2002 Upper Deck 40 Man, Alan Embree

#846 Alan Embree

Here is the final 2002 card. Tomorrow, I hope to start recapping all of the older cards that I have got signed since I started on the '02s. I have work and a Wingnuts game tomorrow, but I hope to get something up late at night after the game.

This card is a Padrograph of Alan Embree. It was sent to me about a year and a half ago and this whole time, I never realized that Alan is still an active player until yesterday. I was looking at his career stats and was shocked to see that he pitched for the Rockies last year. Then, while I was checking out MLB Trade Rumors, I noticed that the Red Sox released Alan recently. He was pitching for their AAA team and I guess he had a clause in his contract that entitled him to his release if he wasn't called up by a certain date. So, Alan is now an unrestricted free agent. Maybe the Royals will give him a shot.

I think one of the reasons that I thought Alan wasn't playing any more is because I haven't seen a card of him for a few years. That was one of the neat things about Topps Total and UD 40 Man; you would get cards of all of the relief pitchers and bench players. Why both companies steered away from this concept is a mystery to me. That would be the one set that I would be interested in today.

Speaking of Padrographs, I got an awesome package from Rod yesterday. I will try to post some of its contents tonight after I get home from the K-State/Texas game. GO CATS!

Most Wanted: 1982 Topps Denny Lewallyn

Here before you is the number one card that I am looking for right now. I have tried to trade this on the TMC giveaway, but have had no such luck. Only one of these cards have been given away and the person that has it isn't looking to trade with me.

So, I am looking for some help from the blogging community. If you have this card, I will trade you a Jeremy Giambi jersey card or a Todd Helton jersey card. If you are interested, let me know by May 12th.

And if you have the 1990 Target card (or a minor league one), the trade still applies.

If there are any other cards you would want in return, just let me know.

2002 Upper Deck, Bob Malek

#46 Bob Malek

Here is the "Futuer Gem" that I referenced yesterday and it was sent to me by Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff.

Bob was a first team All-American at Michigan State. He was drafted by the Mets in the fourth round of the 2002 draft and he signed quickly enough to get into 28 Brooklyn Cyclones games that year. He moved up to their Sally League team the next season and even got promoted to the Florida State League before the halfway point in the season. Amazingly, his average rose after each promotion.

He spent most of his third season in the FSL, but he did get into 14 AA games. The following season was spent entirely with the AA team and he hit .277 with 37 RBI and 4 home runs in 116 games. At some point during that season or sometime during the next season, Bob must have hurt himself.

The reason why I say that is because Bob did something in 2006 that doesn't happen too often. That season, Bob played in at least two games with almost every minor league team the the Mets have. He played two games with the GCL Mets, three with Brooklyn (low-A), six with St. Lucie (high-A), sixty-three with Binghamton (AA), and eighteen with Norfolk (AAA). Since I have started this blog, that is first time that I have noticed that. Granted, I don't look at too many minor league stats for the average Major Leaguer, but I still thought that that season looked interesting.

After that whirlwind season through the Mets system, Bob played in six FSL games the next year before his apparent release. He then found himself playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League for the majority of the season. After that, he was picked up by the Dodgers and he played in 28 AA games before getting released. That was in 2008 and that appears to be the last season that he played.

Bob has a neat looking signature. If you look at his Bowman card that is used on the Baseball Cube page that is linked at the top, you can see that his signature changed a bunch after going pro.

This is the last '02 UD card that I have for here and I must say that this is a good looking set, although based on a small sample size. After the last few years of UD, this close-up shot almost looks out of place.

2002 Upper Deck, Cory Aldridge

#31 Cory Aldridge

I had no idea that Cory Aldridge played in the Major Leagues until about ten minutes ago. I was looking at the two cards that are signed from this set and I noticed that one said "Future Gem" and the other said "Star Rookie". Having assumed that niether player played in the Majors, I started to wonder what the difference was between the two. Well, it seems that Cory's five Major League at-bats are the difference.

Cory was drafted by the Braves in the fourth round of the 1997 draft. It took him five seasons to reach AA and he ended up hitting .246 there with 19 home runs and 56 RBI. The Braves organization was pleased enough with those results that they gave him a September call-up. During that month, Cory got into 8 games. He was mostly a defensive replacement, but he did get 5 at-bats. In those 5 ABs, he struck out 4 times and grounded out once.

That was in 2001 and Cory hasn't recieved a second chance to redeem himself since. It looks like he was hurt for most of the 2002 season since he only played in 17 games for the Braves GCL team. Since then, he has bounced around the Royals, Mets, White Sox, and Angels systems, as well as a brief stint with the Newark Bears. He is currently playing for the Angels AAA team, the Salt Lake Bees. He is off to a good start so far with a batting average over .300 with 5 homers and 23 RBI. It would be nice to see him get another shot at the Majors.

I got this card signed last season in Des Moines, Iowa while Cory was playing for the Omaha Royals. It's not the best card for getting signed, but it was the only one I could find on checkoutmycards.com. Cory signed it between games of a doubleheader.

2002 Topps Total, Brian Adams

#185 Brian Adams

Here is another card that was sent to my by Paul this past Christmas. It features the former Red Sox farmhand, Brian Adams.

Brian was drafted by the Sox in the 8th round of the 2000 draft. He advanced his way up to AA and in May of 2003, he was traded to the Brewers to complete an earlier deal (yes, he was a player to be named later). He pitched for a year and a half with the Brewers AA team before being released after the 2004 season.

After that, he pitched for two seasons with the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the Northern League. He then went to the Atlantic League for three seasons while he pitched for the Somerset Patriots. In his first season there, he went 15-2 for the year. That was his first where he pitched primarily as a starter since his first season of pro ball.

Brian had been pitching for the Broncos de Reynosa of the Mexican League this spring. He had a 2-0 record and a 1.07 ERA in six starts. He is now listed on their roster as a reserve, though. The Mexican League starts play in March and it is likely that Brian was using that time to get ready for this season. However, I didn't see his name on any of the Atlantic League rosters, so I have no idea what he is up to this season.

In 2002, I probably bought four packs of cards. None of them were Topps Total, so I had no idea that this product was available then. In fact, I did not know that there was an '02 Topps Total set until I got this card from Paul. This is the only card from the set that I own (that I know of).

2002 Topps Chrome, Leonard DiNardo

#691 Leonard DiNardo

I thought that this was a cool card before I even got it signed. For one, it's a Topps Chrome card that looks so much different in color to the base set. The base set was a bronze color and this one is silver. I don't buy many Topps Chrome cards, but I don't think that they chrome them up like they did in this set. The second thing I like about it is that it calls him Leonard, rather than Lenny like he goes by. The final thing I like about it is that it features him as a Met. I didn't know that he was ever a Met. It turns out that he was drafted by them, but taken by the Red Sox in the Rule V draft two years later. I had no idea.

I got this card signed last summer on my College World Series trip. Lenny was playing for the Omaha Royals at the time and I was able to get this card signed in betwen games of a double header in Des Moines, Iowa. It's kind of a sloppy autograph because Lenny had a hot chocolate in one hand and my Sharpie in the other. I had to hold my book for him while he signed. But, that's how it goes sometimes when 'graphing.

Lenny was the pitcher of the year last season in the Pacific Coast League.

2002 Topps, Demetrius Heath

#T200 Demetrius Heath

Here is the seventh and final 2002 Topps card. This one features Demetrius Heath and it was sent to me by Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff.

Heath was a 31st round selection of the Tigers in the 2000 draft. He played in the Tigers organization from 2001-2003 and he never got above high-A ball. He got released by the Tigers after the '03 season and he ended up playing for the Atlantic City Surf in 2004. He did good enough with them that the Angels signed him in August of that year assigned him to their California League team. He hit .338 with them in 74 at-bats, but it wasn't enough and he got released after 22 games.

After that, Heath bounced around the independent circuit. He went back to Atlantic City for two seasons. He then split the 2007 season with the Saint Paul Saints of the American Association and the Schaumburg Flyers of the Northern League. 2008 was spent with the Ft. Worth Cats (AA) and the Winnipeg Goldeyes (NL). He didn't play at all last year, so his career is likely done.