1992 Score, Danny Jackson

#120 Danny Jackson

Here is the second and final card that my dad was able to get signed for me at the '85 Classic in May. In fact, this is the last card that I have to post from the '85 Classic. I got a bunch of cards signed that day by the Rockies, but this is the last one signed by one of the '85 Classic participants.

Danny's career lasted fifteen seasons with the Royals, Reds, Cubs, Pirates, Phillies, Cardinals, and Padres. A former first round pick by the Royals, he was traded to the Reds after the 1987 season in which he was 9-18 with a 4.02 ERA. I'm sure most Reds fans weren't thrilled about that trade at the time. But, in 1988, Danny ended up having the best season of his career as he went on to a 23-8 record with 2.73 ERA and 161 strikeouts, all career highs. If it wasn't for an amazing year by Orel Hershiser, Danny probably would have won the Cy Young award.

While having a great year, Danny also threw over 260 innings. That looks like it cost him over the rest of his career because he only threw over 200 innings one more time while he threw under 100 four more times. He did enjoy some success later in his career, though, and he even made a second All Star team in 1994 as a member of the Phillies.

1990 Score, Curt Ford

#183 Curt Ford

Here is the third and final Curt Ford card that I got signed at the '85 Classic. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

Curt only spent two seasons with the Phillies organization and the second season only consisted of 18 at-bats in 22 games. In his first season with them, he played in a career high number of games, 108. But, he only batted 142 times. So, it looks like he was mainly used as a pinch hitter/defensive replacement that year. Doing that job, he hit .218.

1990 was his last season in the Majors, but he still played AAA ball for three more years and some independent ball for another four. 1997 was the last season that he played professionally. Today, Curt is the manager of the Springfield Sliders, a collegiate summer team that used to be managed by Jack Clark.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Tito Landrum

#168 Tito Landrum

Here is the third and final card that Tito signed for me at the '85 Classic. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

Do you think that a Senior League would do well today? With the success of all of the independent leagues, I don't see why it couldn't. I don't think that Florida would necessarily be the most ideal spot, but maybe Texas, Arizona, or California would. Or maybe a league that is spread out over the three states. I know that I would rather go to a Wichita Wingnuts game if it was a team full of former Major Leaguers rather than a team full of career minor leaguers. But, that is just me and my autograph mentality thinking.

What do you think? Would a Senior League work today? Or would it just be a one year wonder like the original league was?

1990 Leaf, Danny Jackson

#279 Danny Jackson

Here is a card that my dad was able to get signed for me at the '85 Classic. When we got to the game, I went down by the Royals dugout and I had my dad head go over to the visiting dugout to hold a spot for me in case I needed to be over there. As soon as the '85 Cardinals came out of the Royals dugout, they all headed over to the opposite dugout. I followed them over there and I gave my dad my Royals cards and told him to see what he could get signed by the '85 Royals. He wasn't happy about it, but he went over there anyways.

Only a couple of the Royals ended up signing and Danny Jackson was obviously one of them. Dane Iorg was the other guy who signed and I needed him on an '81 Donruss. Dane signed for a bit and I assumed my dad got my '81D signed by him. But, that was not the case. My dad got so flustered trying to find the card that he ended up dropping some cards. By the time he got those picked up, Dane was through signing. I still give my dad crap about that every once in a while, but I am glad that he was able to get this card signed because it is the first and only 1990 Leaf card that I have signed.

Remember when these cards first came out? It was like 1989 Upper Deck all over again. To this day, I still do not have many cards from this set because they were so expensive.

This is the second Danny Jackson card that I have posted on here. The first one was posted almost two years ago and you can see it here.

1989 Topps, Jack Clark

#410 Jack Clark

Well, I ended up getting back from Omaha a little earlier than I planned. The original plan for today was to go to the 1:00 game and then come home after that. But it was raining when I got up and it was still raining when I got to the park at 9:30. So my dad and I walked around a bit and got some souvinirs. We went to the card shop across the street from the ballpark, which had Bowman packs for $6.50, and the owner greeted me with a beer. He had the weather channel on in there and it wasn't looking too good for getting the game started on time. So, we decided that we would head home. It's almost 4:30 now as I type this and the game has yet to start. So, I think that we made the right move. But overall, it was still a good time.

Here is the third and final Jack Clark card that I got signed at the '85 Classic last month. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

When I saw that Jack was going to be at the game, the first thing I did was look for Jack's '81 Donruss card. I had one with a bad gum stain on the front, so I didn't take that one. The next thing I did was I looked for this card. Why this card? Well, this is the first card that I really noticed as a youngster that was airbrushed. How I never noticed the '88 Topps Tito Landrum card, I do not know. But I sure was able to notice Jack's airbrushed hands and wrists. To this day, I still wonder why Topps thought that they needed to do that.

It almost looks like Jack has some G.I. Joe hands that swivel at the wrist.

1989 Fleer, Curt Ford

#450 Curt Ford

Here is the second of three cards that Curt Ford signed for me at the '85 Classic.

I would say more, but I had a long day at work and I have another card that I need to post.

1989 Donruss, John Tudor

#195 John Tudor

Here is the third and final John Tudor card that I got signed at the '85 Classic. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

John was the losing pitcher in the seventh game of the 1985 World Series. After the game, he ending up cutting his hand after punching an electric fan. Because of that, I always assumed that he wasn't the nicest person. I ended up associating him with the bad sinsay (I have no idea how to spell that) in the Karate Kid that punched out Miyagi's windows in what I believe is the opening scene in Karate Kid 2.

But after watching him play in the '85 Classic, I think of him in much higher terms. John signed a bunch of autographs prior to the game and out of all the ballplayers there, it looked like he was enjoying himself the most. He was jokingly getting on the umpires and jawing with the crowd from his spot in left field. After a close play at first that went against the Cardinals, he looked up into the stands and shouted "here we go again". It was fun to see.

1988 Topps, Tito Landrum

#581 Tito Landrum

Here is the third and final 1988 Topps and the second of three Tito Landrum cards. Like the rest, that autograph was obtained at the '85 Classic.

When I was looking for which Tito cards I wanted to take with me to the game, this is one I knew I had to find. Like the Chris Speier card I posted a week and a half ago, I just couldn't resist getting an ugly-looking airbrushed card signed. What was Topps thinking when they did that hat? It looks like a Tito is wearing an old Dodgers hat that was screen printed and is now fading. Is that what Topps thought that Major League teams were wearing in 1987? Granted, it is a huge improvement over some of the late '60s and early '70s airbrushed cards. To be honest, I'm not even sure that this card stood out to me as a nine year old in 1988. But looking back now, this card sticks out like a sore thumb.

As a Dodger, Tito only got into 51 games in the partial season he spent with the team. He hit .239 with 1 home run and 4 RBI. He would go on to play only 13 more Major League games.

Tito's given name is Terry.

1988 Topps, Jim Sundberg

#516 Jim Sundberg

Here is the fourth and final Jim Sundberg card that I got signed in the week leading up to the '85 Classic. This one, like the Diamond King card, was signed at the '85 Classic. The other two were acquired through the mail. It's really hard to tell, but if you look at the TTMs and the in-persons side-by-side, you can see that the in-person ones are much more rushed than the TTM ones. They all look like a jumbled mess, but the two TTMs are more consistent than the in-persons. I guess even retired ballplayers have a hurried ballpark signature.

By the time Jim joined the Cubs, he was 36 years old. But, he still played for them for year and a half before getting released early in the 1988 season. He was quickly snagged up by the Rangers and he was able to finish his career right where he started it.

Brian, at Play at the Plate, has left a couple of comments saying that Jim is now part of the Rangers postgame show (and I'm guess pregame too). So if you ever go to a game at Rangers Ballpark, you might want to take a Jim Sundberg card with you since the show is shot right off of the concourse. I've had success there before with Mark McLemore, but Brian got ran off by security last month. Either way, it is always worth a shot.

1988 Topps, Jack Clark

#100 Jack Clark

Here is the second of three Jack Clark cards that I got signed at the '85 Classic. I figured that if I were going to get some cards signed by '85 Cardinals, I had better get some Cardinal cards signed.

Paul left a comment on my last Jack Clark post saying that he always forgets that Jack played for anyone but the Cardinals and Yankees and, to be honest, I am in the same boat. The funny thing is that he was only a Cardinal for three sesaons and a Yankee for one. But, that is how we remember him. I don't know how it is for Paul, but I remember Jack as a Cardinal becuase that was who he was playing for when I started getting into collecting.

In his three seasons with St. Louis, Jack won two Silver Sluggers. He got the first in 1985 and the second in 1987. That '87 season was the best of his career as he went on to hit 35 home runs and drive in 106 RBI (both career highs). He finished the season third in the MVP vote.

1987 Topps, Curt Ford

#399 Curt Ford

Here is some new blood for the blog. It's Curt Ford, the last Cardinal player from the '85 Classic to make his debut here.

The funny thing about Curt Ford is that he probably shouldn't have taken part in the game since he didn't play in the '85 World Series. He made his Major League debut for the Cardinals in 1985 and he got into 11 regular season games for them, but he did not play in any postseason games. But, they were short on players as it was, so they probably needed all of the help that they could get.

Curt played six seasons in the Majors with the Cardinals and the Phillies. He hit .245 for his career with 7 home runs and 89 RBI. His best season was probably 1987 when he had career highs in at-bats (228), runs (32), hits (65),triples (5), home runs (3), and average (.285).

Curt's "t" that he signs in his first name doubles as his "F" in his last name.

1987 Topps, Jeff Lahti

#367 Jeff Lahti

Here is the second and final Jeff Lahti card that I got signed at the '85 Classic. You can see the first one here.

In the first Lahti post, I commented on some of his regular season achievements. Today, let's take a look at what he did in the postseason.

Jeff only pitched in one LCS and it was in 1985. In that series, he made two appearances out of the pen and pitched two scoreless innings while giving up two hits and striking out one. He was even the winning pitcher in game five. Unfortunately, his World Series line doesn't look nearly as good.

He pitched in two World Series, 1982 and 1985. Combined, he 0-0 with a save and a 11.81 ERA in 5.1 inning of work. He only has one walk, so he just got plain hit in his World Series work. In game two of the '85 series, he pitched one scoreless inning for a save. In game five, he pitched two innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and five hits. Then, in game seven, he gave up four runs on four hits in only .2 of an inning as the Cardinals went on to lose 11-0.

Stay tuned tonight for another '87 Topps card from the Classic. It will actually feature a new player.

Also, I have all of the pictures from the AABT trip, so I'll start on a recap soon.

1987 Topps, Ken Dayley

#59 Ken Dalyley

Here is the second and final Ken Dayley card that I got signed at the '85 Classic last month. You can see the first one here.

There really isn't much for me to say about Dayley that I didn't say in the first post. But, like Tito Landrum, he also climbed up into the stands to sign some autographs. You don't see that very often and it is even rarer to see it happen twice in one day. The last time I saw that was in 2003 when Jeremy Affeldt and Mike MacDougal climbed into the stands to sign during as April rain delay.

Normally, I would post another card today since this one is a repeat. But, something came up and I don't think that I will have time for that today. Hopefully, I will make up for it tomorrow.

1986 Topps, John Tudor

#710 John Tudor

Well, I finally made it back from my trip and I had a great time. I'm still waiting on some pictures that Dustin took so I can write a little trip recap. But I hope to get that up by the middle of the week or so. In the meantime, I still have some '85 Classic sigs to catch up on.

Here is another card of John Tudor. A while back, Rod, of Padrographs, decided that he wanted to collect the '86 Topps set again and he bought a box off of ebay for cheap. I have a decent selection of '86 Topps, but I was only seven years old when the set came out and the cards I have are not in the best of shape. So, following Rod's lead, I headed over to the bay and picked up a box for about $15. I still have all the cards in the box, sorted by team, and that was one of the first places I went to check for cards of the '85 Cardinals. That is why I have four cards in a row to show on here from the set. I guess I didn't think I would actually get all four signed. Otherwise, I might have expanded my search a bit.

I'm pretty sure that I had this card in 1986 and I probably still have it today, but in worse condition. All this time, I thought that John was an All-Star in 1985 because that is what the card says. But when I posted my first Tudor card, I discovered that he never made an All Star team, not even in 1985.

John finished the '85 season 21-8 with a 1.93 ERA. That certainly is All Star caliber and would have been Cy Young caliber if it wasn't for a young Dwight Gooden. But, apparently, John started off the season with a 1-7 record through the first two months. His poor start eventually killed his All Star chances. But after the shaky start, he went on a tear by going 20-1 throughout the rest of the season. I have no idea what his record was around the All Star break, but I would guess that he was only a few games over .500.

So here is the question I have. Are all Topps All Star cards from the '80s of players that they thought should have been an All Star or do some sets actually have only All Star cards of players that made the All Star team? I always assumed that the cards were of actual All Stars, but after this discovery I, do not know what to think.

Usually, I would post another card since this card is a repeat player, but I am still gettting back into the swing of things and one card will have to do for tonight. Stay tuned for two new ones tomorrow.

1986 Topps, Tito Landrum

#498 Tito Landrum

Are you tired of '86 Topps Cardinal cards yet? Does every team from that set have this bad of a photo selection?

If you can't figure out where I got this card signed, read the previous posts and you should be able to figure it out.

Tito was one of the better signers for the Cardinals at the '85 Classic (there was only one bad signer there). He signed at least two different times and the last time he signed, he did it in the stands. He climbed into the the $190 Crown Seat section by the dugout and crawled over a few rows to get closer to the fans. One guy beside me told him to be careful so he doesn't pull a hammy and Tito told him "I wish I still had a hammy to pull". All in all, Tito seemed like a class-act and I'm glad that he was able to take part in the event.

To Tito's credit, he really doesn't look much older now than he does in this card.

Tonight is the final night of the trip and we are spending it at a game in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Drillers are hosting the Midland Rockhounds. I should make it back home late tonight and then I will probably not post anything on Saturday (but that may change). I will definitely have something up on Sunday and I hope that will include a road trip recap.

1986 Topps, Kurt Kepshire

#256 Kurt Kepshire

Here is the second and final Kurt Kepshire card that I have to post on here. I posted the first one on here Monday.

I wrote all of this week's posts on Sunday night and I'm starting to get a bit of writers block. Because of that, I can't think of anything else to say about Kurt. Just bear with me for now. I hope the next post has a little bit more life to it.

I'm also hoping that we are going to be able to see a ballgame today at the Arkansas regional. Like I said, I wrote this on Sunday and all I know is that Arkansas is hosting. The teams were not announced until Monday and I have no idea what the schedule looks like. But, that is the goal. You'll have to wait a couple of days to find out if we made it or not.

1986 Topps, Jeff Lahti

#33 Jeff Lahti

Here is a new player for the blog, so this is the only post I'll have for today. This, of course, is another card from the long line of them that I got signed at the '85 Classic.

Jeff spent his entire Major League career with the Cardinals, a career that lasted parts of five seasons and included 205 appearances. His best season was his 1985 campaign where he went 5-2 with 19 saves while posting a 1.84 ERA over 68.1 innings. He finished his career with a 17-11 record with 20 saves and a 3.12 ERA.

In 1986, he pitched 2.1 scoreless innings before retiring. I have no idea if he got hurt or what, but that just seems like weird way to go out. Regardless, he still has a ring from the '82 Cardinal championship team for his efforts.

Remember, tonight is the last night to get entered into the first phase of the College World Series contest. The games start tomorrow, so make sure you get any final guesses in before midnight, central time.

Tonight, I am in Springdale, Arkansas to see the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (or as I like to call them, the NWA Natties) host the Frisco Roughriders. Steve Buechele is the manager of Frisco, so hopefully I will get a few cards signed by him to help spread out some of these Cardinal cards.

1986 Donruss, Ken Dayley

#303 Ken Dayley

Here is the next card that I got signed at the '85 Classic last month. After a brief break from them for three posts, the '85 Classic cards will be coming on strong for the next week or so.

Here is the first of two Ken Dayley cards that I got signed at the game. Both of the cards feature him as a Cardinal and that may be why I only took two cards of him with me. I searched for cards of him as a Brave or Blue Jay, but I came up empty handed. I guess that the massive search drained me and I never bothered to find another Cardinal card of him. Oh well, it's one less Dayley card for me to write about this month.

Dayley pitched for eleven years, seven and half of them with the Cardinals. He never made an All Star team, but he did pitch in two World Series. He finished his career with a 33-45 record with 39 saves and a 3.64 ERA. In eight World Series appearances, he is 1-0 with a save and a minuscule 0.84 ERA over 10.2 innings.

After today's game, it is a five hour drive to northeast Arkansas where we will be camping out for the night.

If you haven't entered the contest yet, there is still time.

1985 Donruss, Kurt Kepshire

#382 Kurt Kepshire

Here is yet another card that I got signed at the '85 Classic (this is going to be a reoccurring theme over the next week or two). I could only find two cards of Kurt, but like every other formal Cardinal that day, he signed them all.

Out of all the guys that played for the Cards in the Classic, Kurt had the shortest Major League playing career. He pitched in 51 games, all with the Cardinals, over a three year span. 1985 was the year where he got the most work and he appeared in 32 games that season (three were starts) and he posted a 10-9 record with a 4.75 ERA in 153.1 innings of work. He walked 71 that year while striking out only 67. He did not get into any of the Cardinals post season games that season.

Kurt only appeared in two games for St. Louis in 1986 while he spent most of the season playing AAA. He missed the 1987 season, but he pitched at the AAA level in 1988 and 1989 before calling it a career.

Check back later today for a contest.

1985 Donruss, Jack Clark

#65 Jack Clark

Here is the first of three cards that Jack Clark signed for me at the '85 Classic last week. Unlike John Tudor, I actually had an '81 Donruss card of Jack. But, the damned thing has a gigantic gum stain on the front of it. So that was a no-go.

When I got my cards signed by Jack, it was just me and another guy trying to get his autograph. Later on, Jack signed again for a larger crowd and I tried to get three cards signed for another guy there, but Jack only signed two of them. I don't know if he only signed two because it was me again or if he was just trying to get as many people as possible. It didn't matter and that guy was able to get his third card signed when the crowd had thinned out. I thought that it was pretty cool that Jack was adding "The Ripper" to his autograph on balls, 8x10s, and programs. I wish he would have added that to one of my cards.

In case you missed it a year and a half ago, I had posted a card of Jack as a Padre. You can see it here.

I learned at the game that Jack has been coaching the Springfield Sliders, a summer collegiate team in Springfield, Missouri, the past two years. He recently stepped down from that position and is now their general manager. But, there is still a picture of him on their websites banner.