2008 Bowman, Elliot Johnson

#BDP24 Elliot Johnson

With this card, we finally enter the Draft Picks and Prospects set from 2008 Bowman. Since the BDP set and the base set look exactly the same, I just lump them together as one set. It was nice, though, when Topps was nice enough to add the BDP designation to the card numbers of the second set. Later on, they drop that designation and it gets a little confusing.

My oldest kid got this card signed for me at a Royals Spring Training game in 2013. We actually stayed for the entire game that day and afterwards, Elliot stopped to sign a few autographs. I gave my then seven year old my card book and he hustled down and got Elliot to sign two cards for me.

Unfortunately, my oldest kid never got into collecting autographs like I did. But, he still helps me out whenever he can. Now that he is a teenager, it usually takes a little bribery to get his help. The last two Spring Trainings, it was in the form of a dollar a card. This year at Royals Fanfest, it costs me a new pair of shoes. His help is getting a little pricier as he gets older, but it is much appreciated.

Elliot played in the Majors for parts of five seasons with the Rays, Royals, Braves, and Indians. The utility player played every position in the Majors except for pitcher and catcher. A .215 hitter, he had 12 home runs and 69 RBI for his career.

Elliot's best season was with the Rays in 2012. He got into a career-high 123 games that season and he hit .242 with 6 home runs and 33 RBI.

On a side note, that was actually the second time that I had gotten Elliot's signature. I originally got him at a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre game in 2009 when he was with the visiting Durham Bulls. I seem to have a knack for getting autographs of future Royals players and I think it might have started with him at that Bulls game.

Arizona has been added to the 2008 Bowman map.