Project Durham Bulls #29 - Alex Sanchez

1999 & 2000 Durham Bulls 

Background-

Sanchez was born and grew up in Cuba.  At the age of 18 he, and a few other friends, tried to take a raft to Florida.  He was detained by the Coast Guard at Guantanamo Bay for roughly a year and half before he was allowed entry into the U.S..  Eventually Sanchez enrolled in Miami-Dade Community College and was drafted by the Devil Rays in the 5th round of the 1996 MLB Draft.  

Alex Sanchez reached Triple A Durham for a few games in 1999.  He returned to Durham in 2000 and appeared in 107 games and almost 500 plate appearances.  I'm not sure that many people have a grasp on who Alex Sanchez was as a player since he had a very limited Major League career, during which he became the first ever Major League player to be suspended for failing a drug test.  Positive steroid test, but not a power hitter.  

His most notable accomplishment as a Durham Bulls player was setting the team's single season stolen record as a Triple A team.  Former Braves outfielder stole 100 while the Bulls were a Single A team in the Carolina League.  

In all, Sanchez appeared in just over 400 Major League games appearing for the Brewers, Tigers, Rays, and Giants.  His slash line isn't half bad at .296/.330/.372, if you do not look at slugging percentage.  Sanchez had two fairly big years with stolen bases.  In 2002, he ended the year fifth in the National League stealing 37 bases for the Brewers.  The following season Sanchez had a total of 52 steals while playing for the Brewers and Tigers.  44 of those steals came in Detroit, landing him second in the American League behind another former Durham Bull, Carl Crawford.  

Card- 

The Fleer Autographics cards were a different kind of mega-autograph set.  Most of the large autograph sets from the late 1990s and early 2000s were of the per pack variety.  Autographics were a cross product set for Fleer.  I am not sure how many different sets had Autographics cards, but I would guess they were in most of the major releases that year.  

There are some really solid names in the set, plenty of Hall of Famers, and a few other players who never quite made it anywhere.  I would hate to say that Sanchez did not go anywhere.  He made the Majors, which is a great accomplishment for a guy who tried to get into the country on a raft and spent more than a year in a prison.  

Overall, these are just a nice looking, well designed set of cards, that were put out by Fleer with no sticker autographs.  Again, throw in the strong checklist, and these are fun cards to collect.