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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. 

A BEGGAR BOARD FOR A MASCOT ... AND CAUGHT ON CARDBOARD!
The Card: Boomer 2015 Choice Trenton Thunder
The Buzz On This: I get that MiLB games are fertile ground for autographs nine times out of 10 -- the 10th perhaps being the big-time phenom bonus baby or a re-habbing MLB star -- but there was always one thing I knew was not a good thing when it came to hounding ... the beggar board. It's a genuine no-no to present a page of stuff to a Hall of Famer for sure, but I'd also suggest that maybe two or three cards might be OK presented mounted on a page for a player to sign each card ... but nine? That's not even cool for a mascot, though from the looks of this card all nine cards there did get signed. Somehow, this super-controversial scenario got captured on a card ... though maybe Boomer is the nice guy about it all like the card back suggests.

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. 

TWO SURPRISES, ONE CARD
The Card: John Lannan & Katrina Mangieri 2021 Choice Trenton Thunder #5
The Buzz On This One: I'm always on the hunt for cards with unusual position players on them as part of this series and this time it's a double-whammy with a mental performance coach and a dietitian sharing a spot on the checklist. I'm 99.99 percent sure nothing like this has ever shown up in an MLB set and it's the weird stuff like this that can make MiLB team sets stand out from the rest. Why do they have cards? Well, they're part of the team. Why don't they have cards at the next level? Probably because those off-field teams are big as it is ... and a lot of players don't get cards or lesser names that do prompt "value" complaints from collectors. (I'm sure of that.) It's inevitably not valuable here -- pocket change -- but it's definitely oddball ... and it's not alone this time.

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 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. 

REMEMBER THIS ONE?
The Card: Brian Span (with Whitney Houston ... sort of) 1989 Sport Pro Spokane Indians #15
The Buzz On This One: If you're a regular Buzz reader, then you may remember my deep dive into this epic MiLB team set that, well, showcases how the team went to the mall to make their annual card set. No, really, each player and some coaches plugged various stores at the mall with some having funnier cards than others. Span went to DJ’s Sound City, a chain described as "a fixture in Spokane's Music Market for almost 20 years" and made one of the weirdest cards ever made. (See the rest of them at that link.) I had the chance to pick up two more of these and I did ... and you can bet I'll probably grade one -- it's just too comical not to.

Keep reading for more examples of some weird baseball cards you can (almost) only 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. 

LEADER OF THIS PACK ...
The Card: Rookie 2015 Choice Trenton Thunder #34
The Buzz On This One: Today is National Pet Day, everybody, so Buzz doesn't have to wait for the dog days of summer to unleash this one -- a pack of dogs on baseball cards you won't find in packs of baseball cards but instead some big dogs you'll find down on the farm in MiLB team sets. There are actually a ton of team dogs and baseball cards and, to a degree, a leader in that pack (at least in the non-mascot variety) is the Trenton Thunder. Their dog days started with Chase That Golden Thunder back in 2000. (Buzz doesn't have a degree in ballpark pup history so I don't know which team was first. Watch this for a full story from Derby, his dad.) Rookie is a current star for the team as part of a lineage of bat dogs putting bat boys out of business ... at least at this park. He's not alone ...

Keep reading for more examples of weird baseball cards you can (almost) only 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 and here are five example of some oddities in this latest MiLB Madness series item. 

BO BEFORE THE SHOW
The Card: Bo Bichette 2017 Choice Midwest League All-Stars
The Buzz On This One: I've found myself buying more cards of this guy than any other lately and some of the more-obscure stuff like this can be right up there on my radar more than second- or third-year Bowman stuff. Why? MiLB team sets and then loaded All-Star team sets like this one are inevitably a lot rarer than a lot of the basics for popular prospecting releases. Are they pricey? Oftentimes, no, but they simply have to be far more limited. (All-Star sets are likely the more plentiful of the two types as they are often sold by every team in a league.) You can find big names from the past in All-Star sets and they can be loaded with talent while standard team sets can be pricier but really only for a card or two. Now ... on to some weirder cardboard like I always have in hand for this series.

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

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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. Deivi Garcia, RHP, Yankees — Double-A Trenton Thunder
Baseball America’s highlight line: “Garcia continued one of the best seasons by a pitching prospect by spinning a masterpiece against Richmond. He struck out the first eight batters and was in complete control the rest of the way. The performance boosted his strikeouts per nine innings to 15.1, the best in the minors among qualified starters. It also tied the Trenton franchise record for strikeouts in a game, which was set by Adam Warren in 2010."

CARDBOARD BASICS
Approximate card total (so far): Just MiLB team set cardboard 
First Chrome auto: Still to come
One auto to consider: Still to come
Buzz’s card take: You may remember seeing this guy here about a year ago and nothing has ultimately changed on the cardboard front. He's just 20 and rising in the minors so that cardboard should be coming at some point. He's 3-4 with a 3.02 ERA and a ridiculous 100 strikeouts in 59-plus innings pitched this season so there should be some serious demand once that first ink hits. His few MiLB team sets should be watched right now, too. (There's next to nothing on eBay right now for him.)

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

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