Meet Tony Campana

When the Cubs sent Tyler Colvin back to AAA, it was Tony Campana that took the roster spot. He was not familiar to me at all, and I bet most of you have never heard of him, either. The card companies also don't know him. A search of Beckett turned up only one release, 2009 Tristar PROjections.

I didn't want Tony to feel unloved, so I created a Heritage Card for him.



This one was a little tricky because I had a hard time finding any pictures of the guy. But I don't mind a challenge, and I think the card turned out pretty well.

Information on Campana was a bit hard to come by, too. He wasn't on the 40 man roster (he wasn't even in the big-league camp this spring), so there is very little about him in the media guide. The Cubs drafted him out of the University of Cincinnati in the 13th round of the 2008 draft. He played in rookie ball and A in 2008, low and high A in 2009, and AA last year. He had a .299 career average, and started the year in AAA, where he was hitting .342 before getting the call to the Cubs.

Campana is a little guy, only 5'8" and 165 pounds. One of his biggest assets is his speed. He has pinch-run for the Cubs twice and has scored both times. He also got a double in his first big league at bat in his hometown against the Reds, which had to be a big thrill. You can see the hit here. Overcoming his lack of size is nothing compared to what he overcame as a 7-year-old. The young Campana was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. He battled with chemotherapy for six months and beat the disease. Compared to that, baseball should be a breeze.

Right now he is the fifth outfielder. It's hard to imagine him getting much playing time. But he seems like the kind of person to take advantage of any opportunity, so it will be interesting to see what happens.