2001 Bowman, Mike Burns

#315 Mike Burns

Here is a card that I got signed at a Wichita Wingnuts game in 2013 while Mike was playing for the Lincoln Saltdogs. Mike was originally signed by the Wingnuts to start that season, but he was cut before the season began. I had bought this card to get signed that summer, so I was happy to see that he latched on to another team. It worked out for both of us.

Mike spent parts of three seasons in the Majors, playing for four teams. He saw time with the Astros, Red Sox, Reds, and Brewers. He posted a 3-5 record in the Majors with a 5.82 ERA. He saw a majority of his playing time with the Brewers in 2009 when he split the season between the rotation and the 'pen. He recorded all of his decisions that season and had an ERA of 5.75 with 39 strikeouts over 51.2 innings.

Unlike the last two young pitchers I posted, Mike actually had a decent strikeout to walk ratio. It was almost 3:1.

Despite pitching in 103 Major League innings, Mike never got a card during his big league career. This is the only non minor league card of him.

It appears that Mike did not pitch this past season. I am guessing that his playing career is now over.

2000 SPx, Rob Ramsay

#100 Rob Ramsay

Here is a card that I picked up in a grab bag from a card show in 2013. The first card shop in Kansas, Rock's Dugout in Wichita, holds a card show every other month at the bowling alley where the shop is located. There are always dealers there that have a decent amount of singles from the '50s and '60s and I have gone through a few of those boxes looking for some TTM bait. I usually end up at a show in the winter when there are no new packs out, so one time I bought two grab bags that were guaranteed to contain one auto in each bag. I let my kid pick out the one he wanted and he ended up with an '08 Topps Jason Nix. I got this cool SPx card of Rob Ramsay.

I will admit that I had never heard of Rob when I got this card. But, it turns out that he had a decent Major League season with the Mariners in 2000. That year, he got into 37 games and held opponents to a 3.40 ERA while posting a 1-1 record. That is pretty good considering that he walked more people than he struck out (40 to 32). While his WHIP wasn't very good, he and the other M's relievers were able to keep most of his base runners from scoring.

He then spent all of 2001 in the minors before missing the 2002 season. He played in the Padres organization in 2003, but made just two appearances above A-ball.

For his career, Rob was 1-3 with a 4.19 ERA over parts of two seasons with Seattle.

I have no idea how SP and SPx differ. I am just saying.

Wallet Card Wishing My Oldest Card a Bon Voyage

Here is my first wallet card photo. Steve Macko has only been in there for a couple days and he is already hating my wallet. Steve made an appearance to send off my oldest card to get signed. What card is that?

It is this beauty

As soon as that envelope left my hand and dropped down the shoot, I started having second thoughts. What if it is too cold and a stamp falls off? What if it ends up at a neighbors house and they keep it? What if, what if? My wife paid a handsome sum for that card and she will probably kill me if it does not make it home.

The wait begins.

2000 Bowman, Dan Reichert

#352 Dan Reichert

Here is the second of three cards that the Lincoln Satdogs pitching coach signed for me at a Wingnuts game in 2013. The first one can be seen here. The third one should be coming next week.

Dan pitched for the Royals for parts of four seasons. He split time between starting and relieving, but he got the bulk of his innings as a starter. He was 21-25 with 2 saves as a Royal and had a 5.53 ERA. He walked 215 batters while striking out 227. That is not the best K/BB ratio I have ever seen. Dan's best season was probably his rookie season in 2000. He was 8-10 with 2 saves and posted his lowest ERA for a season, 4.70. He happened to record his only complete game shutout and his two career saves that season.

I got to see Dan pitch a dozen times with the Royals. He was 1-2 in 31 innings (three starts) with a 5.81 ERA. He walked 24 batters and struck out just 17 at the games I was at.

In September of 2002, Dan was claimed off of waivers by Tampa Bay. That was the end to his Royals career.

Check out the Royals Spring Training hat in this photo. The hat actually says Royals across it.

1999 Upper Deck, Jim Eisenreich

#120 Jim Eisenreich

Here is the final card that I got signed by Jim Eisenreich at Royals Fanfest last year. I bought this card off of COMC just so I could get a Dodger card signed by him. After getting this card signed, I now have a card signed by Jim for every team he played for- the Twins, Royals, Phillies, Marlins, and now Dodgers. I have not posted the Twins card yet, but I do have it. It just may be a few years before it gets posted.

Jim played for the Dodgers for the better half of his final season. He was shipped there from the Marlins in the famed Mike Piazza trade. Jim was thirty-nine years old at the time and his best days were behind him. With LA, Jim hit just .197 in 127 at-bats with no home runs and 6 RBI. He managed to steal 4 bases while he was at it. Jim called it a career after the season. His final numbers are a .290 average with 52 home runs and 477 RBI.

Jim got a kick seeing this card of himself. He laughed at the photo and commented that talking to fans was all he did that summer since he "couldn't hit a lick". I thought that was pretty funny because I saw him that summer as a Dodger at Busch Stadium. He didn't play that night, but he did sign autographs before the game. He is a picture I took of him that day that I eventually got signed.

My Wallet Card

Here is the card that I picked out for the wallet card game. It's a 1981 Donruss Steve Macko. I picked this card out for a couple of reasons. For starters, I have four of these cards. Plus, it is from my favorite set to get signed. But, what sets this card apart from all the rest is that I will never get this card signed. It is my white whale and the reason I have never gone all in on getting the '81 Donruss set completely signed.

Steve's career ended after the 1980 season after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. He died in November, 1981. I have no clue if there are any of these cards signed by him. But, if there are, I am sure they would fetch a pretty penny.

With the flimsy '81 Donruss card stock and the tight confines of my twelve year old wallet, I do not think this card is going to fare too well. Only time will tell.

1999 Topps Gallery, Eric Chavez

#GA3 Eric Chavez

Here is a card of Eric Chavez that I bought from COMC just to add an autograph to my purchase. This one was a little more than the Leaf Signature Series cards that I usually buy for about a buck. But, for only $2.99, I was not going to complain. The complaining came three months later when I got Eric to sign a couple of cards for me at Spring Training.

I am not really familiar with Topps Gallery, but I do like the look of this card. It has a nice framed look to it with ample white space for the on-card autograph.

Now on to other things. Here was the prize from Christmas haul.

My loving wife bought me this beauty. I had been asking for his '38 Goudey for a couple of years now, but those are a little pricey. This one is going to work just fine. Now I need to unslab this thing and get it out in the mail! I'm a little nervous. Actually, I am very nervous.