1987 Procards

#2243 Kevin Koslofski

No, that number is not a typo. I got this card for Christmas one year as part of the Ft. Myers team set. I'm guessing that Procards put out a set for nearly every minor league team and they just numbered them all together rather 1-30 for each team. Also, I have no idea where the rest of this team set is. It's not with the rest of my worthless minor league cards which makes me wonder if it's in an album somewhere.

I got this card signed at the Royals Caravan in the winter of 1993. This was the year that the Caravan came to my middle school. I took my cards to school with me, but the players wouldn't sign there. They only talked. But at least I got out of class for awhile. Later on that night, they signed at the mall. Obviously, it was a pretty bad assortment of Royals that year. Kevin thought that it was pretty cool that I has such an old card of him. I doubt that there were any mainstream cards out at that point. Just some scarce minor league cards and some update/traded cards.

This is the first time that Baseball Almanac doesn't have an autograph of someone that I do. Take that!

1987 Fleer 5

#U-117 Danny Tartabull

This card right here is my favorite autograph. Sure I have some cards and balls and 8x10's signed by much bigger names, but this is the one that started it all. This was my very first autograph.

I got this card signed at a card show at a local motel in the winter of 1988. I bought this card at the card show. I surely had some '87 Topps or Donruss cards of him, so I must have wanted a Royals card of him signed. This card is from the Fleer Update set and the picture must be from spring training of that year since he is wearing 15.

This was my first card show and, since I was a year away from attending my first big league ballgame, the first time I was in the presence of a professional athlete. So, naturally, I was in awe. My mom got me to get it personalized, and it says "To Zach My Best". But the biggest thrill for me was after the show. We were sitting around in the lobby waiting for my dad to come pick us up. The next thing you know, Tartabull is leaving the show and walking by us. Again, I was in awe and didn't know what to say or do. He said hey or something to us and then stopped, looked at me and said "you be good now, you hear" and left the building. I was eight or nine years old and that was the highlight of my life at that time. A pro ballplayer talked to me. I will never forget that.

1987 Fleer 4

#570 Jamie Moyer

Here's the first card of an active player. All of the previous cards have showcased players that are retired, coach, or are broadcasters. But Jamie is still pitching 21 years after this rookie card was made. And, he's heading to the NLCS. It will only be his second time in a LCS. He was 1-0 for the 2001 Mariners.

I got this card signed just this summer through the mail. I usually don't send cards through the mail anymore, but Andy at 88 Topps Cards showed off an '87 Topps that he got signed. So, I figured that I might as well acquire one, too. It only cost me 80-some cents in postage and a card that wasn't mine to begin with. The only other player I wrote to this year was Chien-Ming Wang. My letter must have got lost in the mail because I never got the card back.

1987 Fleer 3

#384 Wilie Wilson

Do you want to know the difference between Willie Wilson and Dennis Leonard? Both of them asked which of the three cards I wanted signed. But, unlike Dennis, Willie signed that card and then said "ah, screw it" and proceeded to sign the other two.

1987 Fleer 2

#374 Dennis Leonard

I got this card autographed at the Willie Wilson Classic. He wouldn't sign before the game, but he signed afterwards. He also pulled a Willie Wilson. I had three cards and he would only sign one. At least he asked which one I wanted signed. I think I told him it that is doesn't matter, so he signed the middle one.

1987 Fleer

#216 Max Venable

Here's the second of three Max Venable's that I got signed at a Salt Lake Bees game this past May.

I have a few '87 Fleer, but not many. So, this card and the next three I got from a friend. One day, he searched his basement and brought over all of the cards that he could find. That included his 1987 Fleer complete set. It was complete in the sense that he bought it as a complete set back in '87. But when he brought it over, all of the good rookies and some of the stars were missing. He thinks that he might have traded those away, but isn't sure. Because of that, he never bothered to take the "set" home and it is still here at my house. So, whenever I need a card from a nobody or minor star that played in 1986, I grab one out of his "set". He doesn't mind.

1987 Donruss 2

#653 John Mizerock

I got this signed at a Royals game back in June. John is the Royal's bullpen coach. That day, the Navy Leap Frogs were jumping into the park and John was in the bullpen smoking a cigarette and talking with one of the Navy personnel (smokin' and jokin'). After he was done talking, I asked him to sign and he told me that he would in a minute. He checked something in a binder and then came over and signed.

If you've never seen the Leap Frogs before, they are a real treat. I saw them a few years ago at a Braves game and they basically did the same routine in Kansas City. I've seen the Army Golden Knights before, and the Navy team blows them out of the water (and I'm Army biased).

Plus, after they were all on the ground, the C-130 that they jumped out of buzzed the stadium. This wasn't your average flyover. That baby was within a couple of hundred feet of the stadium. I guess that is one advantage of building your stadium in the middle of nowhere. They didn't do that in Atlanta.