This guy has moved around more in the last 15 years than parts of Joan Rivers face.Russell Branyan was drafted in 1994 by the Indians in the 7th round of the amateur draft. He made his major league debut in 1998. In December of 2003 he was granted free agency and two months later he signed with the Braves. In April of 2004 he was traded to the Indians for Scott Sturkie, in July of 2004 he was traded to the Brewers as part of a conditional deal. In January of 2006 he was released and signed with the Devil Rays, who traded him to the Padres in August for Evan Meek and Dale Thayer. He played in 27 games with 72 AB's with 6 HR's and hit .292. In 2007 he played in 61 games with 122 AB's with 7 HR's before he was released in July. On August 7, 2007 he signed with the Indians, 2 days later he was purchased by the Phillies, who waited 3 weeks before sending him to St. Louis as part of a conditional deal, then in November he was granted free agency. In February of 2008 he signed as a free agent with the Brewers. After the 2007 season he was released and in December of 2008 he signed a one year contract with the Mariners for the 2009 season. I got the card signed through the mail somehow through all those moves.
Branyan used to have a batting stance that was 1% original, 99% Ken Griffey Jr. I think he even did the bat waggle if I recall correctly. I was disappointed to see he had ditched the stance this year in favor of something fairly nondescript.
ReplyDeleteHe's always struck me as a guy who would put up moneyball numbers for an AL team. Billy Beane dropped the ball by not getting in on this guy.
Hey Rod,
ReplyDeleteGot your package today, thanks! Question: Is the Darin Blood card an actual autograph? What's the history behind it? I've never heard of him before but I guess this goes back more than 10 years ago. I'm very intrigued.