The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck Documentary

#133 Mark Teahen
#CC Callix Crabbe

Upper Deck Documentary was a great concept- the set chronicled every game from the 2008 season. In fact, it chronicled every game twice- once from the home team perspective and once from the visitor's. Because of that, the set ended up being 4890 cards. While Upper Deck had an interesting concept, the set ended up being a failure for many reasons.

For starters, the photo on the front of the card has nothing to do with the game documented. For Teahen's card, there is no mention of him in the write-up on the back. It is only about Zack Grienke. Secondly, the same photos got used on multiple cards. The Teahen photo is used on at least ten different cards. And my least favorite part about the set is that it doesn't tell you who is actually pictured on the card. The only name listed anywhere on the Teahen card is Grienke's. So, while Upper Deck had a great idea for a card set, they executed it very poorly and Documentary was a one and done set.

Mark Teahen- I got this card signed at the Metrodome in 2009 at the final regular season series at the "park".

Callix Crabbe- I bought one pack of documentary and I pulled an auto. Yay me! Callix never played a Major League game with the Brewers, but did see some time with the Padres.

The Rest of 2008 Tristar Projections

#83 Darren Ford
#90 Josh Horton
#198 Mitch Einertson
#256 Josh Vitters
#320 Salvador Sanchez
#399 Desomd Jennings

Darren Ford- Unlike the last card of Darren that I got signed at a Sacramento River Cats game, this one was pulled out of a pack. I actually bought the pack at the Kauffman Stadium gift shop for eight bucks just because it also came with an Eric Hosmer card. It worked out well as I eventually got the Hosmer card signed and I got an auto in the pack.

Josh Horton- I love the way this card looks. Josh's loopy blue signature just looks like it was made for this card. It is perfect. It definitely came out a lot better than the last card of him I posted when I had him sign in black. This card was signed at a Tulsa Drillers game in 2010 while he was playing for Midland.

Mitch Einertson- Mitch played for the Wingnuts for parts of two seasons and I was able to get this card signed at one of their games in 2012.

Josh Vitters- I got this card signed in Hoover, Alabama in 2010 while Josh was playing for the visiting Tennessee Smokies.

Salvador Sanchez- Sal signed this card for me the day after I got Vitters to sign. This time, though, it was in Birmingham at historic Rickwood Field for the 100th anniversary of the ballpark.

Desmond Jennings- I got Desmond to sign at the 2009 Futures Game in St. Louis.

The Rest of 2008 Topps, Part II

#208 David DeJesus
#237 Eric Wedge
#302 Horacio Ramirez
#313 Kameron Loe
#318 Ned Yost
#333 Jayson Nix
#342 Matt Belisle
#403 Nate Robertson
#404 Cecil Cooper

David DeJesus- This is another one that I got signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008. This one was done a month before the German and Gload cards from the previous post.

Eric Wedge- I got this one signed by Eric during Indians batting practice in Kansas City in 2008. In case you haven't heard, last month Eric was named the new head coach at Wichita State. Hopefully he can bring some luster back to a once proud baseball institution.

Horacio Ramirez- Horacio signed for me after a Royals game from the team parking lot in 2008.

Kameron Loe- I got Kameron after an Oklahoma Redhawks game in 2008.

Ned Yost- Ned yosted this card for me after Royals batting practice at The K in 2011. Normally, you can't see the Royals take batting practice at home. But, you can buy early bird stadium tour tickets that get you in just in time for Royals BP. They cost about $10-12 a person and you still need a separate game ticket. In all actuality, all the early bird ticket is good for is getting a great 'graphing spot.

Jayson Nix- I believe this is the third card I have posted of Jayson. There should be three more coming and all six of them came from the Kansas Stars game I attended at the 2016 NBC Wolrd Series.

Matt Belisle- Outside of The K in 2010. That was about the time that it really started to suck 'graphing outside that ballpark. Since then, it has primarily been about hitting up the visiting team as they straggle in.

Nate Robertson- Here is the third card of Wichita native, Nate Robertson, that I have posted on here. The first one came from a Wichita card show and the second was from a Stars game. This one was obtained at the same card show as the first card. That show was at Rock's Dugout in Wichita. Rock usually hosts six shows a year, but I think he cut back to four this year. He always either brings in someone to sign or he has Beckett there grading cards. Unfortunately, Rock hasn't had a baseball player there signing in quite some time and, because of that, I don't think that I have attended a show there in three years.

Cecil Cooper- I posted that first card of Cecil way back in 2009. That card was obtained through the mail, just like this one. But, this card was signed about a year ago when I was getting a bunch of Senior League cards signed. I needed Cecil for that set and sent this one along, too, just so I could have a manager card signed by him.

2008 Donruss Elite, Jose Duran

#56 Jose Duran

Jose Duran was drafted in the sixth round of the 2008 draft by the Brewers. He signed quickly and made his minor league debut that year, hitting .221 for their rookie level team. He played A ball the next season and again hit .221. The Brewers had seen enough and released Jose. His career in affiliated ball was over.

But, he latched on in the American Association and was able to play three more seasons on that circuit. He made the rounds in the Am-Ass, setting up shop for five different clubs in those three seasons. He saw time with Grand Prairie, Ft. Worth, Wichita, Kansas City, and Winnipeg. Over the course of it all, he hit .290 in the league before calling it a career after the 2012 season. He did come back in 2014 in the United Baseball League, but played in just 26 games before calling it quits for good.

For someone that only played two seasons of affiliated ball, Jose sure got quite a few cards. He has one Bowman card and the rest are from Panini.

I got this card signed at a Wingnuts game in 2012 while Jose was playing for the Kansas City T-Bones.

2008 Bowman, Darren Ford

#BCP3 Darren Ford

Two posts ago, I mentioned the ballpark roadtrip that my buddy and I made to the Rickwood Classic in Birmingham, Alabama in 2010. The roadtrip was something we did nearly every year. But, he had a kid shortly after that and our roadtrips came to a stop. We managed a dual family roadtrip to Wrigley Field for its 100th anniversary in 2014, but it was pretty weak compared to how we used to do it.

In 2015, I jokingly texted him asking what parks we were going to check out that summer. He thought it was funny that I asked him that because he had to fly out to Seattle in a couple of months for a work seminar. The gears started turning and we managed to throw together a four day roadtrip. I flew up to Seattle to meet him and we hit up Safeco Field before renting a car and driving to Portland for a Hillsboro Hops game. We then drove down to a Sacramento River Cats game before finishing up with a Giants game. Even though the trip was on the short side by our standards, it was still the most unique one that we have had in that we flew there and back and had to rent a car. To date, that was the last trip we have been on. We might try to work out another dual family trip next year when the Rangers open their new ballpark.

Anyways, I bring all of that up because I got this card signed on that 2015 trip out west. Darren was playing for the Cats at the time and he was nice enough to sign three cards for me that evening.

Darren played in 33 games with the Giants in 2010 and 2011. Over those two short stints, he never started a game and he only got 14 at-bats. But, he did manage to get 4 hits, score 7 runs, and steal 9 bases.

Darren is still playing ball, but last season was spent in the Atlantic League. Speed is a big part of his game. He stole 36 bases last season, which gives him over 450 steals for his professional career.

Here is the updated 2008 Bowman map.

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.

1993 Upper Deck, Doug Henry

#395 Doug Henry

Here is another card of Doug Henry, the Royals former bullpen coach. In my last post about Doug, and probably all the posts about Doug, I talked about how he was my go-to guy if I was striking out on autographs at the ballpark. I knew I could always head down to the Royals bullpen and grab one from him so that I didn't go home empty handed. That was the case this past August when I took the family to St. Louis to see the Royals play.

I have been to a handful of Royals/Cardinals games in Kansas City and, to be honest, I never really cared for them because there were always too many Cardinal fans for my liking. But, I have always wanted to make the trip to St. Louis to see how the match-up was on the other side of the state. To my amazement, it was much better than taking in the game in Kansas City.

Royals/Cards games in Kansas City bring out the loud, obnoxious, super annoying Cardinal fans that nobody wants to be around. I have been to a Cubs/Cardinals game in Chicago and it was the same story there. But the Royals/Cards game in St. Louis was a whole new ballgame as it was just your normal, casual fans. We were all rocking our Royals gear all day long, from a riverboat ride, to the arch, to a local brewery, and throughout the game. Not once did we hear any of the usual crap we normally hear in Kansas City. They say Cardinal fans are some of the best in the game and they just might be right, when in St. Louis.

As for 'graphing the game, it was a stinker. The only Royal that stopped after batting practice to sign was Brandon Moss and he only signed a few and not for me. I went out to the outfield a little later and tried to get Cardinals bullpen coach, Blaise Ilsley, to sign for me. He turned me down, so I turned to old faithful, Doug Henry.

1993 Topps, Doug Henry

#343 Doug Henry

To my amazement, this is only the fourth card of Doug Henry that I have posted on here. Doug has been the bullpen coach for the Royals the last five seasons and he was always my go-to on a bad 'graphing day. Any time I struck out getting autographs from players, I always knew that I could venture down to the Royals bullpen and grab one from Doug. That was how I got this one signed at a game in 2014.

Unfortunately, the Royals did some shaking up with their coaching staffs and Doug has been demoted. Despite being with the big league club for five seasons and being the AAA pitching coach before that, Doug has dropped down to the pitching coach for the high-A Wilmington Blue Rocks. Taking Doug's spot in Kansas City is Vance Wilson.

I have no idea if Vance will be as accommodating as Doug was at the ballpark. But, if he is, I need to find some cards of him. I have one card of him and I got it signed at Spring Training in 2013 when he was the manager for the Royals AA team.

If anybody has any extra cards of Vance that they would like to trade, hit me up. He seems to have a decent amount of Mets cards from 2002-2004 and they must be a hot commodity right now. For whatever reason, COMC has one card of Vance for under a buck while all the rest are in the two to three dollar range. Or, you can even buy his base 2003 Topps card for $20.25. What is up with that?

1990 Topps, Tony Fossas

#34 Tony Fossas

Here is the second of three cards that I got signed by Tony Fossas at Spring Training earlier this year. Tony was the Reds pitching coordinator and I got him to sign at the team's minor league workout. I posted the first card of him last month and that one can be seen here.

After making his big league debut with the Rangers in 1988, he joined the Brewers as a free agent prior to the 1989 season. He had a good season in Milwaukee that year and pitched in a career-high 61 innings. Over that span, he was 2-2 with a save and a 3.54 ERA. He struck out 42 batters, also a career high.

Things did not go as well the following season. Pitching in just 29.1 innings, Tony's record was 2-3 with a 6.44 ERA. It looks like the problem that year was that he wasn't missing many bats. He gave up 44 hits in those 29.1 innings compared to 57 hits the year before. The Brewers let him walk after the season and Tony was picked up by the Red Sox for the 1991 campaign.

Tony's transaction page is super-long. It is worth checking out. Over the course of his career, he was released or granted free agency fifteen times, four times before he even made his Major League debut.

I love the collared jacket in this card. This is probably one of the last times that fashion ever appeared on cardboard.

On an unrelated note, today is the day that Wichita is going to announce if they have lured an affiliated minor league team to the city. I really hope that they land one.

1990 Donruss, Tony Fossas

#457 Tony Fossas

Here is the first of three cards that I got signed by Tony Fossas at Spring Training this year. Tony was the Reds pitching coordinator last season and I was able to get him to sign while the club's minor league players were participating in their morning practice.

Tony pitched in the Majors for twelve seasons. He pitched for seven teams during that span- the Brewers, Red Sox, Cardinals, Mariners, Cubs, Rangers, and Yankees. It looks like he bounced around all the time, but that really didn't happen until the last two years of his career when he played for four different teams, including three alone in the 1998 season.

It is amazing that he had such a long career considering how long it took him to get to the Major Leagues. Tony was drafted by the Rangers in 1979. He would get released or granted free agency four times before finally making his big league debut in 1988 at the age of 30.

Over his career, Tony never started a game and he was not a closer. He was mainly a left-handed specialist who logged 415.2 innings over 567 appearances. During that time, he racked up a 17-24 record with 7 saves and a 3.90 ERA.

1987 Fleer, Dale Sveum

#358 Dale Sveum

Dale Sveum has been the Royals hitting coach since 2014 and this is the only autograph that I have gotten from him. I was lucky enough to catch him outside The K before a game late last season and he was nice enough to sign one of three for me.

Dale played in the Majors for twelve seasons with the Brewers, Phillies, White Sox, A's, Mariners, Pirates, and Yankees. Over that time, he was a .236 hitter with 69 home runs and 340 RBI. He had one monster season with the Brew Crew in 1987. That year, he hit a robust .252 with 25 dingers and 95 RBI. It was only one of two seasons that he hit double digit home runs and the only one where he hit more than 15.

Dale spent his first five seasons in Milwaukee and then bounced around a ton after that. Even though he played with seven different teams, good luck finding a card of him not with the Brewers. From what I have seen, he only has a couple of Phillies and A's cards, one Yankee card, and not a single card of him with the White Sox, Mariners, or Pirates. The lack of a Pirates card surprises me since he got 306 at-bats with them in 1997. That was the most he had in a single season since 1988.

I find it funny that Dale has 59 more strikeouts than hits as a Major Leaguer. That is funny to me because he is the hitting coach for a team that won a World Series two years ago by not striking out. How does that work?

1985 Fleer, Danny Darwin

#U-32 Danny Darwin

Here is the second card of Danny Darwin that I have posted on here. The first one, his '81 Donruss, was posted almost seven years ago. That one was obtained through the mail. This one, and the next two, were signed at Spring Training this past March. Danny is the pitching coach for the Reds AA affiliate in Pensacola and he was nice enough to sign for me during minor league workouts the day I was there.

Danny only pitched for the Brewers for a season and a half. He went there in 1985 as a free agent and pitched there until being traded to the Astros in August of '86. Over that time, he was 14-26 with 2 saves and a 3.70 ERA.

I am not sure that I have had a seven year gap between posts of a player on here before. Seeing that number makes me realize that I have had this blog going for nearly ten years now. I started this in 2008 and I always post my cards in order by year. After posting all my cards from a year, I go back and post any cards from previous years that I got recently. The sad thing is that after almost ten years, I still have yet to post any cards that were made during the year I started this blog. By the time I get around to my cards from 2008, it is probably going to be 2018 and very few of those players are going to be relevant anymore.

1983 Topps Gardner's Bakery, Ned Yost

#21 Ned Yost

Here is a fun card from what I am guessing is a regional set. Right now, there is only one other card from this set listed on COMC and it too is of a Brewer. Beyond that tiny bit of sleuth work, I know nothing about this set. Nevertheless, it is a unique look from Topps that has the same backs as their regular '83 set.

Since Ned is a fairly decent signer, I have to try to find some of these oddballs just to have something new for him to sign. I got lucky this past Fanfest as I was able to get this card and a minor league card of him signed. I would have been much more lucky to get Salvador Perez or Mike Moustakas at that signing, but that is how Royals Fanfest goes. It is a crapshoot.

I never understood how these older non-glossy cards get the ever so slight beading from the Sharpie. It does not happen very often, but my mind is always blown when it does.

It has been an exciting weekend of regional play. I do not think I have ever seen so many games being played on Monday. Hopefully the Super Regionals will be set in a few hours and I can give an update on Tuesday of who has teams still in it.

2007 Upper Deck, Tony Graffanino

#793 Tony Graffanino

Here is the third and final card that Tony Graffanino signed for me before a Royals game in 2009. Tony was with the Indians at the time and he was nice enough to sign the cards during batting practice.

Speaking of batting practice at Kauffman Stadium, I do not think that fans will be able to get 'graphs there from here on out in the good spots. By good spots, I mean the home plate side of the dugout. I have not been to a game at The K yet this season, but I know that the Royals said they were going to put extra netting up that spanned from dugout to dugout. It is just another example of how it continues to get harder to 'graph that ballpark. The glory years of me 'graphing the parking lot in 2008 and '09 are long gone.

The previous two cards of Graffanino showed him with the Braves and Red Sox. Despite playing for them, the Brewers, Indians, Devil Rays, and White Sox, I mostly remember Tony from his time with the Royals. Despite that fact, I was unable to find a card of him as a Royal before heading to that game.

Tony finished his career in 2009 as a .265 hitter with 58 home runs and 302 RBI over parts of thirteen big league seasons.

2007 Topps, Ned Yost

#617 Ned Yost

Here is a quick pre-Thanksgiving post of the manager of the 2015 World Series Champions, Kansas City Royals. This is the first card of a member of the team that I have posted since they won it all last month. My wife got this card signed by Ned prior to a Spring Training game in 2013. I have only been to two Royals Spring Training games, but Ned signed for a ton of fans at both games.

I believe that this is the fifth card of Ned that I have posted on here. I posted three cards of him as a player and then posted a manager card of him this past spring. When I posted that card, I commented that I did not realize at the time that I was getting that card signed by the manager of the next American League champs. I am still floored that they won the Series this year. Ned has always baffled me with the way he has used his bullpen, but he finally figured out the HDH scenario last year, Herrera to Davis to Holland. That formula faltered this year when Holland struggled and eventually needed Tommy John surgery. But Ned pieced it together and, while it wasn't as steadfast as HDH, he was able to make it work. It helped a bunch that he had Wade Davis in his pen kill any potential rallies.

On the last card of Ned I posted, I talked about his managerial career in Milwaukee. Even though he is still a Brewer on this card, I am going to talk about his tenure with the Royals. And all I have to say about that is that Ned is the club's winningest manager. His 468 wins tops Whitey Herzog by 58. I still cannot believe that fact. I know Ned has a couple of seasons on Whitey and a losing record (which should not be that way after next year), but I still have a hard time coming to grips with him being the franchise leader. That could be because I have been a Royals fan since 2000 and they have pretty much sucked that entire time until lately. Success has been for me to adjust to, apparently.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

2006 Topps, Ned Yost

#600 Ned Yost

Remember when Topps reserved every 100th card in its set for the best players in the game? Well, it looks like they had discontinued that practice by 2006.

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest last year. I have posted a handful of Ned Yost cards on here as a player, but this is the first one of him as a manager. When I got this card signed last year, I had no idea whatsoever that I was getting an autograph by the guy that was going to manage the Royals to the World Series and be the manager of the this year's American League All Star team.

But enough about Ned as a Royal. He was with the Brewers when this card came out, so I'll talk about his tenure with Milwaukee. Ned joined the Brewers for 2003 and guided them to a 68-94 record and finished last in the NL Central. The Brewers finished last the next year, too, with another 94 loss season. Things took an upswing in 2005 when the Brewers finished at .500. It was their first non-losing season since 1992. The team regressed a bit in 2006 before putting it together for a great run in 2007. The team finished 83-79 and ended up just two games back of the division leading Cubs.

The Brewers were poised to finally get over the top and make the playoffs in 2008, and they did just that. But, they did it without Ned, who, with a 83-67 record, got fired with twelve games left in the regular season. The Brewers were in a slump, having lost seven of eight, and the powers that be decided a change needed to be made. With the exception of the strike-shortened 1981 season, it is the only time a manager had been fired in August or later while his team was still in the playoff hunt.

Talk about getting Yosted (yes, that is a real word).

1993 Ultra, Doug Henry

#220 Doug Henry

Wow. Doug Henry is the bullpen coach for the Royals, and has been for a couple of years now, but I just now realized that he actually pitched for the Royals at one time. The bad part is that he didn't pitch for them in the '90s when I was too busy playing baseball to go to pro baseball games. He actually pitched for the Royals in 2001. I became a Royals fan in 2000 after my first year at Kansas State. Manhattan is less than two hours away from Kansas City, so I probably averaged at least a dozen games a year while going to school there. In 2001, I just happened to see Doug pitch in person eight times. He was 2-0 in those games with a 4.96 ERA in 16.1 innings of work. I thought I was pretty good with the Royals of my generation, but I apparently am not nearly as good as I thought I was.

Before coaching with the Royals, Doug was the pitching coach for their AAA team in Omaha. On a whim one day in 2012, I wanted to go to a ballgame and the closest one being played to me that day was in Oklahoma City. So, I made the four hour trek down there and watched the Storm Chasers whoop up on the Redhawks. It was a fun game as I had great seats and got to see my favorite team's top farm club pull out a victory. Plus, I got my then new girlfriend, now fiance, to get her first autographs for me. This was not one of the ones she got, though.

Doug has a simple, yet effective, autograph. While it is by no means readable, if you know who signed that signature, you can say "yeah, I can see that".

1991 Score, Franklin Stubbs

#59T Franklin Stubbs

Here is the second of three cards that Franklin Stubbs signed for me during Spring Training. The first one I posted can be seen here. It may be some time before the final one ever makes its way on here as it is an earlier card from the '80s.

But, this is the final card that I have to show from the Score Rookie and Traded set. As you might have guessed, all the cards from that set have this burnt pink border. I'm not sure if burnt pink is really a color, but that was the best I could come up with. The cards from the main set had a few different colors such as blue, green, white, and black. When I got this set originally, I expected to see the same variance out of it. That was not the case and I figure that Score wanted the traded set to stand out against the base set.

Franklin played just two seasons with the Brewers. His previous season in Houston, he had set career highs in home runs and RBI. In the two years with Milwaukee, he didn't hit as many home runs as he had in Houston and he just barely eclipsed his RBI total. Needless to say, after signing his largest contract to come to the team, his time with the Brewers was a bit of a disappointment.

Franklin spent all of the 1993 season in AAA' and '94 in Mexico, before re-emerging with the Tigers in 1995. That was his final season in the big leagues.

I have no clue what is going on with Franklin's signature. It is pretty unique and, from what I have seen, consistent. However, if you look at the signature on his Baseball Almanac page, it hasn't always been that way. It used to be longer and, while not readable, certainly more legible. There are some elements from the Baseball Almanac signature that carry over to his current signature, but not much.

1989 Upper Deck, Juan Nieves

#646 Juan Nieves

Here is the third and final Juan Nieves card that was signed for me while Juan was the White Sox bullpen coach in 2012. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

Sorry for the lack of posts this month. At the last minute, we decided to head down to Arizona for a second straight year of Spring Training. So, I spent the two weeks prior to that just trying to get cards sorted out to take on the trip. I have a hard enough time getting cards ready to 'graph the visiting team in Kansas City. This year, I attended four games and 'graphed six different teams. Needless to say, it took me the entire two weeks to get ready.

In the end, I had a really good time. I attended four Spring games, including a Royals game where I sat in the second row behind their dugout. I can't afford to do that during the regular season. Plus, I got to see my first NHL hockey game and a Wichita State/Arizona State baseball game. I ended up getting 88 cards signed and one ball, Tommy Lasorda. I didn't get any big name current players on cards, but I did get two prized prospects- Cubs Jorge Soler and D-Backs Archie Bradley. In fact the best non-prospect card that I got signed was by a guy who has signed about a dozen cards for me- Royals Eric Hosmer.

Overall, it was a blast. The drive is a little long, but we did alright. I doubt I will be able to make it back next year, so I am glad we were able to make it happen this year.

Plus, I am the only one at work with a tan.

Hopefully, I will get back to my semi-regular posting.

1989 Score, Mike Birkbeck

#496 Mike Birkbeck

Here is the third and final card that Mike Birkbeck signed for me almost two years ago. All three cards were signed for in Omaha during the College World Series.

Mike is the pitching coach for the Kent State Golden Flashes of the Mid-American Conference. This is his eighteenth season in that role. During Mike's tenure with the team, the Golden Flashes have won seven MAC regular season titles, eight MAC postseason tournaments, have appeared in eight Regionals, and made one trip to Omaha. Some of Mike's former student-athletes include Matt Guerrier, Dirk Hayhurst, and Andy Sonnestine.

In other Kent State news, I just noticed that the school has brought on Brandon Larson as a volunteer assistant. Brandon was a CWS title winner with LSU in the late '90s before getting drafted by the Reds. I posted a card of him a few years back and he is still the only former player to comment on this blog.

As for Mike Birkbeck, you can see the first card I posted of him here and the second one here.