1981 Donruss 12

#8 Mark Fidrych

I got this card signed through the mail early last week. I found The Bird's home address on the Bad Wax blog. This was the first card I ever sent out to a retired player. It took me only nine days to get it back; deffinitely a lot quicker than current players.

I'm not going to get into The Birds career or his arm problems. If you want to read more about that, check out the Bad Wax post. But, I will say that I like this addition to my collection.

This card is signed with a pen, rather than the usual Sharpie. I usually don't like pen autographs on cards, but this one is the best looking one that I have. I think that it's becasue of the '81 Donruss, which uses a cheap card stock which is really thin. It's more like writing on paper rather than cardboard.

1989 Uppe Deck 3

#633 Kirk Gibson

I got this card signed through the mail in either 1989 or '90.

Growing up, I was a Dodger fan. So naturally, I was pretty excited in 1988 when they beat out the Mets to face the A's in the World Series. I didn't think that they would beat that stacked Oakland team, but I was still excited nonetheless. The night that the Series started was my little cousin's birthday, so I went to her birthday party and watched the game there. It was getting late, but the game was still close and I didn't want to leave in fear that I might miss something (it was about a 15-20 minute drive home). Luckily, I was able to witness history. I will never forget that ending. I was shocked, nervous and excited when Gibson came up to bat. I wasn't sure if he was up to the task. But, he battled Eckersley to a 3-2 count before hitting the game winning home run on a very awkward and off-balance swing. I will never forget that, especially him limping around the base path and pumping his fist as he rounded second. That won the series for the Dodgers. They had all of the momentum on their side after that.

I never realized it until a couple of days ago, but Dave Stewart (who I posted on here a couple of days ago) started that game and would have been the winner if it wasn't for Gibson.

This is the last card I have from the 80s. Well, it was the last card until last week when I got a couple of cards signed through the mail. So, I'll get those two posted (one is another '81 Donruss) and then kick off the 90s on Sunday (hopefully).

1989 Upper Deck 2

#244 Willie Wilson

This is the third and final Wilson card that was signed at the Willie Wilson Classic this past spring. This is another example of "why did I take this card"? It is pretty dark with only a splinter of white uniform. Oh well, you live and you learn. I guess I figured that I had very few cards from this set signed, so I might as well. There was no gaurantee that I was going to get Stewart's and Wilson's autograph that night, anyway (Willie almost didn't sign this card).

1989 Upper Deck

#185 Dave Stewart

Here the first Upper Deck card ever shown on here. The blog is now entering the realm of the big five (Topps, Fleer, Score, Donruss, and Upper Deck). At this point, Topps' Bowman set is the only extra mainstream set being produced by the big five.

Here is the second Dave Stewart card on here. This one shows him as an Athletic, which is how I usually picture him. Dave really turned his career around in Oakland, but he was also helped out by an offense that could score at will.

1989 Topps 5

#737 Norm Charlton

This is the second of three Norm Charlton signatures that I got in Kansas City back in September. I forgot to mention this on the first post, but Norm was the bullpen coach for the Mariners at the time (and he still might be).

This is the last card from the eighties, so I'll be moving on to...
Wait a second. Wasn't threre some new brand or something in 1989? Hmmm.

1989 Topps 4

#628 Matt Williams

I got this card signed through the mail in the early '90s while Matt was still with the Giants. I just noticed this a few weeks ago, but at some point this card got a small crease in it. It's really hard to see on the scan, but it's right above his glove. Also, I was kind of surprised that the card listed him as SS/3B. I only remember his as 3B. It's like my 1980 Dale Murphy Topps card that lists him as a C/1B. Well, maybe it's not that bad.

This is the first Giants card on here.

1989 Topps 3

#348 Ed Hearn

This is the second of two Ed Hearn signatures that I got at the Willie Wilson Classic. This card is kind of funny compared to the last catcher card on here (Terry Kennedy). The last one featured a catcher that just popped out of his stance to chase down what was probably foul pop-up. Then we have Ed here in his fake pose taking his mask off before he even moved out of his squat. Which do you like better? Plus, he is squatting in grass (with his back to a pitcher, nonetheless) and he is smiling. It doesn't get in faker than that.