Digital Gum Wave 5: St. Paul Saints

They had a heck of an inaugural season at CHS Field...and here in all of their retro ball card glory are the 2015 St. Paul Saints. These shots reflect the roster no later than July 12, 2015. Missing a few pitchers, as with the usual luck of the draw on just catching a few road games. So alas, no Kramer Sneed. This team was a lot of fun to photograph--the Saints are not only a formidable ball club, they also have more than their share of characters on their roster. It will be interesting to see what their 2016 line-up looks like, with the Dodgers buying up the contracts of DiFazio and Songco.

Dodgers double down with Saints, DiFazio

The American Association's player of the year has been picked up the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Vinny DiFazio, who slugged an impressive .361 with 17 homers and 82 RBI in 2015, is the second Saint to have their contract bought up by L.A. following Angelo Songco's purchase last week. DiFazio's had a hard road to get back to another shot with the majors, here's hoping he gets a long look from the Dodgers. See the Saints' official release here.

DiFazio, Tenbrink re-signed

A couple of marquee names have been re-signed for 2016 in the AA: the St. Paul Saints secured the services of All-Star and Player of the Year Vinny DiFazio for another year, while the Kansas City T-Bones have re-signed Nate Tenbrink. Both players put up big numbers for their respective clubs so that's welcome news for fans.

2015 American Association All-Star Team

A special wave of Digital Gum, on the heels of yesterday's 2015 All-Star team announcement. Sadly, this is an incomplete set: Outfielder Denis Phipps and the Laredo Lemurs never came through Winnipeg this year. And I struck out on both pitchers...Sioux City's Patrick Johnson and Joplin's Winston Abreu. Abreu did pitch an inning's worth of relief here, but this was pre-blog and I missed him on the mound. Johnson did not start in Winnipeg, but I borrowed a shot from xsbaseball.com for his card; if I can dig up shots of Abreu and Phipps, I'll include them here later.

"All Saints Day"

Last post for "All Saints Day." Saints stand for the anthems July 10 at Shaw Park, Winnipeg. Final score: Saints 10, Goldeyes 2. Goldeyes took the July 11 encore 4-3. Photo by Dan LeMoal

Vinny DiFazio, St. Paul Saints

American Association slugging percentage leader (.642 as of July 10, at Shaw Park, Winnipeg). Photos by Dan LeMoal