2000 Bowman, Bryan Edwards

#108 Bryan Edwards

Here is a card that I got in the mail about a week ago from Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff fame. Paul had sent me a package out of the blue and it included a healthy stack of Royals cards, a Nolan Ryan manu-pacth card from the 1973 All Star game in Kansas City (which was really cool), and a handful of autographs. Here is the first autograph from the bunch to be posted.

This one is of the former Red, Padre, and Mets farmhand, Bryan Edwards. Just by looking at Bryan's stats, it is hard to tell what kind of minor league career he really had. The reason for that is because Bryan did three separate stints in an independent league. He was drafted by the Reds in the ninth round of the 2000 draft and he pitched in 13 minor league games for them that season. The strange part is that he also pitched for Newark, of the Atlantic League, for 6 games that season.

He then spent 2001 with the Reds Midwest League team in Dayton before ending up in the now defunct independent Western League for all of 2002. He was back in affiliated ball in '02 with the Padres, but that gig lasted just one season. He then moved over to the Mets and he spent three seasons with them while spending a majority of the time at the AA level. His last season there was 2006 and he had 4-8 record with a 4.72 ERA.

After that, it was back to the Atlantic League and Bryan played for three different teams during the 2007 season. That appears to be that last year that he played.

It kind of makes me wonder if Bryan had some behavioral problems or if he just rubbed his coaches the wrong way. You just don't see guys that young bouncing back and forth from the affiliated leagues to the independent leagues.