My eighth post featuring Spanish-language baseball cards released in the United States. Previous posts are:
- Introduction and 1978 Topps Zest
- 1993–2000 Pacific and Pacific Crown
- Other assorted Pacific cards and oddballs
- 1991 Kellogg’s Leyendas
- 1994 Topps and beyond
- Donruss Super Estrellas
- Bowman International
The past couple of seasons Minor League Baseball has been running a Copa de Diversión promotion which involves rebranding teams with Spanish nicknames and uniforms. My kids really wanted to go to a Trenton Trueno game and due to a rainout at one of the Kids Club games we were able to go while only having to pay for parking.
Anyway, while we went for the Trueno experience, it turned out that it was also a baseball card giveaway night. We each got perforated strips of four cards (plus an advertisement) featuring four current Yankees who’d played for Trenton and who were also Latino—Andújar, Severino, and Sánchez are from the Dominican Republic while Torres is from Venezuela.
The cards are manufactured by Choice—the same company that makes Trenton’s Minor League team sets—and, aside from the perforations are legitimate cards rather than something that feels like a cheap digitally-printed sheet. The only problem is that the cards were designed with bleeds but whoever laid them out for perfing didn’t take that into account so the three center cards in the panel are closer to 2.625 inches wide.
Still it’s a fun little set with photos of the guys while they were at Trenton, nice Trueno logos, and some #PonleAcento action. I’m a bit confused at how Andújar got the accent and Sánchez did not though.
The back design is also nicely bilingual. The positions and vitals information are still English-only but the biographies allocate equal space to both languages. It does kind of feel like they were written in English and then translated semi-literally to Spanish but it’s a solid effort.
Since this set isn’t entered to Trading Card DB yet I have no idea how many other Minor League teams released cards as part of the Copa de Diversión. But it’s pretty cool and is a great recognition that not only is the game-day experience something that should be inclusive to Spanish-speaking fans, the merchandise and giveaways should also accessible to as many fans as possible.
SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee 
Nice cards! I wouldn’t detach them, so the perforations wouldn’t really be an issue. Strange that they gave an accent to Andújar but not Sánchez.
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I wasn’t planning on detaching mine. My kids though ripped theirs immediately. I may tear off the advertising panel though so I can fit these in a sheet.
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I just bought one of these on eBay. I wouldn’t separate them unless you have an extra one. If condition isn’t important, do what you would like. They had a strip a few years ago with Judge, Bird, and Severino.
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