MiLB Madness: Pioneers, stars, park pups & Ziggy Stardust?

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. 

A BASEBALL PIONEER
The Card: Ila Borders 1999 Sports Illustrated for Kids card #768
The Buzz On This One: OK, this is the rare inclusion in this series that wasn't found in a traditional MiLB team set, but with a lot of women making baseball headlines in recent months (and years) I figured I'd revisit a key name from the past. Borders was the first woman to get a win in a men's minor-league game back in 1998 when she was a pitcher for the Duluth–Superior Dukes. You can read more about her career -- which included more than this first -- right here. She doesn't have a ton of baseball cards and if you search her name here on The Buzz you can see where I previously picked up her lone traditional MiLB team set card. I figured I'd grab this to go with it. Meanwhile, (tip time) these cards from sheets in magazines seem to be capturing a lot of attention from some buyers in some instances. If you have interests in names who don't have traditional cards, you might try a search for SI for Kids singles or full magazines, which included nine cards per issue for a long, long time.

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

BEFORE THE RING ...
The Card: Ozzie Albies 2016 Grandstand Mississippi Braves #NNO
The Buzz On This One: There are a ton of cards off of traditional collectors' radars out there for notable young stars right now and this is a textbook example of that. It didn't cost me a ton, but not that many cards came before it. (Check that ... actually, his 2015 Bowman debut and some Panini stuff did come before this ... so there's a good chunk of stuff.) In some cases, a lot of the in-pack prospecting cardboard does trump stuff like this -- demand and often value -- but cards from a MiLB team set are inevitably rarer. Just saying.

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DIGGING DEEP?
The Card: Padres Staff 2013 Brandt Sports Marketing Tucson Padres #9
The Buzz On This One: There are a surprising number of "hey everybody, come over here" photos in MiLB team sets that include all kinds of people with ties to the team who you'd never suspect would have cards. Some inevitably move up the ranks while others move on to other professions. What are the odds there's some big name on a card like this out there and none of us realize it? (I do have a funny example of this on my mental to-do list here ... but it's not MiLB so not this time.) I think it's most likely that we'll find MLB executives on cards like this, but you never know ... because the cards are obscure and who's crazy enough (or smart enough) to take the time look? Not me ... but I want to check names every time I see one.

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A FAVORITE MASCOT ...
The Card: Cosmo 2013 Brandt Sports Marketing Las Vegas 51s #32
The Buzz On This One: This guy is as retired as his team -- they are the Aviators now and their mascots are, well, different (or kinda lame) -- but those antennae eyes made a weird team's weird alien mascot work if you ask me. Why is this here? Just look at that bio on the card back ... so many references and name-drops. Look at it ... Star Wars, Area 51, Koufaxia (they were a Dodgers team), Rocket Man, Ziggy Stardust, Mr. Roboto, Men In Black and Star Trek? How could one not call his phone number for a party appearance back in the day?

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DOWN, CUJO ... I JUST NEED A BURGER
The Card: Teal 2021 Corpus Christi Hooks #35
The Buzz On This One: There are a ton of baseball dogs on baseball cards -- I have many waiting for appearances here during the dog days of summer -- but this one jumped out at me from the pack with its no-nonsense photo. It's like the park pup equivalent of Randy Johnson staring you down or something but with a distant crop to make it a little creepy. I'm sure Teal is a good boy -- they all are. (That's what the lawyer told me to say.) I guess this vibe works for the card, though, as it's the official cardboard of The Protector of Whataburger Field. (Hey, I'd protect the Whataburger, too. I'd look meaner if it was my burger.)

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THE CARD ON A CARD TRICK ... WITH SOME MYSTERY
The Card: Dave Vonderhaar 2019 Grandstand Palm Beach Cardinals
The Buzz On This One: The card appearance on a card hasn't happened often in all the countless sets made through the years but it has happened a few times. (Check 1982 Fleer for starters ... and some early 1990s Upper Deck sets.) This one is the first I have seen for this on the MiLB front, though. He's holding his 2018 card and that's an upgrade over one showing him working the dryer (Or is it a washer?) before that. Either way, that other card was brought to you by Tyson Anytizers snacks. Really, go find it. That's another example of odd things to be seen on MiLB cards. As for this card? Dude is about brevity on that back ... so I've said too much.

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