1986 Leaf, Bert Blyleven

#88 Bert Blyleven

Here is the third card of Bert Blyleven that I have posted on here. I posted the first two cards in 2009, though one was a TTM success from the early '90s and the other was in-person at a Rangers game that year.

This one, on the other hand, was signed in-person this year at the Twins/Royals game I attended in Kansas City this May. Bert is the color commentator for the Twinkies and I was lucky enough to get him to sign one of three when he got off the team bus outside the park.

I had a buddy with me at that game and he was helping me get some Twins autographs. Many of the bigger names on the Twins would only sign one card and my buddy would go and get a second card signed for me. When Bert only signed the one card, my friend came over to grab a card to get signed by Bert. I told him not to worry about is as I now have three of him. What I didn't realize until later was that I should have sent him over with my ball to get signed. I was saving the ball for Paul Molitor and he had already entered the park without signing for anyone. Why I did not think of getting Bert on it is still has me kicking myself in the butt.

I have no clue why I grabbed this card to get signed by Bert. I guess I still consider '80s Leaf as more oddball than mainstream and who does not like an occasional signed oddball? The only thing I do not like about is that I sort my autographs by year and set. Within the year, I sort the sets alphabetically. My Fleer cards separate this Leaf card from its Donruss twins and it just looks lonely and out of place in my binder.