MiLB Madness: Stars, sponsors, mascots & where's Verlander?

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, THIRD STAR ...
The Cards: Bryce Elder 2021 Choice Rome Braves (five copies)
The Buzz On This One: I'll have this third card from this set bat lead-off just like last time and the time before as Elder is off to a very respectable (though not absolutely dominant) start with the Braves this season. The previous strong names I mentioned from this set are Spencer Strider and Michael Harris II and this guy, whose draft pick cards trump this but not much else (the 2021 season was his first as a pro), might be the next one up here in terms of some cardboard success. He pitches tonight but coming into this one he had a 2-0 record with a 2.17 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 29 innings for the Atlanta Braves and he's gone at least five innings in all five of his starts. In some ways, those numbers look better than his three MiLB seasons where he had 256 Ks in 248 innings. As I noted last time, the print run on sets like this -- where there are multiple stars -- might not be on the low side for MiLB releases, but in comparison to packed-out MLB stuff there's no chance that the print run is in the same galaxy. I still like that.

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

WHERE'S WALDO? (ERR ... VERLANDER)
The Card: Team card 2005 Grandstand Lakeland Tigers
The Buzz On This One: I wasn't able to figure out where he's at here, but there's a good chance that future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander is in the photo as he's mentioned on the back of the card. Is he? Isn't he? I don't know ... I need to find my loupe and give this one a closer look the next time I happen upon it in my stash. I think early stuff like this is fun and really a must-have for player collectors -- or just collectors like me who like to find quirky notable cards here and there. (MiLB sets are where to do that ... and that's the point of this series.)

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A RUBBER OR LEATHER SUIT ... IN ALABAMA ... IN THE SUMMER
The Card: Sprocket 2021 Choice Rocket City Trash Pandas
The Buzz On This One: The label up top says one thing that's on my mind here, but maybe all that space in the can has a built-in air conditioner given that this team is a nod to NASA's prominent spot in Huntsville, Ala. The team name is a classic one as is that logo and, well, Sprocket looks pretty fun, too. And that back story? Click on that card back to read it all ...

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CARDS ON CARDS ON CARDS ...
The Cards: Jimmy Mahan, Trey Huntsman & David Dimenstein 2021 Choice Lexington Legends
The Buzz On This One: You never know who might pop up in MiLB sets and this trio from the hobby appears to be a sponsor for their hometown MiLB team.

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LEGENDARY REHAB ASSIGNMENT
The Cards: Jim Bose 2012 Grandstand Richmond Flying Squirrels
The Buzz On This One: The team has been a Giants affiliate since 2010 -- so the coach seen here is in the right big-league gear. But The Phillie Phanatic appearing on this card with this team? Well, that just wasn't on my bingo card of mental possibilities when flipping through singles ... so that's why it's here. This pocket-change surprise is an enigma for sure.

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DONNIE BASEBALL = DAD
The Cards: Preston Mattingly 2007 Grandstand Great Lakes Loons
The Buzz On This One: If he had a mustache, you'd probably think this was a cameo card for the former New York Yankees "hit man," but this is one of just a couple dozen cards for Donnie Baseball's son who was a Dodgers prospect for six seasons where he hit .232 with 25 homers and 165 RBI in 463 games. He never made it past advanced-A as a player but the cardboard is forever. Last year, he was named the Philadelphia Phillies' director of player development after similar work with the Padres for the past five years.

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NO, NOT DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ...
The Cards: Blake Butler 2021 Choice Greensboro Grasshoppers
The Buzz On This One: The more one checks out the newest MiLB team sets the more it seems one will find unusual members of the team on cards -- names that you don't see on the field. (Unusual for cards ... not for baseball operations.) This is one of those times and this former player -- who does have at least a couple of past MiLB cards -- is a development coach.

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