1999 Grandstand Hudsen Valley, Derek Anderson

#1 Derek Anderson

Here is a card that I got just before Christmas. Out of the blue one day, I got a random package in the mail from Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff. In it were about ten autographs and a heathy stack of Royals. Obviously, it was a very welcome surprise.

The wierd thing about this card, or Derek Anderson actually, is that I cannot find anything about him. My usual go-to place for minor leaguers is The Baseball Cube. On Derek's page there, all they have for him is that he was drafted by the Royals in 1994 and that he pitched for Somerset in 2005. Yet, here is a card of him from 1999 that shows him playing for the Hudson Valley Renegades of the New York-Penn League. The back of the card talks about him being a non-drafted free agent and mentions some of his stats through the first half of the season. So, he obviously pitched professionally beofre 2005.

As for the Renegades, they are still active in the New York-Penn League. They are also still affiliated with Tampa Bay, just like they were when this card came out.

I think that the coolest thing about this card is that it is from a short-season A ball team set. There can't be a ton of these out there. So, to randomly get a signed one is pretty neat.