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My e-migo Marcus, the man behind 'all the way to the backstop...' is a constant trade partner. In fact, we've each sent at least a dozen bubble mailers or plain white envelopes to the other one since we became acquainted about three quarters of a year ago. Oddly, we've never made a formal trade- we just send each other cards we know the other one would appreciate without warning or a request for anything in return.
He recently hosted an invitation-only draft to get rid of his duplicate cards and invited me along with a pair of fellow Friar fans in the blogosphere. As soon as I saw Callix Crabbe's name on the list of available cards I knew I had to make it my first pick even though neither of the other participants likely gave half of a darn between them.
Unheard of by anybody but the most faithful of us, Callix Crabbe got into 21 games at the beginning of the 2008 season after being plucked from the Brewers in the 2007 Rule 5 Draft. He faltered, hitting .176 in 34 AB with a double as his only extra-base hit, and was returned to the Milwaukee organization on May 16 after a week on waivers. Those 21 games proved to be the extent of his major league career.
On a personal note, I was so stoked on this guy back when he was around. As soon as we got him in the Rule 5 Draft I was enamored by the 5'7" switch-hitting middle infielder, seeing both an underdog and memories of Joey Cora. I didn't follow most of the games that one month of his career as I was infamously "wandering the earth like Kane from 'Kung Fu'" but I'd catch up on the stats and game threads every few days and see how badly Callix was struggling. I only saw Crabbe in game-action a handful of times before I got a text saying that he had been waived.
He moved along, never getting above AA or AAA ball for the Seattle and Toronto organizations, retiring after 2011 a lifetime Padre just like Tony Gwynn, Tim Flannery, and Alex Pelaez.
