College World Series Contest

Earlier today, the NCAA announced the 64 teams that will be competing for the 2011 College World Series championship. To commemorate it, I am holding the second annual College World Series contest here at Autographed Cards. It is going to be a couple of weeks before the main phase of the contest starts, but you can earn some bonus points this week that could make a difference when the main portion gets going. All you have to do right now is pick the eight teams that are going to be playing in Omaha. Here are the teams to choose from.

Slot One

1. Virginia
1. UCLA
2. East Carolina
2. Fresno St.
3. St. John's
3. UC Irvine
4. Navy
4. San Francisco

Slot Two

1. TCU
1. Rice
2. Oklahoma
2. Baylor
3. Dallas Baptist
3. California
4. Oral Roberts
4. Alcorn St.

Slot Three

1. Florida St.
1. Texas A&M
2. UCF
2. Arizona
3. Alabama
3. Seton Hall
4. Bethune-Cookman
4. Wright St.

Slot Four

1. Clemson
1. South Carolina
2. Connecticut
2. Stetson
3. Coastal Carolina
3. North Carolina St.
4. Sacred Heart
4. Georgia Southern

Slot Five

1. Florida
1. Georgia Tech
2. Miami (FL)
2. Southern Miss
3. Jacksonville
3. Mississippi St.
4. Manhattan
4. Austin Peay

Slot Six

1. Arizona St.
1. Texas
2. Arkansas
2. Texas St.
3. Charlotte
3. Kent St.
4. New Mexico
4. Princeton

Slot Seven

1. Vanderbilt
1. Oregon St.
2. Oklahoma St.
2. Creighton
3. Troy
3. Georgia
4. Belmont
4. Alabama-Little Rock

Slot Eight

1. Cal State Fullerton
1. North Carolina
2. Stanford
2. Florida International
3. Kansas St.
3. James Madison
4. Illinois
4. Maine

All you have to do is pick one team from each slot for a total of eight teams. For every team that you pick that makes it into the College World Series, you will get one point and that point(s) could be the difference between winning and losing in the second round. If you don't feel like participating right now, that's fine. You can enter the second phase without participating in the first, but you might have some ground to make up.

I haven't figured out what the prizes are yet, but last year's top prizes were autographs from three Hall of Famers (Killebrew, Rice, and Sutter). I have a few things laying around that I plan to give away, plus I usually end up with some really good stuff at the College World Series. I will post a few of the prizes when the second phase begins. The rest will be announced at the conclusion of the contest.

Last year, I had a bonus question that was worth a couple of extra points. I don't have one for this year, but you can get one bonus point just by pimping this contest on your blog. Just leave a link in the comments and I will chalk you up a point (yes, I use a chalkboard for scoring this contest).

Here is the format that your entry (comment) should look like.

Slot one: Navy
Slot two: Baylor
Slot three: Seton Hall
Slot four: Stetson
Slot five: Manhattan
Slot six: Texas St
Slot seven: Belmont
Slot eight: Kansas St

Link to your blog (which can be in a separate comment).

If you have any questions, ask in the comments or email me at zman40 at hotmail dot com. The deadline to enter the first phase of this contest is 11:00 am (central)Friday . Good luck and thanks for playing.

Contest Starting Tomorrow

The 64 teams that will be participating in the NCAA baseball tournament will be announced tomorrow. With that, I will be holding my second annual College World Series contest. It will be run just like last years, so you can go back and see what went down a year ago by checking out these posts.

See you tomorrow night.

2005 Topps Total, Lance Cormier

#607 Lance Cormier

Here is the second of three cards that Lance signed for me last year on the final day of the regular season. It was a Sunday day game and Lance was out on the field early getting his work in. He was mainly just playing catch, but the guy that he was playing catch with was the other pitcher featured on this card, Randy Choate. When Lance came over to sign and he saw this card, he turned around to see if Randy was still on the field. When he saw that he wasn't, Lance told me that Randy had some stuff to do in the clubhouse, but that their lockers were next to each other and whenever one of them got this card to sign in the mail, they would have the other guy sign it too. I thought that was pretty cool. It's too bad that those two aren't on the same team this year.

This year, Lance was pitching for the Dodgers and he was having a rough start to the season. He pitched 13.2 innings and he gave up 15 earned runs and 4 home runs. Three days ago, the Dodgers designated him for assignment. Who knows where he will end up now.

I still can't get over how nice and stylish Lance's signature is.

The first Lance Cormier post can be viewed here.

2005 Topps Total, Lenny DiNardo

#599 Lenny DiNardo

Here is the second Lenny DiNardo autograph that I have posted on here. I posted the first one a little over a year ago and it can be seen here. That one was obtained in 2009 while Lenny was pitching for the Royals AAA team in Omaha. This autograph, on the other hand, was acquired later on that season after Lenny had been called up by the Royals.

I got the card signed in Minneapolis while the Royals were making their final visit to the Metrodome. I almost didn't ask Lenny to sign since he had pitched so poorly the night before (seven runs in a one inning start), but I figured that might be the last chance to get some more cards signed by him. So, I asked him and Lenny was very nice about the whole thing. Usually when I ask a player to sign, I also ask how they are doing when they come over. But Lenny beat me to it and he actually asked how I was doing before I could ask him. It was good to see that his poor start the night before was behind him. If it wasn't, he did a really good job of hiding it.

It looks like Lenny is pitching for the Sacramento River Cats this season and it appears that Lenny's 2011 season is beginning just like his 2009 season ended. He has one start this season and he pitched 1.1 inning and gave up six earned runs before getting the hook. Ouch.

For some reason, Topps decided to double up relievers on their 2005 Topps Total cards. I suppose that helped to cut down on cards in the set, but I would have preferred that they all got their own card. Now I have to try to track down John Halama to get the other half of this card signed.

2005 Topps Total, Jason Dubois

#494 Jason Dubois

Here is a card of the former Cub and Indian, Jason Dubois. I got this card signed outside of Principle Park in Des Moines, Iowa in 2008 after an Iowa Cubs game.

Jason played in 86 Major League games in 2004 and 2005. Most of that playing time came in 2005, which was split between Chicago and Cleveland. With the Cubs that season, Jason had 12 doubles, 7 home runs, and 22 RBI. After the trade to the Indians, he added 2 more dingers and 2 RBI. He hit just .235 for the season, though.

Since then, Jason has been playing AAA baseball. He spent some time in the Orioles, Nationals, Mets organizations as well as going back to the Iowa Cubs three different times. Jason played of the I-Cubs again last season, but I can't find any stats on him for this year. On his minorleague.com player page, Jason is listed as active in the Cubs organization, but it lists his team as the Tiburones de La Guaira, a Venezuelan winter league team.

2005 Topps Total, Joey Gathright

#347 Joey Gathright

Here is card of the former Ray, Royal, Cub, and Red Sock, Joey Gathright. I got this card signed at a 2008 Royals Caravan stop here in town and Joey was accompanied by Brian Bannister, Billy Butler, and I think Dennis Leonard. Overall, it was a nice selection of players. Too bad the Caravan doesn't make it to these parts any longer.

Joey was drafted by the Devil Rays in the 32nd round of the 2001 draft. Despite being the 949th player taken that year, Joey made his Major League debut in 2004. Joey had one skill that coouldn't be taught and that was speed. Speed got him to the big leagues and speed defined his game. The only problem was that Joey couldn't hit.

That may have been a bit harsh. Joey could hit the ball. He just couldn't hit the ball hard. For a guy that was as fast as Joey, you would think that he would be a doubles and triples machine. However, that was not the case. In 1175 Major League at-bats, Joey recorded only 30 doubles and 8 triples (and 1 home run). He had 309 hits in the Majors, so 270 of his hits were for singles. I don't know how one could check it out, but I would guess that maybe as many as a third of those hits were infield hits, too.

Unfortunately for Joey, speed wasn't enough to prolong his career. He got released by the Orioles AAA team last season and finished the year in the Atlantic League. I cannot find anything about him for this season, so I am assuming he has yet to find a team.

Joey's signature is basically just his initials. That is kind of boring.

If Joey can't find a team this season, maybe he could join the circus and become a car jumper or something.

2005 Topps Total, Gregg Zaun

#313 Gregg Zaun

Here is a card that I got signed at a Royals game in 2009. Gregg was with the Orioles at the time and I was able to get this card signed after batting practice was over. Gregg was in the last group of hitters and I asked him to sign while he was making his way to the clubhouse. He said something back to me that I couldn't make out and he kept walking to the tunnel. I figured that was the end of that, but he popped back out just a few seconds later after setting his bat down.

The only problem was that didn't pop back out in the dugout by where I was standing. Instead, he went onto the field behind the dugout. So, instead of just handing him by card book, he motioned for me to throw my book to him. My card book is just a homemade book I have constructed and I do not throw it. The cards are held in the book by just two corners and I do not trust my construction enough to let it fly. The last thing I need is for some cards to fly out and then have someone who could care less about them pick them up off the dugout floor. But, luckily, someone threw Gregg a ball that landed down in the dugout by where I was standing. After he retrieved and signed the ball, I handed him my book and he signed all three cards for me.

Gregg has played in the Major Leagues since 1995. The strange part about that is that I have less than five different cards of him.

Gregg retired from the game in March and he is now helping out with the Blue Jays radio and TV broadcasts.