MiLB Madness: Bull Durham, a Durham Bull & more on the farm

Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... sometimes stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new fun cards and oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness. 

IT'S ANNIE SAVOY!
The Cards: Susan Sarandon 2024 Leaf Pop Century Now Showing Red, White & Blue Mojo Pre-Production Proofs (each a 1/1 card)
The Buzz On This: This long-running non-sports catch-all card franchise often shows celebs in headshots or on fashionable red-carpet moments, but when I spotted a few of these blank-backed cards sporting a photo from Bull Durham -- still likely the movie of all movies when it comes to Minor League Baseball -- I picked off each of these and another color (to be seen elsewhere later) among a bunch of these proofs with various colors and textures from this set. Why? They're affordable and fun -- something rare (each color/texture is the lone copy in proof form) -- and still can be collected without breaking the bank. I landed these for less than $10 a card shipped, though I wouldn't have bothered if these didn't have the Annie Savoy visual. (This is from the memorable batting cage scene and the set is made to lightly emulate a movie ticket.) I did a lot of cheap proofs here, so I'll show off others and my other shade of this one elsewhere at some point. These aren't my typical oddball cards here, but I figured since we're in-season I'd mix in some other stuff from the MiLB realm.

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

MY FANTASY TEAM MISSES HIM
The Item: Chander Simpson 2023 Topps Pro Debut Chrome
The Buzz On This: It looks like a flagship 2023 Topps Chrome card save for a missing mugshot at the bottom -- I think dropping the heads could have helped improve this design in MLB -- and especially looks like an MLB card thanks to him appearing in a Rays uniform, which is the one he wore for a time this season in The Show. What makes Simpson a big deal? In 110 MiLB games last year he stole 104 bases (and was caught only 17 times) and this year with the Rays he had 19 in 35 games while hitting .285 as a rookie. He's back at Triple-A Durham (Annie Savoy's old stomping grounds) for the time being to work on defense while still pushing .300 there with hopes that he gets the call again. My fantasy team misses his one-man SB show for sure ... and I picked off this card during that piling-up of bags. He's affordable compared to many prospects ... so, if you like the potential of the bat and the speed, he's worth the look. I don't rip much/any Pro Debut these days due to the higher box prices since Chrome is now mixed in, but this was cheap and clean so that's another reason I grabbed this one.

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STAFFERS APLENTY
The Item: Mia Salvemini 2022 Choice Charleston Riverdogs, Heather Jennings 2013 Choice Lake Erie Crushers, Kelly Boyce 2017 Grandstand Hillsboro Hops, MacKenzie Zabbo 2012 Grandstand Lowell Spinners
The Buzz On This: This foursome from the trainer/coach ranks is just a symbolic and tiny sampling of how many staffers you can find in a typical MiLB team set ... I picked off so many random trainer/coach cards in some past cart-filling moments where I could do a full lineup monthly for them (or mascots) only for months. They're simply everywhere. There are likely stories with every one of them, too, even if the cards can be basic bios or nearly empty as seen here. For example, Salvemini left the baseball realm a year or so ago for an NBA gig working with the Brooklyn Nets and their G-League squad, while Boyce is now an assistant athletic trainer for the Detroit Tigers.

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THROWBACKS
The Item: Tyler Soderstrom 2021 Topps Heritage Minor League Edition (SP) & Zac Veen 2021 Topps Heritage Minor League Edition Blue parallel (/99)
The Buzz On This: This pairing of cards from Topps' former retro-styled line in the MiLB realm took a look at today's prospects on its memorably funky 1972 MLB design and I picked them off for differing reasons. I liked the feel of the Soderstrom card as he essentially looks like he would in Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas (wherever, I'm over it) A's colors on a high-number card. I also liked the look of his strong 2025 start that has him standing at 14 homers and 44 RBI in his first 70 games as part of this third summer with the Sac Vegas team after two in Oakland (OK, still not over it). I grabbed the Veen when I heard he was being called up this year since it was clean copy of a bold-color parallel and it's totally the kind of slightly odd card I'd grade. He debuted in April but hit only .118 in 12 games, so he's back down on the farm for more seasoning with the Albuquerque Isotopes. (Doh!) I still like the card, though.

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A SASQUATCH CAUGHT ON CAMERA
The Item: Strike 2018 Grandstand Northwest Arkansas Naturals
The Buzz On This: There's always room for a mascot 'round here and this one is a first from what I've seen -- or at least remember -- as Strike is a Sasquatch ... a Bigfoot. The card back tells his story -- and that sounds like it might be a "Rookie Card" for him -- but a quick Google search shows that might not be the case. I'm not sure. I'm leaving this one open-ended ... after all, we're talkin' Bigfoot here.

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WE ARE FAMILY
The Item: The Keithley Family 2018 Grandstand Hillsboro Hops
The Buzz On This: You can find superfans or contest winners in traditional MiLB team sets at times among many others who aren't players -- sponsors, team doctors, announcers, coaches, cubbies, batboys, etc. -- but in cases like this one they typically tell you why they're in the set or some other tie that got them on the checklist. This one? A total mystery other than they've got season tickets.

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WAIT, WHAT? ... PART 3
The Item: Kerry Wood 1997 Best Orlando Rays
The Buzz On This: My third and final -- for now at least -- look at this unusual visual for a Chicago Cubs icon is here. That's pitcher Kerry Wood in a Rays jersey from a team set from the former card-maker known as Best. It's once again Wood in an Orlando Rays uniform -- a design that moved south to Tampa Bay the following summer. (These Rays were the Cubs' farm team.) It's one of two Wood cards in this set -- and it looks like I promised this would appear here last month but simply forgot. Just like before, this card just looks extra weird with a MiLB logo that became an MLB logo -- but it is largely obscured by his glove here. (The other card in this set is the cooler one.)

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LEADING THE WAY
The Item: Bo Bichette (with Vidal Brujan and Bret Boswell) 2019 Topps Heritage Minor League Edition
The Buzz On This: I buy a lot of Bichette singles on the cheap, especially those with unique looks, and this one with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats looks a lot different than he does with Toronto. Bichette was in Heritage MiLB sets three years -- this being the final -- and I'm, as a heavy but still casual collector, just now getting around to the various non-standard player cards. You'd be surprised how many big names you can find on multi-player cards if you stop to look -- either in recent-year Heritage sets -- or vintage releases of long ago. Those old sets can have Hall of Famers alongside lesser names you'd perhaps never know ... just like this one with an All-Star, a guy who has made it to MLB and another who hasn't.

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