Pursuing a player collection of a lesser known, yet widely traveled slugger can be a challenge. What makes that pursuit all the more satisfying is when something like this turns up out of the blue. Not only was I not looking for this photo, I had no idea it even existed as none of the main hobby resources have any record of this set. A little research reveals that in 1998 (and presumably all the other years these were produced), these photos were given away at Sidewinders games, at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, in packs of five photos. The photos I received came in these envelopes:
Given that there are sixteen photos here , I'm going to assume there are at least four more to the set, possibly eight (previous sets contained 24-25 photos). These are the photos from the lot I received:
Bryan Corey
Nelson Figueroa
Tim Florez
Ben Ford
Hanley Frias
Karim Garcia
Ron Hartman
Danny Klassen
Peter Kolb (Trainer)
Garry Maddox
Barry Manuel
Hensley Meulens
Chris Michalak
Vladimir Nunez
Stephen Randolph
Mike Robertson
Rob Ryan
Jeff Suppan
Ephrain Valdez
Neil Weber
Bob Wolcott
The same seller also had another lot of Tucson Toros photos. After receiving everything, based on when the various players coincided on Toros rosters, there were 17 photos from 1993 (another undocumented set) and 5 from 1997. The 2000 (and final) edition of the Standard Catalog of Minor League Baseball Cards only listed 5 photos from the 1997 set (presumably a single game's giveaway), so those, plus the photos in this lot make at least 10 in the set. Here are the players in each:
| 1993 | 1997 | |
| Mike Brumley Jim Bruske Mike Capel Steve Carter Fred Costello Ed Dixon Dave Engle Tony Eusebio John Hudek Jim Lindeman Terry Mathews Joe Mikulik James Moulton Luis Quinones Jeff Robinson Donne Wall Bruce Walton Rodney Windes | Joel Adamson Brian Banks Ron Belliard Jarvis Brown Mark Davis Matt Grott Greg Hansell Jeff Huber Bobby Hughes Geoff Jenkins Frank Kellner Travis Lee Norm Montoya Tony Phillips Al Reyes Sig Roberson Tim Unroe Jack Voigt Al Williamson Doni O'Bryan & Peter Kolb |
I've added checklists for all three to the SportsCardForum.com Inventory Manager (updates are only being posted to TCDB unless someone else is adding them to SCF, these days). The photos are unnumbered, so I alphabetized and numbered based on that, so if I find more photos in the future, the "card numbers" will be adjusted.
-----UPDATE (14 December 2011)-----
I have now found references to Toros sets from 1995 and 1996 (given away to the first 500 lucky fans) and a second Sidewinders set from 1999. This helps lend a little credence to sets having been issued each year from 1987 to 1999. Now I just need to find evidence of sets from the missing years and begin the extremely slow process of building checklists.
-----UPDATE (19 January 2017)-----
According to the 28 July 1998 Arizona Daily Star, at the Sidewinders game that night, the first 500 fans would receive photos of Edwin Diaz, Tim Florez, Danny Klassen, Neil Weber and Bob Wolcott, which combined with the list above brings the set total to 21.
-----UPDATE (21 October 2017)-----
Another batch of Sidewinders hit eBay recently, confirming the previously reported five names to the checklist: Chris Michalak, Neil Weber, Bob Wolcott, Tim Florez and Danny Klassen.
-----UPDATE (2 March 2023)-----
Four more photos turned up on eBay this week; Tim Unroe, Jarvis Brown, Antone Williamson and Al Reyes.
-----UPDATE (19 July 2023)-----
A lot of items from the 1997 Toros hit eBay today, including the following new additions to the checklist: Joel Adamson, Greg Hansell, Geoff Jenkins, Norm Montoya, Tony Phillips (the pitcher) and trainers Doni O'Bryan and Peter Kolb sharing a photo. There were some larger photos, including Travis Lee (with facsimile autograph) and a team photo. Also included was a large photo of Ed Vosberg, labeled as from 1990, though he only played for the team in 1989. Currently I have found no evidence of a 1990 set, or at least no actual photos have surfaced.
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