deck were still around. Now that everything is focused on the autograph, especially the rookie auto, it's nice to look back at some well-done relics from years ago. Even if their prices have declined, they're always nice to have.