The End Of Cactus League Play

The end of Cactus League play is here. The White Sox finished with an 11-20 record. Good enough for second worst record in the Cactus League. Any team that thinks that spring stats count are usually already dead in the water as of Opening Day.

This also marks the end of the WSC Cactus League 2011 cards. I tried to get as many players in the set as I possibly could. The main goal was to get everybody who played in a White Sox uniform in the set. That didn't happen. The secondary goal was to only use photos from 2011. That happened with the exception of three cards (Jared Mitchell, Greg Walker and Michael Restovich). The only 2011 photo I had come across of Greg Walker is the one you see at the top of this post. It's not exactly the best photo to use for a coach.

As a result of this twenty four players were not included in the set. I did manage to make cards of fifty-five different players and ten cards of staff and management. All things considered, I'd mark this set a success.

To the remaining twenty-four players, I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies. For whatever reason, I just could not find a photo of you from this year. I saw plenty of these players on television, but nothing on the photography front.

These twenty-four players are:

Ozzie Chavez
Tyson Corley
Kyle Davis
Gookie Dawkins
Drew Garcia
Ryan Hamme
Deunte Heath
Robby Hudson
Seth Loman
Christian Marrero
Jose Martinez
Greg Paiml
Addison Reed
C.J. Retherford
Tyler Saladino
Hector Santiago
Orlando Santos
John Shelby
Luis Sierra
Trayce Thompson
Daniel Wagner
Kenny Williams Jr.
Ross Wilson
Austin Yount

I was scrambling at the last minute to find photos from 2011 Spring Training of each of these players, but just could not run across any. I even had to reject a Drew Garcia photograph because I used it last year, in another card set.

Now that this set has drawn to a close, there only a small window left to wait for the next card set. Tentatively on Friday night, the first card of the brand new set should be up on this blog. I have been fighting with myself over not leaking any details.

"I see myself as an intelligent, sensitive human, with the soul of a clown which forces me to blow it at the most important moments." - James Douglas Morrison

I wouldn't classify this in those extremes, but it has been difficult. I didn't make it this far just to give it away days before the big reveal.

The WSC Cactus League 2011 set was fun to do and I really got to know the team, from the new arrivals down to the minor league players. I haven't decided if I'll do this again next year, but I figure I have a good ten months to make up my mind.