We have been picking up baseball cards for the Southern Illinois Miners and cataloguing them for posterity and here is the 2021 set.
We have listed them below in the order they came out of the pack.
So that the article isn’t too image heavy we will only add the photos of the card fronts. But if anyone wants a photo of the rear side then get in touch using the contact us page and we can email it out to you.
The numbers on the back of these cards are the players jersey numbers. So, technically the cards in this set are #NNO, but we have recorded them by their designated player number.
You can read more about the Miners and some of their more famous MLB players and sports cards in our main article.
But in summary they were a very successful Frontier League team that played from 2007 to 2021.
Southern Illinois Miners Baseball Cards: Final set ever
There are a total of 29 baseball cards in the final set ever of the Southern Illinois Miners.
This was unfortunately the last year that the Miners played as the owners retired the team from the League
The cards were printed and produced in the USA by Grandstand.
Grandstand specialize in the production of cards from minor league teams and produced their first sets in 2006.
There are still plenty of the 2021 SI Miners packs available online at the moment. However, with the team disbanding, they are going to become more scarce as the years progress.
It is with this in mind that we wanted to catalogue and document their baseball cards for the benefit of fans and collectors.
Southern Illinois Miners 2021 Baseball Card Checklist
Mike Pinto – Manager
Pinto was the Miners Manager and this was his 14th season . It was also his 4th year in the dual role of Chief Operating Officer of the Miners.
Mike Pinto is / was the only Manager that the Miners ever had. He also held the title as the all time leader in Frontier League history in managerial wins.
Under Pinto’s watch, no fewer than 60 former Southern Illinois Miners had been signed by Major League Teams.
Pinto has been a professional speaker since 1990, something that he continues to do to this day.
Tom Carcione baseball card
Tom Carcione joined the Miners in 2021 as their new hitting coach.
He came to Southern Illinois with nearly 30 years of experience, both as a coach and as a player.
Carcione served as the hitting coach for the Lincoln SaltDogs in the American Association from 2016-19. Under his tutelage, the SaltDogs finished in the top half of the league in home runs in each of his last three seasons.
Carcione was previously the hitting coach for the Windy City ThunderBolts in 2015.
He was named as the Pitching Coach for the Ottawa Titans for 2023.
Jarrod Watkins
2021 was Jarrod’s 2nd season with the Miners.
This was after having completed his college playing career at Indiana State Uni.
Michael Austin
Austin joined the team as a trade from the Washington Wild Things. At the Wild Things he had pitched for the previous two seasons and before that was part of the Kansas City Royals.
Having joined the Miners on 10th June 2021 it was only a mere 5 days later that Michael went on to throw the third no hitter in Miners history.
This also just so happened to be his debut for the team who were playing at Lake Eerie.
Jared Mang
The 2021 season was Jared’s first with the Miners.
Prior to this, Mang was part of the Detroit Tigers organization.
Zach Lauzon
Zach originally pitched in College at Concordia University.
He was signed by the Miners during the early August of 2021.
Eric Minshall
2021 was the first season that Eric had worked at the Club. During his short time at the Miners he was the pitching coach.
An experienced and accomplished pitching coach, he had previously worked for organizations such as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami University Hamilton.
Eric Minshall also operates the Ohio Baseball Science Academy.
Trent Johnson
There isn’t a huge amount of information on Trent.
He is another player that only signed for the Miners in 2021.
He is/was a right handed pitcher. At the time of writing he hasn’t been signed to another team.
Anthony Brocato
Brocato originally joined the Miners in 2019 before having his season cut short due to injury. Due to the injury he did not play in 2020.
Anthony is currently signed to the Washington Wild Things.
Stevie Ledesma
Another signing for 2021.
Prior to this Ledesma was recovering following Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. Colloquially known as Tommy John surgery.
Before that he was pitching for the Detroit Tigers organization.
Bryant Flete
2021 was the second season the Flete played for the Southern Illinois Miners Baseball Team.
His card shows him at bat and ready to swing.
He has previously played in the Cincinatti Reds, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox organizations.
Kaleb Schmidt
Schmidt was a first round pick for the Miners in the 2021 Frontier League Draft.
Prior to this he was recovering from Tommy John surgery (Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction).
He is a right handed pitcher and his card shows him in his Miners kit, wearing number 28 and ready to throw.
Yeltsin Gudino
2021 was his second season playing for the Miners
Did not play in 2020
Yeltsin Hit .321 with nine doubles, one home run, 43 total hits and 19 RBIs in 31 games with the Miners in 2019 after signing with them in late July.
Augie Voight
Entering first season with Southern Illinois in 2021 having signed in August of that year.
Played in 21 games for the Santa Fe Fuego (Pecos League) in 2021. Before coming to the Miners
He also played two years collegiately at William Penn University.
Ariel Sandoval
Signed with the Dodgers at age 17 from the Dominican Republic
Entering first season with Southern Illinois in 2021 after being signed in July of that year.
Has previously played two years in the Seattle Mariners organization.
Ryan Miller
Miller was signed by the Southern Illinois Miners before the 2021 season began.
He is a right handed player.
Previously played 2 years for the Arizona Diamondback. Has recently been signed by the Sioux Falls Canaries.
Arturo Nieto
A very experienced Miner and an outstanding defensive catcher. Entering second season with Southern Illinois in 2021
Nieto did not play in 2020
Served as a bullpen catcher in the major leagues. He was with the San Diego Padres in 2018
Arturo also played seven years in the Seattle Mariners organization.
He was a teammate with fellow Miners signee Gianfranco Wawoe with the Nuts in the 2017 season.
Alec Thomas
Alex was entering his first season with Southern Illinois in 2021
He previously played two years collegiately at Clarke University in Iowa.
Thomas also played one year at Southeastern University (NAIA) and two years at Danville Area Community College (IL)
Joey Pulido
Pulido was entering his first season with Southern Illinois in 2021
He did not play in 2020
Joey has played two seasons in the Toronto Blue Jays organization where pitched at four different levels.
Pulido played his college baseball at the University of Houston.
Signed to the Sioux Falls Canaries in 2022
Nolan Earley
2021 was the Nolan’s fourth and final season overall with the Miners.
He is the younger brother of another Miners player. All-Star Outfielder Michael Earley.
Not currently signed elsewhere, Nolan entered 2021 being the franchise’s all -time leader in walks. He set new benchmarks for the total number of games played, doubles and hits.
Gunnar Kines
Joined the Miners in 2021.
He is a lefty who also plays in the Australian Baseball league.
Played four seasons with the Schaumburg Boomers and is currently playing for the Gastonia Honey Hunters.
Chase Cunningham
Chase was entering second season with Southern Illinois in 2021 and did not play in 2020
He became only the fifth Miner in franchise history to win the Frontier League Pitcher of the Year award in 2019.
Cunningham also earned Midseason All-Star honors in the 2019 Frontier League. He lead the circuit in wins and innings pitched while finishing second by one in strikeouts.
Not currently playing elsewhere.
Ian Walters
Walters only signed with the Miners in June of 2021.
He bats left handed and throws right handed.
Currently signed to the Washington Wild Things (Frontier League) and also the Adelaide Giants in the Australian Baseball League.
Carson Bartels
Carson, who bats and throws right handed was entering first season with Southern Illinois in 2021
He previously played three years collegiately at St. John’s University. During this time he earned First Team All-Big East honors in 2021 as a graduate student.
Not currently signed elsewhere.
Mitchell Walters
Mitchell, who bats and throws right handed, was entering his first season with Southern Illinois in 2021
He did not play in 2020
He played one season in the Tampa Bay Rays organization at Rookie-level Princeton in 2019. Also played two seasons at Weatherford College (TX).
Currently signed to the Sioux Fall Canaries.
Gianfranco Wawoe
Gianfranco bats and throws right handed.
Not currently signed elsewhere.
Entering second season with Southern Illinois in 2021 but did not play in 2020.
He was a Frontier League midseason All-Star for the Miners in 2019
Zac Westcott
2021 was Zac’s fourth season in the Frontier League and his first for the Miners.
Previously pitched for Windy City and is currently signed for the Ottawa Titans.
Westcott bats and throws right handed.
Cody Erickson
Cody was entering first season with Southern Illinois in 2021
He was traded to the Miners from the Washington Wild Things and hit .267 with five RBIs in 22 games in 2021 with Washington before the trade
Had played in nine games with Washington in the Yinzer League in 2020
Erickson bats and throws right handed and is not currently signed to another team.
Blake Stelzer
Blake bats and throws right handed and he was entering first season with Southern Illinois in 2021
He previously played four years at Concordia University St. and also played one year at Rochester Community & Technical College (MN)
He is currently playing for the Schaumburg Boomers.
Southern Illinois Miners 2021 baseball cards: Summary
These 2021 baseball cards for the Miners help to record the final year for this amazing team.
In 2021, the Miners celebrated their 15th anniversary season but this was of course tinged with a degree of sadness for the fans and members of the team.
At the end of October 2019, the Frontier League absorbed five teams from the former Can-Am League. The Miners were moved in the new Midwestern Division of the league.
The Miners’ 2020 season was suspended in June of that year when the Frontier League announced it too would suspend the 2020 championship season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On October 6, 2021, after coming 3rd in the West Division but just missing the playoffs. The club owners Jayne and John Simmons came to the difficult decision that they would be retiring from professional baseball. This meant that they would be ceasing the operations of the Southern Illinois Miners.
This is a club that enjoyed incredible success in a short period of time. We wanted to document their baseball cards for the benefit of others and to ensure they don’t get lost in history.
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