No, no THAT Manny. Sorry, that was mean, but I've already used the only Manny Machado card in my collection. It's shameful that I've been caught short-handed on the day the O's top position prospect and 2010 first-round draft pick makes his big league debut, but this really was an ambush. The kid just turned 20 a month ago and I'm too burned out on the current-day Bowman and Topp$ cards to have amassed a stockpile of Mannybilia. So if you haven't gouged your eyes out due to the Manny Alexander ambush, remember this: after he left rookie-level Bluefield, the putative heir apparent to Cal Ripken, Jr. never had an OPS above .651 in the O's farm system. As one of the youngest players in AA, Machado just put up a .789 OPS with Bowie. I still feel like he's being rushed to the big leagues, but he doesn't have to be great right away. He just has to slide over to third base and be better than Wilson Betemit and Robert Andino. That's not a very tall order, you know. So bring on the Manny Machado Era, in a matter of speaking.
This was my first ever baseball card, the card that started a massive collection of about 25,000 cards, the reason why the Orioles became my favourite team, and somehow the unjustified reason why Manny Alexander was my favourite player from the ages of 4-8. It's framed somewhere in my possession
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