2009 Upper Deck, Royals Team Leaders

#459 Zack Greinke/Gil Meche/David DeJesus

Anytime you can get a card signed by two players, it feels like an accomplishment. But completing a card with more than two players is almost indescribable. Sometimes, the stars have to align just right and they all came together to get this card done.

Gil was the first player to sign this card for me. The card came out in 2009 and, to be honest, I thought that I would get all three guys that year. That year, the Royals parking lot was a great place to get sigs as the players arrived to the park. That was how I got Gil and how I thought I would get the other two. But, for whatever reasons, Zack and David eluded me the rest of the season.

Fast forward to the following year. That is when I got Greinke on this card and I got him early- at Royals Fanfest. Oddly, the only sig on the card in blue is from a signing and the two black ones are provided by me. Oh, the good old days. It looks like Greinke's sig missed a beat after hitting that foil Royals logo, but it still came out OK. At least it is in blue. I just wish he signed on his photo and not over that big blue border.

It wouldn't be until 2013 that I could finish off this card with DeJesus. By that time, David was with the Cubs and the family made our maiden voyage to Arizona for Spring Training. We took in a Mariners night game there where they hosted the Cubbies. David, like usual, was real cool and signed for everyone when he came out of the game and passed through "Autograph Alley". When I handed him this card, he looked at it and actually said "ahh, cute". It is still the only interaction I have ever had with a player where cute came out of their mouth.

While getting this card done was somewhat of a milestone that night, the highlight of the evening came before the game. David passed through Autograph Alley, where I had set up with the fam. I made sure my kid, who was seven at the time, had a card of David to try to get signed. David passed through on the way to the field and stopped to sign a few autographs. He only signed a couple and then announced that he would get everyone after the game. My boy was right by him and seemed devastated that he wasn't going to get his card signed and cried out "can I PLEASE have your autograph?" in the most desperate voice I have ever heard from him in his life, before or since. David just chuckled and told him he would get him after the game, which he did. Seven years later, my wife and I still joke about that desperate plea from our son.

2008 Upper Deck X, Jeremy Guthrie

#UDXM-JG Jeremy Guthrie

Remember this craptastic set? It was a one and done from Upper Deck and that was a good call by them. They seemed to be making a quite a few one and done sets around that time. It is kind of funny now because this set sort of reminds me of this year's Topps Fire set, which I have yet to buy any of.

This is the second card of Jeremy Guthrie that I have posted on here. But, since this is the only card from this set that I have signed, it gets its own post. And I am okay with that because it is a relic card and I like Guthrie. I posted his first card four years ago and it can be seen here.

J-Guts pitched for the O's for five seasons and had double digit wins in four of those seasons. Unfortunately, he also had double digit losses in each those four seasons and lead the league in losses twice, with 17 both times. So, he finished his stay in Baltimore with a 47-65 record with a 4.12 ERA and 602 strikeouts.

As much as I do not like this set, this card actually look really good signed. It looks slightly better than the '04 Topps Total card that I posted first and that is usually a great set for getting signed.

I got this card signed at Royals Fanfest in 2014.

It only took me eleven months to make it through the 265 cards from 2008 that I have signed. Considering that I only posted 154 times this year, I think I did alright. Now, it is time to hit the rewind button and start posting all of the older cards that I have got signed since then. It should go by fairly quickly until we get to '81 Donruss. Then, it might take me an entire year to get all of those cards posted. The next month, however, is going to be nothing but cards from the '50s. So, if you like vintage cards, keep checking back through Christmas.

2008 Tristar Projections, Wade Davis

#201 Wade Davis

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest in 2013. At the time, Wade had just come over from the Rays. He was basically a throw-in in the Wil Myers/James Shields trade. There wasn't any real expectations for him except to help fill in the rotation. Absolutely no one envisioned that he was going to be a dominant reliever that would anchor a bullpen that would lead the Royals to back-to-back World Series appearances, let alone revolutionize how a bullpen could be used.

While with the Rays, Wade was a starter for his first two plus years before moving to the bullpen for his last season in Tampa Bay. As a starter, he was 25-22 with a 4.22 ERA and 254 strikeouts in 388.1 innings of work. Then, out of the 'pen, he was 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA and 87 K's in just 70.1 innings of work. Why the Royals would want to move him back to the rotation is beyond me. They probably just lacked rotation depth and needed a starter.

So, Wade started his Royals career as a starter and made 24 starts in 2013 and also had 7 relief appearances at the end of the year. As a starter, he was 6-10 with a 5.67 ERA with 107 strikeouts in 125.1 innings. In his brief time out of the 'pen at the end of the year (after missing a month of the season to injury), he was 2-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 7 strikeouts in 10 innings.

The Royals kept him in the bullpen the following year and the rest is history. For three seasons of relief work out of the Kansas City 'pen, Wade would go 19-4 with 47 saves, a 1.18 ERA, and 234 strikeouts in 182.2 innings. On top of that, he only allowed three home runs. And, as if you thought those numbers were lights out, he was even better in the postseason.

During the Royals two postseason runs, Wade was 2-0 with 4 saves with a 0.36 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 25 innings of work. Those numbers just look unreal.

The Royals traded Wade to the Cubs before the 2017 season and he signed with the Rockies last year where he would lead the National League in saves. But, he is having a rough go of it this year and is not the team's closer and is sporting a non Wade Davis-like ERA of 7.43.

In case you are wondering, this card has an error on the back. It lists Wade's birth date as 9/8/89 when it is actually 9/7/85.

2008 Topps Opening Day

#166 Brian Bannister
#205 Brandon Jones
#210 Josh Anderson

Brian Bannister- Man, does this card look good or what? Brian probably has the best looking signature from anyone that has played in the past ten years with the exception of Mariano Rivera. All three of these cards are signed in blue, but this one just stands out more because of that majestic signature. Brian signed this card for me at Royals Fanfest in 2010. When he was signing it, I told him what a good looking signature he had and he told me that he got it from his dad and that I should take a look at his dad's signature. So, I did that and Floyd has a nice sig, but not quite as nice as Brian's.

Brandon Jones- Brandon played in the American Association for three seasons, so I was able to get him a couple of times in Wichita. This one was signed there in 2012 while he was with the Kansas City T-Bones.

Josh Anderson- Josh signed for me at the final regular season series at the Metrodome while playing for the Royals. If I would have gotten the regular issue Topps card signed that looked like this, I would have had both of his 2008 Topps cards signed. But, I had to be a bit different and go the Opening Day route.

This set is way different that Opening Day sets are now. Anymore, they look just like the base set with two exception- the Opening Day logo and no foil. This set added foil instead of taking it away.

The Rest of 2008 Topps Heritage, Part II

#472 Manny Corpas
#479 Tony LaRussa
#532 Willie Bloomquist
#561 Mike Aviles
#628 Esteban German
#670 Joakim Soria
#672 Taylor Teagarden
#RP2 Mike Aviles

Manny Corpas- This is the second card that Manny signed for me at a Royals game in 2010 while he was still with the Rockies.

Tony LaRussa- I got this one signed through the mail in 2009. I sent him his '81 Donruss card to sign and threw this one in with it. I still need to get an A's card signed by him and maybe even a card from his playing days. In case you are wondering, it looks like Tony still signs through the mail. If you need his autograph, send it care of the Boston Red Sox.

Willie Bloomquist- Willie signed this card for me in Minneapolis when I went to the Twins final regular season series at the Metrodome. Willie was playing for the Royals at the time.

Mike Aviles- I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot in 2009. Before leaving for Kansas City that week, I went by my local card shop to see if he had this card. He did not, so he opened packs until he pulled this one for me.

Esteban German- Esteban signed this one for me at Royals Fanfest in 2009.

Taylor Teagarden- I got this one signed in Springdale, Arkansas in 2010 while Taylor was playing for the Frisco Rough Riders. He was nice enough to sign for me from the dugout after the game.

Mike Aviles- In case you couldn't tell by the super thin signature, this card was signed at the same time as the other Aviles card on here. It was a regular Sharpie, so I am not sure why it came out so thin. He must have just been grazing the surface of the card with it.

On a side note, I almost posted one of these cards of Mike Aviles as its own post. Then, after a quick search, I realized I posted his 2006 Bowman card way back in 2011. Yikes! It took me eight years to get from my 2006 cards to my 2008s.

The Rest of 2008 Topps, Part V

Here are the final cards from 2008 Topps.

#UH207 Alberto Gonzalez
#UH211 Brett Tomko
#UH235 Eddie Guardado
#UH278 So Taguchi
#UH279 Alex Hinshaw
#TCP4 Luke Hochevar

Alberto Gonzalez- This is the second card of Alberto that I have posted on here and both have been lumped into a "best of" post. I have a third one coming up that will get its own post, so this is going to have to do for now. Alberto signed this card for me in 2015 while he was a member of the Wichita Wingnuts.

Brett Tomko- Believe it or not, but I did not get this card signed by the Royals parking lot. I actually got it at a Kansas Stars game in 2016.

Eddie Guardado- Eddie signed this one for me while I was waiting outside of Kauffman in 2017. Eddie was the Twins bullpen coach at the time.

So Taguchi- I got this card signed outside of Principle Park in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009. So was playing his final season in the U.S. that year and he spent the majority of the time with the Iowa Cubs. He signed two cards for me after the game and both featured his Japanese signature.

Alex Hinshaw- This is the first card of Alex that I have posted on here. But, I have another one that will get its own post. That one is a 2009 card, so it might not show up on here until 2022. Alex signed this card for me while he was with the Wingnuts in 2014.

Luke Hochevar- I have no clue where this card came from. Night Owl probably sent it to me. I am assuming that the card was a Target exclusive, but I am not even sure about that. All I know about the card is that Luke signed it for me at Fanfest in 2009.

And that is it for '08 Topps. You can say whatever you want about the design of the set, but I will say this- you will never get 2008 Topps confused with any other Topps set.

2008 Topps, Part IV

#597 Kyle Davies
#623 Trey Hillman
#UH15 Kevin Cash
#UH89 Joakim Soria
#UH92 Eric Hinske
#UH144 Robinson Tejeda

I am almost done with '08 Topps, so I had to break down the last two post to six cards each. This one is a little Royals heavy.

Kyle Davies- Believe it or not, I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Trey Hillman- I almost posted this card by itself a few weeks back. Then I remembered that I posted a minor league card of Trey many years ago. This one was signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Kevin Cash- I got this card signed in Omaha in 2011 while Kevin was coaching for Round Rock. He has moved up a bit since then and is currently the manager for the Rays.

Joakim Soria- The one current player in the batch, who is currently pitching for the A's. Unlike the last two Royals, I got this card signed at Royals Fanfest in 2009.

Eric Hinske- I got this card signed last year outside of Kauffman Stadium when Eric got dropped off from an Uber. That is another thing that has changed while 'graphing outside of The K in the last ten years. Players now get dropped off from Ubers instead of cabs. The cabs could be seen from miles away and the Ubers now just magically appears. Eric was a coach for the Angels at the time, but has since moved on to the Diamondbacks.

Robinson Tejeda- I got this one signed by the Royals parking lot, but it was is in 2009. I think this is the first time that I got a players base card and update card signed from the same year.

The Rest of 2008 Topps, Part III

#429 Billy Butler
#441 Miguel Olivo
#483 Mike Jacobs
#498 Matt Chico
#549 Gregg Zaun
#556 John Gibbons
#577 John Buck
#589 Dave Trembley
#594 Andy LaRoche

Billy Butler- Like most of the Royals cards from this set, Billy signed this card for me by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Miguel Olivo- Also by the Royals lot in '08.

Mike Jacobs- Got this card signed by Mike at Royals Fanfest in 2009.

Matt Chico- I got this one signed at a Wingnuts game in 2012 while Matt was playing for the visiting New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League.

Gregg Zaun- Gregg signed this one for me in Kauffman Stadium in 2009. He was with the Orioles at the time and he signed right after batting practice.

John Gibbons- The former Royals bench coach signed this card at a Royals game in 2009.

John Buck- John signed this card by the Royals parking lot after a game in 2008. He made an error that cost his team the game, but was still kind enough to sign some autographs afterwards.

Dave Trembley- For some reason, I thought I posted Dave's 2007 Topps card. Well, it turns out that he wasn't in '07 Topps. I was thinking of the Sam Perlozzo manager card that I got signed. So, this card should have been posted on its own. I will make up for it when I get to 2009 Topps Heritage. Dave signed this card for me at a Royals game in 2009.

Andy LaRoche- I got Andy on multiple occasions as he once played for the Wingnuts and also played with the Kansas Stars. This is one of the ones he signed for me as a Nut in 2015.

Posting all of these cards from 2008 Topps makes me realize how much I miss manager cards. For some guys, a manager card would be the only Topps card they ever get.

2008 Razor, Mike Montgomery

#84 Mike Montgomery

Back in the day, Mike Montgomery was a highly touted Royals prospect. That was the main reason that I got this card signed. In 2009, he was the Roylas minor league pitcher of the year. Because of that, he was at Royals Fanfest in 2010 when he signed this card.

Unfortunately, it never worked out for Mike when he was with the Royals. I heard a few different reasons for why that was, but the main one I heard was that the Royals deemed him uncoachable. He had a private pitching coach during his time as a Royal minor leaguer and he apparently valued his advice over any of the Royals coaches. So, prior to the 2013 season, the Royals packaged him in a deal with Wil Myers and sent them to the Rays for James Shields and Wade Davis. I would say that deal worked out well for the Royals.

Mike made his Major League debut with the Mariners in 2015. He has appeared in the Majors every year since then and even won a World Series with the Cubs in 2016. To date, he is 21-25 with 3 saves and a 3.64 ERA in 152 games with 56 of those being starts. He is having a rough start to this season, but has only pitched in five games so far. Through 7.2 innings of work, he currently is 1-0 with a 5.87 ERA and 5 strikeouts.

2008 Just Minors

#27 Chris Getz
#46 Daniel Mayora
#60 Derrick Robinson

I only have three cards signed from this set and all three feature players that have been posted on here before. So, I get an easy day today.

Chris Getz- This card was signed at Royals Fanfest in 2013.

Daniel Mayora- I got this card signed at Dodgers Spring Training in 2014. To my surprise, Daniel is still playing ball. He is playing in Mexico, where he has played since 2017.

Derrick Robinson- Derrick signed this card for me in 2009 while he was a member of the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Derrick last played pro ball in 2017. In 2016, he played in the American Association and I was bummed that I could not find his 2013 Topps Update card to get signed at a game. It was in my collection, but missing in action.

I find it strange that this is a minor league set, but it really doesn't focus on the minor leagues. I know three cards is a small sample size, but only one of the three shows a definitive minor league uniform. While the other two could possibly be minor league unis, they could just as easily be Spring Training shots. The backs have no mention of the minor leagues and don't even tell you where the players played the previous season when the racked up the stats that are listed.

2008 Goudey, Jeff Francoeur

#M-JF Jeff Francoeur

Here is a card that I got signed by Jeff Francoeur at Royals Fanfest in 2011. Back then, it seemed like I would get at least one jersey card a year signed at the event. That is not the case anymore. Nowadays, it is impossible to get in more than one line per session and the bigger name guys (ie, the ones with jersey cards) only sign once a day. With six lines and not knowing who you are going to be getting, I don't even waste my time buying these for Fanfest anymore. But, I am glad that I bought this one the 2011 event.

Frenchy was an absolute stud when he came up. I had the privilege of watching him play multiple times in his first full season in the Majors since I was stationed in Georgia at the time and he was a joy to watch. But then 2008 came and his numbers dropped off dramatically. While he was never the same run driving-in-machine that he was in 2006 and '07, but he still stuck around in the league through the 2016 season.

He finished his career a .261 hitter with 160 home runs and 698 RBI. He had three really good seasons- the aforementioned 2006 and '07 seasons and 2011 with the Royals. In '06, he hit a career high 29 home runs. In '07, he hit .293 and knocked in 105 runs. In 2011, he hit .285 and had 20 homers, 87 RBI, and hit a career best 47 doubles. He made history that season by being part of what I believe is the first outfield trio to all have 40+ doubles in a season. His other two counterparts were Melky Cabrera and Alex Gordon.

One of my best memories at a game involves Frenchy. On May 13, 2006, I was at Turner Field to see the Braves host the Nationals. The Braves entered the ninth inning down 5-3. Brian McCann lead off the bottom of the inning with a solo home run to bring the game to within one. A handful of singles later, Jeff came up with the bases loaded. Instead of just knotting up the game or driving in two on a single, Jeff hit a walk off grand slam to send the Braves home a 8-5 winner. That was so awesome! I mentioned the walk off to him when he signed this card and he told me it was still his best memory as a ballplayer.

2008 Goudey, Chris Young

#155 Chris Young

This is one of the two cards that I got signed by Chris Young at Royals Fanfest in 2017. The other card I had him sign was his 2016 Topps card that showed him celebrating the Royals World Championship, which was a must for a Royals fan. I had one other card with me that day of him, his 2008 Allen & Ginter. I asked my wife which one I should get signed and she wisely chose this one.

Chris pitched in the Majors for thirteen seasons with the Rangers, Padres, Mets, Mariners, and Royals. Over that time, he had a 79-67 record with a save and a 3.95 ERA in nearly 1300 innings of work. He appeared in the postseason twice and made one All Star team.

Chris probably had his best season during the 2007 campaign with the Padres. While his record wasn't great (9-8), he did post a 3.12 ERA and stuck out a single season best 167 batters. Coincidentally, that was the one year he made the All Star team.

While I wasn't a huge Chris Young fan during his tenure with the Royals, especially after his first season, I absolutely love his signature. It is actually readable, which is a rare trait anymore.

2008 Bowman, Dan Cortes

#BCP92 Dan Cortes

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest in 2009. If I remember correctly, that was the first year of Fanfest. Back then, they would bring in the minor league award winners to sign and that is how I got this card signed.

2008 was when I got back into collecting autographs and the chrome cards were kind of new to me. I didn't have any experience getting them signed before this card and I had no idea of the concept of prepping cards. So, I took two of these chrome cards with me, the only two cards of Cortes that I had, and got them both signed. This one turned out okay. The other one looks horrible. But, I now know about prepping cards and I do not have an issue with chrome cards anymore. But, if given the choice, I would prefer a non-chrome card.

Dan never made it to the big leagues with the Royals, but he did see a bit of action with the Mariners. He got dealt to them for Yuniesky Betancourt during the 2009 season and made his Major League debut the following year. In his two stints with the Mariners in 2010-11, he pitched in 14 games in relief and was 0-3 with a 5.06 ERA. Sadly, the Royals won that trade.

Dan is no longer playing ball, having thrown his last inning in 2014 in the Atlantic League.

2008 Bowman, Brian Bannister/Luke Hochevar

#193 Brian Bannister

I know I said in yesterday's post that I was only going to be posting cards of players once. If I had more cards after that, they were going to get lumped into a group post like the one I did yesterday. I guess I lied, because I have posted multiple cards of Brian Bannister. In fact, I once quit blogging for about forty-five days because I did not want to do another Brian Bannister post. But, I thought that this card was pretty neat and I had to show it off in its own post. For the record, I did skip Billy Butler to get to this card.

Anyways, one year at Royals Fanfest, I was in line next to an older kid and he did not have a card of the player that was currently signing at that line. I had extras, so we made a trade. He gave me his stack to look through and I found this card, which I had not seen before. I instantly noticed it was an error because it says Brian Bannister and has his facsimile signature and stats on it, but it has a picture of Luke Hochevar. So, I traded for this card, but wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it.

About a week later, the Royals Caravan rolled through my town and Bannister was one of the guys on my leg of the tour. I took this card with me even though I was unsure if Brian would sign it for me. When I got up to him, I asked him if he would sign the card even though he isn't pictured on it. He was like "oh sure, I have a few error cards out there". Then, once I had Brian on the card, I knew I had to get Hochevar on it.

Fast-forward two years later and I am again at Royals Fanfest and I am in Hochevar's line. I get up to him and I show him the card and tell him that I was hoping he would be able to sign it for me. He just sat and stared at it a few seconds and was speechless. I take it that he had never seen the card, let alone signed one. He finally came to and signed it and was even curious when I had got Brian to sign it.

So, here it is- my only dual signed card with one player pictured on it. While it is not the coolest card in my collection, it is definitely unique.

2008 Allen & Ginter, Bob Motley

#261 Bob Motley

Here is a card that I got signed at All Star Game Fanfest when it was held in Kansas City in 2012. It features Negro League umpire, Bob Motley.

Bob umped in the Negro Leagues for a dozen years, where he shared the field with legends like Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays. After baseball integrated, Bob tried working his way into the Majors Leagues, but never got higher than AAA. In 1979, he did get the call to come work in the Majors during an umpire strike. But, he was unwilling to cross the picket line in order to reach his dream.

Prior to his umpiring career, Bob was a Marine in World War II. He saw action on Okinawa and received a Purple Heart after getting shot in the foot. Bob was recovering from his wound when he started umpiring softball games near the hospital grounds.

Sadly, Bob passed away just over two years ago. He was the last living Negro League umpire. About two months after that, the Negro League Museum in Kansas City unveiled a bronze statue of him.

2008 Allen & Ginter, Yuniesky Betancourt

#207 Yuniesky Betancourt

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest in 2010. Yuni had come over from the Mariners midway through the 2009 season and by Fanfest 2011, he had been traded to the Brewers in the Zack Grienke deal. As much as I loved Lorenzo Cain, the best part of that trade was getting the Brewers to take Yuni.

To be honest, I really do not remember why I didn't care for him. Before he was dealt to Milwaukee, he had a career year in Kansas City. That season, he hit .259 and had career-highs in home runs (17) and RBI (78). Those are some decent numbers for a shortstop. Those 78 ribbies tied him for the team lead and he also hit three grand slams that year.

Yuni finished his career after the 2013 season a .261 hitter with 80 dingers and 457 RBI.

2005 Bowman, Drew Butera

#BDP44 Drew Butera

Drew Butera played for the Royals for parts of four seasons. Over that time, this is one of the two cards that I got him to sign for me. Granted, he does not have a lot of cards out there and I got him to sign a card for me once when he was a Dodger. But still, two cards in four years just goes to show how hard it has gotten to get Royals autographs in Kansas City.

I got this card signed by Drew at Royals Fanfest in 2016. The Royals were coming off their World Series championship and Fanfest was a madhouse. Because of the outrageous number of people attending the event, I did not bother standing in line for autographs. It just did not make sense to get in a line for an unknown signer that was going to show up in two hours. Luckily, I was able to snag some alumni autos at the alumni line whenever they showed up. Plus, I got a few alums by the wiffle ball field when they went over there to help the kids out. Right when we got in the doors, my kid got Mike Moustakas by the wiffle ball field, but he did not sign for me. But, I was able to get Drew over there later on that day and it was the only card I got signed at Fanfest by a current player. It was an odd Fanfest for me to say the least. But, that is what happens when your favorite team is a World Champ.

Despite being drafted by the Mets in the fifth round of the 2005 draft, Drew never played in the Majors with the club. He played in their system for two years before getting traded to the Twins for Luis Castillo.

This has got to be one of the worst poses for a catcher. Despite the lack of catcher equipment, it really does not look like Drew is playing catcher. What is that pose supposed to represent? Is it him catching a pitch out or a throw home from an infielder for a force out?

1998 Multi Ad Sports, Wichita Wranglers

#1 Jamie Bluma
#24 Dan Reichert

A few years back, I came across this Wranglers team set at the oldest card shop in Kansas, Rock's Dugout. It was only a dollar, so I could not pass it up. There are no big names in it, but I am always needing cards of Jamie Bluma.

I got Bluma to sign his card at Royals Fanfest in 2016. Even though Jamie only pitched 20 innings with the Royals, he is always at Fanfest and showing up for alumni events. That is why I am always on the lookout for cards of him.

I got Dan to sign this card at a Lincoln Saltdogs game last summer. We stayed in Lincon when we went to the College World Series last year and decided to take in a Saltdog game the night before the Series started. We only stayed three or four innings before a massive storm rolled in, but I was able to get this card signed before the game started.

I finally attended my first Major League game of the year this weekend. I went and saw the Yankees whoop up on the Royals. I took cards to get signed, but came home empty-handed. It has been a while since that has happened. Turns out the Yankees aren't great signers. Who would have thought? Aaron Judge signed for a bit, but he was on the opposite side of the dugout that I was on. Clint Frazier signed for some people that had on-field passes. And Neil Walker signed two autographs for some kids in the $500 seats. That was the only signing I saw. I even called for Reggie Willits and Marcus Thames to come and sign. Reggie just waved at me and Marcus told me he had to get to a meeting. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

1992-93 Fleer Excel, Les Norman

#176 Les Norman

Here is a card that my dad got signed for me at Royals Fanfest in 2016. That was the worst Fanfest that I ever went to thanks to the team winning the World Series a few months beforehand. Because of that, fans came out in droves to see the team. I even saw Marlins Man at the event.

I took my dad, my oldest boy, and one of his friends with me. When we got in, all the autograph lines were full and people were lining up for the signings that started ninety minutes later. Normally, I would have got in that line. But, since I had the kids with me, I said screw it and stayed out of the autograph lines that day. I still managed a handful of signatures from an alumni signing spot and from guys giving instruction at the wiffleball field.

That was where my dad got this card signed. I was in the long line with the boys to get their picture with the World Series trophy. Next thing I know, my dad came up to me and told me to give him a card of Norman and Jerry Terrell and he would get them signed for me. How cool is that? My dad sure has come a long way from when I first started doing this over ten years ago. I used to have to nearly push him to venture over to get me an autograph and now he takes it upon himself. I really never would have thought he would have transitioned the way he did.

As for Les, he was recently on "The Wheel of Fortune". I guess the show came through Kansas City and he somehow got picked to participate. I never saw the airing, but he apparently won $17,650.

1991 Orioles Crown, Rex Hudler

#201 Rex Hudler

Here is the lone card of Rex Hudler as an Oriole. Wonder Dog played in just 14 games with the O's in 1986. In the 14 games, he either entered the game as a defensive replacement or a pinch runner. Because of that, he only came to the plate one time in an Orioles uniform and he flew out to center. But, he did manage to steal a base and score a run. On top of that, Baltimore was 12-2 in the games that Hud played in.

Rex signed this card for me two years ago at Royals Fanfest.

This is the second card from this set in my collection. The first one was given to me by O's super-graph collector, Ryan, from The Great Orioles Autograph Project. It featured Dick Hall.

I really like the concept of this set. I believe it was a stadium giveaway and it features every player that had played with the team up to that point. It looks like it came in sheets and you probably had to attend a few games to get the complete set.

As far as I have noticed, there are a few other teams that have done a set like this. I know the Brewers, Dodgers, and Rangers all have and I believe that the Mets and Yankees did sets as well. Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire a card from any of those sets.

Speaking of Royals Fanfest, the initial list of players to appear has been released and it is looking really bleak this year. There are currently three players that I have no cards for that are scheduled out of the nineteen. Since they never tell you who is going to be signing when and where, it really sucks sitting in line for an hour just to find out that Cam Gallagher is the person you have been waiting on.