1997 Ultra, Darryl Strawberry

#103 Darryl Strawberry

Here is the Yankees card that I picked out to get signed by Darryl two years ago when he came to Wichita to preach at a local church. I already posted a card of him with the Mets and Dodgers and I did not have a Giants card of him to get signed.

Darryl spent his last five seasons wearing Yankee pinstripes. Those five years were riddled with injuries and his treatment for colon cancer, but the Yankees kept bringing him back every year. The reason for that was because, unlike his Dodger days, he did real well.

Darryl played in 231 regular season games with the Yankees and he hit .255 with 41 home runs and 114 RBI. That is a 162 game average of 29 homers and 80 RBI. Who wouldn't want that in their lineup? That is even more impressive considering that Darryl played for the Yanks in his age 33-37 seasons.

Though past his prime during his second go-around in New York, Darryl still accomplished some feats. He had a three home run game in 1996, which was only the second of his career. He hit 24 homers in '98, he next to last season. He got to play in the postseason three more times and came home with a ring each time. Though his postseason numbers with the Yankees were not that great, he was red hot during the 1996 ALCS. In the four games he played against the Orioles, Darryl was 5-12 with 3 home runs and 5 RBI.

1997 Pinnacle, Craig Paquette

#58 Craig Paquette

Here is another former Royal player that I was able to get through the mail earlier this year. I sent this card to Craig in January and I had it back eight days after I sent it.

Craig played in the Majors for eleven seasons with the A's, Royals, Mets, Cardinals, and Tigers. He could play just about anywhere, but spent most of his time at a corner infield or outfield spot. For his career, he was a .239 hitter with 99 home runs and 377 RBI. He got to play in three playoff series with the Cardinals in 2000 and 2001.

Craig spent just two seasons in Kansas City. He had a career year there in his first season, 1996. That year, he mainly played third and left and he hit .259 with a career high of 22 home runs and 67 RBI. His production fell off the following year and the Royals let him walk after the 1997 season.

I did not buy very many cards in 1997. I am not even sure if I bought any from this set or not. I never noticed all the words in the gold foil on this card until I was getting ready to send it out. All of the words on the card are specific to Kansas City or the Royals. Some of the things on there are- George Brett, fountains, Ewing Kauffman, and Negro League Hall of Fame. That is kind of cool. I am have tempted to see if I have any other cards from that set just to see what it says for other teams.

1997 Fleer, Glendon Rusch

#567 Glendon Rusch

Here is another new addition to the collection. This signature was obtained through the mail two months ago. It took exactly one month to make it back home.

Glendon pitched in the Majors for twelve seasons with the Royals, Mets, Brewers, Cubs, Padres, and Rockies. Over that time, he amassed a 67-99 record with 4 saves and a 5.04 ERA. His best season was with the Mets in 2000. That year, he was 11-11 and those 11 wins were a career high. He also had career bests in strikeouts (157) and ERA (4.01). He even got to pitch in three games of the World Series that season and he allowed one run in four innings of work.

But, the only reason that I wrote to Glendon was because he was once a Royal. That only lasted for about two and a half seasons. In that time, he was 12-25 with a save and 5.80 ERA.

Even though Glendon was only a .151 hitter for his career, he did manage to smack three home runs. Two of those came in the same season while with the Cubs in 2004.

While I am not one to complain about a free autograph, especially when someone takes the time to respond to my request from the comfort of their own home, I must say that Glendon's signature is really lacking. I am not sure if this is typical of him, but clearly all I got from him were his initials.

1997 Donruss, Marcus Jensen

#238 Marcus Jensen

Here is one of my most recent autographs. Marcus is the bullpen coach for the A's and I was able to get him to sign at Spring Training this year. I had planned on 'graphing the Angels that day at their home spring ballpark. But, by the time we got into the park, the Angels side was completely full. I looked over at the visiting A's side and there was not a soul to be seen. So, I went with the A's instead and it was a wise choice. I got about twenty cards signed over there and even came home with a Marcus Semien signed batting glove.

Marcus played in the Majors for parts of seven seasons. Over that time, he played in 145 games with the Giants, Tigers, Brewers, Cardinals, Twins, Red Sox, and Rangers. The most games he ever played in a single season was 52 with the Twins in 2000. That year, he hit .209 with 3 home runs and 14 RBI.

Marcus finished his career a .184 hitter with 6 home runs and 29 RBI.

In 2000, Marcus had the pleasure to represent the USA at the Olympics in Australia. He came home with the gold.

1997 Collector's Choice, Rex Hudler

#422 Rex Hudler

Here is one of my newest Rex Hudler autographs. My older son got this card signed for me at Spring Training this year. The two of us had the same arrangement as last year where I would give him a dollar for every card that he got signed. Unfortunately, he had a rough time this year and only netted five bucks. Three dollars of it was courtesy of Rex.

A couple of years ago, I found out that a work colleague of mine used to collect cards. We had worked side-by-side daily for a year before she transferred to another store. Somehow, during that whole year, I had no clue that she had ever collected cards. I didn't even realize she knew anything about baseball. The only reason I found out about it was that she gave a few cards for Christmas one year. When she told me that they came from her collection, my mind was blown.

Last year, she dropped off a container of cards that were from 1995-1998 and she told me to take anything I wanted. There were a lot of star cards from the day in the box, but those weren't the ones I was looking for. I was looking for cards that I could get signed. That is where this card came from.

I like the vague position listed on this card- IF/OF. In case you were wondering, The Hud played mostly second base in 1996 and he appeared at that position 53 times. He also played first 7 times, center field 15 times, and left field 8 times. I think that they probably could have just listed him as a second baseman.

1996 Upper Deck, Glenn Dishman

#186 Glenn Dishman

Here is a card of Glenn Dishman that was given to me by Rod, from Padrographs, when we met up at a Hillsboro Hops game in 2015.

Glenn pitched in the Majors for three seasons with the Padres, Phillies, and Tigers. He made his Major League debut with the Padres in 1995 and saw the majority of his big league action that season. He appeared in 19 games, starting 16, and pitched 97 innings with a 4-8 record and 5.01 ERA.

He would go on to only throw 38 more innings at that level over two more seasons. Glenn finished his career with a record of 5-10 and a 5.25 ERA.

Glenn is now into coaching and is currently working as the pitching coach for the Giants AA team in Richmond.

1996 Pinnacle, Troy Percival

#296 Troy Percival

Here is a card of Troy Percival that I got signed at a Kansas State game last year. Troy is the head coach for his alma mater, UC Riverside, and they had the misfortune of playing baseball in Kansas in March.

I had planned on going to the game as soon as the schedule was released and I saw Troy was coaching. But, come game day, it was freezing out. I do not remember the exact temperature, but it had to have been between 30-35 degrees with a strong wind. I did not want to go to a game in those conditions and I certainly wasn't taking my one year-old out in that. So, I did the next best thing. We all drove to the park. The family stayed in the car and I went and bought one general admission ticket. I went in, got Troy's autograph, used the restroom, and then left. I was in and out in five minutes. We then left and enjoyed the day in lovely Manhattan, Kansas.

As for Troy, he was real easy to talk to as I asked him about coaching and the weather. He was clearly disappointed that they were not playing in California where it was 80 degrees at the time. I can't say that I blame him.

I got three cards signed by Troy, but this was the only Angel card. This card kind of reminds of some current Donruss cards, with the exception of some barely visible logos.

Troy is the Angels all-time save leader with 316 of them. He has 108 more saves than the second place closer and no current Angel is even in the top ten. I am sure his team record will be intact for some time.

1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended, Carlos Hernandez

#77 Carlos Hernandez

Here is another card I got from Night Owl a while back in exchange for a Jackie Robinson manu-bat knob. Other autos he gave me were of Rick Dempsey, Billy Ashley, and Todd Hollandsworth. The other three cards were all base cards that had been signed at some point. This, an autographed insert, is more of what I expected to get in the trade since Greg isn't an autograph collector.

Carlos played in the Majors for parts of ten seasons with the Dodgers, Padres, and Cardinals. He spent the better part of his career in Los Angeles in the back-up catcher role. But, in 1998 with Padres, he was the team's primary catcher and he had a good season. He ended up playing in 129 games while starting 102 of those. For the year, he hit .262 with 15 doubles, 9 home runs, and 52 runs driven in.

For his career, Carlos was a .253 hitter with 24 homers and 141 RBI. He got to play in all four of the Padres 1998 World Series games and was 2-10.

1996 Donruss, Keith Lockhart

#386 Keith Lockhart

Here is a card that I got signed through the mail earlier this year. For whatever reason, I have hit the TTM front hard since last season ended. My three main focuses have been the '81 Donruss set, the Pacific Senior League set, and former Royals. Guess which category this one falls into.

After making his Major League debut with the Padres at the age of 30 in 1994, Keith ended up in Kansas City the following year. His tenure there would only last two seasons, but they were two fairly productive seasons. In '95, though he played in just 94 games, Keith hit a career-best .321. That was the only time he would ever hit over .300 in a season. Then, in '96, Keith played a career-high 138 games. Because of that, he set a few single season bests like doubles (33) and RBI (55). Then, right before the '97 season began, he was shipped to Atlanta with Michael Tucker for Jaime Walker and Jermaine Dye.

Keith played with the Braves for six seasons. While he was never an everyday player in Atlanta, he was a key contributor that helped the Braves make the playoffs every season he was there. With the Braves, Keith hit .248 with 26 home runs and 166 RBI. In the postseason, he played in 37 games and hit .287 with one dinger and 8 RBI.

I never bought a single pack of Donruss in 1996. I am pretty sure that the only Donruss cards I have from that season were Royals that were sent to me by other bloggers. I have one other card signed from that set and it is a Jeff Montgomery card that I got signed at Fanfest in 2009.

1996 Collector's Choice, Steve Scarsone

#718 Steve Scarsone

Here is the second of two cards that I got signed by Steve Scarsone in 2015. Steve was the skipper of the Nashville Sounds at the time and he signed for me at an Omaha Storm Chasers game. I posted the first card last month and it can be seen here.

Steve played in the Majors for parts of seven seasons with five different clubs- the Orioles, Phillies, Giants, Cardinals, and Royals. Over that time, he was a .239 hitter with 20 home runs and 86 RBI.

The Giants were the only team that Steve saw any significant time with. He played with them for four seasons. He never played in more than fifty games with any other club and played in less than a dozen games with three clubs. With San Francisco, Steve played in 281 games and hit .247 with all 20 of his home runs and 80 of his RBI. Even though he got into 103 games with the 1996 squad, 1995 was his best season. That year, he hit .266 with 11 home runs and 29 RBI.

From what I can tell, all of Steve's Major League cards are of him as a Giant, except for two. There is one of him as a Phillie and one as an Oriole.

The signature on this card came out looking much better than I ever would have expected. The black warm-up jersey and shadowy backdrop are usually not a good combo, but I guess I got lucky on this one.

1995 Topps, Phil Clark

#298 Phil Clark

Here is another Padrograph that was given to me by Rod when we met up at a Hillsboro Hops game in 2015. Rod has always sent me goodies in the mail and that hospitality was carried over when we finally met.

Phil played in the Majors for parts of five seasons with the Tigers, Padres, and Red Sox. The former first round pick made his big league debut with the Tigers in 1992 and did very well in limited action. He would get 54 at-bats and hit a robust .407 with a home run and 5 driven in. That home run came in his first start and just his second Major League game.

Phil wound up in San Diego in 1993 and he had his best season in the Majors. He got into a career high 102 games and he hit .313 in 240 at-bats with 9 dingers and 33 RBI. He would play two more seasons with the Padres after that, but his at-bats dwindled each year as he only hit about .215 for those two seasons.

He wound up with the Red Sox organization in 1996 and spent most of the year at AAA. He did get into three games with the Sox and he went 0-3 to end his Major League career. The Sox then sold him to the Kintetsu Buffaloes and he would go on to have three monstrous seasons in Japan. In 1998, Phil hit .320 with 31 home runs and 114 RBI. He also had 48 doubles that season, which was a record that stood for just three seasons.

Phil is currently the assistant hitting coach for the Detroit Tigers.

1995 Topps, Doug Henry

#131 Doug Henry

I am pretty sure that this is the last card of Doug Henry as a Brewer that I will ever post on here. While it seems like I have posted about ten of them already, this is only the fourth one. But, I did post cards of him as an Astro and Met. I still have three more cards to post of him, but two of them are newer minor league cards that may never see the light of day on this blog at the rate I am going.

This card was signed by Doug last season in St. Louis when the Royals, whom Doug was the bullpen coach for, made their annual cross state trek to play the hated Cardinals. I got to the ballpark nice and early to try to 'graph the Royals during BP. But, right after the gates opened, the Royals wrapped up BP and left the field. Brandon Moss was the only player that I saw sign and he just signed a few and not for me.

So, I did what I always do when it is a bad day of 'graphing- I went looking for Doug Henry.

Sadly, Doug is no longer the bullpen coach for the Royals. He has been replaced by Vance Wilson and I do not have any cards of Vance that aren't signed already.

I never noticed this until just now, but this set is kind of hard to judge how well the cards are centered.

1995 Score, Mike Aldrete

Here is the second card that Mike Aldrete signed for me at Spring Training last year. I posted the first back in July and that one can be seen here. It is pretty sad that I have only made it to my 1995 cards since July. I need to find time to post more.

When I got this card signed, Mike was the A's hitting coach. He has since been demoted to the team's assistant hitting coach. I saw him again this spring and he signed three more cards for me. One of those will be showing up here in the coming months. The other two are older, so it will be years before they make an appearance on here.

Mike played for the A's for two and a half seasons. During his time in Oakland, he played in 231 games and he hit .260 with 18 home runs and 72 RBI. During the 1993 season, Mike clubbed a career high 10 home runs while with the A's.

This is the only card from this set that I have signed and it seems perfect that it is of an Athletic. This set seems like it was meant for that club.