2003 Topps Total, Luke Allen

#9 Luke Allen

Here is another card from the recent package from Paul. This one features the former Rocky and Dodger, Luke Allen.

Luke was signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent after graduating high school in 1997. In 2002, he had his first taste of the AAA level, a level that he would get to know really well in the coming years. Luke only played in five games at that level in 2002. That is kind of surprising since he played in six Major League games that September where he went 1-7 with a double and two runs scored.

That off-season, Luke was traded to the Rockies and he would play in two games for them in the Majors. The rest of the year was spent at AAA. Luke went on to play for four more AAA teams over the next three seasons before splitting time in 2007 between the Mexican League, the Atlantic League, and the Dodgers AA team. 2008 was then split between the Mexico and the Can-Am League. That was Luke's final season playing.

For his Major League career, Luke was 1-9.

I believe that this is the second time that this card has been posted on a blog. This looks like the card that Paul posted on Auto-Matic for the People in December of 2009. As Paul noted on that post, Luke certainly has a unique signature. It has changed quite a bit from the one that is posted on his Baseball Almanac page (the link up top).

I'm getting ready to go to my first game of the year today. The Kansas State Wildcats are hosting the Nebraska Cornhuskers and one of the coaches for the Huskers just happens to be Darin Erstad. I'm hoping to have a card of him to post on here in a couple of days.