Serial Saturday #34: SNI revisited

So my wife and I are on the back porch just chatting earlier today when she brings up that I could revisit the Serial Numbered Insanity set in a post or two if needed.  Today is Saturday after all, so I figured why not?

So I brought up the Random.Org number generator and had it pick a number between 1 and 1500.  Up came 434.

Miguel Flores, 2009 Bowman Chrome refractor.

One of the pitfalls of putting the set together was getting cards like this and not knowing anything about the player.  I decided to hit up baseball reference dot com and it took a couple of minutes, but there's a story worth telling.

Miguel didn't make it past Rookie ball in the Cardinals organization, and spent the final 3 years of his career playing Independent ball in the North East.  In 2009, he played for a team called the American Defenders of New Hampshire, who were formerly known as the Nashua Pride.  They were part of a league known as the Canadian-American Association, which is still running with half a dozen teams.

The Defenders squad lasted just one season, and couldn't even finish that.  Their uniforms were designed in the style of military camouflage, and the team's mascot was a soldier doll named "9-11".  Well, it didn't seem to take very well in the town of Nashua, as crowds were sparse and debts piled up.  The town finally had had enough and parked a tractor on home plate so they couldn't finish their remaining scheduled home games.  Miguel started 19 games for the club and had the 2nd most wins on the team with 6.  Miguel moved with the team to Pittsfield for the next 2 seasons, and by the time the 2012 season rolled around he was out of baseball, at least as far as I could see.

Funny how finding random cards can expand one's baseball knowledge, even if it is about an obscure independent baseball league.

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert