1972 TCMA Cedar Rapids Cardinals Baseball #5, Jethro Mills

Today, Mark of Mark's Ephemera pointed me to MiLB.com's 2010 Minor Moniker Madness, an NCAA-style player name contest. Check it out for some great baseball names and help pick a winner. (I hope Zach Outman hits for a high average, just to prove 'em wrong.)

Card front

Jethro Mills is no slouch of a baseball name and gets the position of honor (#5) on this, TCMA's earliest minor league set. Interesting that a NY-based card maker would start with a A-league Iowa farm team, but perhaps they were the only willing customer!

While only 20 years old in this photo, it's Jethro's last year in a pro uniform. He pitched just 2 seasons in the St. Louis system before moving on to other pursuits. (Career stats at Baseball-Reference.com.)

Card back

Value: TCMA singles usually don't cost very much, but this is from one of their rarest sets. I paid $10 for Jethro and didn't feel bad about it.

Fakes / reprints: It would be pretty easy to fake this set with the right card stock, but I haven't seen any in the market.