1981 Donruss, Joe Ferguson

#177 Joe Ferguson

Here is another card that Paul was able to get signed for me. Joe is the manager of the Camden Riversharks.

When Paul made the offer to get cards signed for other collectors, I started checking the rosters of the Atlantic League teams he was going to be seeing. The first people I look for on those rosters are the manager and the coaches. While there a few players in the Atlantic League like Carl Everett, most of the players have little or no Major League experience. But, most of the time, they have coaches or managers that played in the big leagues for some time.

When I saw Joe Ferguson listed as the manager of the Riversharks, I assumed that he was one of the few managers in the league that never played in the Majors. When I did a quick search for him on Beckett.com, I was shocked to see so many cards of him. He played in the Majors for 14 years, but I had never heard of him. The reason for that is the fact that he was mostly a backup catcher in the '70s. His career was over by the time I started collecting

I'm pretty sure that that this is the only card of him that I own, so I am glad that it is from this set. Also, this is one of the few action shots in this set and is only the fourth one that I have posted on here.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 29/100