1985 Fleer, Bret Saberhagen

#212 Bret Saberhagen

Here is one of six cards that I was able to get signed at a signing here in town back in May. That month, a new Menards opened up here and they went all out with their grand opening. For the first day of the week long grand opening, they brought in current Chief, Dwayne Bowe. I went there for that just to see how the setup was going to be and I posted my two Dwayne Bowe cards on Auto-Matic for the People. On the second day, Bret Saberhagen signed. The third day was the Menards racing team and the fourth day featured the former Chief, Christian Okoye.

So, while I would have appreciated more baseball players than football, I could not complain one bit. It's not everyday that a current Pro Bowler, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, the 1989 NFL rushing leader, and a NASCAR driver comes to Salina, Kansas to sign autographs for free. It was a top-notch event and I really appreciate Menards doing that. The only thing is is that they need to do that again. I haven't been back there since.

So, if you ever hear about a new Menards opening up near you, you might want to look into their grand opening. The one here in Salina went over really well.

1984 Topps, Rene Lachemann

#67T Rene Lachemann

Here is the second Rene Lachemann card that I got signed last month in Colorado Springs. Of the three cards that he signed for me, he signed this one last. I bring that point up because he signed the first two cards sideways (just scroll down to the next post to see what I mean). Then, when he got to this card, he started turning my book left and right, trying to find the best place to sign the card. He then decided that it would probably be best to sign it diagonally and that is what he did. I really didn't see anything different from this card to the other two, but it looks like Rene did. Personally, I like the way this one came out the best.

Rene only managed the Brewers for the 1984 season. They went 67-94 that year, finishing seventh. He was replaced by George Bamberger the following season.

Rene didn't manage again until the Florida Marlins came into existence in 1993. He was at the helm of the expansion team for its first three and a half seasons. While the team obviously never went to the playoffs, they also never lost 100 games in a season. That seems pretty good for an expansion team to me.

After that, Rene has just been a coach in the Majors and minors with one exception. That one exception came in the 2002 season when he took over as the interim manager of the Chicago Cubs after Don Baylor got fired. The Cubs lost that game and Bruce Kimm was hired as the manager the next day.

For Rene's managerial career, he lead his teams to a 428-560 record. That my not look too good, but its not like he ever managed a good team.

This card is the first Topps Tiffany card that I have got signed. Compared to the rest of the '84 Topps cards that I have, this one has yellowed a little bit. You can't really notice it by itself, but you can when it is around other regular '84 Topps cards.

1982 Donruss, Rene Lachemann

#600 Rene Lachemann

Here is a card that I got signed in Colorado Springs last month. Rene is the hitting coach for the Sky Sox and I was able to get this card signed right before the game started. At first, I didn't think I was going to get Rene's autograph. He was the last Sox player/coach to come out of the clubhouse and when I asked him to sign, he told me that he didn't have time. Then a clubbie came up to him and talked to him for a minute or two, so I hung around. As soon as the clubbie walked off, Rene came straight over to me and signed my cards. For once, my passive persistence paid off.

Rene only managed the Mariners for one full season. He replaced Maury Wills (who I didn't realize managed) 25 games into the 1981 season after the M's started out 6-18. Rene finished out the first half of that strike-shortened season 15-18 and then went 23-29 over the second half. He was at the helm for all of the '82 season and his team finished 76-86, which placed them fourth. In '83, Rene and his Mariners were 26-47 before he was fired.

I got three cards signed by Rene at the Sox game and this is the only one that I didn't have to buy. I almost bought a Mariners card of him because I didn't like the way this card looked. I thought that it was too dark and that an autograph might not show up very well on it. But, I decided to try my luck and save some money and it looks like I made a good choice. This card came out looking much better that I ever thought that it would.

It appears that this card is an error. The "e" is missing from Rene's last name.

1981 Topps, Jeff Jones

#687 Jeff Jones

Here is a card that I got signed at Target Field two weeks ago. The Detroit Tigers were in town that evening and Jeff is their pitching coach.

That was my first trip to Target Field since it opened and, like I do with any Major League ballpark I go to for the first time, I had to do a lap around the place just to check everything out. There really wasn't too much to see outside of the Target Plaza area behind right field. That was where most of the statues were as well the history of baseball in the twin cities. That was also the main entrance to the park, similar to Turner Field in Atlanta. The Plaza was were I started and finished my lap. By the time I had finished it, the gates were about to open and I decided to enter the park there. The only problem was that I was entering in right field and my destination was the visiting dugout on the third base side (ie, on the opposite side of the park). By the time I had made it over there, I had missed out on Austin Jackson, Carlos Guillen, and Rick Porcello.

Now, I am going to back track a bit. Just before the gates opened, my buddy and I were at the Plaza checking out the various statues of past Twins greats. I was checking out a giant bronze version of Kirby Puckett when I heard the gates opening. Naturally, I make my way to the gates to go in. When I got to the gate, I turned around to give my buddy his ticket and he was nowhere to be found. I look and look and look and I do not see him at all. I just assumed that he was right behind me since the gates were open, but that was not the case. After a few minutes of looking for him, I finally find him, hand him his ticket, and storm off to the gate. He says something to me like "it's not like you have to go in right when the gates open". But, he was obviously wrong on that assumption because if I had gone in right when the gates opened (and had entered through a different gate), I would now have autographs from Austin Jackson, Carlos Guillen, and Rick Porcello.

There is a lesson to be learned here kids. If you want to greatly enhance your likelihood of getting autographs at a professional baseball game, make sure you 1. Enter the ballpark right when it opens and 2. Go through the gate that is nearest to the area you want to 'graph from.

Back to the story.

As I was getting closer to the Tigers dugout, I saw Jeff signing for a guy. By the time I got down to the field, he was moving to the outfield where the pitchers were throwing. I was able to flag him down before he got there and he came over to sign for me. For some reason, I handed him a black pen instead of a Sharpie. Before I realize my mistake, he had started to sign this card with the pen. I quickly got him to stop, but you can still see part of a "J" from the pen. Oh well, it still came out looking alright.

1981 Donruss, Don Money

#443 Don Money

Here is a card that I got signed two weeks ago while I was at an Iowa Cubs game. The Nashville Sounds were in town that night and Don is the club's manager. I was able to get this card signed along the left field line as Don was making his way to the dugout. Some other 'grapher got Don to come over and sign and Don seemed like quite a character. The other 'garpher asked Don if he could "get one from him" and Don came over asking "one what; what are you wanting one of?" as he signed for the guy. So, I played along, too, and asked Don if I could also get one. He came over doing his "one what" line again as he signed my card. It was a little strange, but kind of funny just the same.

This is the only '81 Donruss card that I have got signed this summer. It has just been one of them years. But, at least I got one. I was 0-fer before that. [I'm pretty sure that 0-fer is a word, but I have no idea how to spell it.]

As for Don, he was a four time All Star with the Brewers in the '70s. He best season came in 1977 when he had career highs in hits (159), home runs (25), and RBI (83). He finished his career a .261 hitter with 176 home runs and 729 RBI.

Don has been managing in the Brewers system since 1998. He started off in single-A and has gradually advanced up to AAA. In 2007, he was the Manager of the Year in the Southern League.

After just three posts, I am done with '81 Donruss. Oh well. At the rate I am going, it will probably be another year before before I get around to posting the next bunch. Maybe, by that time, I will have a nice stockpile to show off.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 85/100

1981 Donruss, Marty Pattin

#343 Marty Pattin

Here is the third and final Marty Pattin card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest this past winter. Actually, this is the first one that I got signed that day (I've got priorities) and it didn't seem that Marty was in a good mood as he didn't say a word to me or even look at me. But, when I made my second trip through the line, he was commenting on an old Pilots card "oh, to be that young and know what I know now". I didn't feel like going through the line a third time, so I made my dad go through at the last minute. They tried to shut the line down, but Marty wasn't having it and he sat there and signed for everyone that was in line.

So, was Marty just not into it yet when he signed this card? Or does he just hate this card? Marty has always seemed like a very talkative person, so it was kind of strange when I went through the first time without even a look from him. Clearly, this is the best card of his ever made, so I highly doubt that he doesn't like it. So, he must have been a little groggy after lunch or something when he signed this card.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 84/100

1981 Donruss, Jerry Munphrey

#124 Jerry Mumphrey

Here is the first '81 Donruss card that I have posted since January. What that tells me is that I don't post enough any more.

Thanks to the Topps Million Card Giveaway, I finally got around to sending this card out to Jerry. I had had this card sitting on my desk for a bit. Then, after I unlocked the '78 Topps Mumphrey, this card continued to sit on my desk until I payed to have my Topps cards sent to me. In January, I finally mailed this card to him after it had sat around for about a year.

Lucky for me, I actually had this card to send to him. I unlocked this card around the same time that I unlocked the '78 Gary Lavelle, but I do not own Gary's '81 Donruss. I also thought at the time that I did not own an '81D of Chris Knapp, but it turns out I was wrong. I just need to collect a complete set of '81 Donruss and then I can avoid all of these stupid little problems.

This is one of the few "action" shots that appear in the set. Also, this is the first non-Topps card that I have posted since the beginning of June.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 83/100