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. 

PULLED FROM THE FIELD ...
The Item: Home Run Derby X used baseball from Dunkin' Park, home of the Hartford Yard Goats (Aug. 11, 2023)
The Buzz On This: This could have made its way into my monthly Collecting Game-used series here on The Buzz, but instead, I'll break up my pair and use one of them right here this time. Why? This exhibition event took place at a MiLB venue with four former MLB players leading the way smacking baseballs around the park -- Jonny Gomes, Jake Arrieta, Dexter Fowler and Nick Swisher. I read that the baseballs were not made to be sold, so the only way one could get their hands on them was to be there ... and with one of the four names being a player I collect, I did some power-shopping and landed a pair of them from a seller in Connecticut. Why? Just to have something from the event that's tied to my player. Who smacked this ball out of the park? No idea. There's no paperwork, there's no MLB Authentication sticker ... it just is what it is. I'm surprised that this event has never had any kind of card presence and really the only thing I have seen beyond used baseballs are posters ... but even those don't seem plentiful. This was from the second year of the traveling series -- the 2022 events were international and last year they showed up in different MiLB parks -- and this event was the first on American soil in 2023. The final score between the top two teams was 49-48 ... so a lot of baseballs went flying that day.

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

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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. 

DIGGING ON SWINE
The Card: Parker The Rally Pig 2012 Grandstand Richmond Flying Squirrels
The Buzz On This: This guy has more than a few baseball cards, believe it or not, and this isn't the only time I've grabbed one for the ballpark star who was born in 2010 and retired by 2015. He was named after the team's previous venue, Parker Field, and "literally ate himself out of Double-A," according to this piece. Do I have all of the Parker cards now? Maybe ... I need to research this one further and then check my archives. I have to be close.

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

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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.

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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. 

ALL ABOUT THAT BLING!
The Card: Wool E. Bull 2023 Choice Durham Bulls
The Buzz On This: It seems the mascot card is a staple of MiLB team sets -- it's one of few cards you can typically count on finding year after year unless there's a team name change -- and this one of the modern-day iteration of the mascot many might first remember from Bull Durham. This card caught my attention as it's one of few where the mascot shows off their version of the team's championship ring -- a ring card collection could be an interesting little twist even if not limited to just mascots. Beyond that bling, the achievements captured on the back of this card are also pretty strong for a veteran you can see on a lot of cardboard. Collect 'em all!

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

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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. 

JUST CALL HER SKIP
The Card: Ronnie Gajownik 2021 Choice Hillsboro Hops
The Buzz On This: I picked up a couple cards from this team set for the Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate at some point last year while going through oddball MiLB singles for a couple reasons. First, this design is a pretty non-traditional look for most sets -- though it is from one of the companies that teams use to pick their looks for their sets each year -- and for a player it incorporates a smaller cut-out action photo and a facsimile auto (see one here). I picked off this one since you don't see many "video coordinator" cards out there in many sets but what made this one more interesting this season is that she was the team's manager in 2023. She is MiLB's first female High-A manager as Rachel Balkovec's Tampa Tarpons are in Single-A ball. In between this and her new role this season, she was a coach for the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles. Her team went 56-76 this season in the Northwest League. Read more about her here.

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

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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. 

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.

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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. 

IT'S BUBBLE BOY! (PART ONE)
The Card: Dan "Bubble Boy" Jones 2018 Grandstand Erie SeaWolves
The Buzz On This One: What's the deal here? Well, what you see on the baseball card is what I know ... he's a first-round draft pick, a Knockerball champion who went undefeated and, well, has a baseball card. (Yeah, yeah, something about tickets, too. Must be a side job.) Is this the only Bubble Boy baseball card there is? Well, maybe for this kind ...

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

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Minor league cards are a fun anomaly in the cardboard world with some of the weirder cards ever made to be found there -- most without a single autograph or piece of memorabilia to be found. Many of those cards not even all that well known, either, but unique cards can capture attention and tell stories. Don't believe that? Just ask Keith Comstock. 

This time for MiLB Madness, Buzz is coughing up two of the weirder possibilities you can find on cardboard. In the case of two real teams and real baseball cards, we're talking about an actual camel and a pig who both have at least one card appearance out there in the world.

I know because, well, I had to have them.

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Here's a look at the top five players on this week's Baseball America Top MLB Prospects Hot Sheet and their seasons so far. It's a little something to help those who might want to dabble with prospecting -- some basics on their baseball cards alongside a highlight line from those more scouting-minded. We may not do this every week, but we'll check in on BA's top crop from time to time for the remainder of the season.

1. Joey Bart, C, Giants — Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels
Baseball America’s highlight line: “The Giants’ top prospect put an exclamation point on his season with an extremely strong finish to his brief tenure at Double-A Richmond. He produced an .868 OPS in August, which included four of his 16 homers in his first full season as a pro. He might not have any 80-grade tools on his card, but Bart has a plethora of pluses that should lead him to become the Giants’ long-term answer at catcher."

CARDBOARD BASICS
Approximate card total (so far): 450
First Chrome auto: 2019 Bowman
One auto to consider: 2018 Elite Extra Edition
Buzz’s card take: He's a top name, so you should know him and he's got more than 200 autographs to choose from, too. There's some promise to those words from BA -- sounds like they are sold -- but the second pick in last year's draft has decent numbers to justify it. He's hit .284 with 29 homers and 88 RBI in 130 MiLB games the last two years. Good for a catcher but perhaps not for a big-money guy on cardboard. Replacing Buster Posey would come with expectations if he makes it, so I'd be prudent with my looking in terms of prices paid.

Keep reading for the rest of the top five ...

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The Minor League Baseball season is young, too, and New Era Caps has teased some new additions to its lineup that fans can see down on the farm if they're watching the game's future stars compete.

Without long-running histories and with the need for promotion and an injection of interest from time to time, the teams take risks in their designs with caps like those of the Vermont Lake Monsters (above).

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