2006 Topps Heritage, Nate Robertson

#59 Nate Robertson

Here is a card that I got signed at a card show earlier this year. Rock's Dugout, the oldest card shop in Kansas, hosts a bi-monthly card show in Wichita. He tries to get local guys to come in and sign whenever he can and he just so happened to bring in Nate Robertson for the first show of the year this year.

Nate is retired from baseball now and is actually a part owner of the Wichita Wingnuts. Because of that, I always take a couple of cards of him to 'Nuts games just in case I ever run into him. I won't have to worry about that now, though, as I got all three cards I have of him signed at the show.

Nate actually pitched for the Wingnuts for a bit in 2012. I was hoping to make it down to a game during that time, but I was unable to. He made just three starts before signing with the Blue Jays.

Nate pitched last season with the Tigers AAA team before getting released in May. I talked to his brother last season, who just happens to be the Wingnuts GM, and asked him why he didn't pick Nate up. He said that Nate had retired. He pitched for the 'Nuts in 2012 just because he knew the Jays were needing a starter on their AAA team and he needed to be ready. But, since there wasn't anything looming in the near future for him last year, he was just going to enjoy his retirement.

Still, it would have been cool to see him pitch for the 'Nuts.

The Robertsons have quite an operation going in Wichita. Nate is the owner. Josh is the general manager. Luke is the pitching coach. Matt pitched for the team last year.

2006 Topps '52, Brent Clevlen

#103 Brent Clevlen

Here is the second card that I was able to get signed by Brent Clevlen during his time with the Wichita Wingnuts. I posted the first one earlier this year and it can be seen here.

Brent spent parts of four seasons in the Major Leagues. The first three were with the Tigers and the final one was with the Braves. He got most of his big league time in during his initial call-up in 2006. He had a good season that year as he hit .282 with a double, 2 triples, and 3 home runs. He would not get another extra base hit at that level until 2010 while with the Braves. So far, for his career, Brent is a .234 hitter over 77 at-bats.

Brent played in Wichita last year and had a smoking season. He hit an astounding .372 and hit 20 home runs and had 80 RBI. He was obviously a key component to the Wingnuts winning it all last year. He is currently playing in Mexico and hitting .307 for Puebla. Other notable names on Puebla's roster include Luke Scott, Willy Taveras, Armando Galarraga, and Miguel Tejada.

I really like rookie sets. Topps put this set out in 2006 and 2007 and, for many of the players, this was the only card ever made of them from their time in the Major Leagues (basically only non-Bowman card). But, I think Topps missed the boat on this one in two ways. First is the '52 Topps design. It is an iconic design, but it was used for the initial Topps Heritage set. Second, they put the same design out for the rookie set TWO YEARS IN A ROW. Why would they do that? Plus, to make matters worse, you practically need a magnifying glass to read the fine print on the back to see what year the card was made so you can sort them accordingly.

Topps '52- Great idea, but poor execution.

2006 Topps, Ned Yost

#600 Ned Yost

Remember when Topps reserved every 100th card in its set for the best players in the game? Well, it looks like they had discontinued that practice by 2006.

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest last year. I have posted a handful of Ned Yost cards on here as a player, but this is the first one of him as a manager. When I got this card signed last year, I had no idea whatsoever that I was getting an autograph by the guy that was going to manage the Royals to the World Series and be the manager of the this year's American League All Star team.

But enough about Ned as a Royal. He was with the Brewers when this card came out, so I'll talk about his tenure with Milwaukee. Ned joined the Brewers for 2003 and guided them to a 68-94 record and finished last in the NL Central. The Brewers finished last the next year, too, with another 94 loss season. Things took an upswing in 2005 when the Brewers finished at .500. It was their first non-losing season since 1992. The team regressed a bit in 2006 before putting it together for a great run in 2007. The team finished 83-79 and ended up just two games back of the division leading Cubs.

The Brewers were poised to finally get over the top and make the playoffs in 2008, and they did just that. But, they did it without Ned, who, with a 83-67 record, got fired with twelve games left in the regular season. The Brewers were in a slump, having lost seven of eight, and the powers that be decided a change needed to be made. With the exception of the strike-shortened 1981 season, it is the only time a manager had been fired in August or later while his team was still in the playoff hunt.

Talk about getting Yosted (yes, that is a real word).

2006 Topps, John Rodriguez

#491 John Rodriguez

Here is the fourth and final card of John Rodriguez that I have to post on here. I posted the first one two and a half years ago shortly after I got it, and this one, signed at a Wingnuts game. John was in his first of two seasons with the 'Nuts and they were two highly productive seasons at that.

In 2012, John hit .332 with 16 home runs and 81 RBI. He then nearly repeated those numbers the following year when he posted a .337 average with 19 home runs and 86 RBI. John was supposed to rejoin the team for the 2014 season, but it never materialized. I thought he was going to go back to the Atlantic League to be closer to his family, but he has no stats for 2014. So, it would seem that John may have retired.

Nonetheless, John made it to the Show. He spent parts of two seasons with the Cardinals and hit .298 with 7 home runs and 19 RBI. Most of his playing time came in the 2006 season, yet it doesn't seem like he got a card in a 2007 set.

John made the Cardinals postseason roster in each of his two seasons in the big leagues. He did not do too well in October, though, as he went 0-9 with 1 run and 2 RBI. He did get one World Series at-bat, but he struck out against Detroit's Fernando Rodney. It all worked out, though, as the Cardinals won the World Series and John got his ring.

2006 Topps, Jason Botts

#298 Jason Botts

Here is the third and final card that Jason Botts signed for me at a Wichita Wingnuts game last season. Jason played for Grand Prairie. You can see the first card here and the second one here.

I still have not heard or read any news about Jason playing this year. He is not back with the AirHogs and he is not playing in the Atlantic League or Mexico. So, if nothing else changes, Jason's career may very well be over.

On a totally unrelated note, I am officially going on a ballpark tour this summer. Though my buddy and I took our families to Wrigley last year, we haven't been on one of our officially sanctioned ballpark trips since we hit up Target Field, and a couple of minor league parks, in 2011. This summer, we are headed to some uncharted territory as we fly out to the Pacific Northwest to see Safeco Field and the Seattle Mariners. We are then driving south with stops in Hillsboro, Oregon (Hillsboro Hops) and Sacramento (Grizzlies) before making our final stop at AT&T ballpark to see the Giants play.

I will probably try to get some 'graphs at the first three stops. I don't think I want to deal with 'graphing AT&T on the weekend. I plan on getting to Seattle early enough to 'graph outside as the players arrive. Since I have obviously never been there, any tips to help me out would greatly be appreciated.

It is still a few months out, but I am pretty pumped up about it.

2006 Topps, Xavier Nady

#102 Xavier Nady

This is the third time I have posted a card of Xavier Nady on here, but the last two times were five years ago. Those two cards were Padrographs given to me by Rod. This one I got in-person in 2013 in Des Moines, Iowa when Xavier and his Omaha Storm Chasers were visiting the Iowa Cubs. Xavier was really good about signing, which you do not always get from a veteran Major Leaguer spending the year in AAA. But, he signed a bunch that day and signed all three cards that I had of him.

Though not as well traveled as Kenny Lofton, who I posted yesterday, Xavier did move around quite a bit. He started out with the Padres and spent parts of four seasons with them. That was his longest tenure with any franchise. Then it was off to the Mets for half a season before being dealt to the Pirates. He spent two seasons in Pittsburgh before being traded to the Yankees. He then played for the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Nationals, and Giants in a three year span before spending 2013 in AAA. Last year, he made it back up to the big leagues for a bit with his original team, the Padres. It currently looks like Xavier is not playing this year, so he might have called it a career. The most recent news article on him that I can find is about him opting out of a contract with the Mariners last season.

So, if his career really is done, here are his final numbers. 12 seasons, .268 average, 104 home runs, and 410 RBI. His best season was his 2008 season that was split between the Pirates and Yankees. That year he hit .305 with career highs in homers (25) and RBI (97).

2006 Topps, Kenny Lofton

#97 Kenny Lofton

Here is the fifth and final card that I got signed by Kenny Lofton last year at the College World Series. Kenny signed at the Capitol One tent and, for some reason, there was a much smaller crowd there than at the main signing area at the AT&T tent. Because of that, I was able to go through the line three times. I could have gone through more, but I ran out of cards.

Here are the previous cards that I posted.

Minor League card

Astros

Indians

Yankees

Even with the addition of this card of Kenny with the Phillies, I am still missing some of the teams he played on. I do not have signed cards of him as a Brave, White Sox, Giant, Pirate, Cub, Dodger, or Ranger. Kenny sure got around over the final few years of his career.

With the Phillies, in 2005, Kenny had a really good season. He hit .335 with 22 stolen bases. That was the second highest batting average he ever had for a season. His best average took place eleven seasons earlier while with Cleveland.

Kenny played in the playoffs every season except for one from 2001-2007. The one season he did not appear in the postseason was his year in Philadelphia.