MiLB Madness: Kerry Wood's Rays jersey, mascot mysteries, missing out on Chico, Star Wars, blank cardboard & more

Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness. 

WAIT, WHAT?
The Item: Kerry Wood 1998 Best Player Of The Year - Best Possibilities promo card
The Buzz On This: This card is one that I'd apparently never seen until just recently and it really threw me for a loop as Wood was a fireballer who only played for the Chicago Cubs back at this time as part of a 14-year MLB career. Why was it weird? Well, on 1998 cardboard, Wood was firmly a Chicago Cub and definitely not a Tampa Bay Devil Ray as they were known then and this logo is theirs for sure. But ... this card shows Wood as a member of the 1997 Orlando Rays and most MiLB cards of him from back then -- the ones I pulled -- used road unis, so the Rays name and the logo weren't as obviously seen like they were on MLB fields that year. The Orlando Rays were the Cubs' farm team until 1997, switched to the Mariners in 1998 when the Rays arrived in Tampa Bay that year, and then worked with Tampa Bay's prospects from 1999 until the team moved to Alabama to become the Montgomery Biscuits. Wood, of course, was a Cub from 1998-2008 (and a Cub on cards even longer than that) before he finished his career with stops in Cleveland and New York as a Yankee before a return to the Cubs. Somehow, I'd never noticed this card.

Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards you can find in MiLB.

USE THE FORCE, LOOIE ...
The Item: Looie The Lookout 2019 Grandstand Chattanooga Lookouts
The Buzz On This: The Dr. Pepper -- I mean The Force -- is strong with this one, a mascot card from deep in the Southern League, and it showcases some clear Star Wars shenanigans at the ballpark, too. That alone makes this mascot card stand out from the pack and it tells you a lot if you check out that back.

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SOME LITTLE DETAILS ... PLENTY OF MYSTERY
The Item: FeFe 2015 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs
The Buzz On This: That bio portion of the card might be 100-percent blank, but we still learn that FeFe's name is based on the periodic table, how she got her uniform number, her apparent political office and a little more. What we don't know is who she shares this card with and who got what looks like a trophy. I could try and Google it, but that's your homework if you're reading this -- that or I'm the dude who was supposed to write that card bio and took the day off.

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CLASSIC COMBO
The Item: Matt Tramp 2010 Disabled American Veterans Sioux Falls Pheasants
The Buzz On This: Quick, can you find another card of a guy who is not only the team's bullpen catcher and its clubhouse manager? I bet you can't, though you can actually find both jobs in MiLB team sets -- just not both jobs attached to one name on one card. I'd tell you more about his baseball resume, but the card backs on these sets are actually ads for the DAV -- the same back on every single card. Good thing there's a LinkedIn "baseball card back" right here.

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PLENTY NOT TOLD HERE ...
The Item: Christina Whitlock 2023 Choice Peoria Chiefs
The Buzz On This: Speaking of card backs, well, this one is a gem, isn't it? Here's her life story in the game.

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WHO LET THE ...  YOU KNOW
The Item: El Paso Chihuahuas logo/checklist cards -- from their 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022 Choice sets
The Buzz On This: This isn't a full run of El Paso team set topper cards that also showcase one of the best logos and mascots in all of MiLB if you ask me -- Chico is The Man! -- but it's close. The team arrived in 2014 and remains one of the best-selling MiLB franchises in terms of merch (thanks, Chico). With there being a missing season in there (2020) and one year (2019), that oddly appears to not have a topper card like this, I may actually have all of them from this span -- but I do need to track down any newer ones. Why did I do this? Well, these cards cost nothing and I had a whim of maybe grading one that I liked if it looked clean for a novelty slab -- as long as it was a top-condition card. But, since these cards are often the top or bottom card in the pack they'll suffer more damage than the others ... so that idea probably isn't happening (at least from these copies). I will look into finishing the run and collecting 'em all at some point soon. Why? Chico is The Man!

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