01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, September 12, 2004

Two Rhode Island schoolboy baseball stars who were selected in the 2004 amateur draft are about to make their debuts on big-league trading cards.

Jay Rainville, the Bishop Hendricken power pitcher taken by Minnesota as the draft's 39th pick, will be included by Topps in its annual Traded and Rookies card set and also will be in the upcoming Draft Picks and Prospects series being manufactured under the company's Bowman brand name.

And Chris Iannetta, the former St. Raphael Academy catcher who was selected by Colorado as the draft's 110th pick, also will be pictured on a card in the Bowman set, which is due to be distributed to card shops in late November.

Rainville's first baseball card will be among 20 included by Topps that will picture young prospects taken in the draft, including 16 who were selected in the first round. Rainville will be on card No. T76 wearing a red jersey and blue cap, and holding a baseball with his glove tucked under his left arm.

Topps has produced traded sets since 1974, when it came out with 44 cards as a way to include young prospects who were not included in its base set, released earlier in the season, plus players who were traded after its basic set was printed.

The 2004 version of its traded and rookies set is due for release in mid-October. The set will come to the market in November with a suggested retail price of $3 for each 10-card pack, which will include eight regular cards and two chrome issues.

Rainville and Iannetta will both be included in the 2004 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects, the former on card No. 33 and the latter on card 52 in what is being planned as a 175-card base set. Among the prospects included in the set is Kevin Youkilis, the third-baseman who split the 2004 season between Boston and Pawtucket.

The Bowman cards are still in design and images are not yet available, but a company spokesman said the set will feature 90 draft picks, 30 rookies, 45 Futures Game prospects and 10 autographed rookie cards. As in the past, the set also will have several parallel series including chrome, gold, refractors and so-called "X-factor" versions.

Rainville was taken by the Twins in the "compensation" round, sandwiched between the first and second rounds of the draft. He was one of five pitchers selected by the Twins with their first six picks and among 16 hurlers the team took among its top 22 selections.

As the 39th pick, Rainville was the highest drafted Rhode Island-born high school pitcher since the amateur draft began in 1965, and the second highest-drafted Rhode Island schoolboy. The only player he trailed in the draft rankings of local high school players was Rocco Baldelli. That Hendricken grad was taken sixth overall four years ago by Tampa Bay and already is a fixture in center field for the Devil Rays.

(Two other players with R.I. roots also were taken higher than Rainville, but they were drafted as collegians, not high schoolers -- shortstop Bill Almon of Warwick and Brown University, the No. 1 pick overall pick by the Padres in 1974, and outfielder Mike Stenhouse of Cranston and Harvard University, the 26th selection by the Athletics in 1979.)

Minnesota signed Rainville, who passed up a scholarship to the University of Tennessee. He was assigned to the Twins' Gulf Coast League team in Fort Myers, Fla., and the Pawtucket resident used his power and poise to produce a 3-2 record with a 1.83 E.R.A. in eight games.

Iannetta's first card will picture him as a member of the Colorado Rockies, with whom he signed after being drafted in the fourth round. After graduating from St. Raphael Academy, he had been a starter for three seasons for the University of North Carolina and earned All-American honors this summer. Iannetta became one of three juniors from that powerhouse Tar Heels team to sign pro contracts in recent weeks.

The Rockies assigned Iannetta to the Asheville Tourists of the Class-A South Atlantic League. He hit .319 in 35 games, which tied him for the team's batting honors. The smooth-fielding catcher also showed some pop in his bat with 5 home runs and 17 RBI.

COACHES SIGNING: Almost overlooked in the flurry of football cards on the hobby market are two series of cards that feature the autographs of National Football League coaches. The most ambitious are in a Topps program called "Ring of Honor Coaches Cuts" in its 2004 Football set that boasts cards with the "cut" signatures of all 38 winning Super Bowl coaches including Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. The second are in a set called Playoff Contenders that includes cards autographed by many of the NFL's top coaches like Dick Vermeil, Tony Dungy, Mike Martz, Dave Wannstedt and Mike Sherman. Playoff has been making Contenders football cards for a decade, but this is the first set to feature cards signed by NFL coaches.

DEDHAM SHOW: Raphael Gumares has a sports card and memorabilia show today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Dedham, Mass., Holiday Inn.

SEEKONK SHOW: Mike and Dan Souto have their monthly sports collectors show today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Seekonk, Mass., Ramada Inn.

CELTIC SIGNING: Point guard Marcus Banks of the Boston Celtics will be signing autographs on Sunday, Sept. 26, during a Downtown Sports Card Shop Dedham Bonanza show at the Holiday Inn in that Massachusetts town. Banks was a first-round draft pick by the Celts and played his rookie season for the Boston team. During the summer, the Celtics sent him to the Lakers in a multiplayer deal that brought veteran guard Gary Payton to the Hub. That deal was later amended, with Banks coming back to Boston and forward Jumaine Jones heading west to Los Angeles.

Arnold Bailey, an avid collector himself, invites readers to write him c/o the Providence Journal Sports Department, 75 Fountain St., Providence, R.I. 02902. If information is being sought to identify specific cards or other collectibles, do not send the cards or artifacts. A photocopy or sketch of both sides of cards, or a photocopy or sketch of the artifact will usually be sufficient for identification.