TOGETHER AGAIN:

Ask anyone who knows, and they will tell you that the most coveted card from Topps' 2001 set is No. 726 -- the rookie card for Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. The Ichiro card was the gem of the 790-card set, easily the priciest during the time when highly desired baseball cards still fetched a pretty penny.

The monetary worth of card No. 746 didn't rate nearly as high. The split card featured two players who were part of Topps' Chrome Draft Picks collection, an attempt by the venerable brand to peg baseball's next big things.

On the right is 17-year-old Edwin Encarnación, months removed from being drafted by the Rangers. The picture was shot in the fall of 2000, with Encarnación in Florida for an instructional league. He was still a baby-faced kid from the Dominican Republic looking to fit in while fighting pangs of homesickness.

"I was looking for my dream," Encarnación said the other day, holding the card in his hands while smiling from ear to ear.

Then there's Hugh Quattlebaum on the left. If you don't know who that is, well, you're probably not alone. Quattlebaum played four seasons in the minors with the Tigers and Orioles and was released after compiling a career .241 average. Like so many before him -- and after -- Quattlebaum's chances of reaching the major leagues died a mostly anonymous death.

Quattlebaum was out of baseball by 25, but his story goes beyond those four middling seasons he played in the minor leagues. He won a dunk contest in Finland (he played college hoops at Division III Amherst College in Massachusetts) and spent time in Los Angeles writing comedy scripts.

"That's a joke among all my friends," Quattlebaum said, "how I'm destroying the value of that card. It's a joke at how productive Edwin has been. But now that I am at least back in the game, it's not as embarrassing."

On card No. 746, Quattlebaum and Encarnación shared equal billing. When the Mariners acquired Encarnación from the Indians in December, it brought the two together again: Encarnación as the big bat in the middle of the lineup, and Quattlebaum, 40, in his second season as the organization's minor league hitting coordinator.

Tweet   @brothersjudd