All Time Brewer Additions - And a White Whale Harpooned

I felt a bit dumb after posting about my "white whale" Brewers card - the 1998 Pacific Invincible checklist with Julio Franco on the reverse, when Bean from Bean's Ballcard Blog pointed out that one could easily and cheaply be had on sportslots - a site I use quite regularly. As it turns out, I had to jigger my search a bit to find it, something I should have tried on my own. Anyway, I finally got the thing and also had an excuse to check the seller's lists for other Brewers who I did not yet have on cardboard. I got a pretty good haul, about 20 of them, which got me a good bit closer to my all-time set. 

Of course, the Franco was the centerpiece, even if it is ugly and needs to be loaded backwards into the 9-pocket page. But it makes no matter to me. I finally have a "Brulio" to call my own. 

When on sportslots, I always check for low-dollar autos of fringe Brewers. My overly ambitious goal to get a completed SIGNED set of Brewers is probably a pipe dream, but something I like to chip away at nonetheless. Here is a Signature Rookies card of Carl Dale, who pitched four innings for the Brewers in 1999 and allowed nine earned runs. Dale's 20.25 ERA is the highest for any Brewer who pitched at least three innings. And I'd like to add here that it is well worth the money to subscribe to baseball-reference.com's play index. 

This project includes the one-year-wonder Seattle Pilots. Jerry Stephenson is best known as as a Red Sock, but appeared in a pair of games with the Pilots in 1969. Like most of the cards I picked up in this haul, Stephenson is not shown with the Pilots/Brewers because he was not with the club long enough to get a Pilots/Brewers card.

Ryan Thompson had an 18-homer year with the Mets in 1994. He hit eight with the Brewers in 2002 as a part-time outfielder on a team that lost 4,500 games. 

Geremi (also Jeremi) Gonzalez broke in with the Cubs in 1997, winning 11 games and getting Rookie of the Year votes. He pitched the last 42 innings of his career with the Brewers in 2006. Sadly, Gonzalez died in 2008 after being struck by lightning in his native Venezuela. 

Like Thompson and Gonzalez, Andrew Lorraine ended his career as a Brewer. He bounced around for a few years as a bullpen lefty before landing in Milwaukee in that doomed year of 2002 (they actually only lost 106 games). He was torched over 12 innings, allowing 15 earnies. His 11.25 ERA as a Brewer is the highest in team history for anyone who has thrown as least 12 innings. I hope you are all enjoying this trend. 

Chris Smith appeared with the Brewers in both 2009 and 2010, registering a decent '09 season and... wait... this is not the Chris Smith I am looking for. I need a white Chris Smith. OK, so that was $2 wasted. This Chris Smith, so far as I can tell, played two years in the Yankees org before washing out of baseball. Anyway, if anyone wants it, just say the word. 

And finally, here is another fringe Brewer, courtesy of Commissioner Bob. Bob found this in a repack and posted about it as an oddball, but I immediately recognized it as a former Brewers. Mike Misuraca pitched ten innings in 1997, allowing five homers (!!!) and seven walks. He did, however, strike out ten men. Misuraca never had a major league card (his only MLB time was with the Brewers) and this marks the first minor league cardboard in my ATB binders. So thanks for not tossing this directly into the trash, Bob.