2004 Upper Deck Play Ball, Freddy Guzman

#230 Freddy Guzman

Here is another Padrograph that Rod sent me over two years ago. When I first saw this card, I thought to myself "this is a neat card that I had never seen before, but I have no idea who Freddy Guzman is". And I still didn't know who Freddy was until the 2009 playoffs. Then he magically appeared on the New York Yankees playoff roster and I said "hey, I have that guys autograph".

Freddy has had an interesting career. He started playing pro for the Padre organization in 2001. By 2004, he had eared his first cup of coffee and it lasted all of twenty games. He then missed all of 2005 before resurfacing in '06 for another cup. This cup lasted nine games and it was with the Rangers. He got another cup with them the following season and it lasted eight games. He wouldn't play in the Majors again until the Yankees called him up in 2009 for ten games.

But Freddy's 2009 season was a little more interesting than just ten games for the Yankees. Freddy started the season playing for the Mariners AAA team in Tacoma. He got released in May and was picked up by the Red Sox and assigned to their AAA team. Then the Sox released him in July and he was signed by the Orioles and placed on their AAA team. He remained with them until they traded him to the Yankees on the 31st of August. He was assigned to the Yanks AAA team before he got called up in the middle of September and now he has a World Series ring.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought that you could not appear in the post-season unless you were with the team before the start of September. Is there some kind of loophole that I am missing or am I completely off base?

According to Wikipedia, Freddy signed with the Phillies in the off-season. But, I can find no record of him playing in 2010 besides his recent winter ball stats.