Midland Rockhounds April 27, 2009 Program

When I go to Midland Rockhounds games I buy a program from them as it showed the team rosters for the night along the news and notes of the team from the previous games. Instead tossing them away I kept every single one of them I bought. I stashed them in a backpack I drag with me to the games. With that in mind I decide to scan and post it showing who was on the roster and playing that night. It's fun looking back at the rosters on which players made it or didn't and which prospects achieve success, flamed out, or have longevity.

Most of the scorecards are from Wednesday night games because it used to be player photo night to first 500 fans. They stopped doing it and became "They win, its free on the next game that falls on Wednesday" promotion. My Wednesday nights during spring and summer became baseball game night.

Let's travel back 10 years ago to 2009. It was the year Midland won their third Texas League championship in franchise history. Now off to beginning of their run.

The first game I went to that year was April 27. They were on top of their division with 11-6 record.

Adrian Cardenas was a prospect who had good numbers in the minors. I expected him to crack A's lineup but they put him on waivers in 2012 which Cubs claimed. He would play his only season bouncing back and forth between Cubs and Triple-A Iowa calling it a career after the season.

The promotions includes the very popular fireworks nights along appearance of Johnny Bench (never did go) along giveaways of caps, t-shirts, and even pillowcases. I still have the beach towel they gave away from years prior to 2009 season.

Looking at top 10 leaders only Manny Pina, Daniel Descalso, and Chaz Roe remained active.

Talk about statistic breakdowns of both teams along notes and players hot streaks and probable starters for the next five games.

Luis Pujols managed Hooks that year. Keith Bodie would manage the team later in the years. The roster included Roger Clemens kid, Koby, who didn't make it to the show. Neither did Astros top prospects at the time such as Jimmy Van Ostrand, Collin DeLome, Brad James, and Sergio Perez. To see how bad Astros minor system at the time only Wilton Lopez made it to the majors. I was expecting Locke to make years down the road but never got the call up. Andy Van Hekken and Drew Meyer never returned after previously playing in the majors.

Josh Donaldson and Chris Carter were two big players to comes from this roster. About eight players would go on the majors years later after 2009 season. "Dangerous" Danny Putnam never returned after short majors appearance in 2007. The power hitting Tommy Everidge returned back to Midland last year as hitting coach. This is his second year with them. Darren Bush, Scott Emerson, and Webster Garrison are still in A's organization to this day. Bush and Emerson are now coaching for the A's while Garrison managing A's A+ club Stockton Ports.

Now to the scorecard. I feel old seeing the Blockbuster ad. Sam's Club is nearby within .75 mile to the stadium. Those local businesses are still around to this day. Universal Valve still advertises on the program to this day.

Hope ya'll enjoy the trip to memory lane.