{"id":34203,"date":"2025-02-14T13:11:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T13:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=34203"},"modified":"2025-02-14T13:11:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T13:11:43","slug":"red-sox-valentines-day-sweethearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=34203","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Valentine\u2019s Day Sweethearts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweethearts. You know, the heart-shaped candy with the stilted sayings printed on them, that come in the pocket-size box with the see-through window? It takes a lot longer to describe them than it does to name them but the truth is, I didn\u2019t know what they were called, and I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. They\u2019re popular around Valentine\u2019s Day, and have been for over 150 years. For me, they\u2019re second to chocolate on Valentine\u2019s Day but evoke some memories, and that puts me right in line with the rest of America\u2014we\u2019re sort of fond of them somehow, but know they\u2019re nowhere near as good as chocolate.<\/p>\n

Sweethearts have deep ties to Boston (and environs), where they were made by the New England Confectionery Company (or Necco) until Necco went bankrupt and the Sweethearts operation moved to Ohio. There\u2019s an interesting (and sometimes contentious) history there, but that doesn\u2019t matter for our purposes. One historical note of interest: prior to about 1901, the candies were available in baseball shapes. A Sweetheart candy itself might characterize that as: Cool<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In case there were any doubts about the link to Boston and baseball, check out this box of Sweethearts featuring John Valentin in his Red Sox uniform.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s match a player to a Sweetheart candy saying. Here we go!<\/p>\n

Puppy Love<\/h2>\n

Triston Casas. My favorite floppy-haired, breakfast-loving yogi<\/p>\n

Dazzle<\/h2>\n

Garret Crochet. This is what we\u2019re hoping for, anyway\u2014dazzle us!<\/p>\n

Miss You<\/h2>\n

Trevor Story\u2026but really any of our injured players. Hopefully we have them all back for a good long time this season.<\/p>\n

4 Ever<\/h2>\n

Walker Buehler, our projected #4 starter.<\/p>\n

Go, Go, Go<\/h2>\n

David Hamilton<\/p>\n

Me & U<\/h2>\n

Connor Wong and Carlos Narv\u00e1ez. After some heavy turnover at catcher (goodbyes to Reese McGuire, Danny Jansen, and Kyle Teel) it\u2019s down to these two. Can they handle the increase in velocity from our new pitchers, as well as the need to frame and block more accurately?<\/p>\n

1800 Cupid<\/h2>\n

Rafael Devers, still cherubic after all these years<\/p>\n

Dig Me<\/h2>\n

Garrett Whitlock missed most of last season after undergoing internal brace surgery, but he was en fuego<\/em> when he threw live batting practice earlier this week. (PS: Can en fuego<\/em> make the updated list of Sweethearts sayings? They regularly weed out old platitudes and tap into new trends.)<\/p>\n

Rock On<\/h2>\n

Rob Refsnyder. Keep doing what you do, Rob.<\/p>\n

Hep Cat, Fax Me<\/h2>\n

These discontinued adages were once on-point but became stale over time. John Henry.<\/p>\n

I Do<\/h2>\n

\u2026swing at too many pitches out of the strike zone, said Ceddanne Rafaela.<\/p>\n

\"Red <\/picture> <\/span> Photo by Matthew J. Lee\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figure>\n

Get Real<\/h2>\n

Sam Kennedy<\/p>\n

Love Him<\/h2>\n

Tanner Houck, who really stepped up in 2024 and feels primed to build on that career year.<\/p>\n

Cool<\/h2>\n

The need for Vaughn Grissom\u2019s services; it has cooled considerably.<\/p>\n

Awe-some<\/h2>\n

Wilyer Abreu. He had some of my favorite catches last year, and also whaled 33 doubles. Plus he wears his heart on his sleeve (it\u2019s too bad that\u2019s<\/em> too long for a candy because it\u2019s perfect).<\/p>\n

As If<\/h2>\n

Masataka Yoshida, playing as if the season is half as long as it actually is. I hope he\u2019s built up his strength this off-season and can avoid the long, ice-cold streaks.<\/p>\n

Tweet Me<\/h2>\n

Triston Casas again. Dude loves a tweet<\/p>\n

Bestie<\/h2>\n

Alex Cora gives this one to Alex Bregman.<\/p>\n

Who Me<\/h2>\n

Aroldis Chapman<\/p>\n

Call Me<\/h2>\n

When you need someone to shut the game down. Justin Slaten<\/p>\n

Be Good<\/h2>\n

The Big Three (as in, you better be good. Please, be good!)<\/p>\n

Sweet Talk<\/h2>\n

Jarren Duran. Use your filter this season, huh?<\/p>\n

Wink Wink<\/h2>\n

Josh Winckowski<\/p>\n

Ur Hot<\/h2>\n

Craig Breslow. About half of Red Sox Nation thinks Ur Hot after the Bregman signing. But even they need to admit you\u2019re a little streaky.<\/p>\n

Bite Me<\/h2>\n

Craig Breslow. This is from the other half of Red Sox Nation, who aren\u2019t thrilled with you right now. Or your offseason.<\/p>\n

Marry Me<\/h2>\n

Seven-year-old me, to Jim Rice<\/p>\n

\"Red <\/picture> <\/span><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Match the Red Sox personality with the candy-coated sentiment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":34204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nRed Sox Valentine\u2019s Day Sweethearts - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=34203\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Red Sox Valentine\u2019s Day Sweethearts - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Match the Red Sox personality with the candy-coated sentiment.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=34203\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-14T13:11:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/avtvip-18-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=34203\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=34203\",\"name\":\"Red Sox Valentine\u2019s Day Sweethearts - 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