Saturday, December 12, 2009

2002 Topps Traded Demetrius Heath


Who is this? Demetrius Heath, a former minor league second baseman and outfielder

What is this? An autograph card from the 2002 Topps Traded set

Where'd I get it? At a Somerset Patriots game in 2006

How much did it cost? The card was about a dime; the autograph was free.

Why is this so special? Demetrius Heath had the nickname "Meatball" during his days as a player with the now-defunct Atlantic City Surf, which is pretty cool. He stole 71 bases for the Surf in 2006, which was probably a team record and may even be the league mark -- unfortunately, there's no Atlantic League record book for me to check.

I'm not quite sure how Heath landed in the 2002 Topps Traded set, though. He was not a high-round draft pick and he never made it past A-ball. Nevertheless, he was a fun player to watch and he has a cool autograph.

2 comments:

Sooz said...

This card made me laugh in so many ways. I covered the Surf for my newspaper and knew Meatball (that's what everyone called him).

zman40 said...

I'm almost positive that I have one of those cards from you. I'll have to remember this post when I get around to posting it on my blog.