The rest of the story and trip to K n T’s

In my last post, I mentioned about having the chance to trade Kenny Rogers' 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection card to his mother, and Jafronious asked me the background of the story. I figured I would start off this post with the whole story.

The Rays were starting their inaugural season in 1998, and I scored tickets to a few games that year. The first one was on April 27, and it would be my first ever MLB regular season game (I had probably been to almost 10 Spring Training games by then). The Rays played Oakland at the Trop, and I was stoked, because Rafael Bournigal (who I met earlier that year at the YMCA by my house in a whole other story) was the backup infielder for Oakland, and I was hoping to see him play. Raffy didn't start, but he was called on as a defensive replacement in the late innings of the game. I did get to see Rickey Henderson play in person. I booed him when he came to the plate the first time, being a 15-year old Rays fan, and not knowing I was seeing greatness. Rickey didn't steal a base, but I'll take seeing him live. According to the box score, Rickey walked twice, Bournigal came in as a pinch-runner for Jason Giambi and played Shortstop, and Fred McGriff hit a HR in a 7-6 A's win. 

After the game, I tried to get autographs. I was lucky, and 2 people from the Tampa area (Kenny Rogers and Kurt Abbott) came over to sign autographs after the game. Abbott somehow ended up in the stands, and I got a picture with him. 

I don't really have any regular pictures since my mom and sisters decided to make a scrapbook. The top left is me and Kurt, the top and bottom right are of Kenny Rogers. 

So after getting Kurt to sign his 1994 Topps card, I went to get Kenny to sign his 1994 Pinnacle Museum card. A lady saw it and mentioned how she had never seen the card before. She mentioned that she was Kenny's mom and asked me to trade it to her. She pulled a stack of his cards out of her purse and offered a 1 for 1 trade. Nothing really stood out to me, and she kept pushing his 1990 Upper Deck card with him holding a football. I realized she would enjoy the '94 Pinnacle more than me, and swapped it for the '90 Upper Deck and got Kenny to sign it. Unfortunately, I sold the majority of my autographed cards, and that was one of them. Still, it was a cool memory. 

We got a t-shirt for signing up for a Rays credit card, and I got a picture with it. I wish I still had it. I do still have the ticket stubs from the game. One of the pictures of the field shows Rafael Bournigal during infield practice between innings. Had I been a more seasoned autograph collector, I would've came during BP and did a lot better, and also taken more pictures. It was still a fun game, and I'm happy to have the pictures and stubs from it. 

On Tuesday, I was off work, so I went to K n T Sportscards in Ormond after getting Karen lunch at her job in Port Orange. I feel like I made out pretty well, getting 20 cards from the dollar bins, 2 2-for-$5 cards, and a slew of dime box cards for 40 bucks. I didn't get too much time to dig through the dime bins as another customer was in the corner most of the time, and I didn't want to stay too late, but the guy was nice, and we actually talked about custom cards. He was needing a custom with a jersey piece and an autograph spot. I told him that was above my skill level, but mentioned Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown or Tanner from Tan Man Baseball Fan were good candidates. 

Those were my 2.50 cards. 

Most of my dollar ones were Rays parallels, and Junior Caminero rookies. If he turns out to be decent, the Rays sign him to an extension, or I have a good in-person experience with him at a game (when I start going again when the Rays change ownership), I might have to collect him officially. According to TCDB, I have 42 cards of him, including a ton of rookies, one jersey card, and one autograph. 

I found a handful of Topps needs, and somehow, a stack of cards I didn't need got in the pile (stack on bottom right). I was hoping to find a chunk of 2025 Topps cards to look through, as I am only 69 cards away from finishing the Series 1 and 2 sets. I didn't find any, but I did find a 2024 Topps Tyler Cropley to re-finish the 2025 set. My friend Jim, who collects Cardinals, and autographs, went to the first Stetson University baseball game back in February or March, and told me Cropley was a coach for Iowa, who they were playing. He didn't have a Cropley, and I had just the one, so I let him have it, and he got the autograph, and I figured I could replace it later, which I did today. I found out a few weeks ago that Jim's stepson passed away suddenly. They both collected cards and autographs, and Jim is up at his stepsons' house right now going through his things. He said he'll probably bring some of his collection down to DeLand and we could go through it together, but both of us are in no rush, and it will happen when it happens. It's nice to have a card friend like Jim to both have help you out with a need and who you can help out, and not only that, but just the friendship that happens from spending hours at games or wherever talking about cards, baseball, and life. I've texted him a few times during the last few weeks to check on him, and hopefully the rest of his year is smooth.

The dime cards were a hodgepodge of different things. I didn't organize them before I scanned them, but the basic groupings are as follows: Tigers, Rays, guys I collect, rookies, 1998 Upper Deck finds, and 1998 Fleer Tradition finds. While not normally a guy to pick out a non-Topps set, I think 1998 Upper Deck has a great design, and the '98 UD cards they had in the box were from Series 3, the ones that feature the first cards of the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks. Same thing with the Fleer cards. 

There were also some cards that probably shouldn't have been in the dime boxes. There was a '93 Select Jeter rookie. I loathe Jeter, but a rookie of his for a dime is a deal I couldn't pass up. I already have one, so if anyone is up for a trade, I'll be happy to throw this one in. The '25 Heritage Rays were all SPs. With last year's set having SPs in cards 1-100, I am sure there are a lot of dime boxes in various shops that have SPs thrown in them. I almost passed over the '20 Topps Update Devin Williams rookie, but when I flipped it over, I noticed a serial #, and noticed that it was a SABRMetric Stat parallel, so I picked it up. 

Most of the Rays were needs. The 2007 Upper Deck John McDonald is the one with the Hello Kitty notebook on it. The Quinton McCracken was a need, and with the amount of his cards that I have, it doesn't happen very often. 

The 2 Donruss cards came from what looked like a pack that someone left in the box. I was stoked that the 1998 Upper Deck Fielder was in the box. The Robert Campos looked like a normal Topps Pro Debut insert, but was actually a green parallel. I hear a ton of hype around Kyle Teel, so I took a gamble on his rookie, especially for 10 cents. The Astros World Series Heritage card is an SP, and the random '89 Bowman Stan Royer was just a cool card for me. I made most of his Topps cards that he didn't have, and I believe I used this card photo for his '89 Topps card. Most of the teams in the 1989 Topps set had #1 Draft Pick cards, but a few teams, like the Tigers, Royals, and A's didn't have any. Royer was the A's #1 pick, so he never got the '89 Topps card, so I feel like this '89 Bowman makes up for it. 

I kind of want to go back to the shop. Maybe next week. Hopefully they will have some '25 stuff in the boxes. We will see. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

 

Some of my favorite parallels

 After getting a parallel from the 2025 Topps set that I really liked, I thought I would make a post of some of my favorite parallels of all time. 

For me, a neat parallel would be one that features a unique printing technology showcased, and a rainbow sheet also helps put it over the top. I’m not really concerned about the scarcity of a card, if it is a rare card, it’s a rare one. If not, it’s not. I’m going to not really go in a particular order since it’s kind of hard to judge between favorites, but I’ll definitely save my 2-3 favorite ones until the end. 

SET: 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection

ODDS: 1 in 3 packs

Pinnacle treated collectors to Dufex technology in 1994, and boy, were these Museum Collection card beautiful!  The only way they could get better is if they had a rainbow sheen on them. While these cards were 1 in 3 retail pack odds, I would rather pull one of these than the rarer Artists Proof cards which just have a gold foil AP logo and are 1 in 22 retail packs. In 1998, I saw a Rays/A’s game at the Trop, and Kenny Rogers’ mom saw my ‘94 Pinnacle Museum card of Kenny, and she wanted it, and traded me his 1990 Upper Deck card for it. The card would’ve been beautiful with an autograph, but I’m still happy I got to trade it to her. 

SET: 2023 Topps Chrome Green Sonic Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 672 retail packs

While these are much tougher to pull, I found one at a LCS in either the $1 or $5 box. All of the shapes, the rainbow sheen, the only thing I wish is that I could’ve found a blue one to match the Rays colors. 

SET: 1998 Score Artists Proofs. 

ODDS: 1 in 35 packs 

In 1998, I was at a friends house, and his dad got the card bug watching the McGwire/Sosa HR race. He busted tons of boxes of product, and had a trade box that he let me pick a few cards from that day. I picked a 1998 Score Artists Proofs Todd Worrell. I loved the rainbow sheen that looked like water, I loved the red AP logo. Just a cool looking card. 

SET: 1995 Topps SpectraLight/Cyberstats

ODDS: 1 per pack

 An easy 1 per pack pull, these cards go by either the Spectra or Cyber name. The set was originally going to be called Spectra Light after the technology, and perhaps replace the ToppsGold series. During the ‘94 season, the MLB players went on strike, and Topps used a computer program to play the remaining games of the season and did the playoffs as well (the Indians beat the Braves in the World Series). They then called the set CyberStats, and added the computer season stats to the regular season stats and printed them on the back. The card front on the left is a normal one and the right is a Spectra, and the top is a regular back, and bottom is a Cyberstats back. I wish Topps added these to the 2021 set and finished out the Covid season. 

SET: 2024 Topps Chrome Ray Wave Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 9

These ‘Wave’ Refractors have been around for a few years now, this was just the first one I found in my binders. I really like the wave pattern that moves when you bend the card. 

*The next 2 sets are confusing, as they have a number of different parallels*

SET: 1998 Leaf Fractal Matrix

ODDS: various

These things are confusing, and I’m still not sure how many different versions there are. The Fractal Matrix parallels have normal cards, X axis die cuts, Y axis die cuts, Z axis die cuts, and Diamond Axis ones. From what I gathered from Baseball Card Pedia, there are 10 different sets, and gold silver and bronze versions as well. Nice looking cards, but confusing. 

SET: 1998 UD3 Die Cuts

ODDS: Various

UD3 was a confusing set as a base set. 90 cards, 3 subsets (power corps, the establishment, and future impact). There were 3 technologies (rainbow foil, embossed, and special fx).  On top of that, there were die cut inserts. I have versions of each technology of each subset, and only have die cuts of each subset. The die cut cards are bad, though. Look some of them up on COMC. They follow the the pattern of the design and are one of the neatest die cut sets I’ve ever seen. 

SET: 1994 Collectors Choice Gold Signature

ODDS: 1 in 36 packs

In my first Collectors Choice pack, I pulled a Gold Signature Robin Ventura. The fact that they were rarer than the Silver versions and feature player autographs make them favorites for me. As an autograph collector, it’s always cool to compare an autograph to a Silver or Gold Signature card. 

SET: 1998 Pinnacle Artists Proofs

ODDS: 1 in 39 packs

I’ve always liked the 1998 Pinnacle set because of the rainbow foil nameplate. I’ve never actually pulled one of these Artists Proofs cards, but darn, do they show off that Dufex technology. 

SET: 1998 Pinnacle Museum Collection

ODDS: 1 in 9 packs

I figured I would keep the ‘98 Pinnacle cards together. A different way to use the Dufex technology, the Museum cards are nothing to sneeze at. 

SET: 2004 Donruss Career Stat Line

ODDS: varies

Donruss parallels just don’t do it for me with the technology. I will give them credit for the Stat Line parallels, which number a card according to either a career or a season stat. 

SET: 2022 Topps Chrome Sonic Purple/Yellow Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 49 packs

This is just a bad looking card with the different colors and shapes on it. 

SET: 2021 Topps Orange Foil

ODDS: not listed

Actually, any of the color parallels are great looking cards, I just found the orange one first. The technology is unique, the colors have a rainbow sheen, and it is on the whole card and not just the border. 

SET: 2021 Topps Complete Set Shimmer Foilboard

ODDS: 5 cards per factory set

Why can’t they put parallels like this in the regular set?

SET: 1998 Topps Minted in Cooperstown

ODDS: 1 in 8 packs

This set was unique because the cards actually had the bronze logo minted on the card in Cooperstown, NY. It wasn’t a piece of cake to pull as they are 1 in 8 packs. 

We are down to the top 4. 

SET: 1998 Bowman’s Best Atomic Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 82 packs

Numbered to 100, these beauties were tough pulls. I love the crackle of the design and the rainbow sheen. They are also serial numbered on the back, an uncommon practice back in the late ‘90’s. 

SET: 1997 Topps Stadium Club Matrix

ODDS: 1 in 12

These cards have it all. A design that mimics Dufex, a cool logo, and rainbow sheens. Wish I could’ve found packs of this set when it was out. 

SET: 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Platinum

ODDS: 1 in 4

These cards wowed when they first came out. Just a beautiful technology over the whole card. If only it would have a rainbow sheen on the whole card. Some people have tried to build a complete set. 

SET: 2025 Topps Diamonte

ODDS: 1 per hanger box

When I first saw these on a blog, I was impressed. They were even better in hand. The technology with the triangles looks very cool. If only it had a rainbow sheen on the card. It still looks like some cool ice kind of thing. I really hope Topps keeps this technology in the future. 

That does it for my favorite parallels. I’m sure there are a few that I’ve missed, but hopefully it gives you some ideas for some new cards to add to your collection. I might stop at K n T’s Sportscards tomorrow and hunt for more. At the very least, hopefully they will have the missing 2025 Topps base cards and I can finish up the set. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy 

Recent Rays and Tigers luck

 After  my last post about Wander Franco , I thought I’d do the post I was originally planning to do. It is much brighter, as it includes a trip to a new card shop, and some good Rays and Tigers luck. 

I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday, and ended up about a half an hour south of DeLand. I am switching to a Omnipod insulin delivery device instead of an insulin pump, and a Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring sensor instead of the Medtronic version. My endocrinologist is in Lake Mary, and it’s a pain to drive to, but I needed to take a training class for the new stuff, so it was worth it. No more tubes to get caught on drawer handles or pumps to worry about being in my pocket. 

Lake Mary had 1 or 2 shops nearby, and both looked like they would be wastes of time. Layton Sports Cards was the nearest one. They seemed like a flipper paradise from the pictures, and I actuallyI made fun of them on a previous post, featuring them on a mock insert called ‘Breaker Mojo Hitz’. The other shop looked like they dealt in Pokémon, so Layton it was. 

I called them to make sure they had boxes of loose cards from years I needed, and they said yes. I got there, and they only had 1 box of ‘80’s stuff. Each box was less of a cardboard box, and more of a plastic vault. I had trouble figuring out how to open them, and almost called someone over to ask for the password, and finally figured out how to slide the tab over to open them

  I didn’t find too much, but was able to get 2 cards I needed for the 1980 Topps set, leaving me needing just card #710 Graig Nettles to complete the set. I went back and asked for the Rays and Tigers vaults, and dug through them. 

Those had more to my liking, but most of them were priced a little high. I did dig out some that I thought were at or below market value, including a 2021 Topps Chrome rookie refractor of Casey Mize. The Greene and Skubal rookies were 3 bucks, and the Leyland was a pull from a 2025 Donruss pack that I purchased. The guy working that side of the store was an idiot. I asked him if they had 2025 Donruss, he said no, and then I searched the wall and found it and pointed them out. Back to the Rays and Tigers vaults, I found a Shane McClanahan Bowman rookie, and a Josh Fleming auto. Getting closer and closer to having autographs and jersey cards of everyone on the ‘20 AL championship team. The shimmer reflector Bowman Caminiero is a rookie even though it doesn’t say it is. 

A few more Caminiero rookies, and the purchase of the day for me, a 2005 Topps Update complete set, which included a Justin Verlander rookie. That set will (basically) give me complete Topps/Update sets from 2005-2007. Once I purchase some cards to fill in some holes, I will basically have 1980-2002 done, leaving me with only 2003 and 2004 Update to give me a run from 1980-2007. If you have anything from those sets that I need, please reach out. Speaking of trading, that Verlander is a dupe, so I’d be happy to include that in a trade. 

The whole atmosphere of Layton screamed flippers/scalpers. Guys were asking employees about product and they responded with the names of key rookies. They barely had any dime boxes, and a number of stuff was overpriced. What did it for me was the guy not knowing that they had the 2025 Donruss. Sure, he could’ve been a Pokémon expert, but still, at least know what the latest inventory is for sports. I probably won’t be back, but at least so came away with some cool cards. 

Im going to hit the rewind button and go back to June 12, when I recieved a package from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders. Dennis sent some Rays and Tigers that filled some needs, and also sent some cut up vintage that I claimed. Let’s take a look.

That McClanahan relic is my first of his, as are the 2 EEE autographs. Strangely, I have another copy of the Toby Hall relic, but I will take as many as I can. Here’s why. Check out the date of the game that the bat relic is from.  If you don’t feel like zooming in, it’s September 24, 2001. If you were around back then, you remember the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. MLB stopped playing games for a little while, and then started playing again around the 20th or so (not quite sure without checking).  That means this bat relic was used during the 1st or 2nd series after the 9-11 attacks. I kind of have a 9-11 collection of random things pertaining to the dates, and this could be added. Some things include a jersey card of John Finn, a firefighter who helped rescue victims, a few autographs of former Lakeland Tiger Marty Boryczewski, who became a stockbroker after retiring, and was in the towers and passed away during the attacks. Lastly, I visited the site when the monument was getting built in 2008, and picked up a piece of cynder block, which very likely could’ve been part of the twin towers. 

Back to the package, Dennis was giving away some cut up vintage cards, and I claimed a few. The Catfish Hunter is a pretty early card of him. I liked the Dave Adlesh and Johnny Romano cards, because I have a book showing every Topps St. Louis Cardinals card from 1952-1988, and both Romano and Adlesh appear in the book I figured the Hodges and Palmer World Series cards might be toughies later, so I eagerly claimed them. 

The Baz and Bradley cards were All-Star Game parallels. I could’ve sworn I had the Arozarena card, but it was a need. 

Thanks, Dennis, for the great cards. I have a stack I’m working on to send back to you. 

I actually have a few stacks I’m adding to, as well as stacks that are in the mail to Night Owl and Fuji. People say buying retail is a waste of money, but most of what are in my trade piles are pulls from packs, including this one I pulled from a Series 2 2025 Topps blaster. 

This one is in the stack for Johnny’s Trading Spot, and will be hand delivered the next time I can make it up to Ocala. 

Don’t worry. I’ve pulled plenty of stuff for my collection, too, including some Rays and Tigers hits from 2025 Bowman and 2025 Topps. 

I found a blaster of ‘25 Bowman in the wild, and I got Jesus’ autograph. Jesus Lopez, that is. It was a green parallel, as well. The Kumar Rocker card is kind of cool looking, and I pulled a ‘peanut refractor’ (I’m not kidding, that’s what they call it) of Tigers prospect Josue Briceno. 

My birthday was on June 14, and let me tell you, I made out.mu brother-in-law sent me a Series 1 hanging box of 2025 Topps and a hanging pack of 2025 Heritage. 

I pulled a Casey Mize, and  Yankee$ Diamonte card. Not the best inset to pull, but at least I can probably trade it. I’m also counting the Rainbow Kim card as a Rays pull, since he signed with them in the offseason and should really be pictured as a Ray. 

 The Heritage pack gave me a Yandy Diaz, and 2 parallels. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Dime Box Nick collect Salvador Perez?  

That leads me to the latest trip to Wal-Mart. I picked up a blaster and hanging box of 2025 Topps Series 2. The cards didn’t disappoint, as most of the hits were either Tigers or Rays. 

Diamonte Flaherty and J Lowe, rainbow Tigers team card, OPS Leaders Riley Greene, Stars of MLB of Jobe and Caminiero. 

It is funny that I pulled Junior, because my mother-in-law got me a value box of 2025 Bowman, and Kyler was like ‘we’re going to get a Junior Caminiero. We pulled this Mojo refractor, as well as the Mojo Carson Williams and the Jung. 

Sometime inbetween the birthday Bowman and the last Wally World trip, I found some Bowman at Target, got a blaster, and pulled the card on the right. 

2 great Tigers hits in 2 Bowman rips. 

Counting last year, when I pulled a Carson Rucker auto from 2024 Bowman, this is the 2nd year in a row that I’ve had luck pulling a Tiger autograph.  2026 better be ready.  

Lastly, are some Caminiero cards I pulled. I believe the last 2 are from the birthday Topps packs Karen got me. Kyler is expecting to get Junior in every pack now, and while we have been for about a month or so, it can’t continue, can it?

I don’t know when the Rays and Tigers luck will run out, but hopefully it won’t be for a while. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy 

Another bad Ray

 I had planned on posting about some Rays/Tigers luck I’ve had at a shop and packs, but unfortunately, some breaking Rays news came out, and that post will have to wait. 

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make this post, but I knew deep down that it would’ve been too good to be true for the situation to turn out different. Many of you heard the news that Wander Franco was found guilty today. 

With the news of Franco, I can’t help and look back at some of the guys the Rays have signed and wonder ‘why are they drafting such crooks?’  I have my theories, but I’ll leave that till the end. 

*Just a note, a majority of this post was written in 2023, so some info might be dated, and I could’ve linked a number of the stories of the players mentioned, but a google search will get you the info should you want to dig deeper.*

I realize that other teams have their troubled players. The Dodgers had Urias and Bauer. The whole ‘90’s and ‘00’s Yankee$ were littered with crackheads (Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Steve Howe), ‘roiders (Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, A-Rod, etc), alcoholics (Chuck Knoblauch and CC Sabathia), thieves (Ruben Rivera), wife-beaters (Chapman and German), and pedophiles (John Wetteland, Chad Curtis, Luis Polonia, and Mel Hall). I still feel like the Rays have had players with worse transgressions over the years. 

The most known guy was one of the first guys they drafted, Josh Hamilton. He was drafted in 1999 their 2nd season. A few years after that, I was a big Rays fan. I went to fan fest in 2003, and he signed my 2003 Topps and 2002 Bowman Chrome cards and seemed really nice. Myself and other Rays fans expected him to perhaps get called up that year, but he was battling drug and alcohol addiction, and was later released. While it should be noted that he overcame his problems for a time and put together a decent career, he has also had some issues with anger and violence after his career. 

Greg ‘Toe’ Nash was signed out of a semi-pro league in Louisiana in 2000. He came from a rough early life, being abandoned by his mother, getting into fights at school, and ultimately dropped out to work in sugar cane fields with his dad. Nash had legendary power but was very raw and couldn’t read or write. 

He was nonetheless signed by Tampa, and was shortly after arrested for felony robbery. During the 2001 offseason, he was arrested for having relations with a 15-year old. The Rays released him after he got out of prison, and he was signed by the Reds, but was later arrested in a bar fight. He was released by them, and never played pro ball again. His life never really turned the corner, as he has multiple drug arrests on his record in addition to the ones mentioned earlier. 

Next is Delmon Young. He was drafted in 2003, and was supposed to be a 1-2 punch with 2002 1st rounder BJ Upton. Young bumped an umpire  in a 2005 game, and in 2006 he hurled a bat at an ump, hitting him and earning Young a 50-game suspension. He also was arrested in 2012 for using an anti-Semitic slur, and after retiring was arrested for choking a valet and making anti-Hispanic comments. His older brother Dmitri is a noted card collector, and a saint compared to his brother, only having a post-playing career drug arrest. 

Where do I start with Elijah Dukes? Dukes’ father was arrested for murder in 1996, and Dukes himself was arrested for the first time a year later. Among the many charges he incurred during and after his career are assault, battery, and  assaulting a pregnant ex. What I remember most were the many kids he fathered. According to Wikipedia, 5 with 4 women in 3 years. I went to a Rays game 1 year, and I believe they were playing Washington, and a guy kept heckling Dukes in the outfield, repeating ‘That baby don’t look like me’ numerous times, even getting a chant of it going. I think Dukes was classy about it, though. 

In 2010, the Rays signed former 1st overall pick Matt Bush. Bush had many alcohol related arrests at the time. I actually met him that season during a minor league game. He signed a card for me and I wished him best of luck at his newest opportunity to make the Majors. He seemed like a nice guy. Then in 2012, he ran over a motorcyclist while fleeing the scene of an accident while intoxicated. He appears to have conquered his demons and is still in pro ball, pitching for the Rangers in 2023. 

Josh Sale was the Rays 1st round pick in 2010. He is probably the most holy out of these guys, with his transgressions only being a post on FB about a strip club visit and 2 banned substance violations and suspensions. 

Brandon Martin was drafted by the Rays in 2011. He had drug problems, and had resentments towards his parents because he comes from a mixed race family. After many drug offenses and mental issues, he ultimately murdered his father, uncle, and an alarm installation employee in 2015. He is currently serving a life sentence. 

That seems like it is all of the Rays who have had issues, but while it looks like things have been under control for almost a decade, let’s not forget that MLB investigated Randy Arozarena in the 2020 offseason for an incident where he tried to kidnap his daughter and allegedly assault her grandfather. 

I haven’t even mentioned guys like David Price (verbally went off of Dennis Eckersley on a plane when he was with Boston), Tim Beckham (substance abuce and steroids), Yuniel Escobar (wrote a bad word on his cap), Charlie Haeger (involved in a murder/suicide), Bubba Trammell (struggles with mental issues), Mickey Callaway (harassed a female while with the Indians). Alex Sanchez (first guy busted for steroids under the new agreement), and Aubrey Huff (posts a little too much info on Twitter).  There may have been others that have fallen through the cracks, but I feel like I’m knowledgeable enough about the Rays that I didn’t miss any big ones. 

Now Franco is the latest. It hurts that he was a mega prospect, but big picture, it doesn’t matter is he was a mop up reliever, he deserves whatever punishment he gets. 

I wonder why the Rays keep signing guys with such questionable character when other teams only have like 1 or 2 guys getting arrested over the past decade. I think it comes down to 1 thing. Money. The Rays have only had 1 or 2 off seasons when they tried to sign some big name free agents, and that was when they signed Jose Canseco, Greg Vaughn, and Vinny Castilla during their first few years. When that didn’t work, they essentially quit signing anyone who could help the team quickly. That led to some crappy teams for the next decade, bad attendance because of it, while a team who entered 1998 with them (Arizona) signed free agents from year 1, and while admittedly got lucky with some, they still won a World Series. They were able to trade for Schilling because the owners were willing to pay to resign him and Philly wasn’t. Schilling would’ve been traded to New York or Boston had Arizona not signed Randy Johnson/Matt Williams/Steve Finley/Luis Gonzalez in an attempt to contend and get fans in the seats from day 1. With the Rays pinching pennies, they needed to look for players that had potential but that most other clubs would’ve passed on. That led to them drafting guys with arrest records like Dukes, and acquiring ones who were cast off from other clubs due to issues (Bush), and taking chances on guys with huge talent but tons of hurdles to overcome (Nash). With all of the tools out there, who knows if some of the other ones like Hamilton, Young, Sale, and Martin had psychological tests with red flags that the Rays just ignored and hoped would go away once they were ranking in the Majors? Had they spent money on free agency, yeah they would’ve lost some bets, but they would’ve signed some good players and been able to keep some as well. Imagine Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, David Price, Ben Zobrist, Blake Snell finishing out their career in Tampa. I am a Rays fan with Rays-colored glasses, but maybe they would have a title by now. They surely would’ve had more fans show up to games. Many Rays fans I know don’t buy any jerseys of Rays players because they always leave in free agency. I’m not a jersey guy and they are expensive, but I would’ve probably got a Longo, Zobrist, or a jersey of someone who I like who would stay for a while. 

Analytics has a place in baseball whether I like it or not, but when you have an owner that won’t spend on top tier free agents, you are never going to get past the final round in the playoffs. Rays are exhibit A. The team has the money to build a brand new stadium in the parking lot of the old one, but without top tier players to go along with players who are analytics acquisitions, nobody will attend games just like they didn’t attend them at the Trop. I have hope that this new ownership group will build a new stadium in the Tampa area should the sale go through. If only they will spend more money than penny-pinching Stu. Just spend some money to get the pitchers and get off the spin rate bandwagon so the pitchers won’t need Tommy John surgery every other year. Go all-in at the Trade Deadline with a few relievers and injury replacements and I guarantee the Rays would have a World Series title and fans would pack the new stadium in Tampa. 

If they can’t do all that, at least do mental inquiries on players before you draft or sign them. Tampa fans don’t want another situation like this and more importantly, the victims deserved not to have had this happen. Perhaps if the Rays knew Wander had a problem they could’ve got him help and stopped the issue before it got to where it has now. If he wasn’t an athlete, he still deserves justice. My heart goes out to the victims, Wanders family, and Wander himself. I hope he can get help and live a productive life while justice is served. Let’s do better, $ternberg, and (hopefully) the new ownership group. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy