1980 TCMA Utica Blue Jays Baseball #5, Felix Feliciano

Pro baseball in Utica has a long history, including eras as both MLB affiliate and independent team (more at Wikipedia). Many fans know these Blue Jays better as the Blue Sox, the single-A squad that author (and team owner) Roger Kahn profiled in Good Enough To Dream, his up-close-and-personal look at running an independent team. Kahn's storytelling makes a good minor league companion to the player's perspective captured in Dirk Hayhurst's recent books.

Felix is...resting his eyes? Just one more reason to snap multiple pictures on team photo day.

If we believe Baseball-Reference, "rookie" describes Felix's entire career, just 7 games of low-A ball in Utica. That makes today's #5 his only known baseball card and twice the bummer that it's a lousy photo.

1988 Fleer #159, Juan Castillo

TCMA printed 33 cards for Utica, but just 3 of Felix's teammates eventually reached the bigs; Juan Castillo got the most MLB service time with 199 total games over 4 seasons.

1. Larry Hardy, Manager
2. Rich White
3. Carlos Cabrera
4. Jim Baker
5. Felix Feliciano
6. Rafael Harris
7. Tom Norko
8. Siverio Valdez
9. Jon Woodworth, Trainer
10. Bob Wilbur, Coach
11. Hector Torres, Coach
12. Tomas Castillo
13. Juan Castillo
14. Roberto Cerrud
15. Jose Escobar
16. Tony Gilmore
17. Luis Guzman
18. Toby Hernandez
19. Mark Holton
20. Dennis Howard
21. Miguel Ortiz
22. Tom O'Dowd
23. Al Montgomery
24. Bob McNair
25. Tom Lukish
26. Herman Lewis
27. Carlos Leal
28. Paul Langfield
29. Mike Hurdle
30. Bill Reade
31. Rafael Rivas
32. Miguel Rodriguez
33. Rico Sutton

Value: This #5 cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com. Few MLB stars means team sets top out at $20-25.

Fakes / reprints: TCMA reprinted several team sets for "collectors kits" in the late 1980s. Those reprints used black ink on the backs and originals have the blue ink shown above.