Card Shop Haul, Kind Of: 1991 Line Drive

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When I was going through this cool local card shop last month, looking for Christmas gifts my wife could get me, I also spotted some stuff Night Owl might like. Namely, I spotted a bunch of cheap 1975 Topps minis.

I couldn't leave them sit. So I rescued them and sent them off to someone who would love them. In return, Night Owl sent me back a stack of 1991 Line Drive minor league cards.

I don't really have a defined want list, so minor league cards fill the bill. These Line Drive cards are cool because they're from the year after the CMC set. A good half the small stack was in the CMC set a year earlier, a commentary on their careers, in that they're still in the minors.

At least one of them had taken a step back. Rafael DeLima appeared in the 1990 CMC set as a member of the AAA Portand Beavers. It was his second season at AAA.

In 1991, though, DeLima was back at AA Orlando. He played parts of just two more seasons after that, never making the majors. I featured DeLima in September 2011.
Bruce Crabbe remained at AAA Richmond for 1991, his eighth season as a professional. He made AAA for the first time in 1990. He'd stay at AAA through 1992, ending his career without making the majors.

He's gone on to a long post-playing career as a coach, manager and coordinator in the minors. I featured him in March 2011.
Mike Dalton changed organizations for 1991. In the CMC set, he was a member of the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox. In 1991, he moved to the Toledo Mud Hens.

His year with the Mud Hens was also the year Dalton made the majors. He pitched in four games, the extent of his major league career in a professional career that lasted 11 seasons. Dalton's feature here came in March 2011.
Eddie Dixon is another player from this stack that never made the majors. In 1991, he returned to the AAA Indianapolis Indians, the team he was with in the CMC set.

Dixon played professionally for 10 seasons, playing at AAA in parts of five of those seasons. He's also recorded as playing briefly in 2001 at independent Albany, seven years after he last played. His feature here came in August 2010.
Jerry Goff was a teammate of Dixon both years in Indianapolis. Goff, though, made the majors in 1990, getting into 52 games. He also made the majors in parts of five more seasons, though his big league career amounted to appearances in a total of 90 games.

Goff's feature here came in July 2011. Turns out, after his playing days, Goff went on to be a firefighter.
Doug Jennings in 1991 was coming off three-straight seasons where he saw time in the majors. He returned to the majors in 1991, for eight games. After that, Jennings played in 42 final games in 1993, ending his big league career. Jennings' feature here came in July 2010.

290 - Bruce Crabbe, Not Kidding, 3/22/11
275 - Mike Dalton, Excellent Control, 3/20/11
60 - Eddie Dixon, Chance to Pitch, 8/23/10
574 - Rafael DeLima, Not Typical, 9/6/11
63 - Jerry Goff, Dreamt It, 7/21/11
595 - Doug Jennings, More At-Bats, 7/16/10

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