Phil Brassington - 2010-11 Canberra Cavalry

I was surprised to find that I had missed posting up Phil Brassington's card design from the 2010-11 ABL season. Brassington is one of the veterans of Australian baseball. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1993, playing with their low A affiliate, the Eugene Emeralds.

Originally a hard throwing starter, 1993 would be his only year of affiliated baseball, with his career continually dogged by injury. He spent 9 years in the original incarnation of the Australian Baseball League, where he played for 6 different teams, but managed only 64 games. This included stints with both the original Perth Heat, and the Canberra Bushrangers.

When the original ABL finally folded, he headed over to the US,  playing five seasons of independent ball in the early 2000s, before returning at the spritely age of 40 to the newly formed ABL in 2010

It was great to see him briefly back in the new ABL, with short stints playing for Canberra in the first two seasons, and a (presumably) farewell game for the Perth Heat in 2012-13. This was possibly a tip of the hat to the team he debuted with in the original ABL back in 1991. I don't know if he'll be returning again for 2013-14, noting that the new ABL has not been kind to him: 3 seasons, 8 games, 22.1 innings, 32 runs (2 unearned), and an ERA of 12.09. He's still one of my favourite players though.

2010-11 Canberra Cavalry Phil Brassington card front - © 2011 Adam East