2006 Upper Deck Special F/X, John Rodriguez

#811 John Rodriguez

Here is a card that I got signed at my first Wingnuts game I attended this year. The Nuts hosted the Cam-Am League's New Jersey Jackals that night and I took 36 cards with me to get signed. To my amazement, I came home with 36 autographs that night, which is still my best autographing day of the year. In fact, that is probably my best day ever considering that I went 36-36.

John was the Nuts big signing this year. By big, I mean that he actually had Major League experience. He got 332 at-bats with the Cardinals in 2005-2006 and he hit .298 with them with 7 home runs and 43 RBI. After 2006, it was back to AAA for John and he played at that level through 2009. Since then, it has been a mixture of indy ball and the Mexican League.

John was a major contributor for the Nuts this season. He hit .332 with 16 home runs and 81 RBI. He is even helped out in the community by offering hitting lessons at Lawrence Dumont Stadium. Sure, he charged a fee for the lessons, but it was still a unique opportunity for people in the area. Since his family did not make the move with him to Wichita, I guess he has some free time on his hands.

This is the only card from the '06 Upper Deck Special F/X set. I had never heard of the set before I got this card and just assumed it was a subset in the base Upper Deck set. But, thanks to Check Out My Cards, it appears that this was a stand alone set. I guess you learn something new every day.

It has taken me almost a whole year, but I have finally finished posting all of my 2006 autographed cards. I have a bunch of older cards to catch up on before I get to the 2007s. So, with my recent posting habits, it may be some time before I get to them. Hopefully you will enjoy some "vintage" autographed cards.