Project Durham Bulls #18 - Ryan Klesko

1990 Durham Bulls 

Background-

The Atlanta Braves picked Klesko in the fifth round of the 1989 MLB Draft out of high school in California.  It took him one year to reach the Bulls who were an A Ball team in the Carolina League at the time.  In 77 games for the 1990 Durham Bulls Klesko posted a .274/.343/.408 line with 7 home runs, 16 doubles, and 47 RBIs.  Klesko reached the Majors in 1992, sticking with the Braves for good in 1994 when he played more than 90 games.  He ended up playing a total of 16 seasons, mainly for the Braves and Padres, before retiring after spending the 2007 season with the Giants.  Klesko ended his career with 278 home runs, 343 doubles, and a slash line of .279/.370/.500.  Klesko was a member of the 1995 Braves World Series winning team.  

Card-

This is my second Topps Archives Snapshot in my Project Durham Bulls series.  I don't have any particular connection to this set, nor am I trying to put together the set or something.  They just happen to be pretty easy to find, plus the two cards I have featured were pretty easy cards to find.  This Klesko card has to be one of the easier cards to pull out of this product......

350 seems like a pretty large number for a recent set.  No?  Overall the Archives Snapshot cards are pretty simple and clean in terms of design.  They also have on-card signatures.  His more recent autographs are generally on card signatures, but he has a bunch of cards from his playing days that are stickers.  My only regret with this card is the fact that he is a Padre.  Still, Klesko is one of the better former Durham Bulls players from the 1990s, seemed like a player I'd like to include in these posts sooner than later.