MiLB Madness: Park pigs, mascots, throwback stars & more

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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. 

"WINNER OF A PIG PICKIN' CONTEST"
The Card: Parker 2011 Grandstand Richmond Flying Squirrels
The Buzz On This One: The back of this card pretty much says it all (click for a closer look) and I think that makes this Parker's "Rookie Card." Is it the only baseball card for a team pig? Believe it or not ... no. Parker had a pretty good run with this team and a few baseball cards after this one and there are others. Why a ballpark pig? Read the card ... and welcome to Minor League Baseball. This isn't a "deep" post per se ... just some prime oddity cardboard, which is what this series is all about.

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

GET IN THE RING!
The Card: Blooper 2014 Grandstand New Britain Rock Cats
The Buzz On This One: This MiLB mascot looks simple enough -- big, colorful and furry -- but one thing here caught my attention and left me curious ... why is Blooper in a professional wrestling ring? Blooper is a walrus, by the way, but that's all I could discern here after some searches online. He's one of three mascots in the set and nobody else has a wrestling nod on their card. Since it's now WrestleMania season, I figured I'd drop this here to see if anybody can solve this dead serious MiLB mystery. The team disbanded in 2015 when it moved to Hartford, Conn., to become the Yard Goats.

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THE BUTTZ OF SOME JOKEZ
The Card: Ciggy Buttz 2011 Grandstand Fort Myers Miracle
The Buzz On This One: Look at the size on this one -- 6-foot-6! -- and check out that card back for all kinds of educational info here. Simple as that. Now ponder how many cigarette butts have baseball cards ... it can't be many.

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THROWBACKS FROM PACKS ...
The Cards: 1990 ProCards AAA Future Stars -- Juan Gonzalez, David Justice, Kevin Maas, Ron Washington, Leo Maze, Moe Drabowsky, Aurelio Rodriguez, Steve Swisher & Ben McDonald
The Buzz On This One: These sat for some time in my stash of stuff before I even found the muster to go through them and take some pics of the "notables" here ... while a good 90-percent of what I found in a box of these packs went into the recycling bin. What's the deal? For a few years, ProCards would re-package its team set cards (MiLB cards were typically sold as a set, not packs) into mixed packs with a massive checklist (700 cards) filled with mostly commons but still some star power that, all these years later, isn't about cash with so much stuff made back then. So, why did I buy a box? It looked just like the box that had the cards from the previous year and that one has the pricey Keith Comstock baseball card that's a lot more memorable. I knew I botched my buy the second I saw the clear-ish plastic packs showing white cards underneath but ripped them anyway. If you were around cards then, you should know some big names here while others are names from the past who are coaches or managers or past MLB players. Sure, anybody can find a 1990 Donruss Ben McDonald ... but this one is cooler ... and Aurelio Rodriguez sure looks different than his 1969 Topps card here. If you know, you know.

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TWO OF A KIND
The Cards: Ryan Braun & Prince Fielder 2011 Huntsville Stars DAV
The Buzz On This One: This stadium giveaway set is actually one of many of its kind and you can see a lot of past prospects like these two past MLB All-Stars and award-winners back when they were down on the farm with the Huntsville Stars. The fronts here are funky and colorful -- and that changes with the teams as a number of them opted to do these over the years and at this time. The card backs? Well, they're another story -- they are all identical with no info about the players -- and that's a big reason I don't like these sets vs. others. If they had some basics on a player (bio lines and stats) along with DAV info, they'd be fine. Just an odd feel to them -- but they are still quite oddball cards to hunt for. Some of these sets have even been made for MLB teams' giveaway days ... and even one NFL team has done a set from what I have seen, too.

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OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN ...
The Card: Captain Tony 2014 Grandstand Lake County Captains
The Buzz On This One: There are so many mascot cards in MiLB card sets that this monthly series could simply showcase a half-dozen of them every time and go on for years ... but a human mascot? They're out there but not quite as common as the inflatables or the furballs who sweat things out on gamedays all summer long. The team has one of those, too, so, yeah, maybe Tony is more of an "attendant" than a mascot ... but still a weird card you can find in several years' sets for the Captains.

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EDUCATIONAL SURPRISE
The Card: Victoria Perry 2009 Grandstand 2009 West Tenn Diamond Jaxx
The Buzz On This One: This team actually made a tradition of putting its sponsor's award-winning teacher onto a baseball card for a few years beginning in 2004. The team no longer exists but a number of cards like this one still do -- so much so Buzz is having some déjà vu as I write this ... I'm sure I have written about something like this one before. That's MiLB cardboard for you.

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

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