If You Build It, They Will Come

 This will be the eighth in series on the minor league managers of the different minor league teams from Iowa.  Today we will break down the Quad Cities River Bandits. The River Bandits existed from 1992 to 2003 and 2008-present.  Many major leaguers have come through here, including Joe Mauer, Billy Wagner, Carlos Correa and Johan Santana.   Chris Widger is the biggest name in the group (based on TCDB cards), with Manny Acta, Luis Aguaya and Jim Pankovits having a fair share of base Topps as well.  Mitch Seoane 1994 River Bandits Manager (Angels affiliate) 26 cards in TCDB Steve Dillard 1993-94/2008-09 River Bandits Manager (Astros/Cardinals affiliate) 36 cards in TCDB Boston Red Sox  ( 1975 – 1977 ) Detroit Tigers  ( 1978 ) Chicago Cubs  ( 1979 – 1981 ) Chicago White Sox  ( 1982 ) Jim Pankovits 1995-96 River Bandits Manager (Astros affiliate) 71 cards in TCDB As player Houston Astros  ( 1984 – 1988 ) Boston Red Sox  ( 19...

So I managed to eventually find some 2022 Topps Series 1 in the wild, but was unable to find a single Franco base in any of my purchases.  No worries, life goes on. Now Series 2 has arrived, and the hunt begins again.  There are four Iowa Connections in this set.  They are: #411 Dane Dunning - Waterloo Bucks #500 Eloy Jimenez - Field of Dreams Game And the short prints... #466b Ryne Sandberg - Iowa Cubs Manager #565b Ozzie Smith - Clarinda A's In Series 1, there are 21 versions of each card (I missed Purple in my earlier post).  I count 18 currently for Series 2, with Memorial Day Camo, Vintage Stock and Advanced Stats not currently listed in TCDB. Not Going to Happen Platinum /1 Printing Plate Black /1 Printing Plate Cyan /1 Printing Plate Magenta /1 Printing Plate Yellow /1  Not Likely to Happen Black /71 Father's Day Powder Blue /50 Independence Day /76 Mother's Day Hot Pink /50 Maybe? Green Foilboard /499 Orange Foilboard /299 Red Foilboard /199 I can d...

 The NBA season is now complete, and we can now see how the Iowa Connections did in the playoffs.  Reminders, we root for the team with the most Iowa Connections, and ties go to the blog. Nick Nurse 3 - Toronto :               Nick Nurs e (UNI),  Trevor Gleeson  (Iowa Energy),  Nate Bjorkgren  (Buena Vista) 2 - Chicago :      Tyler Cook  (Iowa)   ,  Matt Thomas (ISU) 2 - San Antonio:        Joe Wieskamp (Iowa),    Doug McDermott (Ames) 2 - Denver :           Monte Morris (ISU),  Ryan Bowen  (Iowa) 2 - Sacramento :        Harrison Barnes  (Ames),  Tyrese Haliburton (ISU) 1 - Philadelphia :       Georges Niang (ISU) 1 - Detroit :                Luka Garza  (Iowa) 1 - Los Angeles Lakers :     Talen Horton-...

 This will be the seventh in series on the minor league managers of the different minor league teams from Iowa.  Today we will break down the Dubuque Packers. The Packers existed from 1954 to 1976.  Many major leaguers have come through here, including Fritz Ackley, Steve Yeager, Terry Puhl and Bob Lee.   Jack Conway 1954 Packers Manager (White Sox affiliate) 6 cards in TCDB Cleveland Indians  (1941, 1946–47) New York Giants  (1948) Ira Hutchinson 1955 Packers Manager (White Sox affiliate) 8 cards in TCDB Chicago White Sox  ( 1933 ) Boston Bees  ( 1937 – 1938 ) Brooklyn Dodgers  ( 1939 ) St. Louis Cardinals  ( 1940 – 1941 ) Boston Braves  ( 1944 – 1945 ) George Noga 1956-57 Packers Manager (White Sox affiliate) 1 cards in TCDB   Frank Parenti 1958 Packers Manager (White Sox affiliate) 0 cards in TCDB Wally Millies 1959 Packers Manager (Pirates  affiliate) 9 cards in TCDB Brooklyn Dodgers  (1934) Washington S...

This will the sixth in series on the minor league managers of the different minor league teams from Iowa.  Today we will break down the Burlington Rangers, Expos, Braves and Astros. These four teams existed from 1982 to 1992 between iterations of the Burlington Bees.  Many major leaguers have come through here, including Mel Rojas, Larry Walker, Javy Lopez and David Nied.   Marty Scott 1982 Rangers Manager (Rangers affiliate) 20 cards in TCDB Orlando Gomez 1983 Rangers Manager (Rangers affiliate) 40 cards in TCDB Texas Rangers  (1991–1992) Tampa Bay Devil Rays  (1998–2000) Seattle Mariners  (2003–2004) Rudy Jaramillo 1984 Rangers Manager (Rangers affiliate) 20 cards in TCDB As coach Houston Astros  ( 1990 – 1993 ) Texas Rangers  ( 1995 – 2009 ) Chicago Cubs  ( 2010 – 2012 ) Mike Bucci 1985 Rangers Manager (Rangers affiliate) 11 cards in TCDB J. R. Miner 1986-87 Expos Manager (Expos affiliate) 2 cards in TCDB Grady Little 1988 Braves Mana...

 There are a few minor league teams in Iowa, including towns Burlington, Clinton, Waterloo, Quad Cities, Dubuque and Des Moines over the years.  There is also baseball in the towns of Clarinda, Sioux City, and Waterloo now, but they are not associated with MLB.  There exists leagues outside the MLB bubble, and today I'm going to parse out the Iowa Connections from the team from Clarinda. The Clarinda A's have ben around since 1955 and are currently a summer amateur baseball team. Summer amateur teams are built from players from the college level who want to build their baseball skills after the college season is over.  Players are unpaid to retain their eligibility. 38 players have played for the A's and then made it to the major leagues, including a future Padres Manager, a Rookie of the Year and a Hall of Famer.  Here's the first batch of them: Perry Hill 1974 A's 8 cards in TCDB As coach Texas Rangers  ( 1992 – 1995 ) Detroit Tigers  ( 1997 – 1999 )...