2008 Choice Newark Bears, Tim Sweeney

#23 Tim Sweeney

Yesterday, I posted four Choice minor league cards that were given to me by another blogger. Today, I have one more. This one is from Paul, from Paul's Random Stuff fame. He sent this to me a few years ago with some other goodies.

Tim had a really short professional career. He was drafted by the Expos in the 20th round of the 2002 draft and he was out of baseball after the 2003 season after just playing 105 games and hitting .201. He then emerged with the Aiken Foxhounds of the South Coast League in 2007 before joining the Atlantic League's Newark Bears in 2008. How he managed to not play for three seasons before coming back to a league that I had never heard of and then playing a season in the Atlantic League is beyond me.

The Atlantic League is the cream of the crop of independent baseball with many former Major Leaguers playing in it. In fact, MLB just signed an agreement with the league to try out possible new rule changes there before implementing them at the Major League level. The funny thing is that this guy, that hit .201 in lower A ball, did well in the Atlantic League. Though he played in just 37 games, Tim managed to hit .273 with 12 RBI. He even pitched a scoreless inning.

Tim hung up the cleats for good after that one season with Newark. But, we have this cool card of him to commemorate his last season playing professional ball.

2008 Choice Frederick Keys

#8 Todd Davison
#21 Brandon Tripp
#22 Chris Vinyard
#28 Paul Winterling

Here are a few cards from the 2008 Frederick Keys team set that was put out by Choice. I acquired these cards in a care package from Ryan of The Great Orioles Autograph Project fame. I assume that he got them signed in person at a Keys game in 2008.

Unfortunately, none of these guys made it very far in baseball. Three of the four were out of pro ball by the end of the 2009 season and never made it to AA. The only one that played past 2009 was Brandon Tripp. He made it to AA in the Phillies organization in 2012. But, that was his last year in affiliated ball, though he would go on to play in the American Association through the 2014 season. So, I guess that makes him the most accomplished one in the bunch.

As for the 2008 Keys, they finished their season 63-76, which placed them third in the four team North Division of the Carolina League. Notable names on their roster included Matt Wieters and Jake Arrieta.

The Rest of 2008 Bowman

#86 Billy Butler
#219 Alberto Gonzalez
#BP95 Matt Buschmann
#BDP22 Nick Hundley
#BDP46 Warner Madrigal
#BDPP47 Johnny Giavotella

I have been posting 2008 Bowman cards for about two months, but that is over now. Here are the cards I skipped over. I originally planned on skipping over cards when it was of a player that I have posted on here before. But, I decided to switch it up when I got to Alberto Gonzalez. I have not posted a card of him yet, but I have a 2008 Upper Deck Artifacts card of him where that is the only card of the set that I have signed. So, I have to post that card. So, rather than doing two posts about him, I will be lumping him into the "Rest of" category twice before he gets his first post.

Billy Butler- He signed this card for me from the Royals parking lot after a game in 2008. Those were the good ol' days.

Alberto Gonzalez- He signed for me in 2015 while he was playing for the Wichita Wingnuts.

Matt Buschmann- A Padrograph. I don't think I mentioned it in his original post, but Matt is the bullpen coach for the Blue Jays now. I also have one more of these if anyone needs one.

Nick Hundley- Another Padrograph.

Warner Madrigal- He signed this for me at a Northwest Arkansas Naturals game in 2010 when he was on a rehab assignment with the Frisco Rough Riders.

Johnny Giavotella- This one is like Alberto Gonzalez in that I haven't given Johnny his own post. But, that is coming shortly. This one was signed in 2009 at the Wilmington Blue Rocks game I attended. If I had to guess, I would say that this photo was taken at Wichita State's Eck Stadium in 2008. WSU hosted a regional that year and Johnny's New Orleans Privateers were one of the four teams there. Back then, Eck featured a turf infield and grass outfield just like the photo on this card. I went to two games in that regional, but I did not see New Orleans play.

2008 Bowman, Chris Tillman

#SOF-CT1 Chris Tillman

Here is a card that I pulled out of a pack in 2008. If it wasn't for this card, I never would have known that Tillman was originally drafted by the Mariners. But, before he could ever debut with them, they shipped him to the O's for Erik Bedard. Considering that Baltimore also got Adam Jones in the deal and that those two players played for the team for ten years each, I would say that the O's got the better end of that deal.

In ten seasons with the O's, Chris amassed a record of 74-60 with a 4.57 ERA and 847 strikeouts. He had double-digit win totals four times and topped out at 16 wins twice. He never made an All Star team, but he did pitch in three postseason games.

After winning 16 games for a second time in 2016, Chris has had a rough go of it since. He ended up getting demoted to the bullpen in 2017 and he only pitched in seven games last year before getting designated for assignment. Over that span, his record is 2-12 with a 8.46 ERA in 119.2 innings of work. That might help explain why the thirty year-old is currently a free agent.

It is still early in Spring Training, so I would think that there is a team out there willing to take a chance on Chris with a cheap incentive-laden deal. We will see.

2008 Bowman, Bryan Anderson

#BDPP96 Bryan Anderson

Here is a card that I got signed at an Omaha Storm Chasers game in 2016. Bryan was playing with the visiting Nashville Sounds at the time and he stopped and signed three cards on his way to the field.

At the time, Brian was rocking some long hair. It looked similar to his picture on his Baseball-Reference site, but it was past his shoulders at that point. He looked more like a roadie than a professional ballplayer. It was quite impressive.

Bryan had a relatively short Major League career. Though he played in the bigs during five different seasons, he only got to play in 40 Major League games. Of those 40, only 16 were starts.

Bryan's last season playing ball was that 2016 minor league season. Over his 40 games with the Cardinals, White Sox, and A's, he was a .221 hitter with 4 doubles, no home runs, and 7 RBI. He finished with more strikeouts than hits.

2008 Bowman, Welington Castillo

#BDPP82 Welington Castillo

Here is another card that I got signed at an Iowa Cubs game. The last card I posted from an I-Cubs game was signed in 2013 during an out of the way game during the College World Series. This one was obtained in 2011 on the way home from a Minnesota Twins game.

Welington was a super-friendly guy that would sign about anything. I had three cards of him and he signed all three. One kid had over a dozen cards of him and he signed them all, but not without giving the kid crap about selling his autographs. He was just joking with the kid and it was good to see that kind of interaction between a fan and player.

So far, Welington has played in the Majors every year since 2010. He spent the first five and a half seasons with the Cubs before bouncing around after that. Since 2015, he has played with the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Orioles, and is now currently with the White Sox.

To date, he is a .259 hitter that has 86 home runs and 298 RBI. His best season was probably with the Orioles in 2017. That year, he hit .282 with 20 homers and 53 RBI.

He signed a two-year deal with the White Sox after that, but had a rough season last year in his first year with the South Siders. Injuries limited him to just 49 games, though he did hit .259 with 6 dingers and 15 RBI in his limited action. I am sure he will be looking to bounce back this season so the Sox will pick up his option for 2020.

2008 Bowman, Chris Getz

#BDPP81 Chris Getz

Here is a card that I got signed outside of Kauffman Stadium in 2013 while Chris was with the Royals. That was about the time that the Royals became bad signers at home, so Chris was the only Royal I got that day. The Rangers were in town that afternoon and I did much better with them.

Chis played in the Majors for parts of seven seasons with the White Sox, Royals, and Blue Jays. Over that time, he hit .250 with 3 home runs, 111 RBI, and 89 stolen bases. His best season was with the White Sox in 2009. That year, he hit .261 with 18 doubles, 2 dingers, and 31 RBI. He did so well that season that Topps named him to their All-Rookie Team. The White Sox rewarded him by trading him to the Royals for Mark Teahan. I am going to call that trade a push.

These days, Chris is back with the White Sox as their director of player development.

Based off of a couple of other autographs that I have gotten from Chris, it would appear that Chris only signed his first name on this card. I guess that is just how his hurried ballpark signature comes out.