Ceddanne Mail

Last week's mail was pretty slow.  Just three packages with five cards.  All of them Ceddanne Rafaela cards.

Most of the cards were autographs too.  Each package contained an auto, the three Topps Inception cards in the second and third row all came together.  I had been watching this lot a few times over and decided I would pull the trigger after receiving my winnings from my fantasy baseball league this year (I finished fifth, but was in the money).  The Finest card in the first row was purchased to replace a card that seemingly disappeared in the mail (the fourth time that has happened lately), but unfortunately I grabbed the Sky Blue, when I should have grabbed the Blue.  So, now I have another one coming.  We are about a week away from Gold Glove announcements.  Hopefully Ceddanne will win it.  He did win the Fielding Bible Award, so I think the Gold Glove is next.  The big question will be the Platinum Glove.

Topps Now Maildays

I am showing off three Topps Now cards I received last week.

Officially this is listed as a team card, but I am going to call it just a Ceddanne Rafaela card.  After all, Rafaela delivered the winning hit that propelled the Red Sox into the postseason, a walkoff triple.  He seems to have a flair for the dramatic.  Unfortunately, it didn't carry over into the postseason.  He has things to work on this offseason, his numbers were better this year, but he seems to have stretches where he completely loses his approach.  He was named a finalist for the Gold Glove in center field and I am looking forward to finding out if he wins, which he should.

Payton Tolle was the team's second-round pick last year.  He made his Major League debut on August 29 against Paul Skenes and the Pirates and struck out eight batters.  His fastball is electric, but he needs to work on his secondary pitches or he will not be a starting pitcher.  

As great as Tolle's debut was, Connelly Early's was better.  Early carved up the A's, striking out 11 and tying a club record for a debut.  The Red Sox won 6-0.  Early was good enough that he pitched the decisive game in the Wild Card series against the Yankees.  Unfortunately, the defense let him down in the fourth inning because he had been pitching well.  Early should be in the rotation next season.

Last Week's Maildays

Yesterday's post was the previous week.  This post is for last week.  I did save three Topps Now cards for a separate post that will go up tomorrow.

Only four Ceddanne Rafaela cards this week.  But they were pretty good ones.  I want to highlight the Bowman Sapphire Yellow in the second row and my first Printing Plate of Rafaela.  So, four more for the week.  Until tomorrow.

The next two scans are for a TCDB trade that did not include a Rafaela card.

1.  Jose Offerman.  This was a throw-in after a different card couldn't be found.  Offerman had a great start in Boston and was having a terrific year in 1999.  He was an All Star that year and hit .294/.391/.435 with 107 runs scored, 37 doubles, a league-leading 11 triples, 18 stolen bases and 96 walks versus 79 strikeouts.  Those are great numbers.  Unfortunately, he declined every year after that.

2.  Jarren Duran.  I really think we have seen the end of Duran's career in Boston.  I could be wrong, but I just think he is the easiest player to justify trading among the outfielders.  I will riot if they trade Ceddanne.

3.  Trevor Story.  Story had a great bounceback season and was a 20/20 guy this year.  He has an opt-out in his contract and it will be interesting to see if he exercises it.  Honestly, if he does, I don't think Boston will try too hard to bring him back.  But I can't see him making more money elsewhere either.  Ultimately, I do not think he will exercise it.

4.  Rafael Devers.  I still can't believe I will not see him in a Red Sox uniform anymore.

5.  Chris Sale.  Sale has resurrected his career in Atlanta and looks to be back on the Hall of Fame track.  

6.  Jarren Duran.

7.  Pedro Martinez.  

8.  Marcelo Mayer.  I want to see what a fully healthy season looks like from him.  Defensively, he is incredibly special.  He definitely has power.  He needs to work on his approach at the plate though.

9.  Xander Bogaerts.

10.  Bobby Doerr.  I think this was the last time we saw Diamond Kings in Donruss.  There is not much point to doing them now since Donruss cannot include current players.  But that was always my favorite subset/parallel.

11.  Tim Wakefield.  I still add Wakefield cards whenever I can.

12.  Carl Yastrzemski. 

13.  Dustin Pedroia.

14.  Carl Yastrzemski.  Celebrating Yaz's membership in the 3,000 hit club.

15.  Justin Turner.  Turner needs a One Year Wonder post soon.

16.  Brayan Bello.  I want to see Bello take that step forward next season into being a number two starter.  He was more good than bad this season, but he struggled down the stretch.

17.  Kenley Jansen.  I am hoping to see Jansen in the Hall of Fame someday too.

And finally, I was Zippy Zapped again:

Nice Clay Buchholz auto.  More the card than the signature as he has a bizarre signature.  This is apparently a redemption replacement autograph.  I am not sure what it was replacing though.  

Thanks again Kenny!

A Week of Ceddanne Maildays

This was actually supposed to be posted last weekend, but I was supposed to start a jury trial on Tuesday and so I was a bit too busy to get anything done.  So here we go.  That week's maildays was made exclusively of Ceddanne Rafaela cards.

The first card is another of those Leaf Exotic cards.  It was listed as another Giraffe parallel, but upon closer examination, I have determined it is more likely to be the Deer parallel.  

I had to add the 1990 design autograph.  That was always a favorite design of mine.  There are also three Bowman parallels from 2023.  I have been getting quite a few of those lately.

Here are the next batch.  I placed an order on COMC to get a few cards, one of which never got delivered from an earlier Ebay purchase.  I did a search for Rafaela aqua cards, so there is going to be a lot of aqua-colored parallels.  That card that never arrived is the middle card in the bottom row.  I also added a couple of the Donruss parallels that I really like.

A couple cards to highlight here are the first card in the middle row, which is the Fuchsia Lunar refractor and is a lot cooler in person.  Then there is the A&G Rip card.  It was already ripped or it would have been a lot more expensive.

So, 25 more Rafaela cards for the collection.  I still maintain I am not super-collecting him, but I think the results are starting to show otherwise.  I have not gone to the extent I did with Connor Wong though.  

R.I.P. Mike Greenwell

This one was pretty sad.  I started watching baseball in 1991.  One of the mainstays of the team at that point was Mike Greenwell.  He instantly became one of my favorite players, behind the big stars like Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens.  He continued with the team for several years and while he was not a big star, his status as the elder statesman of the lineup was a reason that he remained a favorite player.  He was an important player from my early years as a Red Sox fan.

Greenwell was with the team from 1985 through the 1996 season.  He spent his entire Major League career with the Red Sox.  He did attempt to play in Japan in 1997 and tried a comeback in the Majors, but was unsuccessful.  Greenwell was a two-time All Star (1988 and 1989) and won a Silver Slugger (1988).  His best season was in 1988 when he hit .325/.416/.531 with 22 home runs, 119 RBIs and 16 stolen bases.  He finished second in the MVP vote to Jose Canseco.  He was never quite that good again, but he did finish with a line of .303/.368/.463 with 1,400 hits, 130 home runs and 726 RBIs.  After his career, he went into local politics a little bit.  He struggled with cancer recently, ultimately losing that battle last week.   

My condolences go out to his family.  

2025 Topps Chrome Blaster

I really had the urge to break some packs this weekend and there are not many options where I am.  I picked up a blaster of Topps Chrome out of lack of other options.  I probably should have gone with my gut and grabbed Donruss.  Topps Chrome is way too expensive for what you normally get.  They should probably guarantee an autograph, even if it is just a minor rookie, for $40.00.

Anyway, here are the new Red Sox:

Yep, just the one card.  I did pull the Connor Wong base card, but I already had it.  So, just the base Richard Fitts.  Boston's biggest issue going into the postseason was a lack of depth.  Part of the problem was the extreme number of injuries suffered by the pitching staff.  Fitts, Hunter Dobbins, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Lucas Giolito and Dustin May were all starting pitchers that were unavailable in the postseason.  Fitts had a 2-4 record with a 5.00 ERA in 11 games, striking out 40 and walking 16.  He could be part of the puzzle next season.

Sunday Mailday Plus a Zippy Zapping

This might be how we do these for a little while.  Especially as the vast majority of stuff is Rafaela cards.  This post will include a recent Zippy Zapping though.  

In other news, the Red Sox season is over.  I am not happy about how it ended up.  I am sure I will discuss that at length in future posts.

1.  Bailey Horn.  Topps Chrome this year featured a number of Rookie Autograph cards of players that are appearing on Red Sox cards for the first time.  So, I have a bunch of cards to track down.  Bailey Horn was the first one I grabbed.  Horn was acquired early in the 2024 season to provide a lefty arm out of the bullpen.  The results were mixed.  He appeared in 18 games with a 6.50 ERA, striking out 13 and walking ten in 18 innings, but there were times he looked pretty good.  He had a disastrous game against the Rockies in which he gave up five earned runs in an inning and a third.  His numbers would not have been as bad without that.

Here are the Ceddanne Rafaela cards I received this week.  There are quite a few more coming in.  I grabbed a bunch of cards off of my wantlist after his walkoff hit propelling the Red Sox into the postseason so that they didn't get bought up.  That tends to happen after a big moment.  So, there are some pretty colorful parallels here.  Unfortunately, his performance did not carry over into the postseason apart from one very impressive at-bat in which he drew a walk that led to a rally in the game the Red Sox won.  So, now we wait to find out if he won the Gold Glove, which he should.

And next is the Zippy Zapping:

He came through with a couple of the rare Sega Card-Gen cards of David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez this time.  I needed both of them.  He has been dismantling most of his collection lately, which is always somewhat sad to see.  It's not something I have ever considered really.  Collecting has been a big part of my life for 35 years.  It may fade in and out, but I am glad I have never taken the step where I dismantled a collection.  It's an escape for me.  I have an incredibly difficult job that can be difficult to compartmentalize, but I can lose myself in baseball.  It's the one thing I can truly unplug the stresses of my job from and focus on.  So, I don't know if this is the last thing I will receive from him, but if it is, thanks for everything Kenny!  You certainly didn't have to send anything, but I always appreciate it.