I remember it like it was yesterday.
It was the first day I opened my first pack of baseball cards. The pack was 1989 Topps. The first card I pulled was a Randy Johnson baseball card from when he was with the Seattle Mariners.
I thought, “Sheesh, this man looks scary…I wouldn’t want to face him on a bad day.”
Dante Bichette’s rookie card was also in this pack. It was significant because my dad said rookie cards were a baseball player’s most significant cards.
But after looking at Bichette’s rookie card, all I could think was, “Who would want to play for a team that boasts pink colors?” (That was in reference to the pink banner at the bottom of the card that said Angels.)
That was stupid of me, since it was just part of the Topps design.
Little did I know at the time Bichette would go on to have a solid 14 year career in the big leagues with the Angels, Brewers, Rockies, Reds and Red Sox.
All I knew was to get the thing in a plastic sheet. Too bad overproduction deemed this rookie card worthless (tear).
Moving on. Nearly 25 years after Bichette made his major league debut, his son—same name but add a Junior to the end—was a first-round pick of the 2011 Major League Draft.
Dante Bichette Junior thus marks the beginning of this slideshow, which tracks the progress of the New York Yankee’s top five active draft picks from 2011.
This takes into account that the Yankees second-round draft pick Sam Stafford did not sign with the Yankees. He will miss all of 2011 because of a tear in his throwing shoulder.
It also takes into account that Jordan Cote, the Yankees third-round pick, still has not made his professional debut (though he will this spring in the GCL).
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