Australian Custom Baseball Cards: TJ Bennett

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

TJ Bennett - 2017-18 Brisbane Bandits

American import Bennett returned for his third season with the Brisbane Bandits during the 2017-18 ABL season. Having been signed by the San Francisco Giants after his first ABL season, he spent 2017 playing between their Advanced, Double and Triple A affiliates. In 2018 he played for their Rookie, Single A and Double A teams before being released.

Just a side note: The ABL and MiLB websites list Bennett as being born in Lethbridge, ON, Canada, whilst I had previously listed him as being American. A quick check online doesn't resolve the situation. Some sites say he was born in Mesa, Arizona. His Facebook profile says he's from Mesa, so I'm going with him being American, not Canadian.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Tyler (TJ) Bennett - 2015-16 Brisbane Bandits

Tyler (AKA TJ) Bennett was an American import who played with the Brisbane Bandits during the 2015-16 ABL season. Bennett had previously spent two seasons playing independent ball, in 2015 spending most of his time with the Schaumburg Boomers in the Frontier League, as well as playing a single game with the Joplin Blasters in the American Association.

Whilst I liked the photo of Bennett joking around as his primary card image, I couldn't resist including the photo of him wincing as an alternate card image. From memory I think he was baserunning and ended up with some nasty cuts to his hand from the second baseman's cleats. I'm pretty sure he was out of the game after those injuries.(It could also have been the other way around - him fielding and getting spiked by a baserunner, but I'm fairly sure he was the runner.) The image is of the Bandits' staff assessing and cleaning up his wounds.