6 Degrees Of Raffy - A Choose Your Own Adventure!

It's been almost a year since I've done a 6 Degrees post - I'll admit I wasn't sure I was going to continue the series, even though it's been well received by my readers. It originally started out as "6 Degrees Of Mookie" where I connected randomly selected cards from my collection to future Hall of Famer and former Red Sox star Mookie Betts. That worked well for awhile, and then Mookie got traded. 

Three years later, in 2023, I revived the series. Now renamed "6 Degrees of Raffy",  it's focus was young Red Sox All-Star Rafael Devers, who had recently signed an 11-year extension that was at the time the 6th largest contract in MLB history. Surely with an extension that long the series will flourish and continue, right? Who knew after just a few years into it, things would quickly sour.

The last 6 Degrees post was back in November, and I tried out connecting a card to a young Red Sox Gold Glover who also happened to be nicknamed "Raffy", Ceddanne Rafaela.

Well, Mr. Rafaela earned his first All-Star appearance this season, and is well on his way to another Gold Glove. It's time to take the interim tag off and make him the newest star of the series! Long may he rein!

Of course, I end up in a situation that deviates from the norm. This is where you are going help. 

As I normally do, I hoped on the TCDB and used a feature there that randomly selects a card from my collection. I was not prepared for the selected card:

 

2015 Panini Diamond Kings #71 Joe Cronin

This is one of those sets that combines cards of current players with players from years past. Cronin is one of those players from yesteryear.  The first step is to connect him to one of his teammates within the 2015 Panini Diamond King set. Here's the list of available options:

• Brock Holt
• David Ortiz
• Dustin Pedroia
• Mookie Betts
• Ted Williams
• Xander Bogaerts
• Anthony Ranaudo
• Edwin Escobar
• Matt Barnes
• Rusney Castillo
• Bryce Brentz 

Only one player on that list was ever a teammate of Joe Cronin. That's obviously Ted Williams, who played with Joe from 1939 - 1942.  If I wanted to adhere to the strict definition of "teammate", then Ted is my only option. There's also the question of what Ted Williams cards I can use. If I stick with his playing days, I'm looking no further than 1960. If I include his manager cards I could start the next step well into the 70's, but I'd have to allow that he was still not a "teammate" so much as someone who was in uniform and on the field with the players during games. Either way, that would require me to go decades back. The whole point of the exercise is to may as few step as possible to get to a Raffy card. Picking one of the modern players from the 2015 Panini Diamond Kings set would get me to my goal quicker, even if they never even lived at the same time as Joe Joe Cronin, let alone played with him.

 

So here's where you come in faithful readers! In the comments, pick an option: 

1. It's more important to connect teammates: connect to Ted Williams (playing years only)
2. It's more important to connect guys who at least worked together: connect to Ted Williams (managing years OK)
3. It's more important to reach Ceddanne in as few steps as possible: connect to a modern player

Whichever choice gets the most votes will be the path I take to create the chain. Oh, and since I know someone will suggest this, no I will not do all the options. I'm trying to establish precedence here!