2000 Just, Shane Heams

#244 Shane Heams

Here is a card that was sent to me by Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff. It is always cool when a package arrives from Paul. While Paul wants an autograph from every single Mets player, he is also like me in the fact that he will take an autograph from anyone he can get. A good example of that is this card of Shane Heams.

Shane never made it to the Major Leagues, but he did get a few looks at the AAA level. That's not too bad considering that he was the 1138th pick in the 1994 draft by the Mariners. In his first season of pro ball, he was an outfielder that hit .197 in 61 at-bats. He was then converted to a pitcher and he pitched two seasons with the AZL Mariners before getting released and picked up by the Tigers in 1998. By 2000, Shane had made it up to AAA and also represented the USA in the Olympics, helping to bring home the gold.

Unfortunately, Shane didn't do too well at AAA as he spent parts of the next three seasons there. The best ERA that he had in his four AAA stints was 5.53 in 14.2 innings. It looks like he retired after the 2002 season. He then reemerged in 2004 with the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League. He pitched for them for two seasons before finally hanging them up for good.

Shane is pitching for the West Michigan Whitecaps in this card (at least that is what the card says). The 'Caps are still playing in the Midwest League and are still affiliated with the Tigers.

2000 Fleer Tradition, Ben Davis

#11 Ben Davis

For starters, this is a die-cut card. To make scanning easy, I usually scan my cards by the sheet. That's why you can see the back of a Topps card in the scan. Any guess on what card that is?

This Padrograph is of former top prospect, Ben Davis. Ben played at the Major League level for the Padres, Mariners, and White Sox. The former first round draft choice (this is the second Padre first rounder of the week) hasn't played in the Major Leagues since 2004, but he has played in the minors every year since.

Ben's best season was probably 2001. That year, he played in the most games in his career and batted .239 with 11 homers and 57 RBI. He also broke up a Curt Schilling no-hitter that year by bunting for a hit in the eighth inning.

In 2008, Ben got released by the Orioles. He signed with the Camden Riversharks, of the Atlantic League, as a pitcher. He pitched in 6 games for them and posted a 3.00 ERA in 21 innings. The Cincinnati Reds must have been somewhat impressed and signed him to a minor league deal last season. Ben pitched in 9 games with their Florida State League team and had a 3.09 ERA with 4 saves before an injury shut him down. I have no idea if he is going to try to make a return this year.

2000 Fleer Tradition, Kory DeHaan

#U83 Kory DeHaan

Here is the second Padrograph from 2000. This one features a former Pirates draft pick, Kory DeHaan. Kory played for the Pirates organization for three years and in his final year, he hit .268 for their AA team. The Padres must have saw something that they liked because they picked him up in the Rule V draft during the off-season.

With the Padres in 2000, Kory got into 90 games and batted 103 times. He hit .204 for the season and hit 2 home runs while driving in 13. One home run came off of Darren Driefort and the other came off of Kyle Farnsworth.

He ended up back in the minors for all of 2001. He spent most of 2002 in the minors as well, although he got a look during a September call-up where he went 1-11. In 2003, it was back to AAA for him. After 54 games and a .202 average, Kory called it a career.

Last season, Kory was the hitting coach and interim manager of the Chico Outlaws of the independent Golden Baseball League. This season, he is going to be an instructor for the Padres rookie level team in Peoria, Arizona.

2000 Fleer Focus, Carlos Febles

#100 Carlos Febles

When I first heard of Carlos Febles, I was watching Sportcenter in 1999. They had a little segment on about Kansas City's "Dos Carlos", Febles and Carlos Beltran. That was the first I had heard about either of them and I was shocked to see that the Royals were getting some national attention. Dos Carlos were tearing it up at the time and ESPN was touting them as the front runners for the Rookie of the Year award. Well, Beltran went on to win the award and Febles didn't even get one vote.

Unfortunately, this Carlos' career only lasted six seasons. His last game was in 2003. For some reason, the injury bug always found him. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think a wrist injury was what ended his playing career. The Royals then-GM, Allard Baird, was a big fan of Carlos and Allard wanted to make him a coach. That's how I got this card signed.

I got this card signed two years ago at a Lancaster Jethawks game. Carlos was the 'Hawks hitting coach. The 'Hawks were the Red Sox high-A team at the time and Allard Baird is the Sox assistant to the GM. So, Allard kept his word and took Carlos to the Red Sox organization with him.

Carlos is still the Sox high-A hitting coach. He is now doing that for the Salem Red Sox of the Carolina League.

I have no idea what is going on with Carlos' signature. I think he signed his last name in Chinese.

2000 Bowman, Omar Ortiz

#387 Omar Ortiz

Finally, I am back on track. This is the first card from the new millinium. I was in college when these cards came out and collecting cards wasn't one of my priorities. So most of the cards from 2000 and 2001 are going to be somewhat recent acqisitions and this card meets that criteria. This card came from Rod, of Padrographs, when he sent me the giant stack of signed Padres cards about a year and a half ago.

Omar never reached the Major Leagues and he only played professionally for five seasons. He was the Padres first round draft choice in 1999. After two seasons in the Padres minor league system, he ended up as property of the Marlins. I can't find out how he ended up with them, though. I don't know if he was released, traded, or a Rule V pick. He pitched two full seasons for the Fish, reaching AA in the second one. He was 4-8 with a 5.38 ERA there. That was his last full season in affilated ball. The next season, he pitched a few games for the Rangers A team and the Marlins AA team before ending up with Edinburg in the independent Central League.

Some Wicked Cards

This past weekend, I got a nice little package in the mail from Wicked Ortega of My Past Time...I Love It fame. In it was a healthy stack of Royals. Here are the highlights.



He sent me almost a packs-worth of '93 Flair Royals. I wish I would have had a couple of them when I went to Fanfest. Those cards would look great signed. There were also four cards from the Score Select Traded set, a set that I didn't even know of before I got the cards. So, cards like that are always going to be fun. He also included a large group of Royals cards from the late '80s and early '90s. The Saberhagen card in the picture is from that lot. That card's back is pretty cool and it has the headline "SABERHAGEN HOLDS PALE HOSE HITLESS". Very cool card.

Plus, most of the cards are of former players that have been to Fanfest at least once. So I shouldn't have a shortage of cards for next years event.

Thanks Wicked!!

1981 Donruss, Andre Dawson

#212 Andre Dawson

Here is the fiftieth signed card I have for my mini-'81 Donruss set. For those of you scoring at home, I am at the halfway point. Fifty down, now fifty more to go.

I found this card in my mailbox on Saturday right before I headed to work. It took about three weeks to get this card back. I sent the card to him with a ten dollar check made out to the Andre Dawson Foundation. I usually do not like paying for autographs, but I figured that I would take advantage of Andre's low price before he raises it. It was a good thing I sent this card to him when I did because he sent back a pamphlet with the prices he charges for various signed items. The first thing I noticed is that he now charges twenty bucks for a signed card. So, I guess that I timed that one just right.

Andre certainly has a unique signature. I can't quite tell what is going on with his first name after the "A". But, from all of the autographs that I have seen of his on the net, I can tell that he takes his time when he signs since all of his 'graphs look the same. As a collector, I really appreciate that.

Thanks to Brian of 30-Year Old Cardboard for inspiring me to write to the Hawk and for sending the address to mail it out to.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 50/100

1981 Donruss, Tony LaRussa

#402 Tony LaRussa

Here is the next '81 Donruss- an old-school Tony LaRussa as the White Sox manager. Tony managed the Sox from 1979 to 1986, winning the division once in 1983.

I sent this card off to Tony with a week left in the regular season last year. I got it back last week. I was a little worried about it since I had written to Tony in Spring Training last year and had much faster results. I guess that he had some things to take care of during the off-season and he waited until the last minute to catch up on the TTMs. I now have a card signed by him as a Cardinal and a White Sock. I need to find a card of him from his playing days and send that and an A's manager card to get signed this year.

I like the jersey that Tony is wearing on this card. I had no idea that the Sox were using that logo in 1980. I thought that they went to that logo when they added red to their color scheme.

So far, Tony has the smallest signature I have seen for this set. He just barely beat out Jose Cruz.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 49/100

1981 Donruss, Doug DeCinces

#352 Doug DeCinces

I know I said that I was going to start some 2000 cards today, but that is not the case. I kind of hit a mini-milestone today on the '81 Donruss front, so I figured that I would got over those before I begin a new year.

Todays card is of Doug DeCinces. Ryan, from the Great Oriole Autograph Project, sent this card my way a couple of weeks ago. Somehow, he discovered that he had a double of this card. He asked if I needed it and then sent it over. Thanks, Ryan!

I was a little amazed when I saw this card. When I started collecting cards, Doug was with the Angels and that was the only team I ever associated him with. I had no clue that he spent most of his career in Baltimore.

In 1982, his first season in Anaheim, Doug had a career year. He hit .301 with 30 dingers and 97 RBI, all career highs. He was rewarded for his performance with a All Star team selection, the only one he ever recieved. He went 0-1 in the game, but at least he got into it.

So, here is number 48. Thanks, again, Ryan!

'81 Donruss Tracker: 48/50

1999 SP, Dee Brown

#DB Dee Brown

This card was an unexpected surprise on the day of Fanfest. I didn't get this card signed at Fanfest. But, it was in my mailbox when I got home that night. Brian, from Play at the Plate, sent this card to me along with a couple of 2004 Topps Chrome cards. Thanks a bunch, Brian!

Dee was a 1996 first round draft pick of the Royals who turned down a football scholarship from Maryland to play baseball. After just a couple of seasons in the minors, he got his first cup of coffee in Kansas City. But, it took him about six years to make the Royals club and in 2001, he played in 106 games for the Royals and hit .245 with 7 home runs and 40 RBI. Unfortunately for him, that was his last full season in the big leagues and he has been bouncing around the AAA circuit ever since. He spent last season playing for the Dodgers' affiliate in Albuquerque.

I was so out of collecting in 1999 that I didn't even know that signed cards were in packs. If I would have known that then, I may have bought a few more. Also, as you can see on the card, Dee's given name is Dermal. He is the only person I have ever heard of with that name. I wonder is he tells people that his name is Greek and then forgets to mention that it is Greek for skin.

Thanks again, Brian!

1997 Topps, Matt Halloran/Gil Meche

#271 Matt Halloran and Gil Meche

I posted this card back in December without Gil's signature on it. Luckily at Fanfest, I was able to get him to complete this card. I had thought about leaving Fanfest early, but when I heard that Gil was signing in one of the final sessions, I hung around a little later. When Gil saw the card, he said "wow, you've been holding on to that one for awhile". When I told him that I was given the card just a couple of years ago, he seemed unimpressed.

This is the first card I have posted on here of a current Royals player. I worked too long today to want to write up a new post, so I just added this stuff to the original.

This is the last card for 1997 and it is one that I am kind of ashamed of. This is a cool Padrograph that Rod sent me. When I got it, I was pretty excited. I wasn't excited about the Matt Halloran autograph since I had never heard of the guy. I was excited because a current Royal, Gil Meche, was also on the card and I thought that this was going to be my first card signed by two players. I have had this card for over a year now and still no Meche autograph. Fanfest is right around the corner and hopefully I will get this card completed then. Then again, I said that last year, too.

Matt Halloran was a first round draft pick by the Padres in the 1996 draft. Unfortunately, professional baseball never panned out for Matt and he never reached the Major Leagues. In six seasons in the minors, Matt only played in 396 games. I'm guessing that he was hurt most of the time. If not, the Padres must have gave up on him early to use him so sparingly. After his first year of Rookie ball, he spent the majority of his career in A ball. In his final season, he played in 27 games in AA. For his career, Matt only hit .219 with 4 home runs.

As soon as I get the other half of this card signed, I will repost it.

Tomorrow, I will continue on to the 1998 cards. This is a weird year for me since out of the fifteen cards I will be posting, eleven of them were given to me. So, there won't be too many cool stories about how the autograph was obtained. But, there are some cool cards to show and it will still be fun.

1995 SP, Mike Macfarlane

#126 Mike Macfarlane

Here is the only Mike Macfarlane autograph I ended up with from Fanfest. Mike was at Fanfest the previous year and I was able to get three Royals cards signed by him. So this year, I wanted to mix it up a bit and I bought this Red Sox card from checkoutmycards.com.

Mike's tenure in Boston lasted all of one season. He was the primary catcher there and he hit .225 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI. He also got his only taste of the playoffs with Boston and he went 3-9 in the three game sweep by the Indians. In the off-season, he ended up back in Kansas City as a free agent signing. He was a Royal until he was traded to Oakland at the beginning of the 1998 season. For some reason, I couldn't find a card of him as an A.

Only two more cards until I am caught up from Fanfest. Then, I will be diving into the year 2000.

1994 Score, Bud Black

#176 Bud Black

Here is the final Bud Black card from Fanfest. Later on tonight, I will post a card from Fanfest of a player that hasn't been shown on here multiple times over the past two or three weeks.

Here's Harry as a Giant. He pitched for San Francisco for four seasons at the end of his career. He pitched 214.1 innings for them his first year, 177 his second, 93.2 in his third, and only 54.1 in his final season. It looks like his arm was finally wearing out, but he did win more games as a Giant than he lost. He signed with the Indians the following year, but called it quits after 11 appearances.

Bud went into coaching after his playing career was over. He was the Angels pitching coach when they won the World Series in 2002. Currently, he is the skipper of the Padres. For some reason, I didn't even think to look for a managers card to get signed by him.

This is the first '94 Score card that I have got signed by someone not named Jose.

1993 Topps, Steve Farr

#717 Steve Farr

Here is the fourth and final Steve Farr card from Fanfest. This one, like the last one, features Steve as a Yankee. Steve's best season came while he was in pinstripes in 1992. That season, he had a career best ERA of 1.56 in 50 appearances with them while notching 30 saves, also a career best.

However, the next season didn't go nearly as good for him. That season, his ERA ballooned to 4.21, the highest he had had since his rookie season. He still managed 25 saves for an improving Yankees team, but the Yankees decided not to re-sign him after the season. He pitched one more season before calling it quits.

Steve has a nice and easy signature.

1992 Donruss, Steve Farr

#735 Steve Farr

Here is the first of two Steve Farr Yankee cards that I will be posting today. This one is on his '92 Donruss card. This set looks pretty bland by today's standards, but I was a big fan of it in 1992. It was the first Donruss set that was glossy and had a photo on the back. That was a decent accomplishment in 1992.

By the mid '90s, I had five cards from this set signed. A little over a year ago, I got two Padrographs from Rod to add to this set. But, this card is the first '92 Donruss card that I have gotten signed in at least 15 years.

1992 Bowman, Joe Randa

#560 Joe Randa

I got this card last August in a package from Ryan, of the Great Orioles Autograph Project. As soon as I saw the card, I knew I had to have it signed. Luckily, Joe Randa was part of the Royals Caravan that went to the Kansas State basketball game.

After I got George Brett's autograph, I turned around to look for Jamie Quirk and Joe Randa. Somehow, Quirk sneaked past me. But, a few seconds later, I saw Joe crossing the concourse. It looked like he was in a hurry since he didn't know where to go; he was just following the other guys. I stopped him and asked him to sign and he said "oh, sure" and signed both of the cards for me. I was wanting to ask him about this card and what he thought about his first Major League card featuring him in a Freddy Kruger sweater. But, I could tell that he was in a hurry and didn't want to get seperated from the rest of the guys, so I thanked him and he took off.

While not the most memorable autograph interaction of all time, at least he stopped walking to sign and said a couple of words to me.

1991 Donruss, Mike Boddicker

#680 Mike Boddicker

Remember these cards? Donruss wanted to be the first brand that have the player with his new team colors, so they took a picture at the press conference. Other players that they did this to in the set include Darryl Strawberry and Danny Jackson, I believe. You don't see this any more, so it is obviously not a trend that caught on.

This is the fourth and final Mike Boddicker card from Fanfest. After Mike's 17-win season in Boston, he became a free agent. The Royals threw just over three million a year at him and he signed with them on the 21st of November, 1990. In his first season in KC, he went 12-12 with a 4.08 ERA. In his second season, he pitched mostly out of the bullpen and his ERA rose to 4.98. In April if 1993, the Royals decided to cut their losses and they sold him to the Brewers. He had a 5.67 ERA in ten starts for them before hanging them up.

This was the second time in three Fanfests that Mike appeared. It's kind of cool that he comes back for them considering he spent so little time in Kansas City. About the only other players to appear from that era is Brian McRae and Mike Macfarlane.

1990 Score, Mike Boddicker

#31 Mike Boddicker

Here is the third Mike Boddicker card that I got signed at Fanfest. Just like with the previous Bud Black card, this was the first Boddicker card that I found with him playing for the Red Sox. Since I was looking for cards at the last minute, this card was good enough for me. The card turned out looking great with Mike's beautiful signature on it and I am happy with the results.

Speaking of 1990 Score, I kind of miss sets with muticolored borders. Every year, you either get Topps' plain border or Upper Deck's cards without borders. None of them ever switch it up like Score did in their '88, '90, and '91 sets. I guess Topps must have scared themselves away from that style after their 1990 set.

It turns out that the Red Sox acquired Boddicker from the O's for Curt Schilling and Brady Anderson. While Schilling didn't do much in Baltimore, Brady had a nice, long career there. As for Boddicker, he had a nice two and a half year run in Boston where he won 15 and 17 games in his two full seasons there. After that, he hit the free agent market and ended up in Kansas City.

The fourth and final Mike Boddicker card will be coming up tomorrow.

1990 Fleer, Bud Black

#486 Bud Black

Here is the third Bud Black card that I got signed. I'm not a big fan of 1990 Fleer, but this was the first card I found of him where he was an Indian. So, that was good enough for me.

Bud only played one full season in Cleveland and parts of two others. The Indians acquired him when the Royals traded him for Pat Tabler at the beginning of June in 1988. He went 12-11 in his one full season in Cleveland. He was putting up similar numbers the following year when the Tribe sent him to Toronto in September for Mauro Gozzo, Steve Cummings and Alex Sanchez. As a Blue Jay, he went 2-1 in three appearances (two starts) before becoming a free agent at the end of the season. It's kind of funny that the Jays gave the Indians one player for every appearance Bud made for them.

I still don't recognize him without a mustache.

1989 Score, Steve Balboni

#353 Steve Balboni

Here is the second and final Steve Balboni card that I got signed at Fanfest. The reason why I only got two autographs, and not three or more like most of the '85 Royals in Steve's line, is because I had a little bit of help in this line for Fanfest.

While I was waiting around in the golden ticket line, I started talking to the guy next to me. He was from Springdale, Arkansas, and has only been a Royals fan since the Royals AA team moved to his home town. While waiting around in that line, I had Springdale (yes, I saw Zombieland last week) hold my spot while I went around to check out some other things. One of the other things that I discovered was which line George Brett was going to be in for the next autograph session. After that, I went back to my spot in line and passed that bit of information to him and my dad. My dad went and grabbed a spot in the George Brett line. Shortly afterwards, Springdale's wife showed up and he asked if it was alright if his wife went and stood with my dad in line for George. I said that that was fine.

After we got our stuff signed by Cone and Grienke, we got in line with my dad and Springdale's wife. While in line, names started trickling in for who was going to be singing with George. Turns out that Springdale had never heard of any of them. He asked me if there was anyone else up there that was any good. I told him Steve Balboni (since he is the single season home run champ in KC) and Bud Black (since he is the manager of the Padres). Based on my bit of info, he decided that the only autographs that he wanted from the line was Steve Balboni and George Brett. So, I asked if he would get a few cards signed for me from the other guys (Motley, Farr, Black, and Beckwith) and he was more than happy to do so. So, thank you, Springdale!

This is my third signed Balboni card and all three feature a different team. This one has him as a Mariner and you can see him as a Yankee here and a Royal here.

1988 Topps UK Minis, Kevin Seitzer

#69 Kevin Seitzer

Here is the lone autograph that I got from Kevin Seitzer at Fanfest. Actually, my dad got this one signed for me while I was standing in the golden ticket line. If I would have known that my dad would have had the cards signed from the Seitzer line before the golden ticket line even started, I probably would have stayed in line with him. Oh well, I think I have enough Seitzer signed Royals cards. Now, I just need to find a card of him as an Athletic and an Indian and I will be set.

As for the Topps UK minis, I don't know much about them. I first saw them two years ago when I got one of those repacks from Target that has 100 loose cards in it and a few junk wax packs. I didn't know what they were then, but I remember seeing a post about them on a blog and that is when I found out that they weren't even issued in the US. So, it's kind of cool that a foriegn card found its way to the states and now has Kevin Seitzer's autograph on it. Plus, you just can't beat a mini.

Notice that he is listed as 1B/3B, just like the previous card. That was obviously during George Brett's third to first transition.

If you want to see some originals based on this set, you can find three at Goose Joak here, here, and here.

1988 Topps, George Brett

#700 George Brett

Believe it or not, this card was actually signed with an ordinary, everyday Sharpie. Apparently, it was a Sharpie left over from the inaugural Royals Fanfest in 2008, but it was a Sharpie. Luckily, after seeing how crappy this card turned out, George changed Sharpies for the very next card he signed.

I don't even know what to think about this card now. It was an elegant looking card and it is still kind of cool that the signature goes in the same direction as George's body. But, I still can't get over the thickness of the signature. It looks like it was signed with one of those super-fat tipped magic markers.

Oh well. It is still an autograph from a Hall of Famer, so I probably shouldn't be crying about it. This is the third and final George Brett autograph from Fanfest week.

1987 Topps, Bud Black

#669 Bud Black

Here is the second of four Bud Black cards that I got signed at Fanfest. I had this one and the '83 Fleer card on the same page of my book. I wasn't too particular about which one he signed and was happy that he was nice enough to sign them both.

I've had a long day at work and am going to be cutting this post short. But, I will point out something weird that I am just now realizing. In the autograph line, I did not recognise Bud Black at all. Maybe I am just used to his mustache days as a Royal. When I saw him (maybe it was the lack of a hat?), he looked more like a younger Tim Kurkjian than the Bud Black that I remember.

Bud (whose real name is Harry) spent seven seasons with the Royals. He started and relieved and was a 17 game winner in 1984 and had 9 saves in 1986.

1987 Topps, Darryl Motley

#99 Darryl Motley

Here is the third and final Darryl Motley from Fanfest. I couldn't resist taking this card with me since it had the "NOW WITH BRAVES" caption on the front. This is my first signed "now with" card.

Darryl got traded to the Braves on the 23rd of September in 1986. The Royals only had 11 games left and for some reason, they fealt compelled to bring Steve Shields to town. That would seem like one of the most pointless trades ever (Shields pitched in three games for the Royals in '86), but they were able to flip Shields, Scott Bankhead, and Mike Kingery to the M's in the off-season for Danny Tartabull. So, I guess it worked out good for the Royals.

Darryl Motley, on the other hand, was hitting .203 in 217 at-bats when the Royals traded him. He got into five games as a Brave in '86 and went 2-10. The following year, he only got into six games in Atlanta while spending most of the time in AAA. After a couple more seasons of AAA ball, Darryl retired. Then, at the age of 39, he decided to make a comeback in the indy leagues. From 1999-2002, he got into roughly 130 games with four different independent teams.

1987 Donruss, David Cone

#502 David Cone

The Royals presented a once in a lifetime opportunity at Fanfest. They had a special line that had the three Royals Cy Young award winners signing in it- Bret Saberhagen, David Cone, and Zack Grienke. But, not just anybody could get in this line. You had to posses one of the 200 "golden tickets" to get into it and the only way you got a "golden ticket" was if one was stashed in one of the three thousand Grienke sack packs that were given out at the door. I was lucky enough to get one.



I had one ball on me for the day that I wanted to get Grienke to sign. But, once I pulled the ticket, I knew I had to get those three players to sign it and inscribe their Cy Young years. There was one BIG problem, though. Bret Saberhagen never showed up for the signing. Only the Royals could pull that one off.

As you can see on the ticket, the session was supposed to start at 2:30. By 2:45, it hadn't even started. Five minutes later, Grienke and Cone came out to start the signing. Then it was announced that Saberhagen was in route and he would be signing as soon as he got there. So, basically, if you were in the front of the line, you were screwed out of Saberhagen's autograph. Luckily for those people at the beginning of the line, everybody got screwed out of Saberhagen's auto since he never showed up. It was a complete joke.

But, I did get this card signed by 1994 Cy Young award winner, David Cone. I saved the ball for another day. I think that this card was sent to me by dayf a couple of years ago when I won a contest on APAD.

This is my first autographed card of David Cone, but not my first autograph. Here is a signed postcard that I got from him as a TTM return in the late '90s.

1987 Donruss, Steve Farr

#301 Steve Farr

Here is the second Steve Farr card. This one features him as a Royal. Why he thought it would be a good idea to sign it with a silver Sharpie is beyond me. He signed the first card with the blue Sharpie that I provided the guy in front of me with to get the '85 Fleer card signed. He gave the Sharpie back to that guy and I placed my book in front of him. He picked up the silver and signed this card. I thanked him and moved to the next signer. My dad was behind me, and he placed his book in front of him and Steve signed both of the cards in black. I thought that it was a little strange, but oh well. Now I have something that is a little different (and hard to see).

After the Indians released Steve at the end of their 1985 Spring Training, Steve was a free agent. The Royals signed him five weeks later and he spent most of the time pitching in Omaha. Though he only pitched in 16 games for the Royals that season, he was on the ALCS roster and he pitched 6.1 innings against the Blue Jays while only allowing one run. However, he did not pitch at all in the Series and I suspect that Joe Beckwith took his spot on the roster.

Steve pitched for five more seasons with the Royals. In 1990, he pitched in 127 innings while posting a 1.98 ERA. He became a free agent after the season was over and he headed over to the Yankees where they gave him a hefty pay raise.

1986 Donruss, Darryl Motley

#217 Darryl Motley

Here is the second of three Darryl Motley cards signed at Fanfest. Since this one is signed in black instead of blue, it was obtained by my Dad.

Yep, that is it. Check back tomorrow night for an autograph from a former Cy Young award winner.

1986 Donruss, Mike Boddicker

#8 Mike Boddicker

Here is the second of four Mike Boddicker cards that I got signed at Fanfest. I planned on taking three cards of Mike- one as an Oriole, one as a Red Sock, and one as a Royal. The one Oriole card I planned on taking was the '85 Topps All-Star card I posted yesterday. Then, while I was looking for the card that I'll be posting tonight, I came across this card and could not pass it up. I put both of the Oriole cards on the same page of my book, figuring that he would sign one or the other. Either way, I would have been happy; I just couldn't make the choice myself. He obviously signed both of them, so it worked out very good for me. I love getting 1985 Topps signed, but I think that this one turned out much better.

In 1984, Mike was a 20-game winner. The following year, Topps rewarded him with an All-Star card. In 1985, Mike was a 17-game loser. The following year, Donruss rewarded him with a Diamond King card. I guess that is why Donruss started making Team MVP cards in their 1988 set.

I will be posting two cards a day for the rest of the week. There will be some new names popping up as well as some more Mike Boddickers.

1985 Topps, Mike Boddicker

#709 Mike Boddicker

Here is the first of four Mike Boddicker cards that I got signed at Fanfest. I got all four of them signed right after I got my Jim Rooker cards signed. While Jim was signing and selling his books, Mike was in the same area just checking things out and mingling with fans. I didn't recognise who he was, but luckily, he had a jersey on with his name on the back. After I figured that out, I got him to sign my cards.

In 1984, Mike was 20-11 with a 2.79 ERA and 128 Ks. That was the only All-Star team he ever made and he didn't even get to play in the game. That's too bad.

Normally I would write more, but I ended up having to work a double today after staying out too late after last nights game. So, I'm a bit tired. Luckily, I have three more Boddicker cards to go over, including one tomorrow.

I will say that I like Mike's signature. It's not really readable, but it sure looks good. Also, I think that this is the first All-Star card that I have got signed.

1985 Fleer, Steve Farr

#446 Steve Farr

Here is the first of four autographs that I got from Steve Farr at Fanfest. I knew going in to it that this is the worst possible card to get signed because of the dark jersey. But, it is the only card of Farr that I could find where he wasn't a Royal or Yankee. That is why I took it.

Steve played parts of two seasons with the Indians-1984 and 1994. In '84, he appeared in 31 games and started about half of them. He finished the season 3-11 with a 4.58 ERA. The Indians released him during Spring Training the following season and the Royals signed him a couple of months later.

In 1994, Steve signed with the Indians and appeared in 19 games before being dealt to the Red Sox. Prior to the trade, Steve had only pitched 15.1 innings and he had an ERA of 5.28. He didn't do any better in Boston and he retired after that season.

This is another Night Owl dollar store card. It took me about a year to get some cards from the lot signed.

1985 Donruss, Joe Beckwith

#541 Joe Beckwith

Here is the second Joe Beckwith card that I got signed at Fanfest. You can see the first one is you scroll down a bit. I had a third card signed by him, but I sent it to the '83f Project in a trade.

Joe played seven seasons with the Dodgers and Royals. He appeared in 229 games and only started 5 of those. He was 18-19 for his career with 7 saves and a 3.56 ERA.

Joe has an interesting signature. You can easily make out Joe and the first three letters of his last name. After that, it looks like Th or 72 or something.

1985 Donruss, Darryl Motley

#461 Darryl Motley

Here is another signature from the '85 Royals team. Darryl was the first guy in the line signing autographs. The guy in front of me had a blue Sharpie in his hand and Darryl took it from him and signed his card and this card in blue. That is why this one is in blue instead of black.

Darryl played parts of five seasons with the Royals. He was only a .243 career hitter, but he did have 44 home runs with 32 of them in a two year span. In 1985, he hit just .222, but he will forever be remembered by Royals fans. In game seven of the Series, Darryl hit a two run home run in the second inning to get the scoring started on an eventual 11-0 romp. Darryl then caught the final out of the game.

I was only six years old when the Royals won the Series. Looking back at that team now, you can tell that the team won games with their pitching. Out of the eleven players that played in at least 100 games, six of them hit under .250. George Brett was the only player on the team to hit over .281. As a team, the Royals hit .252 which ranked them 13th in the 14 team league. The only offensive stats that they ranked in the top half of the league were doubles, triples, stolen bases, and strikeouts. But, if you look at the pitching, the only stat where they finished in the bottom half of the league is losses. I guess that just shows that good pitching will take you a long way.

1984 Topps, Steve Balboni

#782 Steve Balboni

Here is one of the autographs that I got from the Royals single season home run leader. I wrote to Steve just over a year ago and got him to sign a Royals card for me. So my goal at Fanfest was to get a couple of non-Royals cards signed by him. Here is the first of those. This one shows Steve during his first stint with the Yankees.

In 1978, Steve was a second round draft choice of the Yankees. He got some brief stints with the big league club from 1981-1983, but he never really got a chance. After the '83 season, the Yankees shipped Balboni to the Royals with Roger Erickson for Mike Armstrong. Armstrong only pitched in 52 games with the Yankees from 1984-1986. Balboni, on the other hand, became the Royals everyday first basemen and ended up hitting 119 home runs as a Royal over four complete seasons.

"He's the most unpredictable hitter I've ever seen. There's no way to tell if he's in a slump. He swings so aggressively that anytime he gets it airborne it has a chance to go out. He's knocked in a whole lot of key runs for us."
-Dick Howser

1984 Donruss, Joe Beckwith

#337 Joe Beckwith

Here is another autograph from the '85 World Championship Royals team. Prior to Fanfest, I didn't really know who Joe Beckwith was. I vaguely remembered his 1986 Topps card, but that was about it. But, after being at Fanfest, I still don't really know much about Joe.

I know that they Royals either didn't use him or left him off of the '85 ALCS roster since he didn't appear in any of the games against the Blue Jays. He did get into one game in the World Series, though, and that was game four. He entered the game in the sixth inning to relieve Bud Black and pitched two scoreless innings of one hit ball with three strikeouts. That and two appearances for the Dodgers in the 1983 NLCS sums up Joe's post-season career.

I got this card from checkoutmycards.com.

On a side note, can anyone tell me why '84 Donruss cards are so hard to come by (or at least more expensive)?

1983 Fleer, Bud Black

#107 Bud Black

Here is the first '83 Fleer card that I have posted on here in over a year. The last one I posted was in September of 2008. I guess I just don't have too many cards from this set. Luckily, Night Owl was able to pick this one up for me at his dollar store. This is the first dollar store acquisition to appear on the blog.

It was good seeing Bud Black at Royals Fanfest. It's always nice when a former player, who works for a different organization, can come back to town and relive the glory days with former teammates.

Bud was really nice when I talked to him about the upcoming Padre season. He seems to think that they are going to be OK this year and he hopes that they hold onto Adrian Gonzalez for as long as they can.

On a side note, there is a new blog out that I'm sure the autograph collectors will enjoy. It's called An Autograph A Day and it is by a collector trying to get at least 365 autographs this year. I haven't seen any baseball autographs on his blog yet, but I'm sure that there will be a few. For now, it has mostly been football, basketball, and golf. If you are into autos, check it out.

I came really close to calling this blog "An Autograph a Day". But, I didn't want it to seem like I copied the name from "A Pack a Day". So, instead, we are stuck with the generic "Autographed Cards" title. Straight and to the point.

1981 Donruss, George Brett

#491 George Brett

Trust me, this is a different card than the last George Brett I posted on here. It uses the same picture, but this one commemorates George's 1980 American League MVP award.

I got this card signed at a Kansas State basketball game. The Royals Caravan rolled through there a few weeks ago, so I bought myself a $25 ticket and went to the game. Unfortunately, the Caravan crew (Brett, Jamie Quirk, and Joe Randa) were only attending a booster party and then watching the first half of the game. There was no autograph session.

Feeling down, but not out, I camped out by the room where the "party" was. There was two doors to the room, so I stayed at the midway point between the two while mainly watching the back door. About ten minutes before tip-off, I saw George coming out the back door and heading for the seating bowl. I intercepted him on the concourse and asked him for an autograph. He grabbed my book and signed one card while walking. He didn't say anything to me or even look at me, but I got my card signed. So, I was happy that the trip wasn't a complete waste.

I'm not sure where this picture is taken, but I know that it is not Comiskey Park. My guess is Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

This is the last '81 Donruss for now. I'll have another card up later tonight.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 47/100

Found Some 2010 Upper Deck

I was finally able to get over to Target today to get some 2010 Topps. All I could find were rack packs and blasters. While I was trying to step back to get a better view to see if I was missing the regular packs, I bumped into a box. I turned around and I found a gravity feed and three blasters of 2010 Upper Deck in the box. Looks like someone forgot to put their box up when they were done with it.

I picked up three packs of UD and two rack packs of Topps for $20. Here is the wrapper for Upper Deck.



Notice the line on the bottom of the pack- "NOT authorized by Major League Baseball or its Members Teams". It has that line on the back of every single card, too.

Here is the first card I got in the first pack.



Yeah, I can see why they are getting sued. Here are three more cards where you can either make out hat logos, shoulder logos, most of the jersey script (but not all), or a combination of these.



Here are three cards with different things. One has two Rockies logos. One has a teams name and logos highly visible on the card. The third one has a hat logo and a majority of the jersey script.



I like the ballpark cards. But, then again, I like visiting different ballparks. The back of the card lists the teams titles and the ballparks address, first game, and capacity. It then has a short write up about some of the things that make the park unique.

Here are some of the inserts I got.



I got three of the Biography cards, so they must come one per pack (just like the rookie cards). These cards are pretty much what the Documentary set should have been like. One of the other ones I got was about Casey McGehee hitting a go ahead home run in St. Louis. The picture actually has McGehee hitting in St. Louis!

The Sowers card is just a gold parallel and is numbered to 99.

The Lee card is a foily die-cut card that talks about him being from Panama and it has the shoulder patch and helmet logo fully visible.

Overall, I like the set. It's too bad that they lost there license and are now getting sued. At least you don't get six insert per pack like you do in Topps.

1981 Donruss, Dave Garcia

#442 Dave Garcia

I picked this card up in a trade last week. At Fanfest, I was able to get a card signed for the 83F Project. I emailed Scott to see if he had any signed '81 Donruss cards and he had this one. So, we made a deal. I sent him the Joe Beckwith card (which came from Night Owl's dollar store) for the Dave Garcia card. Scott got this card signed through the mail when he sent Dave the team checklist from his Fleer set to get signed.

Dave managed for six seasons in the Majors- two with the Angels and the rest with the Indians. His best finish was fifth and that was in the second half of the strike-shortened 1981 season. It looks like he was even fired from the Angles job in 1978 while he was 25-20. For his career, Dave has a managerial record of 307-310. That doesn't seem too bad considering that he managed the early '80s Indians.

Thanks for the trade Scott!

'81 Donruss Tracker: 46/100

1981 Donruss, Jeff Cox

#230 Jeff Cox

I got home from work today and I found this welcome surpise in the mailbox. This is a signed '81 Donruss card of Jeff Cox, the White Sox third base coach. Dan, of OMGautos, was generous enough to get this card signed for me at the White Sox Fanfest recently.

The cool thing about this card is that I actually had this card on my want list (the unsigned version). The only reason I wanted it was so I could try to get it signed when the White Sox come to Kansas City this year.

I actually have two of these unsigned cards. The first one I got had a 27-year old piece of gum stuck to the front of it that left its mark. Then, Matt, of a Pack to be Named Later, pulled this card out of an '81 Donruss pack. The gum was stuck to the back of that card, so I talked Matt into sending it to me since it was a slight improvemement to what I had. The gum ended up with more card on it than the card had gum on it. So, I left it on my want list. But, it is coming off tonight. Thanks, Dan!

As for Jeff, he was signed by the Royals in 1973 and he made his Major League debut in 1980. He hit .213 in 59 games for the A's that season. He got into two games for Oakland in '81 and then spent the rest of his career in the minors. His last two seasons in the minors consisted of him being a player/coach. In his first year not playing, 1986, he was the manager of the Billings Mustangs. Since then, he has either been managing in the minors or coaching in the Majors.

Dan adds that "that guy is hilarious! A stitch for sure". I'm hoping that he will go into more detail in the comments. Thanks, again, Dan!

'81 Donruss Tracker: 45/100