2007 Turkey Red, Jamie Vermilyea

#132 Jamie Vermilyea

Here is the third and final card of Jamie Vermilyea that I got signed at a Wingnuts game last season. Jamie was the pitching coach for the Winnipeg Goldeyes and he signed the cards for me prior to the start of the game. The first card can be seen here and the second here.

I was a little surprised that I was able to round of three cards of Jamie from 2007. He only pitched in two games in 2006, and for his career for that matter. Yet, Topps put out of card of him in this set, Topps base, and Topps '52, all of which I got signed. They even made a card of him in their Bowman set. But other players that made their debut in 2006 were just relegated to the '52 rookie set. I wonder why they gave a few extra for Jamie and his six innings of work.

The 2007 Turkey Red set is a little different for Turkey Red, but I like it. For starters, the pictures are a little brighter than the first few sets. They look a little better that way and they turn out better when signed. The big difference, though, is the gold border. All of the previous Turkey Red sets had grey borders and they were a little tough to differentiate between the different years. Add in the super-small print of the copyright on the back and the task became even more difficult. Luckily, with this set, that was not an issue.

It appears that Jamie will not be with the Goldeyes this upcoming season. Right now, their manager, Rick Forney, is listed as the manager/pitching coach.

2007 Turkey Red, Billy Butler

#45 Billy Butler

Here is the third card of Billy Butler that I have posted on here. I got this one signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008. I am not sure who sent me this card, but I do know that it was from a fellow blogger.

This card cracks me up just because it shows Billy bunting on it. I have only seen Billy attempt to bunt in a game one time and it was not pretty. It was early in his Major League career and you could tell bunting was not something he worked on in the minors. If I remember correctly, he stabbed at the first two pitches, without any luck, before having to swing away. For his career, Billy has zero sacrifice bunts. But, he does have five stolen bases.

For those of you that are not Royals or A's fans, here is a fun fact for you. Billy's nickname is Country Breakfast. True story.

I just realized that this set does not list positions on them. I guess I will get to pick his position for the label and it is not going to be outfield like it was on the last card of Billy.

2007 Turkey Red, Barry Zito

#41 Barry Zito

Here is the second card of Barry Zito that I have posted on here. The first card was a TTM that I received in 2005. I posted that card about five years ago and it can be seen here. This one, on the other hand, is the first of three that Barry signed for me last season while playing for the Nashville Sounds.

Last season, Barry signed a minor league contract with the A's and nearly spent the entire season playing for Nashville. My family went to see the Sounds take on the Storm Chaser in Omaha over Labor Day weekend and I was looking forward to getting some cards signed by Barry. He had just come off the disabled list and pitched in relief the night before we were there. It was early September and the A's had already chosen most of their September call-ups and Barry was not one of them. Because of that, I thought his outing the night before was going to be his last time pitching professionally. When he signed for me, I thanked him for all he had done for the game and congratulated him on his outing the night before, a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Luckily, the Oakland brass came to their senses and let Barry go out as an Athletic. While he did not fare well in three appearances the last week of the season, it was the right thing to do. He even got to start a game against the Giants and former teammate, Tim Hudson.

2005 Turkey Red, Joe Randa

#196 Joe Randa

Here is the latest installment in the long line of Joe Randa autographs. I got this card signed so that I could have a card of him as a Red signed.

Joe's tenure in Cincinnati was a typical Smiling Joe Randa season. He arrived there as a free agent for the 2005 season. Through 92 games, he was hitting .289 with 13 home runs, 26 doubles, and 48 RBI. The Reds then shipped him to San Diego prior to the trade deadline for Justin Germano and Travis Chick. In 56 games with the Padres, Joe hit .256 with 17 doubles, 4 home runs, and 20 RBI.

At thirty-six years of age, Joe had a really good 2005 season. His 43 doubles and 17 home runs were career highs for him. But, more importantly, he got his only taste of the postseason that year. The Padres ended up 82-80, but it was good enough to win a weak NL West by five games. They ended up getting swept by a strong Cardinals team in the NLDS, but Joe had a good showing, going 4-11 in the three games.

Joe would go on to play just one more season after that. I'll have a card of him as a Pirate coming up later this year, I hope. Actually, at my rate, it probably will not get posted until next year sometime.

I got this card signed at Royals Fanfest two years ago.

For as fun as the Turkey Red cards were, they were not a great card for autographs. The card stock was on point, but the pictures usually turned out too dark to make them a go-to for signatures.

2006 Topps, Turkey Red, Clint Barmes

#TRA-CB Clint Barmes

Here is a card that I won in a contest about three years ago. The contest was held at "A Pack a Day" (remember that blog?) by skoormit. He had a bunch of packs of late '80s Topps and the contest was called "California vs The World". To win the contest, I think you had to pick if the cards would contain more California-born ballplayers or foreign players and how many more there would be. I guessed California and somehow managed to guess a closer amount than anyone else. Skoormit asked me what I wanted for a prize and, when I told him that I mainly just focus on autographs, he sent this card to me as the grand prize. He also included a Bo Jackson bat card that I thought was pretty cool and a bunch of random Royals cards.

Speaking of contests, the college baseball season is heating up and that can only mean one thing. It's about time for my third annual College World Series contest. On Monday, the 64 team field will be introduced and it will be on. I have to work all day tomorrow, so expect the contest to be posted later in the evening. The contest will be run like it has in the past and you can check out the past ones by clicking on the contest label on the right side of the blog.

2006 Topps Turkey Red, Brandon Inge

#512 Brandon Inge

Here is the second Brandon Inge card that I have to post. I got Brandon to sign for me once and it was before the Royals final game of the season last year. I got to the ballpark just in time to get Brandon as he arrived in his cab. He signed all three cards for me and seemed to sign everything for everyone that was out there.

I was surprised when the Tigers released Brandon last month. He was a life-long Tiger who had been with the team for a dozen years. He had an off year last season that included a mid-season demotion to AAA and then got off to a slow start this season, as well. Through nine games with Detroit, Brandon was only hitting .100 when he was let go. The A's picked him up on the cheap shortly thereafter and Brandon was hitting .227 with them before landing on the disabled list with a strained groin.

Brandon's signature isn't exactly readable, but whose is anymore? At least I can make out his initials.

2006 Topps Turkey Red, David DeJesus

#464 David DeJesus

Here is the third David DeJesus card that I have posted on here. This signature was obtained by the Royals parking lot prior to a game in 2009.

Anyone notice anything funny about the picture on this card? For some reason, David is wearing a right-handed glove on his left hand (which is his throwing hand) and the glove is backwards. I would hope that David is smart enough to wear a glove the correct way and on the correct hand, but you never know. He could have been just goofing around. Or, maybe Topps decided to photoshop the glove in and do a terrible job of it in the process.

David had an off year last season with the A's. He is now a Cub and is off to a decent start. He is hitting .282 so far this season and a quarter of his hits are for extra bases. Too bad the rest of the team isn't playing any better as the Cubs are only 15-29 right now after dropping their last nine contests. Unfortunately, my Royals have already had a twelve game skid this year, so I don't feel sorry for the Cub fans yet.

On Tuesday, I went to my first Wingnut game of the season and I think I might have had my best autograph day ever. I came home with 34 signed cards and I got every single card that I took with me signed. A lot of the cards were doubles as many of those players are lucky enough to just have one card, but is was still a good day. The two best signatures I got were from former National Matt Chico and the 2003 American League Rookie of the Year, Angel Berroa, who signed a bat card.

2006 Topps Turkey Red, Coco Crisp

#378 Coco Crisp

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by Coco Crisp at Royals Fanfest in 2009. That year was Coco's only season with the Royals and he only got into 49 games with them as he battled injury problems all season long. He ended up having surgery on both shoulders that season and the Royals didn't re-sign him. Because of that, these three cards that I got signed at Fanfest are the only three autographs that I have of him.

Coco has been playing for the A's since leaving Kansas City and, after battling injury problems his first season there, he had a productive year with them last year. He played in 136 games and hit .264 while sharing the lead league in stolen bases with 49. He is off to a bit of a slow start this year, though, as he is only hitting .197 through 19 games. Having played in so few games makes me wonder if he is battling the injury woes again this season.

I really liked this Turkey Red set when it came out in 2006. For me, it was so much more different than any of the other sets with its look and feel. But, I am not as pleased with it any more. Once I finally got some cards from the set signed, I started to change my opinion. It would seem like a great set to get signed except for the fact that the pictures are so dark that the autograph isn't as easy to make out as it should be. Luckily Topps fixed that aspect of the set by the time it had been reduced to an insert. But, by that time, it was too late.

On a personal note, I have now been to five Royals games this year and the team is a whopping 0-5 in the games I have been to. Welcome to the life of a Royals fan. I'm going to my first Wingnuts game of the year tonight and I am really looking forward to that. It seems like I have more cards to take with me to get signed than usual, so I am hoping to come home with a big score. It helps that the visiting New Jersey Jackals has former big leaguers Matt Chico and Angel Berroa on their roster.

2005 Turkey Red, Dewon Brazelton

#257 Dewon Brazelton

Here is the third and final Dewon Brazelton card that I got signed at a Wichita Wingnuts pre-season game last season. Dewon was with the Kansas City T-Bones at the time and he only appeared in two regular season games for them before getting released. Unfortunately, that may have been the end of his career because I cannot find anything about him pitching this season.

You can see the first Brazelton card I posted here and the second one here.

Now, on to some college baseball news.

There were sixteen teams eliminated from the tournament yesterday and, of those sixteen, seven were picked to advance to the CWS. The biggest upsets were Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. Both teams were picked by four contestants. The other teams to get knocked out included Navy(1), Fresno St.(1), Florida International(1), Southern Miss(2), and Kansas State(2). It wasn't a good day for the Big 12.

There were also a few upsets yesterday. The biggest, in my opinion, was Dallas Baptist beating TCU for the third time this year. The Patriots are now 2-0 and they are one win away from advancing to the super-regionals. No one picked Dallas Baptist to advance (and I wouldn't have either), so they are going to be the dark horse team that I am pulling for today and, hopefully, next weekend.

Other upsets included Texas losing to Kent State, Cal State Fullerton losing to Stanford, and Rice losing to Baylor.

Out of all of the unbeaten teams, Florida State and South Carolina were the ones picked by the most people (10). After Dallas Baptist and UC Irvine (who nobody picked), Mississippi State(1) and Kent State(2) are the two unbeatens that were picked by the least people.

The games are about to start and it is looking like it will be another exciting day of college baseball. If you are interested in watching any of the action, head over to ESPN 3. You can watch up to four games at a time there.