How Do High School Kids Have Baseball Cards?

A few years back I started collecting USA Baseball autographs.  The first set of exclusive USA Baseball products that I added to my collection were in the 2004 Upper Deck USA Baseball product.  The cards featured professional players who had played with the USA Baseball program at some point, either on a college team, or an Olympic team.  The boxes and packs were cheap, the autographs were a little bit cheaper than some of the products with the same players.  I have a big stack of these cards and enjoyed finding these cards many years ago....

Since 2004, I have been surprised at the places that baseball cards of amateur players have gone.  For example, I started following the USA Baseball College Team shortly after the 2004 Upper Deck set came out, and I had moved to North Carolina, and was surprised to see some of these players start to show up in baseball card products with autographs.  

I saw Tanner Houck throw a no-hitter against the Cuban National Team a few summers ago.  He has spent the last few years pitching for the University of Missouri.  You know, as an amateur, non-paid student athlete.  Yet, he's had dozens of baseball cards made over the years.  I know that the players likely do not get paid, and that's what makes it an okay thing to do, but still I am just surprised.  

Which brings me to the high school kids with baseball cards.  I enjoy following the college baseball scene here in North Carolina and I am always appreciative of the fact that I get to see a fair number of Major League players before I see them for a second time as Minor Leaguers, or when they eventually reach a Major League team.  

I first found the whole high school card thing a few years back with NC State pitcher Tommy DeJuneas.  He was a nice college pitcher, got drafted by the Cleveland Indians, but also had a baseball card as a high school in the Leaf Perfect Game set.  

The first time I saw these cards a few years back I had to sort of do a double take.  College cards, I kind of see it for players in the USA Baseball program.  High School kids?  I know they are really good high school kids, but still we are talking about high school kids.  

So, here we are in 2018, and my alma mater NC State is having a great year on the baseball diamond.  They are ranked in the top 10 in every major poll and have a ton of talent on the roster.  So, I am out here trying to find baseball cards of college kids from back when they were in high school.  One of my favorite current Wolfpack players, and leading home run hitters in the NCAA, is Brett Kinneman.  He's not super high on draft lists like Clemson's Seth Beer, but he's got some serious pop in his bat.  

BRETT KINNEMAN OH MY GOODNESS pic.twitter.com/OO1RKQqtL9

— Michael Lananna (@mlananna) March 25, 2018

 

So, I checked Ebay, and sure enough, Brett Kinneman is a high school kid with a baseball card.  

Pride of West York High School in York, Pennsylvania.  Something still feels really weird about buying cards of players who are not being paid, and who were 17-18 at the time that their cards were produced.  Weird enough, I have actually found a few other NC State players with cards in these Perfect Game sets, as well as a few different Duke and UNC players too.  While I would prefer to own a nice Minor League, or Major League card of these players, they are not at that level yet.  Further, these Perfect Game cards are also fairly cheap.