Brian Baker - 2013-14 Perth Heat

American born Baker spent eight seasons in the minors with Tampa Bay and Milwaukee, reaching Triple-A level with both teams before playing with Vaqueros Laguna in the Mexican League in 2013. He continued his foreign travels by playing in Australia with the Perth Heat for the 2013-14 ABL season.

2013-14 Perth Heat Brian baker card front - © 2014 Adam East

Ben Leslie - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

Leslie is a Melbourne youngster who played his second season with the Aces in the 2013-14 ABL season. He signed with the San Francisco Giants in 2012 and played with the Giants' Arizona Rookie League team in 2013.

It' not a very good photo, but the best I could do, and my first ever card of Leslie.

2013-14 Melbourne Aces Ben Leslie card front - © 2013 Adam East

Steven Greer - 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits

Greer is a Brisbane born player who spent the 2013-14 ABL season with the Brisbane Bandits. This season was his third in the ABL and was his most successful to date, playing 21 games with a batting average of .324 compared to a combined 18 games  hitting .170 across the previous 2 seasons.

2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Steven Greer card front - © 2013 Adam East

Checklist for my custom 2013-13 ABL Cards

I neglected to post up my Checklist card for last season's cards, so without further ado, here is my 2012-13 ABL card set checklist.

2012-13 Checklist card - front © 2013 Adam East

2012-13 Checklist card - back © 2013 Adam East

Temporarily Off-Air

I will often write up my blog entries several days beforehand and then schedule them to be posted. Our family is about to head back on it's first family holiday in 5 years to our homeland of Western Australia. Knowing this, I had started writing up and scheduling posts for the three weeks we would be away. I had planned to finalise up all these posts last weekend, however, something got in the way.

I am currently typing this up on my phone whilst lying in a hospital bed. What simply appeared to be a bad nights sleep last Thursday night, and a bad headache on Friday morning turned into a trip to the ER by Sunday morning, and a diagnosis on Tuesday of a very deadly form of septicemia (blood poisoning).

The blog posts remain undone, but I have been blessed to be still alive, and am expected to make an almost full recovery. The doctors are trying to ensure that pending me doing my part by not relapsing, I will be released from hospital the night before we are due to fly out on our holiday. I will need it, even if it will need to be a lot less energetic than originally planned as I continue to recuperate.

The upshot of all this is that most of the blog posts remain unfinished and will remain so until my return from holidays. There still will be a few posts that go up in April, but "normal" activity will resume in early May. There are still plenty more card images to go up, but sometimes it's the little things, like not dying, that get in the way.

Craig Anderson - 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox

Following his 2012-13 ABL Pitcher of the Year award, Anderson returned to the Blue Sox for his fourth ABL season in 2013-14. Whilst not having the same stellar success as his previous season, he still maintained a 5-4 winning record and an ERA of only 3.12

2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox Craig Anderson card front - © 2014 Adam East 

Adam Millson - 2013-14 Perth Heat

Perth pitcher Millson returned for his fourth ABL season with the Heat in the 2013-14 ABL season.

2013-14 Perth Heat Adam Millson card front - © 2013 Adam East

Brad Harman - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

The web has had several articles about Aussie former MLB player Harman following his gametime with the Southern Thunder against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers. There's speculation about him being offered a minor league contract. Harman hasn't played affiliated ball since 2009, so it's been a while between drinks. In the meantime, Harman has been playing in the ABL, with his 2013-14 season with the Melbourne Aces his third in the ABL.

2013-14 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman card front - © 2013 Adam East

Brian Grening - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

American import Grening returned for his third season with the Canberra Cavalry during the 2013-14 ABL season. In between the ABL seasons he spent 2013 playing for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League.

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Brian Grening card front - © 2013 Adam East