2006 Topps Heritage, John Buck

#234 John Buck

Here is the fourth card that I have posted of John Buck. John spent six seasons in Kansas City and he was a good signer. As a result, I have got a decent collection of autographed cards from him. I was able to get this card signed at Royals Fanfest in 2009. Luckily, the Royals were not hosting the All Star Game that year and they were able to put on a Fanfest.

John is playing for the Marlins right now and, like usual, he is off to a bit of a slow start. So far, he is just hitting .200 for them through 25 games. Last season was his first year in the National League and his numbers dropped off a bit from his All Star season with Toronto. You would think his numbers would improve a bit on his second go around, but that is not the case yet.

Remember when about a third of the teams in baseball wore the jersey vests? Even the Royals went through that phase. Does any team even wear them now? It might be cool for a team to wear one again as long as they are the only team doing it. It got a little out of control the last time around.

2006 Topps Heritage, Brayan Pena

#225 Brayan Pena

Here is the first card I have posted this year that I actually got signed this year. I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot after their home opener last month. Brayan had the day off that day, yet was still more than willing to sign autographs for the fans afterwards. He signed both cards that I had of him and the other one ended up being the second 2012 card that I got signed that day. After three Royals game thus far, I am still sitting at two 2012 signed cards. But still, that is better than last year as I didn't get a 2011 card signed until the end of June.

Topps must have been feeling pretty boring in 2006. This photo was taken at the same time as the one used in Brayan's Topps card. Heck, it might even be the exact same photo. Shame on you Topps. That card can be seen here and it was signed at the Royals home opener in 2009. Home openers must be a good time to get Brayan's signature.

Brayan is off to a fairly decent start this year. He is hitting .250, which is basically his career average, and nearly half of his hits are doubles.

2006 Topps 52, Reggie Abercrombie

#TCRC71 Reggie Abercrombie

Here is a card of Reggie Abercrombie that I got signed at the 2010 American Association All Star Game in Wichita. Reggie was playing with the Sioux Falls Pheasants that season and he was an obvious choice for the All Star team as he finished the season hitting .328 with 22 home runs and 90 RBI in 88 games.

Prior to the All Star game that year, I had gotten the base version of this card signed by Reggie. Then I found this card for cheap on checkoutmycards.com and I decided to upgrade. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that I made the best choice there. In retrospect, I think I like the signed base cards better. There really is no point of chroming Heritage-style cards. But, oh well. I have one signed and I will learn from it.

Reggie played for the Pheasants last year and he is currently playing in Mexico right now. So far, he is hitting .347 with 11 home runs and 35 RBI through 38 games with the Pericos de Puebla. If he isn't picked up by a Major League team during the season, there is always the possibility that he could end up on an independent team as the Mexican League's season finishes up at the end of July.

2006 Topps 52, JR House

#256 JR House

Here is the second card of JR House that I have to post. The last one was posted over two years ago, yet this card was signed at the same time as the last. Like quite a few of the recent cards I have posted, this card was signed between games at a doubleheader in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009 while JR was playing for the Omaha Royals.

Since the last JR post, he has spent some time in AAA and the Atlantic League. 2010 was split between the Buffalo Bisons and the Newark Bears with the majority of the time being spent with Buffalo. Last season was spent entirely in the Atlantic League with the Long Island Ducks and he hit .305 with 19 home runs and 81 RBI over 113 games. I know it is just the Atlantic League, but that still sounds like a really good season to me.

I can't find any info about JR playing anywhere this year, so it will be interesting to see if he turns up. The official minor league site lists him as on a Venezuelan winter team and that is about the only info I have found on him. I checked all of the Atlantic League rosters and did not see him on there. I did see some interesting names, though.

2006 Topps 52, Alberto Callaspo

#223 Alberto Callaspo

Here is the third and final card that I got Alberto Callaspo to sign for me in 2009. Alberto was with the Royals at the time and I was lucky enough to get him by the Royals parking lot prior to a game. That was the only time that I ever got Bert to sign for me and I think I got lucky because I was the only person 'graphing the lot that day. Rumor had it that he didn't sign much because his English wasn't very good. But, since I was by myself, he might have been less intimidated than if there had been a crowd. Or maybe it was just my lucky day. Either way, you can check out the first Callaspo card I posted here and the second one here.

Last season was Bert's first full season with the Angels and he hit .288 as the Angles everyday third baseman. Most of his offensive numbers were down a bit, but he did get about a hundred less at-bats than he had the previous two seasons. He is off to a rocky start this year, though, as he is only hitting .232 through 19 games with no extra-base hits.

On a side note, I got my first TTMs of the year back today. I got a little side-tracked with my Topps Diamond giveaway project with the move and all. But, I finally got most of them out and I got two of them back today. I'm looking forward to wrapping up my drawn out 2006 collection and start posting some older cards.

2006 Topps 52, Jason Bulger

#222 Jason Bulger

Here is a card that I got signed in Colorado Springs last summer while Jason was pitching for the Salt Lake Bees. My buddy Adam 'graphed the Bees side of the field before the game and he missed out on Jason. I got a little bit luckier after the game as I was able to get him heading back up the steps to the clubhouse. Since Jason is a reliever, there doesn't seem to be too many cards of him. I couldn't find one in my collection and had to resort to buying this card off of COMC. I was a little short on money that week and I only got one card of him instead of the usual three. But, at least you won't be seeing any repeat posts of Jason Bulger any time soon.

Jason has spent time in the bigs every year since 2005. He was with the D-Backs that season and has been with the Angels every year since. His most productive season as a Major Leaguer came in 2009 when he appeared in a career high 64 games and 65.2 innings. His ERA was 3.56 that season and he went 6-1 while recording his only Major League save.

This season, Jason has moved on to the Yankees organization and is off to a rough start in AAA. Through 9.1 innings so far, he has given up 6 earned runs while walking 9 to just 6 strikeouts.

2006 Topps 52, Tim Hamulack

#158 Tim Hamulack

Here is the third and final Tim Hamulak card that I got signed in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009. In fact, I got this card signed the same day that I got yesterdays card signed. The only difference is that yesterdays card was signed between games of a doubleheader while this card was signed prior to the first pitch of the first game. And by prior to the first pitch, I mean about two minutes before the first pitch while Tim was sitting in the bullpen. You can see the first Hamulack card that I posted here and the second one here.

Tim pitched in the Major Leagues for parts of two seasons. He got called up by the Mets in 2005 and pitched 2.1 innings of relief over 6 games and allowed 6 earned runs, including 3 home runs. That was good for a 23.14 ERA. The next year, he got called up by the Dodgers and he fared a little better that time. That season, he logged 34 innings over 33 games and kept his ERA down to 6.35. It's not wonderful, but it was definitely better than the previous season. To date, that has been the extent of his Major League experience. The one bright spot of his Major League line is that he has 36 strikeouts in 36.1 innings.

Tim has pitched in the minors since then, splitting last season between the Red's AA team in Carolina and Lancaster of the Atlantic League. I don't see Tim with an affiliated team right now. So, if he pitches this season, he will likely start out in an independent league.