Net Gain For The Collection

I do a lot with Minor League cards and have always been a big fan of the Pro Debut sets.  It's cool to see some of the players that I see in the local Minor League parks in their Minor League uniforms.  The product has always had a design that followed the Topps base set, a few autographs, and some different types of relic cards.

For today's post I am going to stick with the relics that have appeared in Pro Debut including my latest card from this product.  I first got hooked on the Pro Debut relics back in 2010 when Topps put out some large game used relics from the 2009 Futures Game which was held in my hometown of St. Louis.  So many cool patches and the ordinary/common relics were generous in size.

This Brett Wallace card has always been a favorite......

Topps has moved away from these nice looking relics, while I really like them, they did a good job of replacing these with other cool cards.  The best part about the change is that the relic cards have become more focused on the Minor League teams and not Minor Leaguers in Major League teams.  Too similar to Bowman, so I am glad in someways that the Futures Game relics have migrated back to those products.

The best part of the Minor League specific relic cards is that the Durham Bulls have been regularly featured in the set.  While they are not game worn relics, definitely in line with the whole manufactured relic cards, it's one of the only chances during the year to find actual Durham Bulls cards.

Some of the previous entries in Pro Debut with the Bulls have included manufactured patches of the players.....

and also the mascot....

The original checklist of 2017 Pro Debut offered a few Durham Bulls cards.  One of the cards was a base card of Rays prospect Casey Gillaspie with two other cards being relics that were apart of the Fragments of the Farm set.  Initially when I saw that there were Bulls cards in Fragments of the Farm I was a little bit scared.  I pulled one of these cards awhile ago, just a weird card.....

I still am not sure what the heck is going on here with the green fur.  What is the Lake County Captains mascot exactly?  Probably for another blog post on a completely different blog.  Anyway, the Bulls cards were supposed to be a piece of the original Snorting Bull sign from the old Durham Athletic Park.....

which, as far as I can tell, was never made.  I have looked high and low for this card for obvious reasons and have not been able to find a single copy of it anywhere.  Guessing it does not exist.  

The other Durham Bulls relic card was a piece of the backstop netting which was replaced and extended two years ago.  I have looked through tons of pictures of Durham Bulls games I have attended over the years, this might be the best picture I have of the net on the Pro Debut card...

Justin Christian is in the background behind the net.  Here is a better comparison of how the netting changed in the stadium....

The old net, which is on the card.....

ends before the dugouts on both sides of the field.  The new net extends past the dugouts on both sides of the field....

There is a small cut out next to each dugout which is a gate leading onto the field.  It's primarily used by Wool E. Bull and kids getting onto the field to run the bases after Sunday afternoon games.  I am sure that it has some other function.  I just can't think of it at the moment.

Now that we have had a breakdown on the Pro Debut relic cards and the backstop net in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park how about we finally look at the card that is supposed to be the topic of the post...

What is else is left to say about this card?  Just a great looking card featuring a cool piece of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  Obviously very happy to add this card to the collection.