The Baseball Enthusiast: 7/17/2016 Indianapolis Indians 4, Louisville Bats 6

Sunday, July 17, 2016

7/17/2016 Indianapolis Indians 4, Louisville Bats 6

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY

Game 4 of 4

Another Squad effort at LSF today...Kei and I started off in 211

...we were joined by my friends Joel and Sheila, yet moved over to 219 just before being boiled alive by the sun and humidity

#SquadGoals

My scoresheets, using my pitch-counting method! Read about it HERE, download the scoresheets for free HERE!

All four of us played the Mystery Rookie Card game; I can't recall who drew this exquisite 2005 Bowman BPP73 Matt Maloney, but it was a close second in the race, for sure.

Matt was one of my favorite Louisville relief pitchers, and is the all-time K leader for the Bats. Matt originally ended up with the Reds when they sent Kyle Lohse to the Phillies at the trade deadline in 2007, but was placed on waivers in 2011 and picked up by the Minnesota Twins. There begins the period of desolation you might expect...he signed as a free agent with Boston the following year, with no sizable benefit for either party. In 2014, he started playing independent ball, signed with the Reds and was released a month later. 2015 found him back in Indie ball again (4 games with the Sugarland Skeeters), and has since disappeared into the ether.

Who's Bill White? He's from Louisville...but not so much as you'd know it. He attended high school in Alabama, and was a 3rd round pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000.

Well, that didn't work out so great...seven years with the Diamondbacks, no MLB service time. So why is he wearing a Nationals jersey, while the card says he's a Ranger, on this 2008 Upper Deck? Good question. White signed with the Nats in November 2006, and was released by the time Spring Training was done in March 2007...he signed with the Rangers two days later, made his MLB debut with them the same year, and became a free agent at the end of 2008. The Cubs picked him up on January 11, 2009 and let him go just over a month later. He was on the 2010 roster of the Long Island Ducks as a reliever, pitched 19 games and was subsequently ether-bound.

Speaking of ether, this 2007 Topps features another 3rd round pick who was also destined to stay in his org for a number of years (9). Chase Wright did appear in 3 games for the Yankees in 2007, but that's it for MLB.

The Yankees traded Wright to the Brewers for Eric Fryer in 2009, he stayed with the org until his release in 2011. 2012 found him in 44 games for the Somerset Patriots and 6 games for the Dominican Winter League Gigantes del Cibao, before disappearing to wherever washed-up 3rd round pick 29 year old pitchers disappear to.

As I mentioned earlier, my pick won...hands down. All hail THE PRINCE!!