Top 5 Cards; Rafael Devers

The first pitch of today's Red Sox vs Diamondbacks game was thrown just as I began writing today's blog post. In hopes that they finally turn their performance around, I'll be writing a top 5 cards post for Rafael Devers today.

Win or lose, I'm ecstatic that the Red Sox's insipid West Coast trip will be over after game #3 against Arizona later today. Next up, they'll be heading home to Boston where the players will receive their World Series rings. Hopefully, this will boost the player's confidence and inspire them to step it up.

I understand that every talented team goes through a slump like this, but it's incredibly frustrating that I haven't seen this team play a good game of Baseball whatsoever this season. 

Their pitching, especially their starters, has been incredibly rocky; the club's 6.97 ERA is 2nd worst in all of Baseball. Even when the offense provides a ton of runs, the pitching blows the game, and that's why this team has only managed 2 wins so far.

Nevertheless, I still remain incredibly hopeful that the Red Sox will quickly bounce back from this poor performance, especially when they return home this Tuesday. One thing's for sure; I'm going to dread every road trip for the rest of this season.

I've already written top 5 cards posts for most of the current Red Sox players that I collect. Alas, my next option was Rafael Devers, a player that I've been collecting for about a year now. 

Even though I haven't been collecting cards of Devers for that long, the ones I do have are from as long ago as 2014, his first year as a prospect. Now, I have 20 total cards of the 22-year 3rd baseman; let's see which ones made my top 5 list.

#5 2017 Bowman's Best Baseball America Dean's List

The 2017 Bowman's Best Baseball America Dean's List cards are already standouts on their own, so it doesn't take much for one of these inserts to impress me. With that being said, there's something about this Devers card that impresses me, and I'm not talking about the A+ grade that he received.

Rafael Devers cards, in general, are pretty fantastic looking. In this case, the stellar insert set combines with a great photo of the Sox's star 3rd baseman. It's difficult to explain exactly what it is, but there's something about this card that's incredibly appealing to me.

#4 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League 1968 Discs

I had a couple of Heritage Minor League cards that I could've featured on my top 5 cards list, but none of them came close to beating out this 1968 Topps Disc reproduction from 2017. Although he's shown as a member of the Portland Seadogs, Devers was already in the major leagues by the time this set was released.

I don't focus a lot on collecting vintage oddballs, so I don't have one of the original 1968 Topps Discs in my collection. Still, it's really great to have one of the reprinted insert cards, for I don't have that many true minor league cards in my collection in the first place.

#3 2017 Bowman's Best Prospect Refractor

So far, I haven't included a single rookie card of Devers on this list since the first 3 slots have been reserved for prospect/minor league cards. The top 2 spots on this list happen to feature rookie cards, so this is the last card of Devers from his pre-MLB days.

My favorite part of the 2017 Bowman's Best cards is how colorful the base set is. Every single card features a wide variety of various colors that correspond with the team colors, and Dever's prospect refractor is no exception. 

In addition to having red and blue represented, there's a little bit of purple on this base refractor as well.

#2 2018 Topps Gallery Heritage

Since the brand's revival in 2017, Topps Gallery has produced some of the most beautiful cards that we've seen this decade. In addition to a colorful base set, this product includes a couple of artistic insert sets, including Gallery Heritage.

In 2018, these cards were modeled after the first every Topps Flagship set; 1952 Topps. Although I agree that the '52 set is over-replicated in modern times, I'll give Topps Gallery a pass due to their unique approach to these insert cards.

#1 2018 Topps Now

Even though this rookie card of Devers from 2018 Topps Now isn't the most exciting card in the top 5, this card is a lot more special to me than the others on this list. That's because this card is the very first Topps Now card that I ever purchased.

After watching Devers hit this grand slam on TV last June, I decided to add the first-ever Topps Now card to my collection. I remember the exact moment that this home run was hit, and it was one of many special milestones for the 2018 Boston Red Sox team. 

Like I said, the set design isn't too exciting, and a lot of the other Devers cards in my collection are more visually appealing. However, this card symbolizes the countless clutch moments that the Sox had last season.

At this point, all I want today is 1 of those clutch moments. 1 big play that'll lead the Sox to victory against the Dbacks.