1992 O-Pee-Chee Premier, Jeff Fassero

#119 Jeff Fassero

Here is the first of three cards that I got signed by Jeff Fassero at Spring Training last year. Jeff was the pitching coach for the AAA affiliate of the Reds, but he was nowhere to be found at the minor league diamonds that morning. But, he did show up at the Major League game and another fan pointed him out to me. That particular fan was impressed that I actually had a card of Jeff with me.

Jeff pitched with the Expos for six seasons. Over that time, he went 58-48 with a 3.20 ERA and 750 strikeouts. His best season was with Montreal in 1996. He was 15-11 with a 3.30 ERA and a career best 222 strikeouts. That was the only 200 strikeout season of his career.

I am heading up to Royals Fanfest tomorrow. Why I keep going there year after year, I do not know. It seems like it gets worse every year. But, hopefully, with three big names gone, there will be less people there and I will be able to get some cards signed. Salvy is still priority number one as I still do not have any cards signed by him even though he has been with the team for seven years.

My biggest concern this year is that there are quite a few guys slated to be there that I do not have cards for. Most of them are young players that have no cards, but there are a small handful where every card I have of them is signed already. I just worry about sitting in a line for an hour and a half and then Scott Barlow comes out to sign.

1991 Leaf, Eric Bullock

#470 Eric Bullock

About a month ago, I posted a card of Don Slaught that I won in a Twitter contest. This card is one of the two others that was included with the Slaught.

This one features former Astro, Twin, Phillie, and Expo, Eric Bullock. Eric played in parts of seven seasons in the Majors and appeared in 131 games over that time. At that level, he was a .205 hitter with a home run and 12 RBI.

The position listed on this card sums up Eric's career- pinch hitter. Despite appearing in 131 games, Eric only had 146 at-bats. Even with playing part of a season in the American League, Eric only started 17 games in the field. In fact, he only played the field 33 times during his whole Major League career. I have posted a card of a pinch runner on here before, but this is the first one listed as a pinch hitter.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. See you sometime in 2018!

1990 Upper Deck, Rex Hudler

#411 Rex Hudler

By my best count, this is the sixth card of Rex Hudler that I have posted on here. Rex is the color commentator for Royals broadcasts and is a fairly easy autograph to get if you see him. That is why I have posted cards of him six times and still have a few more to post.

I got this card signed at Royals Fanfest this year. We were standing in line waiting for the doors to open and Rex was just walking around and talking to fans waiting. When he came by our area, everyone was trying to get a picture with him. I finally got up to him and asked for him to sign this card. He jokingly asked me something to the effect of "Why would you want me to sign this card and bring down its value? It's only worth a couple of cents as it is." That was just Rex being Rex as he was more saying it to get a reaction from the crowd around him than making a comment to me.

I will say that this is probably the best-looking signature that I have ever got from him, though. Some of his signatures are little more than his initials.

1986 Topps, Bob McClure

#71T Bob McClure

This is the fourth card of Bob McClure that I have posted on here. Ten years ago, Bob was the pitching coach for the Royals and I got three cards signed by him one day at The K. Those three cards were posted on here back in the early years of this blog. When I posted Bob's '81 Donruss card on here, it was just the eleventh '81D to be posted. I have now posted 223 cards from the set.

Bob was the pitching coach for the Phillies in 2015 and I got him to sign three more cards for me at a Giants game I attended that year. To my dismay, those were the only autographs that I got that day. But, at least I didn't come home empty handed.

With the first three posts of Bob, I had two Brewers cards and a Cardinals card. With these new additions, I added this Expos card and a Mets and Angels card. I only need a Royals card and a Marlins card signed by him to have all of his teams covered. The only problem is that I do not own a Royals or Marlins card of him and I have no plans on seeing the Phillies play anytime soon.

Bob pitched for the Expos for one full season and two partial seasons. Over that time, he went 9-9 with 13 saves and a 3.63 ERA.

That is a fantastic airbrush job on this card. Just look at the size of the top button on the jersey.

1986 Topps, Razor Shines

#132 Razor Shines

Here is the second card that Razor Shines signed for me at Spring Training in 2014. Razor was the manager of the Dodgers AA team in Chattanooga at the time and he signed my two cards after the minor league workouts. I posted the first card of Razor in 2014 and that card can be seen here.

Razor's time in the big leagues consisted of 68 games over four years with the Expos. Over that time, he got 81 at-bats and had 15 hits, good for a .185 average. All of his hits were singles except for a lone double. He never scored a run, but he did drive 5 in.

Razor even had the privilege of pitching one inning for Montreal in 1985. The team was getting shelled by the Phillies 11-0, so they threw Razor out to pitch the ninth. He ended up giving up a single to Steve Jeltz while getting the other three batters to ground out.

1985 Topps, Tim Wallach

#473 Tim Wallach

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by Tim Wallach in Kansas City in 2014. Tim was the bench coach for the Dodgers at the time and I was able to get him outside of the ballpark when he arrived. You can see the first card that I posted here and the second one here.

Tim had quite the run with the Expos. He played with them for thirteen seasons and racked up 204 home runs and 905 RBI. Over that time, he won three Gold Gloves and made five All Star teams. Baseball Reference still lists him as the fifth best player in Expos/Nationals history with a WAR of 36.

His best season came with the Expos in 1987. That year, he had career highs in average (.298), home runs (26), and RBI (123). He lead the league with 42 doubles and finished fourth in the MVP voting.

Tim is still the franchise leader in games, at-bats, hits, total bases, RBI, and doubles. He is probably going to get passed up by Ryan Zimmerman in most of those categories this season, though.

1984 Fleer, Tim Wallach

#291 Tim Wallach

Here is the second of three cards that Tim Wallach signed for me outside of Kauffman Stadium. If you do not remember the first one, don't feel bad. I posted it three years ago, shortly after Tim signed these. Tim was working for the Dodgers at the time and was the only Dodger coach that signed all three cards for me.

Having been going to Royals games for almost twenty years now, it has been a long time since I went to a game really excited to see a certain player play. But, that excitement returned on the evening that the Dodgers came to KC. The reason for that was because I had the privilege of seeing Clayton Kershaw pitch. And, on top of that, it was his first start after his brilliant no-hitter of the Rockies.

While Clayton obviously could not pull off the back-to-back no-no, he still pitched an excellent game. He pitched eight innings without allowing a run and struck out eight.

Tim is now a coach with the Marlins. He followed Don Mattingly to Miami and is in the same role he was in with the Dodgers, the bench coach.

1981 Donruss, Dick Williams

#453 Dick Williams

This is actually the second card of Dick Williams that I have posted on here. I posted the first one in 2008. It was a cool '84 Fleer checklist card that Rod, from Padrograhs, gave me. Less than three years after that post, Dick passed away. But, I was still able to add him to my Donruss set thanks to my wife stepping up her game this past Christmas. This is the third card, out of four, that she bought me to help me out with the project. All four cards were of deceased players.

Dick managed in the Majors for 21 years. He was a constant presence with some team every year from 1967 to 1988, with the exception of 1970. Over that span, he managed the Red Sox, A's, Angels, Expos, Padres, and Mariners. He took the Sox, A's, and Padres to the World Series and won in twice with the A's in the early '70s.

One of the best seasons he had was with the Expos in 1979. That club finished 95-65. Those 95 wins were the second most victories he had in a single season. Unfortunately, the Expos came up two games short to the eventual World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

Dick finished his managerial career with a 1571-1451 record. He won manager of the year three times and was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

'81 Donruss Tracker: #215

1975 Topps, Barry Foote

#229 Barry Foote

Here is the second card of Barry Foote that I got signed through the mail in 2013. I posted the first one, his '81 Donruss, not long after it made it back home. The two cards took Barry ten days to get back to me.

While this card is not the best card to get signed because of the dark background, it does have two things going for it. The first is that it is from the '75 Topps set and the second is that it has a Topps Rookie Cup. I am not sure when Topps switched from the trophy to the cup, but this has got to be my oldest signed card with the actual "cup" on it.

Barry earned that Rookie Cup that year by hitting .262 while driving in 60 and hitting 23 doubles and 11 home runs. On top of that, he lead the league in sac flies and assists by a catcher. Those 60 RBI and his .262 average would end up being career-highs for him.

Barry went on to play for eight more seasons after that with the Phillies, Cubs, and Yankees. After leaving Montreal during the '77 season, he was mostly relegated to back-up duty. The one exception was with the Cubs in '79. He played in 132 games for them that season and hit a career-high 16 home runs.

Barry finished his career a .230 hitter with 57 home runs.

1996 Best Harrisburg Senators, Scott Forster

#12 Scott Forster

Here is the last of four straight minor league cards. Next, I will be coming with some guys with Royals ties before hitting a solid month of Leaf Signature Series.

Here is another Best team set card that was sent to me by Ryan, from The Great Orioles Autograph Project. Like the card I posted yesterday, I assumed Scott Forster was another career minor leaguer. And like yesterday, I was wrong again.

Scott made it to the big leagues for one season with the Expos in 2000. He made it into 42 games and it looks like he was mainly used as a left-handed specialist since he only pitched 32 innings. Or he might have only pitched 32 innings because he did not do so hot. That season, he went 0-1 with a 7.88 ERA. Yikes, that is a lofty ERA for 42 games of Major League work.

I mentioned that Scott might have been used as a LOOGY based on that fact that he is left-handed and pitched in less innings than games. So, I decided to look at his splits for that season and that definitely was not the case. Scott fared much better against righties than lefties. He faced 36 more righties that season than lefties and the righties hit just .195 while the lefties teed off for a .289 average. Left-handed hitters also hit one more home run off of him than righties.

After his one season in The Show, it was back to the minors for Scott. He pitched for four more seasons, splitting time in three different organizations and with three different Atlantic League squads.

1995 Team Set, Harrisburg Senators

#17 Steve Faltseisek
#20 Tony Kounas
#27 Mark Charbonnet
#38 Antonio Grissom

Here is a foursome from the Harrisburg Senators team set from 1995 that was sent to me a couple of years ago by Ryan, from the Great Orioles Autograph Project. These are not the first cards of the Senators that he has sent me. He sent me three from the '94 set, too, and those can be seen here. Like I said on that post, I believe that the Sens were Ryan's local minor league team back in the day and that is how he got these cards signed. I very easily could be wrong, though.

Out of these four players, three of them never made it above AA-ball, which is the level Harrisburg was at. Two of those three only got one crack at AA and were either out of baseball or in an independent league afterwards. Tony Kounas was spending his third straight season at AA, first with the Expos organization, but was done after that season.

Steve Falteisek was the highlight of this group. Not only was he a pitcher on a card with a posed batting shot, but he also made it to the Majors. He made his debut with the Expos in 1997 and had five relief appearances and posted a 0-0 record and 3.38 ERA. He spent all of '98 in the minors before make it back up to the bigs in '99 with the Brewers. He got into ten games and again did not get a decision. And his ERA ballooned to 7.50. That was his last chance in the Majors, though he did pitch professionally through the 2003 season. His career stats are no decisions and a 5.85 ERA with 6 walks and 7 strikeouts over 20 innings.

Mark Charbonnet played minor league ball for twelve seasons. About a third of that time was spent in independent leagues that are no longer around- the Western League and the Prairie League. Some of the teams he played for in those include the Moose Jaw Diamond Dogs, the Southern Minny Stars, the Bend Bandits, the Zion Pioneerzz (yes, two Z's), and the Tri-City Posse. I do not remember either of those leagues, but at least they left us some interesting team names.

1994 Fleer Procards, Harrisburg Senators

#2083 Bob Baxter
#2086 Steve Hoeme
#2095 Rob Fitzpatrick

Last year, I got a package in the mail from Ryan of The Great Orioles Autograph Project. The package consisted of a few Royals cards and many autographs. Most of the autographs had an Orioles connection, but there were a few random ones as well. I would catagorise these as some of the randoms. The funny thing was that there are a few more Harrisburg Senators cards coming up. Even though Ryan is an O's fan, these Sens cards are from their days as an Expos farm team. I am pretty sure Harrisburg was Ryan's nearest team when he was growing up, so it is very likely that these cards were ones Ryan got signed in person in 1994. That is pretty cool.

None of the guys here made it to the Major Leagues. Baxter and Hoeme pitched some games in AAA, but Fitzpatrick never made it past the AA level. Baxter pitched in 97 AAA games and went 8-8 with 3 saves and a 4.90 ERA. Hoeme pitched in just 15 AAA games and he was 0-2 with 1 save and a 4.62 ERA. Fitzpatrick was a .234 hitter in 209 AA games.

Out of these three cards, the Steve Hoeme card is my favorite. Hoeme is a fellow Kansan and he played college baseball at the same school that I did, Pratt Community College. I did not realize this until I now when I looked up his stats on Baseball Reference.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Razor Shines

#194 Razor Shines

Seeing this card makes me realize that Impel got a little carried away with their "Pre-Rookie" label for this set. By the time these cards came out, Razor Shines Major League career was over. He had made his Major League debut eight years earlier and then played in his final game in 1987. I realize that the "Pre-Rookie" label is part of the card and cannot be taken away from certain player's cards. Maybe they should have just dropped the label for the AAA set.

Razor signed this card, and one other, for me on this years Spring Training trip to Arizona. He is the manager of the Dodgers AA team in Chattanooga and he signed for me after the minor leaguers morning practice.

Razor played in the minors for sixteen seasons and nine of them were spent with the Indianapolis Indians. That has got to be some kind of modern day record. Even when the Indians changed affiliation from the Expos to the Reds in 1993, Razor stayed with the club. He ranks fifth in games played for the franchise, third in home runs, fourth in doubles, and second in RBI. The Indians all-time leader in games and RBI played for the club ninety years ago.

The Indians hosted "Razor Shines Day" in 1993 and there is apparently a suite named after him at Victory Field. The Indians even gave out a bobblehead of him in 2003.

1989 Topps, Rex Hudler

#346 Rex Hudler

Here is a new autograph for this blog. This one is of Rex Hudler, who replaced Frank White as the color commentator on the Royals TV broadcasts. I got this card and two others signed by Rex at the last Royals home game in 2012.

Rex has had the Royals TV job since 2012. He had some big shoes to fill following up the fan favorite, Frank White. And so far, all he has done is disappoint. Luckily, I don't have cable and am unable to watch the broadcasts because he makes them hard to sit through. I have only caught his act a couple of times at my dad's and it was rough. He just seems to talk to the fans like they have never seen a game of baseball before. It is nice to have a former player in that role, in my opinion, because they can give you insight from a player's perspective. But, in the few games I have seen, Rex did not do that. He just kept explaining the obvious and doing so far longer than necessary. Maybe I just need more time to warm up to him, but I have not had that opportunity.

Aside from that, Rex seems like a really nice guy. He always has a smile on his face and I have never seen him turn down an autograph. You can tell that he really wants to be at the ballpark every day.

1981 Donruss, Bill Lee

#211 Bill Lee

Here is the Spaceman card that I got signed on my second attempt. I originally wrote to Bill in 2009 and I sent him three cards to sign. I sent him this card, a '75 Topps, and a Senior League card. The last two came back signed, but the Donruss card was never seen again. After finally re-acquiring this card, I sent it back out to him in October and I got it back a month later. This card was sent to Bill's home address in Vermont, but the return envelope was postmarked in Oakland.

My first attempt will Bill came back without an inscription. I must have got lucky this time around to get his famed "EARTH" inscription. It seems a little bit pointless, but I like the quirkiness.

On the college baseball front, Indiana has been eliminated. Luckily, none of you had them going to the finals.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 123/100

1981 Donruss, John Tamargo

#210 John Tamargo

The next '81 Donruss comes from John Tamargo. I sent this card to John at the end of January and I had it back eight days later.

John played parts of five seasons in the Majors, seeing time with the Cardinals, Giants, and Expos. He never saw any real significant playing time and only played in 40+ games twice in his career. Both of those seasons were spent split between two teams. His best tenure came with the Expos in 1979 and '80. After being traded to them midseason, he hit .381 in the 12 games he got into. Then, in 1980, he hit .275 in 37 games and had a career-high 13 RBI. That was five more than his previous best despite having 41 less at-bats. For his career, John was a .242 hitter with 4 home runs and more walks than strikeouts.

According to John's Baseball Almanac page, he was drafted five times before he finally signed with a team.

About five years ago, I took this card with me to get signed at a Tulsa Drillers game. The Drillers were hosting the Corpus Cristi Hooks and John was listed as one of their coaches. After the game, I asked him to sign this card as he was heading back to the clubhouse. He said that he would and I handed him my card just to have him give me a funny look and tell me that this was a card of his dad. Whoops.

John needs to warm up his pen before signing cards. His last name came out great. I can't say the same thing about his first name.

On the college baseball front, the CWS field is down to just six teams as Louisville and LSU have been eliminated.

On a side note, I started looking at everyone's pick for the Series and I noticed something interesting. Of the six entries (yes, only six), only four teams were picked to advance to the finals. Pool A had Oregon St and Mississippi St and pool B had LSU and UNC. Of those four teams, Mississippi St is the only one that has yet to lose a game.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 122/100

1981 Donruss, Tommy Hutton

#93 Tommy Hutton

Next up is Tommy Hutton. Tommy played in the Majors for parts of twelve seasons after making his debut as a twenty-year old in 1966. He got into three games that year with the Dodgers and it wouldn't be until 1969 that he saw Major League action again. He played in sixteen games that year before heading back down to the minors for a couple of seasons. He resurfaced in 1972 with the Phillies and would play in the Majors every year until he retired after the 1981 season.

For his career, Tom was a .248 hitter and he had 22 home runs. He was a back-up for most of his career, but he did get into 134 games with the Phils in 1972. That season, he hit .260 with 5 home runs and 38 RBI as the Phillies everyday first baseman.

Tommy seems to have loved hitting Tom Seaver. Seaver was the picher that he had the most plate appearances against, and Tommy hit 3 home runs off of him while hitting .320 and driving in 15. He also walked 11 times versus only 5 strikeouts. Tommy also liked to hit against Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins. He hit .323 and .321 against them, respectively.

I sent this card to Tommy in November and I had it back about two weeks later.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 101/100

1978 Topps, Bill Atkinson

#43 Bill Atkinson

Here is one of the two '78 Topps cards that I unlocked in the Topps Diamond Giveaway. Coincidentally, it is also the third Expos pitcher that I unlocked in the event. This one features Bill Atkinson, who pitched for the Expos for parts of four seasons.

Bill was mostly used out of the bullpen in his short Major League career and he compiled an 11-4 record with 11 saves and a 3.42 ERA. His best season was in 1977 when he appeared in 55 games and posted a record of 7-2 with 7 saves and a 3.35 ERA. Bill was also a .300 hitter in his career, which isn't too shabby for a relief pitcher.

The one problem with getting Bill's autograph through the mail is that Bill lives in Canada. Luckily, I noticed a lot of successes with him on SCN as everyone just sends him a couple of bucks and Bill provides the return postage. I guess everyone must be overpaying him for the postage because it is common for Bill to include a signed postcard as well. Here is the one that I got.

I sent this card to Bill at the beginning of May last year and I got it back seventeen days later.

1976 Topps, Don Carrithers

#312 Don Carrithers

This is the lone '76 Topps card that I unlocked in the Topps Diamond Giveaway. It feature Don Carrithers, a pitcher for the Expos. I sent this card to Don at the end of April last year and I got it back a month and a half later.

Don pitched in the Majors for seven seasons in the '70s. He spent time with the Giants, Expos, and Twins. He was mostly used in relief, but he did start over a third of the games he appeared in. For his career, Don was 28-32 with 3 saves and a 4.45 ERA.

Nothing in Don's year to year stats really stands out to me. The most wins he ever recorded in a season was six in 1976. But, that was also the same year that he took the most losses with twelve. About the only thing that really stands out is that in 1975, Don finished five of the fourteen games that he started, hurling two shutouts in the process. He also finished seventh in the league that season with seven hit batsmen.

Don pitched in one post-season game with the Giants in 1971 and did not fare so well. He faced three batters and all three got a hit and scored. So, Don's career post-season ERA in infinite.

Only one more day until 2013 Topps comes out. For once, I really like the look of the set and I am actually looking forward to ripping some packs.

1975 Topps, Ernie McAnally

#318 Ernie McAnally

Here is another card that I unlocked in the Topps Diamond Giveaway. This one features the former Expo, Ernie McAnally. I sent this card to Ernie at the end of April last year and I got it back about eight days later.

Enrie (whose nickname appears to be Chili Mac) pitched in the Majors for four seasons in the early '70s, all with Montreal. He was used mainly as a starter and his career record is 30-49 with a 4.03 ERA. His best season was probably his rookie campaign in 1971. That was the only season that he ever reached double digits in wins as he finished 11-12 with eight complete games and two shutouts.

Ernie was sold to the Indians early in the 1975 season and appeared in one AAA game for them. He surrendered seven earned runs in two innings of work and then called it a career.

I could sure go for a Coke right now.