1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier, Alan Trammell

#123 Alan Trammell

Here is one of the cards that I got signed at Spring Training this year. Alan is the bench coach for the Diamondbacks and he signed before the team worked out the day I was there. Alan would only sign one per person and I had him sign a late-'80s Fleer All Star insert card. He kept singing, so I sent my kid up and he got this one signed. I told him he could have it, as Alan was quite a player during his day, but he declined.

I've posted a few times about 'graphing the Dodgers minor league complex, but this is the first card I have shown from the Diamondbacks facility. This was the day before the D-Backs left for Australia and I ended up getting quite a few autographs from the Major League players. I went over to the back fields to check out the minor league action and I came home empty-handed. Most of the Spring Training facilities I have visited in Arizona were the opposite away around where you had easy access to the minor leaguers, but not the big boys. Talking Stick was a nice surprise.

I got Trammell through the mail five years ago when he was with the Cubs and that card can be seen here. It is one of my many '81 Donruss signatures.

The D-Backs have the worst winning percentage in the National League right now. After their poor season last year, manager Kirk Gibson could be the first manager fired this year. If that were to happen, I wonder if Alan would be sent packing with him or possibly replace him.

On the eve of the All Star Game, I think it is right to mention that Alan was a six-time All Star.

1991 Line Drive, Kenny Lofton

#614 Kenny Lofton

Here is a card that was signed by Kenny Lofton at this year's College World Series. Kenny was signing at the Capital One booth and I was able to get a handful of cards signed there.

It amazes me how different the autograph lines are at the College World Series Fanfest. The main one is the AT&T booth. They have been there since I started going in 2008 and they always have the big names, though one year they were kind of lacking. Sometimes, other booths will have signings and they are completely different from the AT&T booth. On a Saturday and Sunday, you can only get through the AT&T booth one time. But, if you go to another booth, you can go through the line multiple times. This year, John Kruk signed at the AT&T booth one day and the Buick booth the next. Even though John will talk to you like he has known you for years, you were only going to get through the AT&T booth once whereas I could have gone through the Buick booth multiple times if I still had more cards to get signed. Not that it mattered for Kruk as I saw him sign eight cards for one guy.

I guess all I am saying is that I was able to get about six cards signed by Kenny because I was able to go through his non-AT&T line multiple times. It helped that he didn't really interact with the fans, which is obviously not a good thing. When I had him sign this card, I said "I bet you didn't spend much time in Tuscon". He just chuckled to himself and then said "no".

Turns out he did play 130 games for the Toros. Considering he skipped AA, that was way more than I thought.

This is the last of the Line Drive cards. For some reason, I got a bunch of 1991 cards signed over the last couple of years. I've been posting '91s since the beginning of June and I still have nine more to go.

1991 Line Drive, Leo Garcia

#256 Leo Garcia

Here is the second card that I got Leo Garcia to sign at Spring Training this year. Leo is the batting coach for the Dodgers Pioneer League team, the Ogden Raptors. He signed two cards for me and the first one can be seen here.

Since I could only find two minor league cards of Leo, I assumed that he never played in the Majors. WRONG! It turns out that Leo had two stints with the Reds in the late '80s. He got into 31 games in 1987 and went 6-30 with 8 runs, 2 RBI, and a home run. He got into 23 games the following year and was 4-28 with 2 runs and a double. For his career, Leo hit .172.

Speaking of being wrong, something funny happened to me the other day at a Wingnuts game. Earlier this year, the Sioux Falls Canaries had signed Chris Duffy and I had been planning on going to a game in Wichita to get some cards signed. And by Chris Duffy, I assumed that it was this Chris Duffy, the former Pirate.

Turns out that it was this Chris Duffy. See any differences?

Luckily, it was obvious that it was the wrong Chris Duffy and I did not make an ass out of myself.

1991 Line Drive AAA, David Rosario

#215 David Rosario

Here is another Spring Training autograph from this year. This one features the former minor leaguer David Rosario. David is pitching coach for the Cubs Midwest League team, the Kane County Cougars, and he signed two cards for me after the minor leaguers worked out the day I was there. The other card he signed was this same card. So, if anyone needs it, let me know.

David played most of his minor league career in the Cubs organization. He started off going 3-10 in his initial minor league season as mainly a starter. After that, he worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen and he gradually worked his way up the ladder. He reached AAA in his fifth season as a pro, but he never got the promotion to the Majors.

He pitched five seasons in AAA, with three different organizations, before retiring after the 1993 season. He made a brief comeback in 1998 in the Atlantic League and a briefer one again in 2001. My guess is that he was a pitching coach at the time and stepped in when the team was hurting for pitching. I saw the Wingnuts do that a couple of years ago with their pitching coach. If that was indeed the case, his Atlantic League teams fared much better with him than the Wingnuts did.

When I got this card signed, David had to think for a bit about how he should sign it. He obviously went the vertical route.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Razor Shines

#194 Razor Shines

Seeing this card makes me realize that Impel got a little carried away with their "Pre-Rookie" label for this set. By the time these cards came out, Razor Shines Major League career was over. He had made his Major League debut eight years earlier and then played in his final game in 1987. I realize that the "Pre-Rookie" label is part of the card and cannot be taken away from certain player's cards. Maybe they should have just dropped the label for the AAA set.

Razor signed this card, and one other, for me on this years Spring Training trip to Arizona. He is the manager of the Dodgers AA team in Chattanooga and he signed for me after the minor leaguers morning practice.

Razor played in the minors for sixteen seasons and nine of them were spent with the Indianapolis Indians. That has got to be some kind of modern day record. Even when the Indians changed affiliation from the Expos to the Reds in 1993, Razor stayed with the club. He ranks fifth in games played for the franchise, third in home runs, fourth in doubles, and second in RBI. The Indians all-time leader in games and RBI played for the club ninety years ago.

The Indians hosted "Razor Shines Day" in 1993 and there is apparently a suite named after him at Victory Field. The Indians even gave out a bobblehead of him in 2003.

1991 Line Drive, Mike Butcher

#428 Mike Butcher

Here is a card that I got signed at a Royals game last summer. Mike is the pitching coach for the Angels and he was nice enough to sign a couple of cards for me before the game.

Mike seems to have a friend that lives around Kansas City because I was able to get the cards signed as they were talking it up by the fence. I mention that because he did it again this past Sunday. It looked like Mike was getting interviewed on the Angels pregame show and then he went into the camera bay area and talked up his friend for a good twenty minutes. I would have got some more cards signed then, but I got them all signed last year. I apparently need more Mike Butcher cards as he is an easy autograph in Kansas City.

Looking at Mike's minor league stats, I am surprised that he ever made it past AA. He spent three seasons in the Texas League and he posted ERA's of 6.55, 6.21, and 5.22. I guess getting his ERA under six earned him a promotion to AAA. He responded there with a 3.07 ERA and stint with the big league club. Shows how much I know.

1991 Line Drive AA, Dave Jorn

#25 Dave Jorn

Here is a card that I unexpectedly got signed in Manhattan, Kansas last year. Dave is the pitching coach for Arkansas and they made the trip north to play in the Regional hosted by Kansas State. Since it was the first Regional ever hosted by K-State, I bought session passes and then reworked my work schedule to make most of the games. Before leaving town, I checked the coaching staffs to the non-Kansas schools and found that Dave had a card that I actually had in my collection. How about that? I was able to get the card signed on the first day of action before the Razorbacks were upset by Bryant.

Dave pitched in the minors for White Sox and Cardinals for six seasons. He was mainly used as a starter and made it all the way to AAA. He didn't do too well at that level in his nine starts and he retired after the 1981 season. He started coaching at Arkansas in 1983 and was their pitching coach for six seasons. He left the college game to join the Yankees minor league coaching staff in 1989. He stayed a minor league coach/manager through 2001 and then rejoined the Arkansas staff in 2003 and has been there ever since.

Some of the Arkansas pitchers to work under Dave include Dallas Keuchel, Drew Smyly, and Duke Welker.

I have no idea who Bob Mariano is and I have not yet taken the time to look him up. But if anyone has any clues, please let me know as I would love to get this card completed.

This is the third straight Yankees card that I have posted. That may never happen again.

Update: Bob apparently is the manager for the Fresno Grizzlies. I have sent out one TTM request to a AAA manager this year and have not received it back yet. What should I do? Do I send it out and try to get it completed or just keep it as it is? I'm leaning with testing my luck.