The Rest of 2008 Topps Heritage, Part II

#472 Manny Corpas
#479 Tony LaRussa
#532 Willie Bloomquist
#561 Mike Aviles
#628 Esteban German
#670 Joakim Soria
#672 Taylor Teagarden
#RP2 Mike Aviles

Manny Corpas- This is the second card that Manny signed for me at a Royals game in 2010 while he was still with the Rockies.

Tony LaRussa- I got this one signed through the mail in 2009. I sent him his '81 Donruss card to sign and threw this one in with it. I still need to get an A's card signed by him and maybe even a card from his playing days. In case you are wondering, it looks like Tony still signs through the mail. If you need his autograph, send it care of the Boston Red Sox.

Willie Bloomquist- Willie signed this card for me in Minneapolis when I went to the Twins final regular season series at the Metrodome. Willie was playing for the Royals at the time.

Mike Aviles- I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot in 2009. Before leaving for Kansas City that week, I went by my local card shop to see if he had this card. He did not, so he opened packs until he pulled this one for me.

Esteban German- Esteban signed this one for me at Royals Fanfest in 2009.

Taylor Teagarden- I got this one signed in Springdale, Arkansas in 2010 while Taylor was playing for the Frisco Rough Riders. He was nice enough to sign for me from the dugout after the game.

Mike Aviles- In case you couldn't tell by the super thin signature, this card was signed at the same time as the other Aviles card on here. It was a regular Sharpie, so I am not sure why it came out so thin. He must have just been grazing the surface of the card with it.

On a side note, I almost posted one of these cards of Mike Aviles as its own post. Then, after a quick search, I realized I posted his 2006 Bowman card way back in 2011. Yikes! It took me eight years to get from my 2006 cards to my 2008s.

The Rest of 2008 Topps Heritage, Part I

#7 Joey Gathright
#42 Jason Jennings
#96 Mark DeRosa
#123 Sam Fuld
#144 JR Towles
#152 Brian Bannister
#211 Mike Sweeney
#269 Horacio Ramirez
#417 Nate Robertson

Joey Gathright- I got this card signed by Joey by the Royals parking lot in 2008. Back then, he was signing just his initials. I got him five years later at an American Association game and he was signing his full last name at that point.

Jason Jennings- Speaking of the American Association, Jason did some time there in 2011. He signed this card for me at an Amarillo Sox game in 2011 while he was a member of the Grand Prairie AirHogs.

Mark DeRosa- I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2009. Mark was with the Indians at the time and he signed during batting practice.

Sam Fuld- Sam signed this card for me between games of a doubleheader in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009. He was playing for the Iowa Cubs.

JR Towles- JR signed this card for me after a Round Rock Express game in 2008.

Brian Bannister- I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2008.

Mike Sweeney- This card was given to me by Uncle Moe in 2009. I probably sent him some cards for his 2008 Topps set and he hooked me up with a few autos in return.

Horacio Ramirez- Horacio signed for me from the Royals parking lot after a game in 2008.

Nate Robertson- I got this card signed by Nate at a card show in Wichita in 2015.

2008 Topps Heritage, Jose Arredondo

#638 Jose Arredondo

Here is a card that I got signed at Kauffman Stadium in 2009. The Angels were in town that day and Jose was the first guy on the team that appeared in the dugout right before batting practice. He just walked out in a warm-up jacket with headphones on to catch the end of the Royals batting practice session. With the jacket on, I wasn't really sure who he was and that was before I had a smart phone. So, I thumbed through my cards and deduced that it had to be Jose. I got his attention and was right. He made me go to the opposite end of the dugout to sign, but I was able to get my spot back afterwards.

Jose pitched in the Majors for just parts of four seasons with the Angels and Reds. Over that time, he was 22-11 with a save and a 3.27 ERA. His best season was his 2008 rookie campaign with the Angels. That year, he racked up an impressive 10-2 record while working exclusively out of the bullpen. Plus, he had a 1.62 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 61 innings of work.

Jose last pitched in the Majors in 2012. I am guessing that some arm problems derailed his career as he missed all of the 2010 season. He was out of baseball after 2013, only to reappear in the Atlantic League in 2016 and 2017. It looks like his career is officially over now.

I love Jose's signature. It is not readable, but it definitely has some flair and a very legible #66.

2008 Topps Heritage, Alexi Casilla

#588 Alexi Casilla

Card number 588 is the first card of this set that I am posting. But, it is not because I have very few cards from this set signed. It is because I have thirteen cards with a number lower than 588, but they all feature dudes that I have been posted on here before. So, '08 Heritage is going to go by quick- two individual posts and two "rest of" posts.

This is the card of Alexi Casilla that I got signed outside of Kauffman Stadium in 2012. Alexi was still with the Twins at the time and he was nice enough to come over and sign this lone card for me after getting off of the team bus.

Alexi played in the Majors for parts of nine seasons with the Twins and Orioles. Over that time, he hit .247 with 12 homers and 157 RBI. His best season was with the Twinkies in 2008 when he hit .281 with 7 home runs and 50 RBI.

Alexi is still currently playing, but it is in independent ball. He is currently trying to steal first base with the York Revolution in the Atlantic League.

2008 Topps Chrome, Kevin Hart

#224 Kevin Hart

This is a card that I picked up in a trade in 2008 or 2009. Jim from http://jamheat67.webs.com/ saw some Cubs cards on my blog that he needed and we worked out a trade. I sent him a Brian McRae, Les Lancaster, and Juan Guzman card and I got this one in return. I think he might have got the better end of the deal, but what are you going to do?

Kevin had a relatively short Major League career. After breaking in with the Cubs in 2007, he threw his last Major League pitch with the Pirates in 2009. Over that span, he was 6-11 with a 5.27 ERA.

Despite the short career, he did have one postseason appearance. In the 2007 division series against the Diamondbacks, he came in to relieve Ted Lilly in the fourth inning of game two. He did not allow a hit in his inning of work, yet he still managed to allow two earned runs to score. He came in with a runner on third and one out and proceeded to strike out the two batter he faced. He came back out in the fifth and walked two of the three batters he faced. He got yanked from the game and two relievers managed to allow his two runners to score. So, he postseason stat line is 2 walks and 2 K's with an 18.00 ERA in an inning of work.

2008 Topps Chrome, Luis Mendoza

#201 Luis Mendoza

Here is the second card of Luis Mendoza that I have posted on here. The first one got lumped into a "The Rest of 2008 Topps" post because I knew I had this card coming up and I didn't have enough cards from this set to do a "Rest of" post. So in all actuality, this is pretty much the first card of Luis that I have posted.

In 2012, I bought a Royals partial season ticket package just so I could get tickets to the All Star game in Kansas City. While I probably sold most of the tickets, I was pretty thrilled to attend the home opener. While some teams refer to that as Opening Day, it is only Opening Day when both teams enter the game with a 0-0 record. The Royals were 3-3 entering the game, so it was definitely a home opener. Anyways, I hung out by the Royals parking lot after the game to try to get some autographs and I came home with a few. This was one of the cards signed for me that day and Luis signed all three cards that I had of him.

Luis played in the Majors for parts of seven seasons with the Rangers and Royals. Over that time, he went 16-25 with a save and a 5.39 ERA. His best season was with the Royals in 2012. That year, he went 8-10 with a 4.23 ERA and 104 strikeouts.

The Rest of 2008 Topps, Part V

Here are the final cards from 2008 Topps.

#UH207 Alberto Gonzalez
#UH211 Brett Tomko
#UH235 Eddie Guardado
#UH278 So Taguchi
#UH279 Alex Hinshaw
#TCP4 Luke Hochevar

Alberto Gonzalez- This is the second card of Alberto that I have posted on here and both have been lumped into a "best of" post. I have a third one coming up that will get its own post, so this is going to have to do for now. Alberto signed this card for me in 2015 while he was a member of the Wichita Wingnuts.

Brett Tomko- Believe it or not, but I did not get this card signed by the Royals parking lot. I actually got it at a Kansas Stars game in 2016.

Eddie Guardado- Eddie signed this one for me while I was waiting outside of Kauffman in 2017. Eddie was the Twins bullpen coach at the time.

So Taguchi- I got this card signed outside of Principle Park in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009. So was playing his final season in the U.S. that year and he spent the majority of the time with the Iowa Cubs. He signed two cards for me after the game and both featured his Japanese signature.

Alex Hinshaw- This is the first card of Alex that I have posted on here. But, I have another one that will get its own post. That one is a 2009 card, so it might not show up on here until 2022. Alex signed this card for me while he was with the Wingnuts in 2014.

Luke Hochevar- I have no clue where this card came from. Night Owl probably sent it to me. I am assuming that the card was a Target exclusive, but I am not even sure about that. All I know about the card is that Luke signed it for me at Fanfest in 2009.

And that is it for '08 Topps. You can say whatever you want about the design of the set, but I will say this- you will never get 2008 Topps confused with any other Topps set.