Ceddane, Say Hello

I keep saying I am not going to super-collect him, and yet it has been very clear in my collection in the last few weeks (which will be shown in posts over the next couple of weeks) that Ceddanne Rafaela is the current focal point.  This post will show off a pile of cards of him, acquired through a number of means.

Up first, is a COMC order that I used to fill in some holes.

Most of the cards that I bought in this order were less than a dollar and just an attempt to add as many cards as possible.  The center card, the 2022 Bowman Chrome Prospects Black & White Raywave Refractor was the most expensive.  I like the insert cards as well (Finest Arrivals, Topps Heritage Rookie Performers, Topps 1989 and Topps City to City).

This is the rest from the COMC order.  The top right card was one of the Throwback Thursday online-only releases.  The middle right was from the Chris Berman-curated set.  

September 12, 2023

This was the last Topps Now card issued previously that I needed to get.  This was from Rafaela's first career home run at Fenway Park.  It was also his first career home run in the Majors anyway.  Appropriately, it came against the Yankees.  The Red Sox have had a number of players in recent years hit their first career home runs against the Yankees, including Xander Bogaerts and Jeter Downs.  It was the only run in a 4-1 loss.

Up next is a TCDB trade:

1.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  My first relic card of Rafaela came from this trade.

2.  Isaiah Campbell.  There were a couple of other firsts in the deal too.  This is my first Red Sox card of Campbell, who I expected to be a bigger deal in the bullpen.  He has good stuff, just not good results.

3.  Quinn Priester.  This is my first Priester card too.  Priester was acquired in a deadline deal in 2024 for former first-rounder Nick Yorke.  He pitched one game last year for Boston, throwing five innings of one-run ball and winning the game, striking out two and walking one.  Earlier this year, he was traded to Milwaukee for two minor leaguers and a compensation round draft pick.  He has since been great for the Brewers.  Boston may regret this trade, depending on how their prospects turn out.

4.  Naoyuki Uwasawa.  My second Uwasawa card, giving him as many cards in my collection as he had games pitched in Boston.

5.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  Yes, this trade was centered around two Rafaela cards.

These cards came together as a lot and again, filled in some holes in the Rafaela collection.  The early part of a collection is fun, because there are still so many cards out there that are easy to find and add to the collection.

I have not gotten a Living Set card in a long time.  I kind of forgot that was a thing.  This card was released last year (I also need to go back and snag the Wilyer Abreu).  There have not been many Red Sox this season yet, just Garrett Crochet I think.

Closing things out is a group of cards I bought individually off Ebay.  I targeted that Youthquake card immediately.  I also really wanted the relic with the yellow City Connect.  He had his single greatest game in a yellow City Connect uniform.  

So, that's it for now.  The Rafaela collection is on a roll.

It Begins (And a TCDB Trade)

So I have said a few times that I intended to start building up a collection of Ceddanne Rafaela cards.  This is where that truly begins.  I started picking up lots off of Ebay to add quickly to my numbers and cover some of the lower-end stuff.

I want to highlight a few cards.  The Stadium Club Chrome features Rafaela in the yellow City Connect uniform.  He had one of his biggest games in that uniform when he homered twice and drove in seven runs in 2024.  Then we have the Finest Rookies Design variation, the 25th Anniversary 1999 Bowman Refractor and the My 1st Bowman card which features Ceddanne holding his 2022 Bowman card.

Here are some more.  The major card I want to highlight is the International Impact card which features Rafaela with Ozzie Albies, two players from the island of Curacao.  Curacao has produced 17 Major League players thus far, including Andruw Jones, Kenley Jansen, Jurickson Profar and Andrelton Simmons.  The other cards are a bunch of base cards, important to my collection, but not really needed to go into detail.

Finally, I wanted to include a TCDB trade, just to try to catch up eventually.  This trade included a bunch of MLB Showdown cards.

1.  Trot Nixon.  Nixon is still one of my favorite underrated players in Red Sox history, and one of the few players for whom I own a jersey.  

2.  Manny Ramirez.  This is one of the strategy cards.  Some of the players depicted are easier to identify than others.

3.  Derek Lowe.  It is possible I already had this card, my records are not super clear.

4.  Mo Vaughn.  Easily my favorite card of the trade.  I still love adding Mo Vaughn cards to my collection.

Topps Now: June 9, 2025

Another Topps Now post:

June 9, 2025

I should probably be picking up more Roman Anthony cards as well.  It seems likely that within the next year or so, he will be the biggest star on the team.  He has been that impressive.  Again, the power has not yet revealed itself, but he has an extremely impressive approach at the plate and is, at the very least, solid in every other aspect of the game.  June 9 was his debut and though he did not have a hit, he did drive in his first run of his career.  Boston ended up losing this game 10-8 in eleven innings.  Anthony also walked in the game.

2025 Bowman Break and a Ceddanne First

After my productive Donruss break, I decided to try my hand at Bowman.  Bowman is not usually one of my favorite sets, as I am less interested in prospects than a lot of other collectors (I like to get cards of players I can see play in the Majors).  I still pick it up once in awhile.

1.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  Well, right off the bat it worked out pretty well.  Bowman's base set only includes three Red Sox players, Rafaela being one of them.  I was pretty thrilled to pull him.

2.  D'Angelo Ortiz.  Yes, this is Big Papi's son.  Ortiz was drafted in the 19th round of the 2024 draft out of high school and has the potential to follow in his father's footsteps to play in Boston.  I do not have a real good sense of what kind of prospect he is, I suspect there is definitely some room for growth, but this is definitely not on the level of the kind of prospect Vladimir Guerrero's son was.

3.  Rafael Devers.  Of course I pulled Devers as well.  I have always had decent success getting Devers cards in packs.  Hopefully he is passing the torch to Rafaela here.

And up next is a first for my building Ceddanne Rafaela collection:

This is my first autograph.  As I said in a previous post, I am not going to super-collect him at the level I did with Connor Wong, Tzu-Wei Lin and Jason Varitek, but I am going to build him up in my collection.  Getting that first autograph card is an important step in that.

Topps Now: June 11 and June 13

It's time for another Topps Now post.  

June 11, 2025

On a personal note: June 11 is my anniversary.  As of this year, my wife and I have been married 14 years.  On June 11, 2025, uber-rookie Marcelo Mayer celebrated my anniversary by having his first career multi-home run game.  Playing third base in place of the injured Alex Bregman, Mayer connected for a solo bomb off former Red Sox pitcher Zack Littell in the second inning and then victimized him again for a solo shot in the fourth.  They were the only two hits for Mayer that day, but helped power Boston to a 4-3 victory.  Jarren Duran and Abraham Toro also homered helping Walker Buehler to a victory.

June 13, 2025

There were lots of reasons to snag this one.  First of all, it is my first card of Carlos Narvaez, who seems to have wrestled the starting catcher job from Connor Wong, primarily due to his elite defense, but he has been hitting well as well.  Secondly, it is my first card featuring the new City Connect uniforms.  They still wear the yellows, but this is the new uniform, and I like them.  Third off, it is celebrating Narvaez walking off the Yankees with a wall ball in extra innings.  Garrett Crochet had a shutout going into the ninth, but the Red Sox had only scored one run on a second-inning single by Ceddanne Rafaela.  Crochet gave up a solo homer to Aaron Judge, which had the media going crazy (seriously I am sick of the media coverage of Judge).  But then in the tenth, Narvaez scraped a ball off the wall that scored David Hamilton.  

2025 Donruss Mega Box Break

 After deciding on a new favorite player, I started feeling excited about collecting again.  As such, I sought out some cards at my local stores.  I was actually able to find some stuff, including a Mega Box of 2025 Donruss and a blaster of 2025 Topps Series 2.  I pulled exactly zero Red Sox cards in the Topps blaster.  That was really annoying.  The Donruss box made up for it though.

Up first though is a random card I bought off of Ebay because I really wanted it.

This is the Aqua Speckle Refractor of Danny Jansen's 2025 Topps Heritage Record Breaker card.  This is referring to the fact that Jansen appeared in the same game for both teams.  I discussed this in an earlier Topps Now card post, so I won't get into it again.  But it's an interesting curiosity, so I wanted to grab another card about it.  

Up next is the Donruss box.  Now, Donruss these days is a mix of prospects and retired players.  Unfortunately they stopped doing the Diamond Kings subset.  

1.  David Ortiz.  Ortiz is currently the third-largest player in my Red Sox collection.  He should probably be second because he played so much longer than Nomar Garciaparra.  I think the reason he is not is because it was early in the 2000's that we lost a bunch of companies making cards.  Still, I think he will take over at some point.  He has about 150 cards to go.

2.  Terry Francona.  This is a Liberty parallel.  Francona will go into the Hall of Fame some day, but he is still actively managing the Reds right now.  The question will be which cap he will wear.  I think he is most known for his time in Boston, winning two World Series, including their first since 1918.  But, he managed longer for Cleveland and had quite a bit of success there.

3.  Pedro Martinez.  Martinez is currently the fourth-largest player in my Red Sox collection, but his status is in jeopardy as he has only about a 75-card lead over Connor Wong.  If Wong sticks around in Boston, and he has been playing better lately, my collection could continue.

4.  Franklin Arias.  After the promotions of Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony, Arias is now Boston's top prospect, and a top ten prospect overall.  His name was thrown around a lot in trade rumors.  I could still see him getting traded in the offseason.

5.  Roman Anthony.  I am thrilled Anthony signed an extension.  His power has yet to show in the Majors, but he has been great in the Majors thus far.

6.  Jim Rice.  I would like to see Donruss think outside the box a bit more.  Let's see Rick Burleson or Rico Petrocelli or someone like that in the set.  We see a lot of Jim Rice, which is fine, he is a Hall of Famer after all, but let's see some other guys.

7.  Terry Francona.

8.  Pedro Martinez.

9.  Dustin Pedroia.  I was pleasantly surprised with Pedroia's showing in the Hall of Fame vote this year.  Maybe there is a chance for him to build up into possible election.

10.  Marcelo Mayer.  Mayer is unfortunately injured.  He was doing well, especially defensively before the injury.  Hopefully he will be healthy next season.

11.  Dustin Pedroia.

12.  Roman Anthony.  This is my favorite card from the break, the Elite Series insert.  Anthony is likely going to skyrocket in my collection next year.

Topps Now: Ceddanne Rafaela Edition

Today, I am going to be showing off some Topps Now cards that I picked up of new favorite player Ceddanne Rafaela.  I will not be doing a full-on player collection of Rafaela, but I felt it was necessary to start adding some cards.  I only had about 16 when I decided he was now my favorite.  By the way, I am officially caught up to the point that all cards from this point forward were added to my collection after my post ranting about the Rafael Devers trade on July 12.  I have a pile of cards right now to still show off, but they are all new within the last month.

On June 4, 2025, Rafaela walked-off the game with a home run.  One of the things I like about Rafaela is his ability to come through in the clutch.  What made this particularly interesting was that it was one of the shortest walk-off home runs in history as Rafaela wrapped it just inside the Pesky Pole in right field, also impressive since Rafaela is a right-handed hitter.  This shot gave Boston an 11-9 win over the Angels in the bottom of the ninth inning.

For this card, I reached back to 2023.  I am not sure why I did not grab cards of Rafaela at the time.  I suspect I was frustrated with the team and they were obviously not making the postseason.  On August 28, 2023 Rafaela made his Major League debut, coming into the game late.  He singled in his only at-bat of a 13-5 loss to the Astros.  I suppose that might have been another reason I missed it, I just was not expecting it.

On May 14, 2025, one of the more bizarre plays I have ever seen was made in the outfield.  The Red Sox lost to the Tigers 6-5, but it could have been worse.  In the seventh inning, Kerry Carpenter hit a ball that would have been out, if not for the valiant effort of Wilyer Abreu.  Abreu was not able to hold on to it though, just deflect it back into the field of play, where Rafaela managed to grab it out of the air, recording the out.  What a weird play.

Topps Now and Wong Cards

This post is a way to get a bunch of stuff out of the way.  Most of the cards are either Topps Now cards or Connor Wong cards.  I am getting closer to catching up.

It is kind of odd that through nine full seasons with the Astros, Alex Bregman did not have a five-hit game, but just a few games into his time with the Red Sox, he did it for the first time.  It was a game against the Rays that the Red Sox won 7-4.  Among his five hits were a double and two home runs.  He scored two runs and drove in four.  

1.  2025 Topps Heritage Chrome Pink Sparkle Refractor.

2.  2025 Topps Heritage Dark Yellow Border.

On April 26, Jarren Duran stole home.  It is apparently the third steal of home in his career.  I am not sure of that personally, but have no reason to doubt it.  It was a straight steal of home off Cleveland pitcher Doug Nikhazy.  The next day, Romy Gonzalez stole home in a double steal.  Boston won this game 7-3.

3.  2025 Topps Heritage Color of the Year.  Serial-numbered to 76.

4.  2025 Topps Heritage Chrome Burgundy Sparkle Refractor.

5.  2022 Panini Immaculate Jumbo Hats Brand Logo.  Here we have the New Era logo on a card.  This is serial-numbered to just two.  This is, to date, the last really big Connor Wong buy I have made.  There are a few more Wongs coming, but this was kind of the last one of the player collection focus.  I will still continue to get cards of him, but I am starting to feel like he might not be in Boston much longer.

I am closing things out with this Alex Verdugo card that was thrown in as a freebie with the above Wong.  There were also cards of Jeter Downs and Mookie Betts, but I had both of those.  This seller apparently wanted to remind me of the Betts trade.

Topps Factory Team Set

I did luck out and manage to find one of these at Walmart this year.  I was looking for packs, but when I found one Red Sox team set among all the Yankees, Cubs, Royals and Twins sets, I was very happy to grab it instead.

This set had 17 cards in it, a good chance to get most of the team going into the season, though there are some obvious missing players.

1.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  I find it very interesting that Rafaela was the top card in the set.  Not Devers.  Not Casas.  Not Duran.  Ceddanne.  

2.  Triston Casas.  Casas is going through his second straight injury-plagued season.

3.  Rafael Devers.  Devers was the team's biggest star going into the season, but has of course now been traded away.

4.  David Hamilton.  Hamilton had a nice season and was second on the team in stolen bases despite not playing the full season.  His speed is electrifying.

5.  Tanner Houck.  Expected to be the number two going into the year, Houck was really bad, and now looks like he will need Tommy John surgery.  He will likely not pitch again until 2027.  A real shame.

6.  Connor Wong.  Expected to be the starting catcher going into the year, a dislocated pinky finger shut him down for awhile and he is just now showing signs of playing better.  Carlos Narvaez has been a real gem though in his stead.

7.  Masataka Yoshida.  Yoshida has had a rough year this year as well.  I feel like he may be nearing the end of his time in Boston.

8.  Wilyer Abreu.  Abreu has been Boston's biggest power threat this season.  If he can start hitting lefties a bit better, he could be a star.  I definitely need to add cards of him, he is really underrepresented in my collection.

9.  Jarren Duran.  So, is it Duran's team now?  Rafaela's team?  Roman Anthony's team?  Duran had the best season last year, but hasn't done quite as well this year.

10.  Lucas Giolito.  After a rough start to the season coming back from an injury, Giolito has been a very important part of the rotation.  

11.  Garrett Whitlock.  Whitlock has been one of the best relievers in the game, coming back very strong from another injury last year.

12.  Trevor Story.  Story has been another player back from an injury that has really shined this year.  He is on the verge of a 20/20 season and possible Gold Glove.

13.  Brayan Bello.  Bello has been up and down this season, but generally much better than not.  I would love to see him take the next step into being a number two starter.

14.  Kutter Crawford.  I had hopes for Crawford coming into the year, but he has missed the entire season and it looks less and less likely he will return this year.

15.  Richard Fitts.  Fitts was the big acquisition in the trade with the Yankees for Alex Verdugo.  He hasn't been great, but the talent is obviously there for a fine back-of-the-rotation starter.

16.  Nick Sogard.  I talked about him yesterday, so I won't rehash, but he is probably the weirdest selection for this set.

17.  Rob Refsnyder.  Refsnyder has found a home in Boston as a lefty-killer.  Utilized correctly, he is an outstanding addition to the team.

So, who are we missing?  Well, the most obvious is any of the players acquired during the offseason.  I get that Alex Bregman signed pretty late, but Walker Buehler and Aroldis Chapman were signed early enough and Garrett Crochet was definitely acquired early enough to make it into this set.  Otherwise, maybe Justin Slaten?  They did pretty well this year.  I can't complain too much.

2025 Topps Series 1 Blaster

There have not been many times I have been able to find cards in my stores this year.  For awhile I wasn't really looking too hard, but it seems like most times I have looked, everything is gone.  This was the first time I was able to find something.

1.  Rafael Devers.  I did manage to pull one of the Stars of MLB insert cards for the Red Sox.  This was a pretty big deal for me at the time, but obviously after Devers was traded away, it is not as big of a deal.

2.  Nick Sogard.  I also pulled a parallel, this one being the Holo Foil version of Nick Sogard.  Sogard could probably hold a utility position in Boston if the first base/second base situation was a little more settled.  As it is, there is no room for him.

3.  I consider this a Jarren Duran card.  

4.  David Hamilton.  Hamilton is part of the issue with the second base situation.  His bat has not been nearly as impressive as it was last season.  He does have 17 stolen bases though.

2025 Topps Now Road to Opening Day

I picked up this set again.  I had to.  Even though I have lamented the shrinking size of the sets over the years.  This year's set is ten cards with a parallel.  There were autograph options, but those sets were prohibitively expensive for me at a time when I had some massive car repairs.  So, who is in the set this year?

1.  Rafael Devers.  Of course he is in the set.  He came into the season as the biggest star on the team.

2.  Walker Buehler.  Buehler was expected to be the #2 man in the rotation, but he has struggled greatly this season.  Lately he has been better, but it has still been a rough year.

3.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  Definitely a good choice for the set.  Rafaela looked like a potential future star after his rookie season, though with some flaws.  Again, this is my favorite player going forward.

4.  Trevor Story.  He is certainly a big name, but he only played in 26 games with the Red Sox in 2024.  He has been much better this season though.

5.  Masataka Yoshida.  Yoshida is another popular name, though he has not really lived up to his potential thus far.

6.  Garrett Crochet.  The team's biggest acquisition better be in the set.

7.  Jarren Duran.  Devers was the team's biggest star, but Duran had the best season in 2024.  He led the league in doubles (48) and triples (14), while hitting .285/.342/.492 with 21 home runs, 75 RBIs and 34 stolen bases.  It was an incredibly dynamic season.

8.  Triston Casas.  Like Story, Casas is a big name, but only played in 63 games in the season.

9.  Alex Bregman.  Bregman was the biggest free agent signing, so he better be in the set too.

10.  Aroldis Chapman.  I talked before about not being a big Bregman fan, so his signing was not something I was really clamoring for, well, Chapman is an even more extreme example of that.  He has had some issues off the field that I just was not a big fan, but he has been amazing this season.

11.  Alex Bregman.  My parallel was the green foil.  Unfortunately, this is the most common parallel, numbered to 99.

So, who is missing from the set egregiously?  

1.  Wilyer Abreu.  I am surprised by this because he was fourth in the Rookie of the Year vote in 2024 and won the Gold Glove.

2.  Tanner Houck.  He was an All Star in 2024.

3.  Brayan Bello.  He had an uneven season, but led the team in wins.

4.  Kristian Campbell.  I do think it was a surprise that he made the Opening Day roster, but Topps doesn't usually miss opportunities to do cards of hot prospects.

5.  Connor Wong.  He had a good year in 2024, hitting .280/.333/.425 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs as a catcher.

6.  David Hamilton.  He stole 33 bases and looked like a really good player for awhile.

The First Few Topps Now Cards of 2025

I am getting closer to catching up.  This post will show off the first four Topps Now cards I have gotten this year.  Most of them are relatively new to my collection.

On March 29, Kristian Campbell hit his first Major League home run against the Rangers.  Campbell was the first of the new Big Three to make the Majors, and he started off hot, but cooled off considerably.  He was sent back to the minors, but looks like he could be recalled soon.

March 27 saw Campbell get his first Major League hit, in his Major League debut on Opening Day.  He singled and walked in four plate appearances.

On April 6, Alex Bregman hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox.  Bregman spent his entire career with the Astros.  I was honestly not the biggest fan of Bregman, but I definitely saw the appeal of acquiring him.  Bregman is an elite defensive third-baseman and a great hitter.  He is on a potential Hall of Fame track.  I really hope at this point that Boston extends his contract and keeps him around.

Garrett Crochet was the biggest offseason acquisition for the Red Sox.  They gave up a lot of prospects to get him, but he has been everything the team hoped he would be.  On April 2, he won his first game with the Red Sox, in his second start, by throwing eight scoreless innings against the Orioles.  At the time, it was his career high.

Closing things out will be a Wong card, because there is just one before a much more obvious next post.

2025 Topps Heritage Chrome Light Blue Sparkle Border.  Parallels are getting out of hand.

Another Wong Post

 As I said a couple days ago, the Wong posts are going to start getting more scarce. 

1.  2025 Topps Green Rainbow Foil.  Serial-numbered to 99.

2.  Rafael Devers.  As I said two posts ago, sometimes I get freebies I need with my Ebay wins.

3.  2025 Topps Holiday Flowers.  Serial-numbered to 50.

4.  Team card.  I can identify Rob Refsnyder, David Hamilton, Masataka Yoshida, Ceddanne Rafaela and Rafael Devers in this shot.  I used to try to identify everyone and consider these a card of all those players.  That is way too difficult sometimes though, so I just stopped doing it.  I consider it a team card.

5.  2025 Topps Purple Holo Foil.  Serial-numbered to 250.  

6.  2025 Topps Blue Rainbow Foil.  Serial-numbered to 150.

7.  2025 Topps Aqua Rainbow Foil.

8.  2025 Topps Team Color Border.

9.  2025 Topps Confetti.

10.  2025 Topps Golden Mirror Image Variation.  These are often really expensive early on.  I tend to wait a bit to try to get them.  

40 Card Trade

Up next is a pretty big TCDB trade with a lot of completely random stuff in it.  Let's dive right in.

1.  Wade Boggs.  I am not really sure how I didn't have this card previously.  Must have slipped by me.

2.  Carlos Quintana.  There are really not many Quintana cards out there I don't have.  Long-time readers of this blog know he was one of my first under-the-radar favorites.  

3.  Tanner Houck.  It is getting more and more likely that he will not return this season.  That's a shame.

4.  Cutter Coffey.  He was traded away at the deadline in 2024 as part of the package that brought Danny Janzen from Toronto.  That turned out to not be a great deal.

5.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez is one of those guys that card companies make a ton of cards of, but nobody really collects, even though he's really good.  He just isn't a guy that has that much of a hobby following.  I always get a ton of cards of him in deals or offered to me.  Manny Ramirez was that kind of player too.

6.  Jackie Bradley Jr.  I still love getting cards of JBJ.  His defense was truly special.  I still can't believe he only won one Gold Glove.

7.  Xander Bogaerts.  This trade will have a lot of guys from the last few years.

8.  Eduardo Rodriguez.  I really like E-Rod.  Wish he would have stayed, but I can say that about a lot of the guys in this post.

9.  Pedro Martinez.

10.  Carl Yastrzemski.  Still the only player to get his 3,000th hit with the Red Sox.  Only four other players who played for the Red Sox are in the 3,000 Hit Club.  Speaker got his with the Indians, Boggs with the Devil Rays, Henderson with the Padres and Beltre with the Rangers.  

11.  J.D. Martinez.  Here is card #2 of Martinez.

12.  Chris Sale.  Sale is kind of like J.D. Martinez for the reason I talked about earlier for some reason.  

13.  Derek Lowe.  One of a select group of players to have a 20 win season and a 40 save season, Lowe also threw a no-hitter once.  A very underrated pitcher.

14.  Derek Lowe.

15.  J.D. Martinez.   Card #3.

16.  Xander Bogaerts.

17.  Chris Sale.  I like this card and really want that sweatshirt.

18.  David Ortiz.  Nice shot of the scoreboard on the Green Monster in the background of this card, featuring Ortiz crossing home after a home run.

19.  Rafael Devers.  I said on Twitter recently that I will never dislike Devers.  I may have a better understanding of the trade, but I loved him during his time in Boston.  He was a great player and a lot of fun to watch.  I hate the fact he is no longer in Boston.

20.  Connor Seabold.  Seabold is on his third team (and fourth franchise) this year as he has appeared in three games with the Rays.

21.  J.D. Martinez.  Card #4.

22.  Rafael Devers.  The Devers trade just got a little worse at the deadline as Boston dealt James Tibbs, the only position player they received in the deal and a first-round pick last year, for Dustin May, who has struggled this season.  Tibbs probably is not going to be that good, but it's extremely frustrating that the players in that trade are now Jordan Hicks, a struggling reliever, Kyle Harrison, who is still trying to figure things out in Worcester, and a lottery ticket arm.  What a terrible trade.

23.  Tim Wakefield.  I love getting Wakefield cards.

24.  Tim Wakefield.

25.  Fred Lynn.  Another card from the 2024 Panini Prizm team set, still not one of the ones I wanted the most though.

26.  Johnny Pesky.  Pesky is another guy that I just love getting cards of, even though I never saw him play.  He is Mr. Red Sox because he spent 60 years in the organization in various roles.  

27.  Miguel Bleis.  He finally made it to Double A.  It seems like he has been in the system forever because he was so highly touted a couple years ago, but he is just 21.  He will need to be protected on the 40 Man Roster or risk being lost in the Rule 5 Draft this winter.  He should have been traded otherwise.

28.  Rafael Devers.

29.  Alex Verdugo.  It will be interesting to see what he does next.  His career has really fallen off a cliff.

30.  Trevor Story.  Probably the new version of J.D. Martinez.  I get a lot of his stuff in trades too.

31.  Chris Sale.

32.  Ted Williams.  Interesting shot, not really sure what is happening here.

33.  Carlton Fisk.  Fisk is receiving some kind of award in this shot, but I have no idea what it is.  It can't be his Rookie of the Year award because the Red Sox were not wearing uniforms like that in 1973.  I have no idea.

34.  Masataka Yoshida.  I really need Yoshida to start hitting.  He has two more years on his contract, but it is just not looking good right now.

35.  Masataka Yoshida.

36.  Tim Wakefield.

37.  Roger Clemens.

38.  Miguel Bleis.

39.  Johnny Damon.  I hereby decree the Yankee years never happened.  Johnny Damon was always either a Royal or a Red Sox.  I can get on board with his brief stints with the Athletics, Tigers, Rays and Indians, but I refuse to believe he ever played with the Yankees.  Same goes for Jacoby Ellsbury.

40.  Ted Williams.

A Bunch of Wongs

Here is another post full of Connor Wong cards.  He is still on the team after the trade deadline and there was no additional catchers acquired, so Wong is going forward.  He has doubled in each of his last two games, so maybe there is some hope that he will be more productive going forward.  I do think he has been mismanaged this season.  I know his stats are way down, but it is kind of hard to get into a rhythm when you only play once a week, and often get pinch-hit for late in the games.  So, he is really only getting two or three at-bats a week.  Last year, his versatility was a weapon and he got into games at first, second, DH and left field.  This season, he has only appeared in one inning at a position other than catcher.  

1.  2025 Topps Black Diamante Foil.  Serial-numbered to 10.

2.  2025 Topps Topps Foil.

3.  2025 Topps Pink Diamante Foil.

4.  2025 Topps Holo Foil.

5.  2022 Topps Gallery Blue.  Serial-numbered to 75.  This one took a weirdly long time to get at a reasonable price.

6.  2025 Topps Aqua Holo Foil.

7.  2024 Topps Purple Holo Foil.

8.  2022 Panini Mosaic Genesis.  This is not serial-numbered but is incredibly rare nonetheless.

9.  2022 Topps Mother's Day Pink.  Serial-numbered to 50.

10.  2025 Topps Red Rainbow Foil.  Serial-numbered to five.

11.  2024 Topps Heritage White Border.  I like the 2024 Topps Heritage photo, for obvious reasons.

12.  2025 Topps Spring Training Gold Foil.  Serial-numbered to 50.

13.  Romy Gonzalez.  How did that get here?  Sometimes, people send free cards, and sometimes I actually need them.

14.  2024 Topps Heritage Dark Blue Border.

15.  2022 Panini Mosaic Rookie Autographs Choice Fusion Gold.  Serial-numbered to 10.

16.  2025 Topps Holiday.

17.  2024 Topps Chrome Sapphire Red.  Serial-numbered to five.  

18.  2024 Topps Heritage Chrome Purple Refractor.

19.  2024 Topps Heritage Aqua Border.

20.  2022 Panini Select Cosmic.  Another very rare one that is not serial-numbered.

21.  2025 Topps Wood.  Serial-numbered to 25.

That's it for today.  Believe it or not, there is not really a ton of Wong cards left to show off that I have currently in my collection.

2024 Panini Prizm Lot

When I saw the checklist for 2024 Panini Prizm, I had to try to get some.  It is a mix of retired players and prospects, but the retired players includes guys like Mike Lowell, Johnny Damon, Jonathan Papelbon, guys I haven't seen in sets for years.  I never saw the product on shelves though, so I ended up just buying a lot off of Ebay.  I did not get everyone I wanted (in particular I wanted Mike Lowell and Ceddanne Rafaela), but I made a start on it.

Here are the non-base cards.

1.  Nazzan Zanetello.  The lot included one autograph card.  Zanetello was the second-round pick by the Red Sox in 2023.  He has had a rough start to his career though and is currently the 59th-ranked prospect on soxprospects.com.  That is not great.  He is still just 20 though.  I didn't have high hopes for Mikey Romero early on either, and he has really turned things around.

2.  Pedro Martinez.  This is a Green Scope parallel.

3.  Jonathan Papelbon.  So is this.  Papelbon was a player I was excited about.  I always liked him.  I still like him and follow him on Twitter.  He is pretty outspoken, and you do get glimpses into what it was like when he played from his social media, and he doesn't hold much back.  So, one can tell he did not much care for J.D. Drew for example.

4.  Manny Ramirez.

5.  Jonathan Papelbon.

6.  Nazzan Zanetello.

7.  Roman Anthony.  It is only a matter of time before Anthony starts to explode in my collection.  He has been improving greatly as he has played more.  He looks like the real deal.  The power hasn't come yet, but it will, he drives everything and has a terrific eye at the plate.  I am very excited about him going forward.

8.  Carlton Fisk.  I always love when Fisk appears in sets.

9.  Luis Tiant.  Even moreso with Tiant.  I just want him to be elected to the Hall.

10.  Johnny Damon.  Here's the Johnny Damon, complete with long hair and beard, the way I prefer to remember him.  The 2004-2005 Idiot version.

11.  Marcelo Mayer.  Mayer's transition to the Majors has not been as smooth as Anthony's, and he is currently on the IL.  He does have four home runs and his defense is terrific.  Hopefully he will come back strong.

12.  Roger Clemens.

13.  Kyle Teel.  Well, this is my first Teel card, and it came after he was traded in the deal that brought Garrett Crochet to Boston.  Not that I am complaining, because Crochet has been as advertized.  Teel has been doing well in Chicago, able to develop without the scrutiny of the Boston media.  He will probably be a very good player, but the trade was still worth it.  You have to give something to get something.

14.  Dustin Pedroia.  I can't decide if he would still be active had he not suffered that knee injury in 2017.  He is 41 years old right now.  I think his contract was supposed to be through 2021.  It is unlikely he would still be playing.  I hope he gets in the Hall some day.

15.  Wade Boggs.  Closing things out with my childhood favorite.