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MiLB Madness: Derby balls, AFL stars, a gift guitar & more

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.
Continue reading →

This entry was posted in Baseball, MiLB Madness and tagged Jake Arrieta, MiLB, MLB, Nick Swisher, Dexter Fowler, Jason Varitek, Richmond Flying Squirrels, Arizona Fall League, Choice, Hartford Yard Goats, ProCards, Darin Erstad, Grandstand, Buffalo Bisons, 2011 Grandstand Richmond Flying Squirrels, Home Run Derby X, Jonny Gomes, Dunkin' Park, 1995 Split Second Arizona Fall League All-Stars, Makato Suzuki, Chan Ho Park, Rick Sweet, 2023 Choice Nashville Sounds, Nashville Sounds, Split Second, Rall E. Camel, 2017 Choice Great Lake Loons, Great Lake Loons, Buster T. Bison, 1989 ProCards Buffalo Bisons, Zinger, 2023 MLB Home Run Derby X, Nutzy on February 13, 2025 by BlowoutBuzz.

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