Autograph Offering: 2009 Neftali Feliz

One of the things that goes through your mind when trying to think of a name for your first born in case you have a son is how the name sounds when one day you will be calling your son home for dinner: "Neftali! Hey, Neftali! Time for dinner!!"

I wonder if Mr. and Mrs. Feliz were thinking about this when they decided to give this name to their gifted son.

Another strange thing that occurred to me with this card was the signature. It looks like three little stick figures holding hands sandwiched between a dinosaur and stepped-on timepiece you would keep in a vest pocket.

I suppose I'm writing all of this because it boils down to: why did etopps pick this card now? Easy: the Rangers won their first playoff series (and) because they can make more money selling a signed Neftali than a Rangers event card for this historic moment for the ball club.

It's too bad etopps hasn't shifted over to football for autographs. I don't recall etopps going this far into the playoffs and sticking with baseball autos. In the past once the first weekend of games were done, we'd see football begin.

So the question you want to ask, are 98 of these autographed Neftali cards worth it at $29.99 each tomorrow at 5pm EST? I doubt it. He's a closer, not a starting pitcher. If his name was Mario Rivera I would consider this a bargain. Though Neftali could be the first Ranger to win the rookie of the year award. And this is a Restricted Rookie Offering card. But the secondary market doesn't have many listings (for better or for worse) and fewer have sold.

I would buy it if I was a Rangers fan who had high hopes for my team and for Neftali. What a name.