1987 Donruss

#603 Jerry Narron

Here's the second card that I got signed by the Ranger's special assignment coach.

This card is the first '87 Donruss that I ever got signed. I had an '87 Topps and Fleer signed a long time ago, but for some reason I never had an '87 Donruss. I'm sure I sent a few out in the mail (which maybe I didn't), but just never got them back.

1986 Topps 3

#496 Jay Johnstone

Here is the second and last Jay Johnstone cards that I got signed at the Willie Wilson Classic. This one is weird because Jay signed it across his face. On some of the cards that I've shown so far, the signature touches part of the face (Jenkins, Henderson, Abbott). But, this is the first instance of a signature going completely through a face.

1986 Topps 2

#399 Bill Swift

I got this card signed through the mail. It was probably towards the end of 1993, when he was closing in on 20 wins. Until this year, this was the only 1986 card that I had signed.

1986 Topps

#209 Randy Ready

I got this card signed at the same Salt Lake Bees game that I got the Max Venable autographs. Randy was the manager of the Beavers. After Max came over and signed, he went and sat back down in the middle of the bench. Randy came out shortly thereafter with a cup of coffee and sat down next to Max and started chatting. I waited for a lull in the conversation and then asked him to sign and he came over and did just that.

I have a ton of '86 Topps, but most of them aren't in very good shape. That black border on top sure shows the card's defects. So, I rarely look through this set to get cards signed. Actually, that's not true. I look through the set, but rarely find a card in good enough condition to even bother getting it signed. This one barely made the cut.

I must add that this is the first Brewer card where the player isn't wearing a powder blue jersey (though he has a powder blue undershirt on, which has to count for something).

1986 Fleer 2

#365 Bob Dernier

Here's the second installment of Bob Dernier that I got signed at the Willie Wilson Classic. It's harder to see on this card, but I like how he signs his name Bobby.

The story of how I got this card is pretty much the same as the '86 Donruss. I got a real good deal on ebay for 12 cello packs. Before that I had one pack of cards from this set.

1986 Fleer

#196 Max Venable

I got this card signed this past season in Salt Lake City. The Bees were hosting the Portland Beavers that day and Max is the Beaver's hitting coach. He was sitting in the middle of the dugout as the players started to come on the field to stretch and I yelled over to him asking if he would sign. He didn't say anything, but he got up and came over and signed all three cards.

1986 Donruss

#375 Steve Henderson

Here's the third and final Steve Henderson. This one has the sloppiest signature of the three.

I picked up a few packs of '86 Donruss earlier in the year. Before those packs, the Jose Canseco rookie was about the only card I had of that set. Topps was the only brand I knew of until '87 when I discovered Fleer, Donruss, and Sportsflics.

This is the first Donruss card on here that is not from the 1981 set.

1985 Topps 2

#640 Steve Henderson

There's not much to say about this one. I got it the same time as the last one, at a Royals game earlier in the season. There's a nice dog hair in the scan, too.

1985 Topps

#73 Rusty Kuntz

Here's the other Rusty Kuntz card that I got signed after a Royal's game.

The 1985 Topps set is my favorite set of all time. These are the first cards that I ever collected. I have a brief memory of my Dad buying some packs for me at a Safeway supermarket when I was six. I think that he bought them because I asked what they were and I wasn't really grasping his explanation, so he bought them to show me. So, that's how I got started collecting. Every once in awhile, I'll pick up some rack packs of these on ebay since my original ones are in piss-poor shape (including a McGwire Olympic card). That's where this card came from.

1984 Topps 3

#375 Dennis Loenard

I got this card signed at this past winter's Royals Caravan. The Caravan has been coming to my town since I was in middle school (at least that's the first one that I remember). They used to always go to the mall, but sometimes they go to odd places. One year, they came to my middle school. Once, when I was attending Kansas State, they were at the women's basketball game (which I thought was dumb because you had to buy a ticket to the game to get autographs) and a few years ago, they were at a Buick dealership.

Well, this past year, they went to Wal-Mart and Sluggerrr, the Royal's mascot, came with them. He was walking through the line screwing with people when he got to my friend's eleven year-old brother, Aaron. Aaron wanted nothing to do with Sluggerrr, so Sluggerrr chased him around the line for a bit. Finally, he moved on and when he walked by, I grabbed his tail. He turned around real quick to get whoever had done it and I pointed at Aaron. So, he starts chasing Aaron around again and then heads over to the clothing department and grabs a belt and proceeds to chase him with the belt while occasionally snapping it. We all thought that it was pretty funny and it sure made standing in line less boring.

1984 Topps 2

#358 Bob Dernier

I got this card signed at the Willie Wilson Classic. After the game, I was over by the locker rooms and Bob was sitting outside with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He just moved the cigarette to the beer hand and signed my cards. He seemed like a nice fella.

I had been wondering why Dernier was at the game. Most of the players seemed to have played with Willie Wilson at some point. After checking his stats page, I see that Dernier is from Kansas City. So, that explains it.

This is the second instance where Baseball Almanac has the same card signed as I do.

1984 Topps

#317 Greg Pryor

Here's Greg Pryor, again. Unlike the previous Pryor, I got this one signed at Royals Fanfest last year. Plus, I actually had this card in my collection, which is why it isn't in that good of condition. Again, he's listed as the 3B-SS-2B instead of IF. At least there are two very different pictures of him on this card.

1983 Topps 3

#785 Dennis Leonard

Well, I lied. I said that I was all caught up, but I just realized I skipped this card. So, here it is. I'm pretty sure that I got this card from the Royal's box at the card shop. I got it signed this past winter at the Royals Fanfest.

1984 Fleer 2

#469 Rich Gale

I got this card (and the previous McClure card) about a month and a half ago. I bought about eight cello packs of '84 Fleer for about $20. Before I bought those packs, I probably had five cards from the set that I picked up in trades as a kid. So, it was nice to get those and I was kind of happy when I got these two cards signed.

This signature was also obtained at the Round Rock game. I've never heard of Rich Gale until I started looking for some of his cards to get signed. Lucky for me, he was wearing his jersey (instead of some lightweight jacket most players seem to wear for warm-ups/batting practice) prior to the game and I could see his number. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known who he was. He really didn't look like the guy on my cards.

1984 Fleer

#206 Bob McClure

Well, I am now caught back up. Before I got my scans back from my Texas trip, I was on 1983 Topps. I just finished that set up and am moving on.

I got this card signed when I got my last McClure card signed- at the Royal's parking lot a few weeks ago before a game. If you look at that card, you'll notice that he changed his mustache style by the time this picture was taken. I, personally, preferred the older style.

Speaking of mustaches, did anyone catch the Bricktown Showdown on ESPN2 tonight? The Sacramento River Cats were rockin' playoff mustaches, ala the hockey playoff beard. I wonder if this is going to turn into some kind of baseball tradition. When I was in Texas, I went to a Grand Prairie Airhog (American Association) playoff game against the Sioux Falls Canaries. The Canaries were rockin' the playoff 'staches and they won the league title. Sacramento won their league title and the AAA title. Coincidence? Not likely.

1983 Topps 4

#262 Ron Jackson

Here is the third and final Ron Jackson that I got in Round Rock. It's a bad scan. I don't know where those blotches came from; they are not on the card. I got this card in the same starter set that I got the Steve Howe in. Therefore, it is one of my first cards and is not in the best of shape. I took it with me to get it signed because I don't have a whole lot of Ron Jackson cards laying around (I have three, and you've seen them all) and I thought it would be nice to have a 1983 Topps card signed by someone who is not a Royal.

1982 Topps 3

#67 Rich Gale

This one was also obtained at the Round Rock Express game. I got this card about a week before I went to the Albuquerque Isotopes game this past May, where Rich is the pitching coach. I bought a "pack" of cards from Target that had about 100 random cards in it, including a couple of packs of junk wax. This happened to be one of the random cards, so I was kind of happy to get it for my trip, even though I didn't get it signed then.

1982 Fleer 2

#269 Ron Jackson


Here's Ron Jackson #2. This one was also signed at the Round Rock game. I know it's hard to see on this scan (you can see it better a couple of posts ago), but I like how he writes "Ron" and then circles "Ron" with the J of Jackson. Definitely unique.

1981 Donruss 11

#510 Bob McClure

I got this signed a couple of weeks ago before a Royals game. Bob is the Royal's pitching coach. The game started at 7:10 pm, but my buddy and I got to the stadium around noon and waited around the team parking lot. Bob was one of the first players/coaches to come through.

This card makes his neck look strange. I thought that it was just the card, but I have another one of these and it looks the same. Also, the last five '81 Donruss (and these are the last five... for now) all showcase five different teams all sporting the powder blue.

1981 Donruss 10

#489 Ron Jackson

I got this card signed two weeks ago at a Round Rock Express game. Ron is Round Rock's hitting coach. Round Rock's Dell Diamond is a great place for autograph seekers, but I'll go into that more when I post Ron's next card.

1981 Donruss 9

#462 Rich Gale

I got this signed a couple of weeks ago in Round Rock, Texas. Rich is the pitching coach of the Albuquerque Isotopes (Pacific Coast League). I had this card ready for Rich to sign back in May when I went to an Isotopes game, but I only got autographs from the visiting team and never made it over to the home team dugout. So, I made up for that in Round Rock.

1981 Donruss 8

#428 Terry Kennedy

I got this card signed in San Antonio a week and a half ago. Terry is the hitting coach for the San Antonio Missions. I had to wait about 45 minutes after the game to get this signed as he was leaving the ballpark. I couldn't get it before the game (I was standing on the wrong side of the dugout), between games of the doubleheader (the ushers blocked the good spots saying that they weren't allowed to sign between games), or right after the game (he either didn't hear me or ignored me). But, he was more than happy to sign when he was leaving. He took his time signing and had a nice, crisp signature.

I know this is a bad scan, but to me, this looks nothing like Terry Kennedy.

1981 Donruss 7

#405 Jerry Narron

Well, I finally got my scans from last week back, so it's back to the '81 Donruss. I got this card signed two weeks ago at a Royal's game. The Royals were playing the Rangers and Jerry is the "special assignment coach"- seriously, that's his job title from the Ranger's webpage. He was the last player/coach to leave the field after batting practice. As he was walking down the steps towards the clubhouse, I asked him to sign. He just kept walking. Next thing I know, he popped back out (I guess he just set some things down first so his hands weren't full) and signed for me.

After Further Review...

The image on the left is from the main picture. If you look closely at the small pics, they do look slightly different. Then angle of the hat brim looks different as does the chin. The chin looks a little bit lower in the left (main) picture. The pictures were obviously taken at the same time, but a few seconds off.

1983 Topps 2

#710 Willie Wilson

I didn't post on Sunday (and I had a good reason why, I thought), so I have an extra one now. I, of course, got this signed at the Willie Wilson Classic. I got this card earlier in the year from a rack pack off of ebay. After the game at the WWC, someone who knew Willie went to the clubhouse and got Willie to come out. I, of course, followed that person up there. Willie signed for him and I was next. I gave him my cardbook with three Willie cards and he asked which one I wanted signed. I picked this one.

1983 Topps

#418 Greg Pryor

I got this card signed at a card show here in my hometown. I can't remember what year it was. It was probably in the late eighties. I didn't have this card prior to the show, so I either bought it at the local card shop or at the show.

I like how this card list three different positions. Nowadays, it would just say infield. Also, is it just me or is the face pic taken directly from the main pic? I don't have many of these cards to compare with to see if this was a common practice.

1983 Fleer

#120 Amos Otis

This card was also signed at the Willie Wilson Classic. I mentioned in my last post how they were charging money for autographs at the WWC. When I first heard about the WWC, they were selling autograph tickets for $20 a pop. I bought two of them (one for me and one for my Dad), not realizing (or believing) that each ticket was only good for one autograph. So I finally called for clarification and they confirmed that each ticket was only good for one autograph. I told them that they were nuts and I wanted my money back. They said that was no problem; just send the tickets back with my name and phone number and they would call me when they got them to get my credit card information. I mailed them in and they never called. A couple of weeks later, I called them and low and behold: they never received the tickets. How convenient. So, I was out $40, but I guess that I got enough autographs after the game to make up for it. Apparently everyone else thought that they were nuts, too, because in the final week heading into the game, they started selling autograph tickets for $10.

1983 Donruss

#561 Jay Johnstone

I got this card signed at the Willie Wilson Classic. The main point of the WWC was to raise money for charity. They had a big autograph session before the game where they charged $10 per autograph (I'll get into this more in a later post). I couldn't make it early enough for the autograph session, but I was there early enough for batting practice. The first person that I saw close to the stands was Dennis Leonard. I asked him to sign, and he said that they weren't allowed to because they were trying to raise money. Before the game started, they pointed out that the players would not sign any autographs, but you could buy a $50 ticket to the post-game party and get autographs there. To get to the point, Jay was in charge of a silent auction where he had all kinds of memorabilia up for auction. Towards the end of the game, he was up on the concourse collecting money from the auction winners. So I went up there and asked for his autograph and he was more than happy to sign.

1982 Topps 2

#297 Clint Hurdle

First off, I'm finally back from Texas. I got back last night after seeing six ballgames in six days at four ballparks (and my grandparent's 60th anniversary). Plus, I got over 50 cards signed to go along with the 30 I got signed last week in Kansas City. So, as soon as I can get them scanned, I'll have five more 1981 Donruss on here, one more '82 Fleer, and another '82 Topps.

There is not much to say about this card. See the last Hurdle ('82 Donruss) card to see how I got this one signed. But, I must say that I love that mop of hair. He needs to bring that style back.