1982 Topps

#14 Steve Howe

I don't know how I got this card. I had very few 1982 Topps when I got this, so I probably got it in a starter kit when I was young. I got it signed in 1993 or 1994 through the mail. Howe just got re-instated to baseball after his "lifetime ban" for substance abuse and I figured that I had better get his autograph before he got another lifetime suspension. Howe died in an auto accident in 2006.

1982 Fleer

#24 Dave Stewart

I got this card signed at the Willie Wilson Classic, also. Dave was the starting pitcher for the blue team and when he was done, he headed out to the locker room. By the time I got out there after the game was over, Dave was standing around in street clothes drinking a Bud Light. I almost didn't recognise him without the uniform on.

On a side note, tomorrow I'm heading down to Texas until Wednesday. I'll try to make a post or two over the weekend. But, there are no guarantees. When I get back I should have four more 1981 Donruss signed (I already got two of them signed Tuesday at a Royals game).

1982 Donruss 2

#643 Fergie Jenkins

I got this earlier in the season at the Willie Wison Classic in Kansas City. Ferguson was the premier player at the event (ie, he was the only Hall of Famer). Originally, Ozzie Smith and George Brett were supposed to be there, but they fell through and Jenkins stepped up into their spots. He was the starting pitcher for the green team and did pretty well.

Like every autograph I got at this game, I got after the game as the players went to the clubhouse (or left it) in right field. I gave Jenkins my book which had two of his cards, but he only signed this one. I can't complain, though. It's not every day that you have a chance to get a Hall of Famer's autograph.

1982 Donruss

#516 Clint Hurdle

I'm going to Kansas City tomorrow (today), so I figured that I would make a post now, since I won't have time after I wake up.

I got this autograph earlier this year at a Royals game. The Royals were playing the Rox and for those of you that live under a rock, Hurdle is the Rockies manager. He was one of the few people to sign that day (for the general population, but I'll get into that in a later post). Jamie Quirk, a formal Royal, wouldn't even sign.

1981 Topps

#410 Bert Campaneris

Earlier this year, I started buying old packs every once in awhile on ebay. Most of them were from 1981-1986. They were usually cards from before I collected or from my first years of collecting when those cards aren't in very good shape. This is one of the cards I pulled from a 1981 Topps rack pack. I got it signed at the Willie Wilson Classic in May. It's the only Campaneris card I had at the time, besides the '81 Donruss with a nice layer of gum on the front. But about a month ago, I found two more Campaneris cards that I had this whole time ('82 Fleer and '93 Ted Williams Collection). Maybe he'll be back next year.

Earlier I posted how Amos Otis had gained a few pounds since his playing days. That is not the case for Campaneris. He looked exactly the same in May of 2008 as he does on this 1981 card.

1981 Donruss 6

#447 Jim Slaton


This is the final installment of 1981 Donruss, for now. I got this card signed earlier this month at an Oklahoma Redhawks game (Pacific Coast League). Jim is the pitching coach for the Las Vegas 51s. The game was a Mickey Mantle bobblehead giveaway and Brad Penny made a rehab start for the 51s. I got a Penny autograph, but I didn't know he was going to be there, so I didn't have any of his cards (I got my ticket stub signed instead).

1981 Donruss 5

# 379 Luis Pujols

I got this card signed a little over a month ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pujols is the manager of the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Texas League. I got to Driller Stadium early and the Hooks were taking infield practice. When they finished, Pujols walked by and I asked for his autograph. He said "No, I have to go change" (the Hooks were practicing in shorts and t-shirts). So I tried again after the game. At Tulsa, the teams have to leave the dugout to get to the clubhouse so I went and stood by the clubhouse entrance. When he came by, I asked him again and he started shaking his head "no", and looked up and saw it was me again, signed my one card and kept moving. It was kind of weird, like the Will Ferrell character in the Austin Powers movie (except I only had to ask twice).

Speaking of weird, I had a card of John Tamargo who was a coach for the Hooks. He walked by after the game and I asked him to sign and he said "sure". I handed him the card and he says "That's my dad" and hands it back to me. Oops.

1981 Donruss 4

#282 Rusty Kuntz

I bet you can't guess where I got this card. Anyway, Rusty is the Royals first base coach. I got this card signed on the Sunday before the All-Star break this past July. I hung around the player's parking lot after the game and Rusty was one of the few players/coaches that actually came over and signed. Because of the renovations at Kauffman Stadium this year, the players take an underground tunnel from the ballpark to the parking lot. So, they can avoid fans now if they want to. In the past, they just walked straight out to the parking lot. When I saw Rusty come out of the tunnel, I asked him if he would sign. He mumbled something and kept going to his vehicle, like just about every other player did that day. Then (unlike every other player that day), he set his stuff in his car and came over to sign. He seems like a really nice guy.

The best part about this card is the old White Sox uniforms. How can you not love those jerseys? Those collars are classic. Plus (they are hard to see here) I like the white socks.

1981 Donruss 3

#157 Steve Henderson

This card also came out of the '81 Donruss box. I got it signed a few months ago at a Royals game. Henderson is the batting coach for the Tampa Bay Rays.

I'm pretty sure that when I was younger, I would get Steve Henderson and Dave Henderson mixed up. They both played together for the Mariners and A's. I realize this now because I had no idea who Steve Henderson was when I started looking for cards of the Rays coaches. It turns out that I had a bunch of him to choose from.

1955 Bowman

#170 Carl Erskine

This is my newest autograph. I got this this past Sunday at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, New York (home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, New York-Penn League). It was Carl Erskine day and they gave out Erskine bobbleheads and retired his number. He even played the national anthem on his harmonica prior to the game. He seemed like a real stand-up guy. He said a few words after being introduced and he really complemented the people of Brooklyn for accepting Jackie Robinson as one of their own.

After the game started, he sat outside the team store signing autographs. There was a huge line for the signing and a stipulation to be in that line. In order to get an autograph, you had to buy his book (it was basically a book signing, but if you had the book, you could get something else signed as well). So, I bought the book (it was $10 for a hard-cover; can't beat that) and went to my seat to watch the game and wait for the line to thin out. I went and checked on the line after the first- it hadn't moved. I checked back after the third- still extremely long. I checked back after the fifth- little progress. I checked back midway through the sixth- slight progress. By now, this 82 year old man had been signing for nearly two hours. I figured that he didn't have much left, so I had better stay in line. A few minutes later, a ballpark employee came to the back of the line to say that if you didn't have a book, you had to get out of line and that there were no more books left. So, I got lucky there by buying my book before the game started. So, I missed an inning and a half of the game, but I got my book and card signed. And it was a real nice and crisp signature, too (mine would be so sloppy after that much time). Plus, he signed for every single person that bought the book while most signings last for a set period of time.

By the way, I bought the card on ebay a week and a half before my trip for $8.50 (including shipping and handling). The card has seen better days, but it isn't often that you can get a 50+ year old card signed (there's no wrinkles, just battered edges). So, it basically cost me $18.50 for two autographs. Not bad.

1981 Donruss 2

#104 Amos Otis

This is the only card from this set that I have had signed that I had before I got that box of Donruss in May. I got this card signed at the Willie Wilson Classic this past May. The WWC is an old-timer game that has been played the past couple of years at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kansas (home of the Kansas City T-Bones, Northern League). It's mostly former Royals and a scattering of other former players (and some sponsors that get to play in the game).

I never got to see Otis play in person, but I always remembered him being pretty scrawny. That is no longer the case. He's a pretty big dude now. At the game, I was sitting on the first base side. Right before first pitch, this big guy walked by on the way to the dugout and I thought "Who the Hell is that?". It was Amos Otis. I never would have guessed that.

1981 Dunruss

#47 Glenn Abbott

This is the second and last card of Glenn Abbott. See the older post of him ('76 Topps) to see how I got it.

I have five more of these 1981 Donruss cards coming up. Back in May, I bought a box of these beauties. That was a fun box to rip. The only bad part was the 27 year old piece of gum stuck to the top card of every pack (which happened on a Molitor). Now, whenever I need a card of an early 80s player, this is the first set that I turn to. One weird thing about Donruss' first card set is that nearly every card's photo is taken in either Wrigley Field or Comiskey Park.

I just got back from New York yesterday and I got a 1955 Bowman card signed that I'll put up as soon as I can get to my buddie's house to scan it.

1979 Topps

#99 John Wathan

This may start sounding like a broken record, but see the John Mayberry post to see how I got this one (same box, same game). There's not much else to really say about this card. I will add that the Turkey Bowl's admission was canned goods.

This is the last card from the 70s and we'll be 80s bound on Tuesday when I get back from New York.

1978 Topps part 4

#638 Paul Splittorff

If you want to know how I got this autograph, just read the John Mayberry post I just added. I got this card out of the same box and signed at the same charity football game (I think).

Split does most of the Royals color commentary on TV and does some Big XII basketball games in the winter. So, you can sometimes find him at some Royals road games. I got a balled signed by him in 2006 in St. Pete at a D-Rays game.

1978 Topps part 3

#550 John Mayberry

I also got this card at my local card shop. The owner there has a box of former Royals that I have rummaged through many times. I got the card signed in Kansas City at Turkey Bowl IV. The Turkey Bowl was a charity football game between former Royals and radio personalities. I'm pretty sure that they no longer have the event. I went to the one in 2003 and got a lot of autographs. George Brett was supposed to be there, but his brother, Ken, died a couple of days before it. I went there for autographs, got them, and then left before the game started.

1978 Topps part 2

#95 Jamie Quirk

I got this card signed this past winter at Royals Fanfest. I was surprised he was there since he is the bench coach with the Rockies. I have a ton of Quirk cards from the 80s. But, a couple of days before Fanfest, I was at the card shop looking for players that I didn't have, and I stumbled upon this baby with the sweet hat and I couldn't pass it up.

Quirk used to be the answer to this trivia question: What player has the most homers whose last name starts with Q? Then Mark Quinn passed him a few years ago and Carlos Quentin just passed Quinn last week.

1978 Topps part 1

#4 Brooks Robinson

I got this autograph the same way that I got the Hoyt Wilhelm one posted earlier. Brooks was in the same Beckett article, so I sent him a check and a card and here it is. I didn't own a card of him, so I had to get one at the local card shop and this is the only one he had. If you click on Brooks' name at the top, it's kind of funny that baseball almanac has the same card autographed by him, but it's signed in a different style (ie bigger). Anyway, another Hall of Famer.

1976 Topps

#322 Glenn Abbott

I bought this card on ebay for about $3.00 this past spring with the sole purpose of getting it signed. Who, exactly, is Glenn Abbott? Don't know. But, this is what his signature looks like.

In 2008, Abbott was the pitching coach for the Portland Beavers (AAA for the Padres). I got him to sign this card at a Salt Lake Bees game in May. This card reminds me of the 1987 Ed Lynch card because of the multiple chins. I was sort of disappointed that I paid for this card (although it's the only card of the set I have autographed) since two days before I left for my trip I got a box of 1981 Donruss and of course there is a Glenn Abbott in it (but with the Mariners [you'll see it shortly]). And to make matters worse, last week I found a 1982 Fleer Abbott, that I had the whole time. So, this is the Glenn Abbott signature in all of it's glory.

1975 Topps

#615 Dennis Leonard/Webb/Underwood/Darcy

I think that I am a little bit fortunate to have this card. First of all, Loenard ended up in the Royal's Hall of Fame. I've never even heard of the other three guys (which doesn't make them bad players), but I doubt that they ended up in the Mets, Phillies, or Reds Hall of Fame.

Anyway, I was in Iraq when this card was signed. I was deployed for the Army, but my Dad was getting it done stateside for me. Every year, the Royals send out their "Royal's Caravan" to various towns in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, and maybe even Arkansas. They send various contigents out to the states (usually 2-4 current players, a former player, and a member of the broadcast team). In 2005, the former player was Dennis Leonard. My Dad picked up this card for me at the local card shop (which is now out of Leonard cards). Thanks Dad!

Update

A few things that I wanted to put out before I got much further. For one, the scanner that I'm using isn't that great. But, like I said before, I'll take what I can get. Second, I have been having a few problems with this blogging (namely spacing and placing a picture anywhere but at the very top of a post). If anyone could help me on those two issues, it would greatly be appreciated. The third one is the result of the second one. Since I can't post pictures anywhere except at the top of a post, I will be changing my format. Instead of doing every card I have signed from one set at one time, I will be doing each card individually but in the same order that I originally planned. For example, instead of posting my four 1979 cards in one post, they will be broken down into four separate posts.

On a final note, I'm going to a couple of Yankees-Royals games this weekend and won't be able to make any new posts while I'm there, so I might do a couple extra before I leave. In the meantime, go USA (especially baseball, but also for any other American athlete in the Games)!

1970 Topps

#17 Hoyt Wilhelm

A friend of mine in grade school had a box of old cards from 1968-1972. He would let me rummage through there and take what I wanted. There was very few cards in that box of players I knew, but this was one of them, so I snagged it. It's not in very good condition (rounded corners, faded picture), but I'll take what I can get. Oh, and that's some great air-brushing!

Around 1996, I read an article in Beckett of former players that will sign cards through the mail if you send them a check ($3-5$) made out to a charity of their choice. Wilhelm was on that list and this card got mailed out shortly later. Do I know if it's real? No. But what kind of person is going to ask for money towards charity for a bogus autograph?

I don't know much about Wilhelm. I do know that he was a knuckleballin' Hall of Famer. I think that Tom Candiotti played as him in 61*. I just checked his baseball almanac page and found out that he died in 2002.

1960 Topps

#353 Don Larsen

This is a good way to start the blog. This is the oldest card that I have autographed. I like it because Larsen is obviously the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in the World Series, but also because it depicts him as a KC Athletic.

I bought this card from a local card shop about a week before Larsen came to town at a baseball card show. I don't remember what year it was (probably around 1989). The show was at the mall and the autograph was free, if I remember correctly.

Welcome to Autographed Cards

Over the summer, I've been reading 88 Topps Blog and have recently started reading A Pack A Day. 88 Topps is fun because it brings back memories from when I collected that set as a nine year old. APAD is fun because it makes me want to buy baseball cards at the strangest hours. But what these two blogs have in common is making me want to start my own blog. I'm not saying that I'm going to do one that blows these two out of the water. I just want to hopefully show people something that they may have never seen before or had forgotten about over the years. That's my goal. I also want to get used to this so that a buddy and I can start a blog about all of the ballparks that we've been to.

I first started collecting cards in 1985. I collected throughout the 80s and into the 90s before I started to lose interest in high school. During that time, I would send cards (only doubles though) through the mail for autographs. That was fun for awhile, but I also lost interest in this in high school. From 1995-2007, I would buy a few packs a year just to see what was out there, but never really got into anything.

When I got to college, I started going to twenty or more Kansas City Royals games a year. I would load up on MLB balls and get them signed at the games. Kauffman Stadium is one of the easiest places to get autographs. But after I turned 21, I spent more time tailgating than getting autographs (after all, a MLB ball started to cost as much as a case of beer) and I again lost interest. Plus, it wasn't much fun to spend $15 on a ball just to come away with Tony Eusebio's signature on it. After college, I joined the Army and was stationed at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. From there, it was about a three hour drive to Atlanta (where I never got a single autograph) and four hour drive to St. Petersburg (where the only autographs I got were from Royals and Joe Nathan during spring training). So, it was nice when I got out of the Army and moved back home where I would be closer to a MLB team.

During the college and Army years, my Buddy and I would travel around the U.S. and Canada going to games. I started noticing something on these trips. I starting seeing kids with "autograph books". These books were basically spiral note card books with photo corners in them to hold cards in. Unlike binders with nine-card sheets, the cards in these books were open so players could sign the card while holding the book. These kids would put three to six cards per player in the book, hand it to the player, and he would sign all the cards. So, this year, I finally made one of these books. Now, I am having fun getting autographs again. I might only get two players to sign at a game, but I'll come home with six autographs. Why do I need three autographs of one person? I don't know. But I enjoy having different sets signed and a player with different teams. This has also got me into collecting again. But I only collect cards to hopefully get them autographed one day. It might sound a little weird, but that is the way I'm am.

I'm sorry this first post has gotten so long-winded, but I'm new to this and will cut to the chase. I plan on posting on this blog at least five times per week. Each post will contain all of the autographed cards that I have of a particular set (for some sets it may just be one card, others might be ten or more cards) starting with the oldest cards and moving forward. If I get new autographs on card sets that have already been shown, I will post them as I get them before moving forward. Every once in awhile, I throw in some random posts of other autographed stuff I have. With each post, I'll include little tid-bits about the card like how and where I got it and other comments that I may see fit. Hopefully I will make this blog worth a damn and will attract the attention of a few readers. The first card will be posted later today sometime and it's from 1960 Topps.

Enjoy!

Want List

'10 Topps- COMPLETE! Thanks you Brian at Play at the Plate!

'10 Topps Yo Momma Alex Gordon (either back)

'09 Topps U&H Zack Grienke propaganda card

'81 Donruss needs
Bert Campaneris-50
Gene Tenace-241
Ben Oglivie-446
(thanks to Scott at Hand Collated for knocking most of these out)

Alberto Callaspo- '09 Upper Deck #683

If you have any of these cards to spare, let me know and we will work something out.