1983 Topps John Mayberry

#45 John Mayberry

Here is the third and final post of the night. I will probably do three more tomorrow, but the final one will be a new name for the blog (except for the want list page).

So, here is the fourth card that I got signed at the Royals Caravan by John Mayberry. I know that I said he signed all three of my cards. Well, I always try to drag my dad to these events so that I can get a few extra things signed. This is the one that my dad got signed for me. This is John Mayberry's last Topps card.

John was very nice at the signing. I took my six-year old cousin with me so that he could meet some ballplayers and get his first autographs. After he got his 4x6 photo signed, I asked him "What do say, Will?". He told John thanks and John said "you're welcome Will". So, I thought that was pretty cool.

1983 Topps, John Wathan

#6 John Wathan

Here is the second installment of the John Wathan cards. This one is his lone record breaker card (I am assuming). This card is commomorating John's record for most stolen bases in a season by a catcher. He tallied 36 stolen bases that year while only being thrown out 8 times. Not too shabby. I have no idea if he still holds this record.

I got this card from Stats on the Back a few months ago. It was part of the "Save the Cards" campaign to keep cards out of the dumpster.

1982 Donruss, Greg Pryor

#521 Greg Pryor

Here is the second Greg Pryor. Again, he is sporting the awesome Sox uniforms. I'm glad that Donruss had enough sense to list his position as infield istead of listing each and every position that he plays, like Topps does.

1982 Donruss, Jamie Quirk

#212 Jamie Quirk

Here is the first Jamie Quirk card that I have to show from Fanfest. Jamie was at Fanfest last year and I got a couple of cards signed then. This one is actually the first Royals card of him that I have got signed. One last year featured him as a Brewer (which I think is a pretty cool card) and the other one as an Athletic.

Jamie was the bench coach for the Rockies last year. I asked him if he was going back to Denver this year. He said that he wasn't, but he would be working with the Reds. I assumed that he meant as a coach, but as it turns out, he will be scouting for them.

1981 Topps, Greg Pryor

#608 Greg Pryor

Here is another card from Royals Fanfest. Pryor was one of many Royals Alumni that returned for the event. He was there the year before, as well, and I got this card signed by him. I didn't recognize him last year and had to ask someone who he was. This year, I remembered him from last year. But, it wouldn't have mattered since they had their names placed in front of them this time around.

I had another Greg Pryor autograph that I got at a card show signing in the late '80s.

Greg signed all three cards that I had of him. Two of them featured him as a White Sox and one had him as a Royal. This card, like the previous two I had of him, lists his position as 3B-SS-2B rather than just infield. This one also gives a nice close-up of the those classic collared White Sox jerseys.

I mentioned yesterday how nice autographs look on the '81 Donruss. Although I have a smaller sample size of '81 Topps, this autograph just doesn't match up with the '81 Donruss. The Donruss card fronts are much smoother than Topps. It doesn't make much of a difference if the player takes his time to sign like Bert Campaneris did. But a rushed signature turns out a little better on the Donruss, at least for the '81 cards. Unfortunately, I do not have a signed '81 Fleer to make a full comparision.

1981 Donruss, Ron Cey

#296 Ron Cey

Everyone else was getting Ron Cey autos through the mail (30-year old cardboard, OMGautos, and even Night Owl), so I figured that I might as well, too. I got this card and another one back in less than two weeks.

Ron played most of his career with the Dodgers. But, for me, I remember him as a Cub. When I first started to get into baseball, one of the things that helped spur my interest was WGN. I remember coming home from school and turning on the tube and watching the end of a Cubs game while I did my homework. That was how I was introduced to Ron Cey and that is how I remember him. But, unfortunately, I did not send him a Cubs card to sign. The ones I had weren't in that good of condition or didn't look like they would look good signed. So, I sent him this one and an odd one that I will post on here in about a week.

This is the eightteenth '81 Donruss that I have got signed. I love getting these cards signed for some reason. They always come out good, even when done in ballpoint pin. I would try to collect the whole set, but it would be counterproductive since I'm always trying to get these signed. I have three more of these cards out in the mail somewhere right now.

1981 Donruss, John Wathan

#221 John Wathan

Here is a card that I got signed at Fanfest in January. John (like most of the Royals alumni) signed all three cards for me. And, of course, if I have a 1981 Donruss card of a player, it is going to be one of the ones that I get signed.

I know that most of the photos for this set were taken in one of the Chicago ballparks. This one wasn't taken at Comiskey. Wrigley Wax did a couple of posts about this set and mentioned that some of the photos were taken at Milwaukee County Stadium. Does anyone know if that is County Stadium in the background?

Another thing that I notice about this card is the way the positions are listed. CAT? What's wrong with just a C? 1-B and O-F? What's up with the hyphens? Donruss is in its infancy here and it is almost amazing that they lasted as long as they have.

Like John Mayberry, I had one card signed by Wathan prior to this years Fanfest. I got it signed at the same event where I got the Mayberry card signed. I even posted those two cards on the same day.