MiLB Madness: Spencer Strider before Atlanta, Uvalde Strong, MiLB cheerleaders and ... Dale Earnhardt had a baseball card?

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. 

SAME SET, SECOND STAR ...
The Cards: Spencer Strider 2021 Choice Rome Braves (five copies)
The Buzz On This One: This month's item leads off just like last time with a key single from a team set that has a current big-leaguer who had a heck of a rookie year in Atlanta last season. Unlike Michael Harris, Strider had a number of Rookie Cards in big-league sets last year and he also had a lot of prospect cards (also unlike Harris) so cards like these have a lot of competition. But, I like this one as he looks like a big-leaguer other than that cap and the set was relatively cheap, too, vs. a lot of in-pack stuff by the pack or box right now. The print run on sets like this where there are multiple stars might not be on the low side for MiLB sets but in comparison to packed-out MLB cards there's no chance that the print run is in the same galaxy. I like that.

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

GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING ...
The Cards: Dale Earnhardt 2011 Choice Hickory Crawdads cards
The Buzz On This One: You would think that Dale Earnhardt baseball cards might be found in Kannapolis Intimidators sets -- and they might be as that team was in his hometown and took on his nickname for a time (they are now the Cannon Ballers) -- but these came from a different North Carolina team as the late NASCAR legend's car dealership did some regional sponsorship. Does the legend have others? I don't know ... I only stumbled upon these recently and was surprised, so I had to grab them.

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REGIONAL SUPPORT
The Card: "Uvalde Strong" 2022 Choice San Antonio Missions
The Buzz On This One: The Missions are about 100 miles away from the small town that made headlines for all the wrong reasons last year. A couple months after that dark day, the team took the field wearing Uvalde High School jerseys for their game and raised more than $50,000 to help a memorial fund. That story was told on this baseball card.

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A MiLB TEAM HAD A DANCE TEAM?
The Card: The Beach Bums 2011 Choice Brooklyn Cyclones
The Buzz On This One: Baseball is one sport that rarely has cheerleaders but apparently this Mets-affiliated MiLB team had one almost from Day 1. The Cyclones arrived in 2001 and this team was in play from 2003 to 2008 as a squad of men and women. They were the Bums (a nod to the Brooklyn Dodgers' nickname they say) from 2009-2015 and then in 2016 the team reverted to its previous format and was re-branded as The Surf Squad. It would be interesting if at some point some celeb's summer side job was discovered on cards like this -- you never know -- but apparently some of the team's past members have worked as NFL cheerleaders. Here's a little more about the team from the past. You never know what you'll find in MiLB team sets and this is just another example.

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SO MUCH GOING ON HERE ...
The Card: Rusty & Sammy 2010 Grandstand Corpus Christi Hooks
The Buzz On This One: Mascot cards are everywhere in team sets but this one covers a few bases with the furballs, some transportation (there are oddly a lot of mobile mascots on cards), some likely sponsor plugs and, of course, a nod to the venue. Not much else to say here other than I need a Whataburger now ...

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