Mitch Dening - 2014-15 Adelaide Bite

One of the big moves in the off season was former Sydney Blue Sox player Mitch Dening following former team mate Matt Williams from the Blue Sox over to the Adelaide Bite. Dening had been with the Blue Sox since the inaugural ABL season, but was headhunted by the Bite for the 2014-15 ABL season to add some power hitting to their lineup.

Dening had spent 2014 playing for Niigata Albirex in Japan's independent Baseball Challenge League.

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Mitch Dening card front - ©2014 Adam East

Alex Glenn - 2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox

Glenn is an American import from the Arizona Diamondbacks organisation playing with the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2014-15 ABL season. In 2014 he played with the Visalia Rawhide in the High-A level California League.

I wasn't quite sure which shot I preferred of Glenn, so have two designs for him at the moment.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Alex Glenn card front - ©2014 Adam East

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Alex Glenn alternate card front - ©2014 Adam East

Nick Blount - 2014-15 Melbourne Aces

Was a bit disappointed during the recent ABL game between Canberra and Melbourne that I attended. Most of the Melbourne players were wearing jumpers/hoodies. Normally I only try and get shots of the players in uniform, and will usually get decent shots of between 17-19 of the 22 players that come into town for each series. Obviously the Melbourne players were feeling the cold thus particular night, and I only got shots of about a dozen players in uniform. I'll have to make do with some "training gear" shots, which I consider less than ideal.

The other point about the players wearing jumpers/hoodies is that it makes it harder to identify the imports and fringe players without their uniform number visible.

I believe that this shot is of American import Nick Blount. Blount is a member of the Chicago White Sox organisation, playing with the Melbourne Aces during the 2014-15 ABL season. He had a short stint with the White Sox' Rookie level  Arizona League team in 2014,  but spent the majority of his time at the high-A level Winston-Salem Dash of the Carolina League.

2014-15 Melbourne Aces Nick Blount card front - © 2014 Adam East

Mitch Walding - 2014-15 Canberra Cavalry

Walding is an American import from the Philadelphia Phillies organisation who is playing with the Canberra Cavalry during the 2014-15 ABL season. Walding spent 2014 playing for the Lakewood BlueClaws in the Single-A South Atlantic League.

2014-15 Canberra Cavalry Mitch Walding card front - © 2014 Adam East

Rocky Gale - 2014-15 Adelaide Bite

Besides being a baseballer with a funky sounding name, Gale is an American import from the San Diego Padres organisation playing with the Adelaide Bite during the 2014-15 ABL season. Gale is one of the more experienced imports playing in the ABL this season, having spent 2014 playing for the El Paso Chihuahuas of the Triple-A level Pacific Coast League.

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Rocky Gale card front - ©2014 Adam East

Steve Landell - 2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox

Landell is an American import who is playing with the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2014-15 ABL season. Landell had previously played for the Southern Connecticut State University before signing with the Normal Cornbelters of the independent Frontier League in 2014. Not sure what happened, but despite the signing it appears he didn't end up debuting with the Cornbelters, so the ABL represents his professional debut.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Steve Landell card front - © 2014 Adam East

Josh Hendricks - 2014-15 Melbourne Aces

Melbourne were in town last week, so I now have some card designs for this years' Aces players that I can add to the blog. First up is local Victorian Josh Hendricks. Hendricks is returning for his fourth season with Melbourne in 2014-15, after having missed the 2013-14 ABL season.

2014-15 Melbourne Aces Josh Hendricks card front - ©2014 Adam East

Jake Brown - 2014-15 Canberra Cavalry

Brown is an American import playing for the Canberra Cavalry during the 2014-15 ABl season. Brown  spent four seasons (2010-2013) in the Oakland Athletics farm system, reaching double A level. In 2014 he played for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the independent Atlantic League.

Since the ABL has effectively stopped scheduling doubleheader games I've struggled to get decent photos of relievers. They're always in the game in lowlight conditions at the end of the evening and my equipment is too slow to capture decent shots in the dark. This is the best I could do for Brown

2014-15 Canberra Cavalry Jake Brown card front - ©2014 Adam East

Josh Tols - 2014-15 Adelaide Bite

Local Adelaide born Tols is a relatively new face with the Adelaide Bite. The 2014-15 ABL season is his second season with Adelaide, however his first season was back in 2010-11, the inaugural ABL season, during which Tols pitched in just a single game for the Bite.

Tols had played for Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO between 2012 and 2014. After graduating, he spent the rest of 2014 playing in the independent Pecos League - first with the Las Vegas Train Robbers, following which he was traded to the Trinidad Triggers.

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Josh Tols card front - ©2014 Adam East

Matthew Rae - 2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox

Rae has returned for his fourth season with the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2014-15 ABL season. It's been a bit of a rough start to the season for Rae, after 5 games he boasts an ERA of 37.80, having given up 8 runs in only 1.2 completed innings of gametime.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Matthew Rae - ©2014 Adam East

Sydney Checklist - 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox

Finally. My last card design to be posted up from the 2013-14 ABL season, and it's the checklist for the Sydney Blue Sox. The rest of my upcoming posts are all going to be card designs from the 2014-15 ABl season which is currently underway.

2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox Checklist card - ©2014 Adam East

Adam Silva - 2014-15 Canberra Cavalry

Victorian youngster Silva is a member of the New York Yankees organisation. He has been on the cusp of selection with the Melbourne Aces over the last couple of summers but was unable to secure a debut in the ABL with them. He took his chances  in the inaugural ABL Australian Draft held earlier this year and was drafted by the Canberra Cavalry for the 2014-15 ABL season.

Recovering from injury, Silva played a handful of games for the Yankees in 2014, firstly for the Rookie level Gulf Coast League Yankees, and then a single game with the Dominican Summer League Yankees. He's since made his ABL debut with Canberra.

2014-15 Canberra Cavalry Adam Silva card front - ©2014

Chan Moon - 2014-15 Adelaide Bite

Chan Jong Moon is a Korean who is a part of the Houston Astros organisation. He is playing for the Adelaide Bite during the 2014-15 ABL season. In 2014 Moon split time between the Single A Quad Cities River Bandits and the High A Lancaster JetHawks.

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Chan Moon card front - ©2014 Adam East

Perth Checklist - 2013-14 Perth Heat

Here' the second last of my checklists from last year's card designs - the 2013-14 Pertrh Heat checklist.

2013-14 Perth Heat Checklist card - ©2014 Adam East

Trent Oeltjen - 2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox

Mr Smiley is back. I've never seen a player who smiles as much as Oeltjen ... it would be nice if more people were like that :)

Former Aussie MLB player Oeltjen is back with the Sydney Blue Sox for the 2014-15 ABL season, his 3rd in the ABL. He spent 2014 in two short stints - one with the Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League, followed by a couple of months with the Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks Triple-A level affiliate.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Trent Oeltjen card front - ©2014 Adam East

Tim Atherton - 2014-15 Canberra Cavalry

Off-season movement saw NSW born Atherton leave the Blue Sox and return to the Canberra Cavalry for the 2014-15 ABL season. Atheron had originally debuted with the Cavalry, playing with them during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 ABL seasons, before leaving for Sydney.

Atherton also went from playing for the Minnesota Twins organisation over to the Oakland Athletics via the Rule 5 Draft at the end of 2013. He mainly spent 2014 playing for the Athletics' High A affiliate, the Stockton Ports, with a single (disastrous) start for the Triple-A level Sacramento River Cats as well. (Atherton lasted a single inning, giving up 6 runs).

2014-15 Canberra Cavalry Tim Atherton card front - ©2014 Adam East

Melbourne Checklist - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

My checklist card for the Melbourne Aces for last season (ie the 2013-14 ABL season).

2013-14 Melbourne Aces Checklist card - ©2014 Adam East

Will Swanner - 2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox

Swanner is an American import from the Colorado Rockies organisation playing with the Sydney Blue Sox for the 2014-15 ABL season. Swanner started 2014 with the High-A level Modesto Nuts in the California League before moving up to the Tulsa Drillers in the Double-A Texas League.

There were a number of photo choices I had for Swanner. This was my initial take on the card, but decided against it as the shadow/contrast was too high, and the fact that I like to get shots of catchers actually in their catcher's gear.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Will Swanner alternate card front - ©2014 Adam East

I eventually settled on this shot for the final card version - in his catcher's gear, but still a clear face shot.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Will Swanner card front - ©2014 Adam East

I do have to admit, I was so tempted to use this shot though - love the expression on Swanner's face. It's juts a shame that Jack Murphy's head is in the way.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Will Swanner alternate card front - ©2014 Adam East

LB Dantzler - 2014-15 Canberra Cavalry

Richard (AKA L.B.) Dantzler is a member of the Toronto Blue Jays organisation, playing as an American import with the Canberra Cavalry for the 2014-15 ABL season. Dantzler spent 2014 split between the Single-A  level Lansing Lugnuts and the High-A level Dunedin Blue Jays.

2014-15 Canberra Cavalry LB Dantzler card front - ©2014 Adam East

Canberra Checklist - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

Continuing to round out the images of my checklist cards from last season - here's the largest of the checklists from 2013-14- the Canberra Cavalry.

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry checklist card - ©2014 Adam East

Tyler Bortnick - 2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox

Some hand signals have different meanings ... I don't know what Bortnick was implying to me in this shot, but I know this hand signal as "drama llama" :)

Bortnick is an American import from the Arizona Diamondbacks organisation who is plaing with the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2014-15 ABL season. Bortnick has been playing for the Diamondback's triple-A affiliate - the Reno Aces in the Pacific Coast League - since 2012.

2014-15 Sydney Blue Sox Tyler Bortnick card front - ©2014 Adam East

Alex Hudak - 2014-15 Canberra Cavalry

Here we go, my first formal card for the 2014-15 ABL season, This card features Alex Hudak, an American import playing with the Canberra Cavalry for the 2014-15 ABL season. Hudak spent two seasons (2012-2013) playing in the Kansas City Royals system before being released. He spent 2014 playing for the Camden Riversharks in the independent Atlantic League.

2014-15 Canberra Cavalry Alex Hudak card front - © 2014 Adam East

Brisbane Checklist - 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits

Hoping to get out to my first game of the season tonight, which means my first 2014-15 season cards should be up next week. In the meantime, here's my Brisbane Bandits checklist for last season's cards.

2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Checklist card - © 2014 Adam East

Adelaide Checklist - 2013-14 Adelaide Bite

As I finalise my last lot of card designs from the 2013-14 ABL season for the printers, I realised that I hadn't made checklist cards yet. I ended up deciding on making 3 cards for the checklist, with one card face for each team.

Here's the checklist for the Adelaide Bite.

2013-14 Adelaide Bite checklist card front - © 2014 Adam East

Halloween False Start - Marcus Lemon - 2014-15 Pre-season Canberra Cavalry

Well, the Canberra Cavalry advertised an exhibition game last Saturday with a Halloween theme - their only pres-season game of the year before their first game on Thursday. I dutifully rocked up with my trusty camera to get a bunch of photos of all the new Cavalry players. I figured it would be good to get as many of the Cavalry players as I could - I could then focus on taking shots of the visiting players throughout the season. Plus, I thought, with two teams made up Cavalry players, I was bound to get shots of most of the Cavalry roster.

However, as they say about the best laid plans ....

To go with the Halloween theme, the players weren't in uniform, they were in various states of costume. Mixed into the playing group were what were being called "local celebrities" - sportsmen from other Canberran teams, media personalities, etc. There was no program or handout for the game either, and the enw players haven't been assigned numbers yet that we know of.

The upshot of this was, I had almost no idea of who on the field was actually a Cavalry player. In fact I had almost no way of knowing who anyone was. The ground announcer did try and do intros to the teams (The Vampires and the Werewolves), but they were difficult to follow, and the players didn't actually present to the crowd when they were introduced. The players didn't play in position either (eg Catcher Jack Murphy pitched and played outfield)

So in the end, I got nothing I can use for my season photos. I will put up a couple of shots I took as "pre-season cards" of a few players I was able to identify. The first "pres-season card" is of Marcus Lemon, dressed in a hula grass skirt with a lei wristband.

Marcus Lemon is the son of former MLB All Star Chet Lemon. In 2014, Marcus played for both the Double and Triple-A minor league teams of the Detroit Tigers. I'm unsure as to whethr he's still contracted to the Tigers or not though. The Cavalry listed him as an American import, not as an affiliated player in their pre-season blurb. Having said that, I couldn't find anything saying that the Tigers had released Marcus. He's listed as number 00 as I have no idea of player numbers yet.

2014-15 Canberra Cavalry Marcus Lemon pre-season card front - ©2014 Adam East

2014-15 Australian Baseball League - MLB Prospects and Imports - Final Update

OK, the 2014-15 Australian Baseball League season started last night. Here's my final update of the import players on the rosters of the Australian Baseball league teams as of Opening Day of the  2014-15 ABL season. As always, there may be one or two imports I've missed, and rosters will change throughout the season.

New additions since the last post are in red. Details of 19 imports added since last update.

Adelaide Bite: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Houston Astros: Tyler Brunnemann P (2014: A/A+)
• Houston Astros: Chan Moon SS (2014: A/A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Brandon Dixon 2B (2014: Rk/A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Kyle Hooper P (2014: A)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Aaron Miller RF (2014: A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Craig Stem P (2014: A+/AA)
• San Diego Padres: Rocky Gale C (2014: AAA)
• Seattle Mariners: Will Mathis P (2014: A+)
• Seattle Mariners: Troy Scott P (2014: Rk/A-)

Independent import players

• Morgan Coombs P (2014: Ind - American Association)
• Colin Feldtman P (2014: Collegiate - University of Portland)
• Craig Maddox 1B/C (2014: American association)
• Tony Vocca P (2014: Collegiate - University of Minnesota)

Brisbane Bandits: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Chicago White Sox: CJ Beatty OF (2014: A+)
• Tampa Bay Rays: Tommy Coyle 2B (2014: A+)
• Tampa Bay Rays: Johnny Field CF (2014: A/A+)
• Tampa Bay Rays: Granden Goetzman LF (2014: A/A+)
• Tampa Bay Rays: Maxx Tissenbaum C (2014:

Independent import players

• Daniel Cooper P (2014: ???)
• Jason Jarvis P (2014: Ind - American Association)
• Jaspreet Shergill P (2014: Ind - Intercounty Baseball League)
• Justin Staatz P (2014: ???)

Canberra Cavalry: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Detroit Tigers: Marcus Lemon SS (2014: AA/AAA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Mitch Walding 3B (2014: A)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Anthony Alford OF (2014: Rk/A)
• Toronto Blue Jays: LB Dantzler 1B (2014: A/A+)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Christian Lopes 2B (2014: A+)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Jack Murphy C (2014: AA/AAA)

Independent import players

• Jake Brown P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)
• Dustin Crenshaw P (2014: Ind - American Association)
• Brian Grening P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)
• Gaby Hernandez P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)
• AJ Holland P (2014: A; Ind- Frontier League)
• Alex Hudak U (2014: Ind - Atlantic League
• Ian Marshall P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)

Melbourne Aces: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Chicago White Sox: Nick Blount P (2014: Rk/A+)
• Chicago White Sox: Adam Engel CF (2014: A/A+)
• Chicago White Sox: Terance Marin P (2014: A+/AA)
• Milwaukee Brewers: Kyle Heckathorn P (2014: AAA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Dylan Cozens OF (2014:A)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Chace Numata C (2014: Rk)
• Texas Rangers: Cody Buckel P (2014: A+)
• Texas Rangers: Kellin Deglan C (2014: A/A+)

Independent import players

• Ben Henry P (2014: ???)
• Mitch Glasser (2014: Ind - Atlantic League; Mexican League)

Perth Heat: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Baltimore Orioles: Steel Russell C (2014: A+)
• Boston Red Sox: Michael McCarthy P (2014: AA/AAA)
• Colorado Rockies: Joey Wong SS (2014: AA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Brian Pointer OF (2014: A+)

Independent import players

• Brian Baker P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League; Mexican League)
• Alex Burkard P (2014: Ind - Canadian-American Association)
• Jorge Marban P (2014: Ind - Frontier League; Atlantic League) 
• Shawn Sanford P (2014: Ind - Canadian-American Association)
• Tim Smith LF/1B (2014: Ind - Canadian-American Association)

Sydney Blue Sox: 

MLB Affiliated import players:

• Arizona Diamondbacks: Tyler Bortnick SS/2B/3B (2014: AAA)
• Arizona Diamondbacks: Alex Glenn OF (2014:A+)
• Arizona Diamondbacks: Markus Solbach P (2014: Rk/A-/A)
• Colorado Rockies: Will Swanner 1B/DH (2014: A+/AA)

Canberra Cavalry Use One of My Card Photos

Spotted the following item on Facebook in a post by the Canberra Cavalry, advertising their Australian players for the season about to start.

Canberra Cavalry's Facebook page.

They obviously had issues getting photos of some of the players, as many of the photos aren't the best quality. I couldn't help but noticing that the photo of Aaron Thompson, who transferred to the Cavalry mid-season from Brisbane, just happens to be my card of him in Cavalry uniform from late last season, as shown below.

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Aaron Thompson card front - © 2014 Adam East

That means Adelaide, Perth and Canberra have all used my photos on Facebook, and NSW Baseball have had one on their site. I guess I'm just waiting on Melbourne and Brisbane to use one of my photos now :)

Updating the Aussie Player Lists

I've updated the list of Australian sportsmen in MLB, the NFL, NBA and WNBA on the respective blog pages.

It's been a fairly lean time on the baseball scene. Since Australia's 31st MLB player, Liam Hendriks, made his MLB debut in September 2011, there have been a further eight ABL alumni who have made MLB debuts ... and not one of them has been Australian.

The NFL has also been fairly light on, with the ranks of the Aussies on the gridiron thinning out to just two - and of those, Jessie Williams looks to be out for the season again with another knee injury.

On the flip side, it looks like the NBA season will start with 6 Aussies on team rosters, and another three who just missed the cut.

And Nathan Walker was the first ever Aussie drafted into the NHL earlier this year, veen if he's yet to play a a game.

Here's hoping that the Aussie MLB pipeline kicks into gear next season.

No Official Cards for the 2014-15 ABL Season???

In a worrying sign, I haven't heard anything about official baseball cards for the 2014-15 Australian Baseball League yet. Dingo produced cards for the 2013-14 ABL season, and the official announcement with details didn't come about until Oct 30th 2013 - right before the season started. There had however been teaser information and adverts online from around late August 2013.

Here we are in mid Oct 2014 and there's been nothing mentioned about cards for the 2014-15 ABL season at all. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

I emailed the graphic designer who worked on last year's cards and asked if he knew anything. He said that he didn't know what was happening between Dingo and the ABL, so it looks like he hasn't been engaged to do any card designs for this season.

I'll keep an eye out, but it doesn't look promising.

2014-15 Australian Baseball League - MLB Prospects and Imports - Update 2

Further updates to the list of imports coming Down Under for the 2014-15 Australian Baseball League season. Pretty sure all of the affiliated players are locked in, and it's mainly just independent players being added to finalise rosters. Main exception is the Perth Heat - I haven't seen any roster information for the Heat yet. I have added the names of 3 imports that I identified as Heat players in a pre-season game, so I'm assuming that they're on the roster for the season. This included Joey Wong, an import who played for Perth last season as well.

New additions since the last post are in red. Details of 11 imports added since last update.

Below is a summary of information about the import players I know so far coming to Australia for the 2014-15 Australian Baseball League season. I'll post updated versions of this list as roster announcements are finalised over the coming weeks. [Final Update: 31st Oct]

Adelaide Bite: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Houston Astros: Tyler Brunnemann P (2014: A/A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Kyle Hooper P (2014: A)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Aaron Miller RF (2014: A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Craig Stem P (2014: A+/AA)
• San Diego Padres: Rocky Gale C (2014: AAA)
• Seattle Mariners: Will Mathis P (2014: A+)
• Seattle Mariners: Troy Scott P (2014: Rk/A-)

Independent import players

• Morgan Coombs P (2014: Ind - American Association)
• Colin Feldtman P  (2014: Collegiate - University of Portland)
• Craig Maddox 1B/C (2014: American association)
• Tony Vocca P (2014: Collegiate - University of Minnesota)

Brisbane Bandits: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Tampa Bay Rays: Tommy Coyle 2B (2014:
• Tampa Bay Rays: Johnny Field CF (2014:
• Tampa Bay Rays: Granden Goetzman LF (2014:
• Tampa Bay Rays: Maxx Tissenbaum C (2014:

Canberra Cavalry: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Detroit Tigers: Marcus Lemon SS (2014: AA/AAA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Mitch Walding 3B (2014: A)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Anthony Alford OF (2014: Rk/A)
• Toronto Blue Jays: LB Dantzler 1B (2014: A/A+)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Christian Lopes 2B (2014: A+)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Jack Murphy C (2014: AA/AAA)

Independent import players

• Jake Brown P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)
• Dustin Crenshaw P (2014: Ind - American Association)
• Brian Grening P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)
• Gaby Hernandez P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)
• Ian Marshall P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)

Melbourne Aces: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Chicago White Sox: Terance Marin P (2014: A+/AA)
• Milwaukee Brewers: Kyle Heckathorn P (2014: AAA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Dylan Cozens OF (2014:A)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Chace Numata C (2014: Rk)
• Texas Rangers: Cody Buckel P (2014: A+)
• Texas Rangers: Kellin Deglan C (2014: A/A+)

Perth Heat: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Baltimore Orioles: Steel Russell C (2014: A+)
• Colorado Rockies: Joey Wong SS (2014: AA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Brian Pointer OF (2014: A+)

Independent import players

• TBA

Sydney Blue Sox: 

MLB Affiliated import players:

• Arizona Diamondbacks: Tyler Bortnick SS/2B/3B (2014: AAA)
• Arizona Diamondbacks: Alex Glenn OF (2014:A+)
• Arizona Diamondbacks: Markus Solbach P (2014: Rk/A-/A)
• Colorado Rockies: Will Swanner 1B/DH (2014: A+/AA)

Base 2014-15 Concept Card Designs - Take 2

Developing my original theme, I removed out the team wording to just leave the team logo, and changed the position to the player name. I figured that I wanted to still include the player's position and uniform number, and struck on the idea of using "stubs" on the side of the design.

2014-15 Base design concept card version 4a - © 2014 Adam East

 

2014-15 Base design concept card version 4b - © 2014 Adam East

2014-15 Base design concept card version 4c - © 2014 Adam East

I'm still not thoroughly sold on the colored border though. The Blue Sox cards with that border look like the back of a bad early 80's Fleer card.

Back of a 1982 Fleer card

 Here are the same cards with white borders for comparison

2014-15 Base design concept card version 4d - © 2014 Adam East

2014-15 Base design concept card version 4e - © 2014 Adam East

2014-15 Base design concept card version 4f - © 2014 Adam East

2014-15 Australian Baseball League - MLB Prospects and Imports - Update 1

It's a week since I first posted the list of known Affiliated imports coming Down Under for the 2014-15 Australian Baseball League season. New additions since the last post are in red. Details of 10 imports added since last update.

Below is a summary of information about the import players I know so far coming to Australia for the 2014-15 Australian Baseball League season. I'll post updated versions of this list as roster announcements are finalised over the coming weeks. [Final Update - 31st Oct]

Adelaide Bite: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Houston Astros: Tyler Brunnemann P (2014: A/A+)
• Houston Astros: Chan Jong Moon SS (2014: A/A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Brandon Dixon 2B (2014: Rk/A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Kyle Hooper (2014: A)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Aaron Miller RF (2014: A+)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Craig Stem (2014: A+/AA)
• Seattle Mariners: Will Mathis P (2014: A+)
• Seattle Mariners: Troy Scott P (2014: Rk/A-)

Brisbane Bandits: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Tampa Bay Rays: Tommy Coyle 2B (2014:
• Tampa Bay Rays: Johnny Field CF (2014:
• Tampa Bay Rays: Granden Goetzman LF (2014:
• Tampa Bay Rays: Maxx Tissenbaum C (2014:

Canberra Cavalry: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Detroit Tigers: Marcus Lemon SS (2014: AA/AAA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Mitch Walding 3B (2014: A)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Anthony Alford OF (2014: Rk/A)
• Toronto Blue Jays: LB Dantzler 1B (2014: A/A+)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Christian Lopes 2B (2014: A+)
• Toronto Blue Jays: Jack Murphy C (2014: AA/AAA)

Independent import players

• Jake Brown P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)
• Brian Grening P (2014: Ind - Atlantic League)

Melbourne Aces: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• Chicago White Sox: Terance Marin P (2014: A+/AA)
• Milwaukee Brewers: Kyle Heckathorn P (2014: AAA)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Dylan Cozens OF (2014:A)
• Philadelphia Phillies: Chace Numata C (2014: Rk)
• Texas Rangers: Cody Buckel P (2014: A+)
• Texas Rangers: Kellin Deglan C (2014: A/A+)

Perth Heat: 

MLB Affiliated import players

• TBA

Independent import players

• TBA

Sydney Blue Sox: 

MLB Affiliated import players:

• Arizona Diamondbacks: Tyler Bortnick SS/2B/3B (2014: AAA)
• Arizona Diamondbacks: Alex Glenn OF (2014:A+)
• Arizona Diamondbacks: Markus Solbach P (2014: Rk/A-/A)
• Colorado Rockies: Will Swanner 1B/DH (2014: A+/AA)