MiLB Madness: Pup meets alien, a past star, mascots & 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. 

ALIEN PUP MEETS PUP?
The Card: Orbit 2019 Choice Albuquerque Isotopes
The Buzz On This: "Never work with children or animals" might be a Hollywood saying, but in the case of this mascot's cardboard the pup might be stealing the show. This team's sets have included cameos from shelter pups at least a couple years in the past so this actually isn't that unusual, but this one jumped out at me since it's the alien (who looks like a dog to me) mascot. What must that dog be thinking? That's what I'd really want to know ...

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

SENIOR'S CIRCUIT
The Card: Ken Griffey Sr. 2011 Grandstand Bakersfield Blaze
The Buzz On This: This former Cincinnati Reds standout and father of a Hall of Famer has a few minor league cards from a stint as a coach and a manager. (Poke around in The Buzz Archives for past entries in this series for others and specific details.) This one is from his first year as the manager and it's got some strong 1984 Fleer vibes (it's a near knock-off). Do I have them all? Probably not, but I might be close as this makes three of them in my Senior stash. You never know which former big-leaguers you can find in MiLB sets with some research.

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UNIQUE LOOK
The Card: Jonathan Mathews, Carlos Chavez & Aaron Bray 2023 Choice Fort Wayne TinCaps
The Buzz On This: This design is admittedly busy, but I can't say I've seen it tried before and that got me to bite on this card for the manager and two top coaches for mere pocket change. The back is packed with info, too, which you don't always see with cards like this. That's a simple segue to the next one ...

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WHAT ARE YOU HIDING, DAVID?
The Card: David Vonderhaar 2013 Choice Palm Beach Cardinals
The Buzz On This: "This space intentionally left blank" ... but at least we got the Tyson Any'tizers plugs in.

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IT'S NOT DOCTOR DOOM
The Card: Victor The Victory Viking 2013 Grandstand Richmond Flying Squirrels
The Buzz On This: This mascot isn't perhaps the normal style of what I grab for the on-field furballs but what's normal anyway when it comes to MiLB cardboard? (That's why this series exists.) Apparently the team has a "stable of entertainers" at the ballpark and this newbie's job is to take the field in celebration after a victory ... hence the name. One thing that's goofy here? Those little (real) hands vs. the rest of his body ... could they not find Victor some oversized viking gauntlets?

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TRAINER, PERFORMANCE SPECIALIST & DIRECTOR OF ANYTHING ... OH MY
The Cards: Chris Conroy (with Danny Tetzlaff) 2002 Grandstand New Haven Ravens & Michael Apodaca 2017 Choice Everett AquaSox
The Buzz On This: The first card just makes me think of The Beverly Hillbillies theme (though it would need others on the cart) but it's actually a nod to American Gothic. Looking closely, I also wondered how a Wyoming basketball T-shirt made its way to Connecticut and after that I truly wondered what the "director of anything" directed. (Anything, I guess.) There's a lot on that card in terms of bio, meanwhile these days Conroy works for the St. Louis Cardinals. The second card is, believe it or not, (I didn't as it happened on accident) my second time buying a card of this "performance specialist." (I checked the archives but it was a different year.) I think that just means trainer but I figured adding a performance specialist baseball card to the vast collection might be a first.

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