Project Durham Bulls #39 Brandon Backe

2003 Durham Bulls 

Background-
Backe was drafted by the Devil Rays out of Galveston College in the 18th round of the 1998 MLB Amateur Draft as an infielder.  His career in the Minor Leagues was pretty interesting.  Between 1998 and 2000 Backe was used as a utility infielder/outfielder in the lower Minors by the Devil Rays.  He never hit much and struck out often.  His best season was in 1999, which was split between two A Ball teams.  He hit .220/.325/.351 for a .676 OPS.  I know, I know, that does not sound very good.  It's not.  Backe did hit 10 home runs that season and also had 17 doubles.  That's okay, right?

In 2001, Backe moved on to pitching and ascended the Devil Rays Minor League system quickly.  He ended up in Tampa by the end of the 2002 season appearing in 9 games.  His 2003 season was split between the Majors and Triple A with the Bulls.  In all, Backe pitched 16 games in Durham with a 4.64 ERA.  His Triple A numbers look rather pedestrian.  During the 2003 off season, he was traded to the Astros in exchange for Geoff Blum.

He had a good run for a few years with the Astros, including their 2004 and 2005 playoff teams, which reached the National League Championship Series and World Series.  Houston did not get a World Series winner out of those teams, but it was not Backe's fault......

Card- 

Upper Deck also had some nice autographed cards in there sets.  Not sure that the 2007 batch was their best effort.  First, these were sticker autographs, which many of the other 2000s autographs were too.  However, I think that the sticker is really poorly blended into the card.  It's a sticker autograph and it's obvious, pretty hard to do with a clear sticker.   Not even sure it's on the card straight.  Second, the "Star Signings" emblem is almost as big as the picture of Backe.  Seems like you'd want the primary focus of the card on the player, maybe the autograph.  So why did I get this card? 

All of Backe's autographs span a a five year period from 2002 through 2007.  Most of the early autographed cards are from Playoff products.  Those cards are also all sticker autographs, but they have those giant silver stickers on the front.  Clearly a step down from this Upper Deck.  Backe's later autographs are from Upper Deck products, one of them is a Fleer which was owned by UD at that point, and all of them are nicer than his older signatures.  However, on sites like COMC, they are also not as dirt cheap as I would like them to be.  For example, his 2007 Fleer autograph is almost $5 on there.  Can't pay that much for a guy who had two good seasons.  In the end, I am collecting Durham Bulls autographs, but for some players I am going for a blend of affordability and design.  This was more about affordability.