Kris Foster, 2003 Donruss Team Heroes #53

Did somebody say Kris Foster? Here's an Oriole so short-lived and obscure, even he probably doesn't know who he is. If you must know, this 6'1" righthander was drafted by the Expos out of Florida's Lehigh Acres High School in 1992. Over the next decade, he climbed through the minor leagues at a glacial pace in the Montreal and Los Angeles organizations. At the 2001 non-waiver trading deadline, the Dodgers sent him to the O's along with catcher Geronimo Gil for reliever Mike Trombley (blockbuster alert!). The Birds summoned the 26-year-old pitcher to the majors, and he debuted on August 3 with a scoreless inning of mopup relief in a 10-1 pasting from the Blue Jays. He pitched in seven games that season between trips to AAA Rochester, and managed to give up only three earned runs in ten innings in the majors despite a hefty 17 baserunners allowed. That was the sum total of his MLB experience.

I love coming across cards of barely-there ex-Orioles. When your collection reaches a certain size, you get burned out by the stacks of Cals and Bradys and Mooses and you find yourself hoping against hope for a hidden surprise, a guy that you don't even remember wearing the orange and black. It's like found money when I discover a Foster (in a set a full season after his first and last MLB games!), or skim over an online checklist to see that Matt Nokes snuck into the 1995 Pinnacle set in an O's uniform...still gotta get that one.