1990 Topps, Chip Hale

#704 Chip Hale

Here is the first of three cards that I got signed by Chip Hale at an A's minor league game this past spring. Chip was the A's third base coach at the time and he stopped and signed by the dugout before the game started.

Preparing to go to Spring Training is a monumental task for me. After getting the easy parts done, figuring out which games to go to and getting a hotel, I then have to get cards ready for as many as six teams. I got lucky last year as the Brewers were the visiting team for each game we planned on attending, so I only had get cards for four teams.

I keep my cards somewhat organized. Current players are sorted by teams and past players are sorted by sets. The current players are sorted decently from Spring Training to the trade deadline. Once the deadline passes, I get behind and then fall even further behind during the free agent frenzy.

So, by the time Spring Training comes around, not only do I have to find cards to take with me, I have to sort all the cards I bought from June on just so I have a chance of finding the cards I need. As you can imagine, it is not an easy or fun task. By the time I get to finding cards to take with me, I just want to get through it as fast as possible. That is how I ended up getting three cards from this set signed at Spring Training last year. I was able to knock out three needs in one set and I took it. Otherwise, like most people, I am not a huge fan of this set.

But, having said that, all five cards from this set that I posted recently all came out looking good. So, the set has that going for it. I was a little worried about this card because of the dark warm up jersey Chip is wearing. But, to my surprise, the blue contrasted against the navy better than I would have imagined and you can make out the signature very easily.