Monster Card of the Week - Green Monster's Friend

It's time to introduce another feature that will make regular appearances on this blog - the Monster Card of the Week. This feature will showcase cards that are slightly out of the mainstream, players who weren't necessarily well known stars, and cards that I think are just plain cool. Today's feature falls into the last category, a 1991 Fleer Pro Visions Mike Greenwell.
If you haven't already figured out from the name of my blog, I have a jones for the Green Monster in Fenway Park. In my estimation it is one of the most iconic landmarks in all of sports. Do a Google images search for Fenway Park and virtually all of the results feature the famous left field wall. I owe my fascination with the Monster to Mike Greenwell. When I was younger, the Gator was my favorite Red Sox player (I remember reading once that he got this nickname because he liked to wrestle alligators in Florida - not sure I believe that though). I've always kind of shied away from the biggest stars when it comes to picking favorites. Greenwell played the game hard and had a few great years, but was never really the star of the team (that would have been Boggs and then Vaughn).

The '91 Pro Visions card is one of my all-time favorite cards. The use of art rather than photos was something I had never seen on a baseball card before (In all honesty, I'm still a sucker for this gimmick, which is how I got sucked into collected UD Masterpieces despite the dreaded short prints). And then there was the Monster. I loved the anthropomorphism of Fenway's most famous feature - that devilish, devious smirk and the predatory eyes. Opposing players beware! And yet there stands Greenwell in front of the Monster, calm and cool as could be. Because he knows that he has tamed the beast, he is the Monster's friend.