In my continuing effort to get caught up, I combined a couple of Ceddanne Rafaela cards with a bunch of oddballs that I picked up from one seller on Ebay.
Ceddanne Rafaela continues to be my favorite player, and he had a great year for most of the season. The last month was tough as he battled an injury. I don't pick up as many cards of him as I had been, but I still try to maintain a large enough collection of him. He is still the current focal point of my collection, just not quite as actively.
Up next are the oddballs, which were a ton of fun to pick out.
1. Brandon Workman. Workman had a really odd career. He was a second round pick in 2010 and made his Major League debut in 2013. He pitched well enough that he made the postseason roster that year and even had a plate appearance in the World Series. He did not give up a run in 8.2 postseason innings. The next season, he had a 1-10 record, then got hurt and didn't appear again until 2017. At that point he turned into a reliable bullpen arm and then became the closer in 2019 where he had a terrific season with a 1.88 ERA, 10-1 record and 104 strikeouts in 71.2 innings with 16 saves. He struggled in 2020, then was traded to the Phillies. He started the 2021 season with the Cubs, then returned to the Red Sox.
2. Bob Johnson. "Indian" Bob Johnson is firmly entrenched in the Hall of Very Good. For his career, he hit .296/.393/.503 with 288 home runs and 1,283 RBIs. He played for Boston in the WWII seasons and had one of the best seasons of his career at the age of 38 when he hit .324/.431/.528 with 17 home runs and 106 RBIs. He led the league in OBP, OPS (.959) and OPS+ (174).
3. Bobo Newsom. I had to track this one down. Newsom had a very long career, primarily for bad teams, though he himself was a pretty damn good pitcher. He played for nine teams during his career at a time when only 16 teams existed. In the early part of the 1937 season, Newsom was traded by the Senators to the Red Sox along with Ben Chapman for the Ferrell brothers and Mel Almada. He pitched in 30 games, going 13-10 with a 4.46 ERA with 127 strikeouts and 119 walks in 207.2 innings pitched. After the season, he was traded to the Browns along with Buster Mills for Joe Vosmik.
4. Happy Foreman. The Jewish Major Leaguers set is still one of my favorite oddball sets. This card is pretty hard to identify the team. Foreman played in six total games in the Majors, three each with the Red Sox and White Sox. TCDB identifies this as a White Sox card, but because there's no team designation and a difficult-to-see uniform, I am counting it. Foreman had a 3.68 ERA in 7.1 innings for the Red Sox, striking out three and walking five.
5. Vicente Romo. The next few cards are part of the Boston Globe photo set, a massive oddball set covering most Red Sox players from the 1950's to early 1970's. Romo, a Mexico native, was acquired by the Red Sox along with Joe Azcue and Sonny Siebert for Ken Harrelson, Dick Ellsworth and Juan Pizarro. Siebert was the big get for Boston but Romo was a decent bullpen arm. Over the next two seasons, he was 14-12 with a 3.59 ERA. He saved 17 games. Romo was traded to the White Sox after the 1970 season along with future Royals manager Tony Muser for Duane Josephson and Danny Murphy.
6. Tom Sturdivant. Sturdivant was a One-Year Wonder Red Sox pitcher acquired from the Kansas City A's for catcher Pete Daley. He started on Opening Day and pitched in 40 games, all but one of which were in relief. He had a 3-3 record with a 4.97 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 45 walks in 101.1 innings pitched. He was selected by the new Washington Senators (now the Texas Rangers) in the expansion draft after the season.
7. Dick Williams. Williams, of course, was the skipper for the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox. He spent a couple seasons with the team as a backup outfielder and eventually moved to the manager position. He managed until 1969 and later won two World Series with the A's and an NL pennant with the Padres. He also managed the Angels, Expos and Mariners and is now in the Hall of Fame.
8. Dick Radatz. The Monster was one of the first big relief aces for the Red Sox. He was an absolutely dominant force out of the pen from 1962 through 1964. During that time, he was 40-21 with a 2.17 ERA, 76 saves, 487 strikeouts and 149 walks in 414 innings. He was human in 1965 and then struggled in 1966 before being traded to Cleveland for Lee Stange and Don McMahon.
9. Chuck Schilling. Schilling has a lot of great cards from early 1960's Topps. He was a slick -fielding second-baseman who was not much of a hitter. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year vote in 1961 when he hit .259/.340/.327 with five homers, 25 doubles, 87 runs scored and 62 RBIs. His hitting declined the next season and remained mostly stagnant. After 1963, he became a part-time player. He was traded to the Twins prior to the 1966 season along with Russ Nixon for Dick Stigman, though Schilling never appeared in the Majors again.
10. Billy Werber. Werber is the owner of one of my favorite completely random fantastic Red Sox seasons. In 1934, the third-baseman hit .321/.397/.472 with 129 runs scored, 200 hits, 41 doubles, ten triples, eleven homers, 67 RBIs and a league-leading 40 stolen bases. He walked 77 times compared to just 37 strikeouts. Somehow, he only finished 12th in the MVP vote. He had a couple more good, but not great seasons with Boston before being traded to the A's for Pinky Higgins.
11. Frank Smith. This is an odd card that lists Smith with both the Red Sox and White Sox. Smith was a great pitcher with the White Sox and had a 25-17 record in 1909. He pitched most of the 1910 season with Chicago before being traded to the Red Sox along with Billy Purtell for Harry Lord and Amby McConnell. During parts of two seasons with the Red Sox, Smith was 1-2 with a 5.64 ERA in 30.1 innings pitched. He was sold to the Reds in 1911. Unfortunately, Lord and McConnell were still fairly productive, making this a pretty bad trade for the Red Sox.
12. Eddie Pellagrini. Pellagrini was a Boston native who made it to the hometown team in the 1946 pennant-winning season. Over the two seasons he played in Boston, he made it into 96 games, splitting time between short and third. He hit .205/.275/.315 with six homers. After the 1947 season, he was part of a massive trade with the Browns that sent him, Pete Layden, Joe Ostrowski, Roy Partee, Al Widmar and Jim Wilson to St. Louis for Jack Kramer and Vern Stephens. That was a trade that worked out well for Boston.
13. Chuck Schilling. The next few cards are from the Greater Boston Sports Collectors Club. I have not been able to get a good feel for everything available from this set.
14. Don Schwall. Schwall was Boston's second Rookie of the Year winner. In 1961, he went 15-7 with a 3.22 ERA in 178.2 innings pitched. He struck out 91 and walked 110. The next season he went just 9-15 with a 4.94 ERA and then was traded to the Pirates along with Jim Pagliaroni for Dick Stuart and Jack Lamabe. Schwall was never able to recapture his earlier success.
15. John Kennedy. Kennedy was a long-term super utility player who attained the nickname "Super Sub". During the 1970 season, the Red Sox purchased his contract from the Brewers and he spent the last five seasons in Boston. He played everywhere in the infield and hit .243/.295/.363 with 13 homers and 78 RBIs.
16. Frank Malzone. Malzone is one of the best third-basemen in team history. He spent eleven seasons in Boston, making eight All Star games and winning three Gold Glove awards. This, and the next card, are from another great oddball set celebrating players with Italian heritage.
17. Dom DiMaggio. DiMaggio is Joe's younger brother and a damn good player in his own right. He was a seven-time All Star and hit .298 in his career. He could have been a Hall of Famer had he not missed three seasons during his prime due to service in World War II. He could have easily amassed more than 2,000 hits which might have been enough to put him over the edge.
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