1983 Topps, Jim Morrison

#173 Jim Morrison

This card was given to me by the Collective Troll. He sent me about fifteen autographed cards last month to make up for the Donruss Opening Day set he was unable to get me. This was the oldest card in the lot.

Jim was basically a utility infielder that played twelve seasons with five teams- the Phillies, White Sox, Pirates, Tigers, and Braves. He had his longest stint with the Pirates and mostly played third base for them. Throughout his career he also got some time at every other infield position and he played a few games in left and right field. But the one position that really stands out to me is his pitching.

In his final big league season, he got to pitch for the Braves. And it wasn't just a one time deal either; the Braves put him on the mound three different times. The first time happened at the end of June when the Braves were losing to the Giants 13-6. He pitched 2.1 innings and gave up no runs on three hits and a walk. He recorded his only strikeout of the year in that game and it was against the Giants pitcher, Craig Lefferts.

He was back on the bump two months later. This time, the Braves were down to the Cards, 7-0 (John Smoltz started the game). Jim pitched the final inning and gave up no runs on no hits with one walk.

His final outing occurred seven days later against the Cardinals, again. Going into the ninth inning, the Braves were down 5-0. But Jose Alvarez gave up four runs in the ninth while only getting two outs. So the Braves brought in Morrison to put out the fire. He got Terry Pendleton to ground out for the final out of the game.

Terry Pendleton faced Morrison the week before and popped out to third. He finished his career 0-2 against Morrison. The only players to get a hit off of him were Candy Maldonado, Jose Uribe (a triple), and Harry Spillman.

1982 Donruss, John Wathan

#86 John Wathan

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by John Wathan at the Willie Wilson Classic.

I caught a bit of Game 6 of the '85 World Series today on the MLB Network. John Wathan pinch ran in the ninth for Hal McRea because he is pretty fast for a catcher.

1981 Topps, John Wathan

#157 John Wathan

Here is the second card of John Wathan that I got signed prior to the Willie Wilson classic last month.

For those of you that do not know, John set the catchers stolen base mark in 1982 when he swiped 31 bases. I have no idea if that is still a record or not. But, according to Ryan Lefebvre and Frank White, the Royals TV announcers, John Wathan hates the phrase "fast for a catcher". According to those two, John thinks that if you are fast, you are fast regardless of what position you play. Whenever they bring it up on a broadcast, it usually goes something like this- "Don't tell John Wathan this, but that guy is fast for a catcher".

1981 Topps, Jerry White

#42 Jerry White

Here is the second autograph from the Twins first base coach that I got while I was in Texas. This Sharpie must have been brand new when he used it. It's a regular Sharpie, but it almost looks like a fine point.

For some reason, I took three cards of Jerry with me to Texas, but I only took one card of Butch when I went to Pennsylvania. I'm not sure why I did that. I guess that it might have been because I expected to get Butch's signature at the minor league game and I wanted to make sure he signed the '81 Donruss card. That probably makes no sense, but it is the best I could come up with.

1981 Donruss. Butch Wynegar

#529 Butch Wynegar

I got this card signed when I went to the Poconos earlier in the month. I mentioned in that post that I went to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees game while I was there. Butch is their hitting coach.

That was the day that qualifying for the ARCA series got rained out. So, Joe Petty and I decided to head up to the game. We were running a little behind and by the time we got to the ballpark, there was a good-sized crowd by the Yankees dugout. So, I headed straight for the Durham Bulls dugout where there was only a handful of people congregated. I knew that it was going to be easier to get cards signed over there because there were less people. But, at the same time, I really wanted to get this card signed.

So, I asked Joe if he would try to get it signed for me. He seemed a little unsure of himself, so I gave him a crash course on who I needed and what numbers they were. Joe went on his way and obviously did a great job on getting this card signed for me. He even got an additional card signed by one of the players. Thanks, Joe!

'81 Donruss Tracker: 26/100

1981 Donruss, Jose Cruz

#383 Jose Cruz

Tom, of Astros Baseball Cards, got this card signed recently through the mail with the current Astros first base coach. I might have chosen to take the same route, but I did not have this card. Luckily, Tom had sent two of these cards to Jose and he signed them both. I was able to work out a trade with Tom for this Brian Williams autograph.

Unfortunately for Tom, when I sent him a short list of extra Astros that I had, he picked Brian Williams thinking that it was Brian Hunter. He realized his mistake after I had already sent the card. At least he still needed Williams, so it wasn't a total wash for him.

I just looked at Jose's career stats and learned that he retired from the game as a Yankee. I had no idea that he ever played for them.

This autograph may be the smallest one that I have. It is the complete opposite of Bert Blyleven's.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 25/100

1981 Donruss, Jerry White

#333 Jerry White

Jerry White is the first base coach of the Twins and I was able to get this card signed last week when the Twins were in Texas. It was an extremely hot day there in Arlington and Jerry was the only person in a Twins uniform that I could get to sign for me. Luckily, he happened to walk out to the area by third base, where I was standing, just before the Twins started taking batting practice. He came over and signed my three cards and then went back to work. Apparently, no one else wanted his autograph.

Besides a few broadcasters, these were the only cards that I got signed that day. I think that I have two reasons for that. The first is the heat. It was around 100 degrees and I doubt that the players wanted to be out there any more than they had to be. As soon as BP was over, they all took off for the clubhouse.

The second reason is the set-up this year at Rangers Ballpark. The Rangers block off the first two rows of seats at the ballpark, so fans can only stand in the isles. It was like that last year, too. But this year, they have the isle blocked off that is between the dugout and the net behind home plate. That was not blocked off last year and that is where I got most of my cards signed. While I may not have got many players there, I probably could have gotten a few more coaches. So, I guess that I was lucky that Jerry ventured out to where I was.

After batting practice, three Twins players went by the stands to talk to friends or family that was at the game. They were Jeff Manship, Carlos Gomez, and Bob Keppel. Carlos was talking three feet away from me. As soon as his conversation was over, I (and a few others) asked if he would sign and he completely ignored everyone. After that, Bob Keppel ran by. This time, I was the only one to ask for his autograph and he blew me off, too. At least he didn't ignore me. He just said "not right now". Finally, Jeff Manship came by and the dehydrated kid next to me asked him to sign. Jeff stopped and signed a few autographs. Unfortunately, I don't have any cards of him.

'81 Donruss Tacker: 24/100