MiLB Madness: The one with ballpark dogs, dueling mascots, vendors, a minor league dance team and, of course, a Cat!

Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card and here are five example of some oddities in this latest MiLB Madness series item. 

ONE (OF MANY CARDS) FOR THE DOGS
The Card: Chase & Derby -- 2011 Multi-Ad Trenton Thunder No. 34
The Buzz On This One: Dogs appearing on baseball cards is way, way more common than you might think in the minors even though, well, it's not all that common in the world. So, what's the deal? Well, for years Chase was this team's bat dog -- retrieving bats and balls during various times on gameday and bringing water to umpires -- yes, a golden retriever trained to take the place of a batboy. Chase, who died in the fall of 2013, worked with the team for a decade before his son Derby took over until 2018. Derby's son Rookie is still working for the Thunder which is now a collegiate summer league team after being a New York Yankees affiliate from 2003 until last year. (See more about them all right here.) Other pups from this family have actually worked for other teams and there are many more pups in parks beyond that. (I could have done an item showing a dozen ... but you'll see them all here later.) Before his death, Chase even appeared in packs of 2013 Topps Heritage MiLB cards while the rest are found in team sets like this card -- and it's not the only one to show them together.

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

GO NUTS FOR VENDOR CARDBOARD
The Card: Tony The Peanut Man -- 2017 Grandstand Charleston Riverdogs
The Buzz On This One: Believe it or not, he's not the only peanut vendor to ever appear on a minor-league card ... but I think this might be one of only a few cards for this ballpark veteran who was posthumously honored by the team with a humanitarian award and appeared on this card in its team set. You can see more about his life and career here.

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DUELING DELICACIES?
The Card: Ballapeno -- 2015 Grandstand San Antonio Missions & Henry The Puffy Taco -- 2018 Grandstand San Antonio Missions
The Buzz On This One: Buzz is pretty sure that these MiLB mascots are the only ones I've ever seen in-person at a game and, oddly, I don't remember one of them at all. (Sorry, Henry.) The long-timer is Henry, who arrived back in 1990 according to his card, while Ballapeño (a jalapeño) sprouted in 2001 and there's a bit of a rivalry or something based on the ironclad cardboard facts seen here. The younger one has a bit of an attitude, too ... I dig it.

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A MILB DANCE TEAM?
The Card: The 66ers Dance Team -- 2013 Grandstand Inland Empire 66ers
The Buzz On This One: Maybe it's just my background on the minor leagues being Bull Durham and reading stories of long bus rides, bad lunches and no pay, but ... a minor-league team has a dance squad? That's about my only thought here but it would be a trip if one of them on this card has built their career into a big-league spot or some other kind of entertainment work  ... there have been a lot of former cheerleaders and team members to go on to other things in the sports and entertainment worlds -- Paula Abdul, Teri Hatcher, Stacy Keibler, Carmella, Charisma Carpenter, Lisa Guerrero, Bonnie-Jill Laflin and others. As for MiLB dance teams? Well, I guess there could be others ... but this is the only card I've ever seen.

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STARTED WITH DOGS ... END WITH CAT!
The Card: Cat! -- 2015 Grandstand Lake County Captains
The Buzz On This One: Apparently Cat! (aka Cat Casey, according to eBay) had a radio gig and that tied into this job as an on-field host for the Cleveland Indians affiliate as you can see on the card. The station changed its format to an oldies station, so the mystery of what Cat is up to now or had been doing is lost to the Interwebs bio pages of the past and left solely to the baseball cards. It's actually not unusual to have on-field emcees, broadcast voices and other mascots on cardboard ... this is a prime example of oddball cards you can find for pocket change that have oddly priceless appeal.

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