2004 Topps Total, John Buck

#109 John Buck

Here is a card that was signed by the Marlins newest backstop almost six years ago. My dad got this card signed for me at a Royals Caravan signing while I was deployed to Iraq. This was the same Caravan stop that Jeremy Affeldt appeared at and it was sprinkling when my dad left. Luckily, the Jeremy Affeldt card was on the top of the stack when my dad left and this card came out unharmed. [Edit: Actually, if you click on the card, you can see that it did get hit with rain. C'mon Dad!]

John Buck had a breakout season this past year for the Blue Jays. He hit .281 for them and that was the first time that he had ever hit over .250 in his career. He also hit the 20 home run mark for the first time and he made his first All Star team, thanks to an injury to Victor Martinez. Because of those numbers, the Marlins were willing to give him a three year/$18 million contract. Whether John will be able to repeat his 2010 numbers over the next three years is another question. But, I have enough signed cards of him that I will take a look at in whenever I post one.

This is the only signed card I have of John where he isn't wearing a Royals uniform. In case you didn't know, John never played for the Astros. He was on their AAA team when the Royals acquired him in the Carlos Beltran trade.