Aspirations

A co-worker gave me a factory set of 1991 Classic Best minor league cards a while ago.  It's a 450 card set that comes in a custom box with each block of 100 cards wrapped in cellophane.  This set had sort of a defect in that two of the blocks were of the 200 numbers, so I was missing the 100's.  I put them on the Trading Card database and they've come rolling in.

There are many players who went on to have significant major league careers.  Like these two:

But some of the others who didn't quite make it have similar names to those that did.  Though not all of the successful people made it in Major League Baseball.  

Cristobal Colon only played 14 games for the Texas Rangers.

He could have been Bartolo Colon!

Steve Rolen never made it beyond A+ ball. 

Scott Rolen has been on the HOF ballot.

Fred Russell was "straight outta Compton" but only had a few years at A level.

Bill Russell was a staple for the 70's and 80's Dodgers.

Oscar Munoz pitched ten games for the Twins in 1995, going 2-1.  

If he was Anthony Munoz, he would be a Hall of Fame lineman.

Jeff Jackson played from 1989 to 1998, but didn't go higher than AA.

Everyone knows what Bo did in two sports.

Some guys just weren't meant to be athletes.  Paul here actually appeared in 18 games for the Orioles in '93, with a .213 batting average.

As Harry Caray, he would have had a long career in the broadcast booth.  (Not to mention tributes by Will Ferrell.)

Freddie Davis, Jr. went five seasons in various levels up to AA with a total record of 12-11.

Sammie Davis, Jr. has been called the greatest entertainer in the world.  He started in Vaudeville at age three, was part of the Rat Pack with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and was in show business until his passing at age 64.

Rod Bolton was called up a couple times for the White Sox in '93 and '95, but only amassed a record of 2-8 in 156 innings.

Michael Bolton started as a hard rock singer in 1975, but switched to adult contemporary in the 90's and had nine #1 hits among 24 albums.

Kelly Lifgren was 28-44 from 1988 to 1993 with a 5.13 ERA.

Nils Lofgren (left) has been a musician since the late 60's and is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band as well as Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

Donovan Osborne actually played nine years in the majors, but over a 13 year span.  He did not play in 1994, 2000, 2001, and 2003.   His career ERA is a respectable 4.03 with 558 strikeouts.

But he's not the Prince Of Darkness!

Oh, what could have been!