MiLB Madness: Chico, top prospects, a voice & familiar names

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. 

THE BIG DOG
The Card: Chico "Man's Best Friend" -- 2021 Choice El Paso Chihuahuas
The Buzz On This: MiLB mascot cards always get a slight look from me, but since there are simply so many -- they are apparently a staple of team sets these days as they are one of only a few sources of continuity from year to year -- not that many actually stand out ... or, really, only the best-looking ones stand out to me. And like this guy, I'll bite. Chico is a bit different, though, as I've actively picked off most cards for this mascot with one of the baddest logo appearances in all of MiLB and also an appearance on one of the best caps. This card had eluded me but I think it's a solid one with a simple design, a clean at-the-game photo, and the basics.

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

REMEMBER ME?
The Card: Jose Cruz Jr. -- 1995 Multi-Ad Everett Aquasox
The Buzz On This: This second-generation MLB player was, at a time, one of the most-watched prospects in baseball with his 1997 Bowman and Bowman Chrome Rookie Cards (along with a boatload of other 1997 RCs) being in demand despite a .248 average and 117 Ks in 104 games as a rookie ... though the 26 homers helped and he finished second to Nomar Garciaparra in ROY voting. Fast-forward through a 12-year MLB career and to today, and that homer mark was only topped twice and he was only a full-timer for about half of those years ... but he got there and stayed there quite a long time for nine teams before retiring years ago. This card? It was one of a number of 1995 cards, but a lot of those are from packed-out prospect sets and then some MiLB stuff in packs -- I think this was his first and only team set MiLB card that year. That's why I picked it off (for next to nothing) for this spot ... and that funky 1990s team logo ain't bad, either.

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RELATED TO NICK?
The Card: Steph At Night -- 2014 Grandstand Rockford Aviators
The Buzz On This: It's not uncommon for team broadcasters, corporate sponsors and other on-field hosts to make their way into baseball card sets and, well, I'm not actually sure which of those covers Steph At Night here, though this might be a sponsor plug more than anything for this card from a defunct team's set. Trivia Time: She's got to totally be related to Nick At Night ... right? OK, maybe not ... it's Nick At Nite. (My bad.)

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REMEMBER US?
The Cards: Vernon Wells, Ben Petrick & Ryan Anderson -- 1999 Arizona Fall League Prospects
The Buzz On This: Buzz has never really been a prospector when it comes to baseball cards as, well, I never found any of those infamously big names on rare cards in my boxes back in the day. But ... way back in the day names such as these used to be saved for various reasons. Now? Not so much ... but they did stand out from this set of back then's All-Stars when it came to the prospect ranks. How'd it work out? Well, the son of the Upper Deck card artist played 15 years in the majors, Petrick played 240 games over five seasons and Anderson, well, he was a first-rounder and a top-10 prospect per Baseball America for three years. "The Little Unit" had a 20-27 record over four MiLB seasons but never made the majors despite 483 Ks in 363 innings.

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PLAYING THE NAME GAME
The Cards: Milton Bradley 1997 Best Vermont Expos & Juan Gonzalez 2005 Grandstand Lakeland Tigers
The Buzz On This: One's a gamer (but not a board-gamer) who played 12 years in the majors beginning in 2000 with the Expos, while the other was a teammate of Justin Verlander in that set (that's why I landed that one) but isn't exactly Juan Gone like the other Juan Gonzalez in the MLB record books. This Juan played 12 seasons and made it to the Triple-A level for just one season at his peak.

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

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