1979 Topps, Al Fitzmorris

#227 AL Fitzmorris

Here is the second card of Al Fitzmorris that I have posted this week. The first one showed him as an Indian and this one has him with the Angels. Add in the Royals card I posted three years ago and we have the three teams that Al played for.

For me, three is the magic number. Whenever I go 'graphing, I almost always take three cards of a player because my book holds three cards per page. Ideally, if that player has played for more than one team, I make sure I get a card of each team. If they played for more than three, I narrow it down by which cards are going to look the best signed. For whatever reason, I just like to mix it up a bit when I get more than one card signed by a player. And, I have effectively done that with Al Fitzmorris with this card. Now I can concentrate on getting a few more Royals cards signed by him in the future.

It is kind of surprising that Al got this card of him as an Angel. His tenure there only lasted nine appearances. Despite the limited work, Al did alright by posting a 6-1 record with a 1.71 ERA.

Al finished his career with a 77-59 record with 7 saves and 3.65 ERA. He still lives in the Kansas City area, so I sure that there will be more cards of him here in the future.

This is final card from the seventies. I am pretty excited to be hitting the '80s with my next post. Expect to be seeing plenty of '81 Donruss coming up.

1978 Topps, John Wockenfuss

#723 John Wockenfuss

Back in 2013, I sent an '81 Donruss card to John to add him to that set. I got that card back twelve days later with two extra cards that he sent me. This is one of the extra cards. The other that he included was his '85 Donruss card that I posted three years ago.

While the two extra cards were cool, the best part was that he wrote me a note back. In that note, he talked about how he loved to bow hunt for deer and that he has heard about the deer in Kansas. In short, he wanted to know if I had any places here to deer hunt and he gave me his phone number to call him if I did. I have posted this story twice before and I still get a little giddy thinking about it because it such a cool and unique TTM response.

I have a cousin-in-law out in western Kansas that is a big hunter. Maybe I should hook these two up next fall and go hang out with John Wockenfuss for a week.

1978 Topps, Al Fitzmorris

#227 Al Fitzmorris

Here is the second card of Al Fitzmorris that I have posted on here. The first card was posted back in 2013 after a chance run-in with Al at a Royals game where I had to buy the card from a fellow collector. This card, too, was also signed at a Royals game. This time, it was at the Royals Sunday alumni signings that they host in their Hall of Fame at every Sunday home game. Since I know that someone is going to be signing there every Sunday, and the Royals do not release who it is going to be, I always have a fat stack of Royals alumni cards with me. After getting this card and one other signed by Al in 2015, I think I need to buy a couple more cards of him for the next time I run into him there.

Al pitched for the Royals for eight seasons before being picked by the Blue Jays in the expansion draft. He never pitched for the Jays, though, as they traded him to the Indians right after picking him. He was coming off of three consecutive double digit win seasons with the Royals, but he could not continue that in Cleveland. In fact, he really struggled there going 6-11 with a 5.60 ERA through a season and a half.

I love where Al signed this card. As you can see by the Jim Kern card I last posted, cards with those dark Indians jerseys could be a pain to get signed. But Al picked the best possible spot on the card to apply his signature. Not everybody does that, but it sure is appreciated when they do.

1977 Topps, Jim Kern

#41 Jim Kern

About seven years ago, I started buying packs of cards on ebay. That was how I got addicted to '81 Donruss. I bought a box of it for about $35. I would only buy packs that were from 1986 or older and I was really looking for good deals on packs from before I started collecting. During the two months I was buying those packs, I came across a pack of 1977 Topps. I had never bought or opened a pack from the seventies, so it was a fun purchase. I have no clue how much I paid for it, but the best card out of the pack was Goose Gossage. That pack also contained this card and I felt obligated to send it to Jim when I sent him his '81 Donruss card to get signed. I mailed those two cards out to him in this past February and I had them both back three weeks later.

Jim pitched in the Major Leagues for parts of thirteen seasons with the Indians, Rangers, Reds, White Sox, Phillies, and Brewers. He broke into the big leagues with the Tribe in 1974 and pitched for them for four solid seasons. During that time, he went 29-30 with 46 saves and 363 strikeouts. His performance was good enough to get him on two All Star teams as an Indian and he pitched 1.2 perfect innings over those two Mid-Summer Classics while striking out three.

After the 1978 season, the Indians traded Jim to the Rangers for Bobby Bonds and Len Barker.

Jim signed this card with a marker of some sort that had seen better days. Add that to the dark warm-up jacket that he is wearing in the photo and you have got a bad combo. But,I got a card that I got out of a pack of '77 Topps signed and I could not be happier.

1976 Topps, Toby Harrah

#412 Toby Harrah

Here is a card that was given to me a few years back by Ryan, from The Great Orioles Autograph Project. Most of the autographs Ryan has sent me over the years fit one of two categories. They are either extra Oriole autographs that he has or are extra cards that he got signed at Harrisburg Senators games when he was younger. I know Toby never played for the O's and I cannot find a connection with him to Harrisburg. So, the best I can come up with is that Ryan sent me this card just to rid himself of a fading ballpoint signature from a guy that never played for Baltimore. And I am completely fine with that.

When I think of Toby Harrah, I think back to the first set I ever collected, 1985 Topps. I was fascinated with Toby's stats on his card because the Senators were listed on the back. The only thing I knew about the Senators was that they were not around any more and I thought it was cool that I had a card of guy that once played for a team that no longer existed. Being six years old, I had know idea that they packed up and moved to Texas.

Toby had a seventeen year career an played with the Senators/Rangers, Indians, and Yankees. He was a .264 hitter with 195 home runs and 918 RBI. He had five 20+ home run seasons and made four All Star teams.

The signature on the card looks slightly better in person.

1976 SSPC Dennis Leonard

#164 Dennis Leonard

Here is the sixth card of Dennis Leonard that I have posted on here, but just the second SSPC card. Dennis is such a regular at Royals events that it feels like I should have a dozen cards signed by him. I only have eight, but I have a couple of unique odd balls signed by him. I am really looking forward to showing the next one and that is not something I usually say about the seventh card I have posted of a player.

As for SSPC, I went in to detail about the set when I posted the first card of Cookie Rojas in early 2103. Check out that post if you would like to know more about the set. Or, head over to Night Owl Cards and look for some posts he did on the set. There have been some good ones over there.

I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2015. Dennis was in the Royals Hall of Fame for the Sunday alumni autograph signing. This is one of the rare times that I wish the card was signed in black and not blue. But, for a blue on blue signature, it still stands out fairly well.

1975 Topps Mini, Jerry Terrell

#654 Jerry Terrell

Here is another '75 Topps Mini that I was able to get signed this year. Actually, my dad got this one signed for me at Royals Fanfest. I was in line with my boy and his friend to get pictures with the championship trophy and my dad was just wandering around. He came back because he saw Jerry and Les Norman by the wiffleball field. So I gave him a couple of cards and he got one signed by each player.

Unfortunately, that was how the 'graphing was going at Fanfest following the World Series victory. The only current player I got that day was back-up catcher Drew Butera and I got that one by the whiffleball field, too. All of the autograph lines filled up super-quick and I did not want to stand in a line for three hours not knowing who was going to be signing there after the long wait. So I just grabbed who I could when I could. Besides Butera, it was all alumni. But, this was the first time that I had got Jerry and, since it was on a '75 mini, I was pretty happy about it.

I could not have done it without my dad, so props to him for helping me out.

After that experience with Fanfest, I am still undecided about heading back up there this year. Deep down I want to go as it might be the last time I see Eric Hosmer and I still do not have a card signed by Salvador Perez. But at the same time, I usually get really annoyed at the event because the Royals do not run the autograph lines as well as they should and I miss out on some people I should have been able to get. I still have time to decide, though.

1975 Topps Minis, Marty Pattin

#413 Marty Pattin

Here is the first '75 Topps Mini that I ever got signed. I have only known about this set for about eight years it is still something that I have never seen in-person, except for the three cards that I have bought. So, if I can find a good deal on them from COMC when I am buying cards that I think I can get signed, I cannot pass these up.

A couple of years ago, the Royals started having alumni come to their Sunday home games. That is pretty nice as Sundays are usually the games I go to. Autographs have been getting harder to obtain at the ballpark on Sundays, so it is good to know that I should be able to come home with at least one autograph as long as I have a large, varied selection of Royals alumni cards with me at every game. That is how I got this Marty Pattin card signed. I bought the card for Fanfest a few years back and was able to get it signed at a Sunday game in 2015.

1975 Topps, Gene Lamont

#593 Gene Lamont

Here is something I haven't posted in some time- a recent addition to my collection. Most of the cards I have been posting have been waiting to make it on here for up to three years. Not this one. I got this card signed in Kansas City less than three months ago when the Tigers came to play the Royals. Gene is the Tigers bench coach and he was nice enough to sign two cards for me after hopping off of the bus at Kauffman Stadium.

Gene spent his entire Major League playing career with the Tigers. That career spanned five seasons, but he only got into 87 games over that span. He spent most of those summers playing for the Tigers AAA affiliate, with one summer playing for the Braves top minor league team. It seems that Gene was just the Tigers third catcher and they would call him up when they needed him.

Gene made his Major League debut in 1970 and did well in the 15 games he got into. He hit .295 with 3 doubles, a triple, a home run, and 4 RBI. That one home run he hit came in his first Major League at-bat. But, the following season, he would only get into 7 games with the Tigers. The year after that, he got into one game and did not even bat. He spent the '73 season playing for the Braves organization before rejoining the Tigers in '74.

That season, he got into a career-high 60 games. He .217 with 4 doubles, 3 home runs, and 8 RBI. He was back in AAA the following season, though, and got into just 4 big league games that year. He would play one more full season of AAA before calling it a career and joining the coaching ranks.

For his career, Gene hit .233 with 4 homers and 14 RBI.

1975 Topps, Barry Foote

#229 Barry Foote

Here is the second card of Barry Foote that I got signed through the mail in 2013. I posted the first one, his '81 Donruss, not long after it made it back home. The two cards took Barry ten days to get back to me.

While this card is not the best card to get signed because of the dark background, it does have two things going for it. The first is that it is from the '75 Topps set and the second is that it has a Topps Rookie Cup. I am not sure when Topps switched from the trophy to the cup, but this has got to be my oldest signed card with the actual "cup" on it.

Barry earned that Rookie Cup that year by hitting .262 while driving in 60 and hitting 23 doubles and 11 home runs. On top of that, he lead the league in sac flies and assists by a catcher. Those 60 RBI and his .262 average would end up being career-highs for him.

Barry went on to play for eight more seasons after that with the Phillies, Cubs, and Yankees. After leaving Montreal during the '77 season, he was mostly relegated to back-up duty. The one exception was with the Cubs in '79. He played in 132 games for them that season and hit a career-high 16 home runs.

Barry finished his career a .230 hitter with 57 home runs.

1972 Topps, Steve Kealey

#146 Steve Kealey

Here is the third and final card of Steve Kealey that I got signed at Rock's card show last year. You can see the first card of Steve that I posted here and the second one here.

Those first two cards showed Steve with the Angels. After three up and down seasons in California, the Angels shipped Steve to the White Sox just prior to the 1971 season. He would go on to play with the Sox for three seasons and get the bulk of his Major League time.

With the Sox, he pitched in 101 games and went 5-4 with 10 saves and a 4.50 ERA. In 1971, he had career highs in innings (77.1), strikeouts (50), and saves (6). Counting his time with the Angels, Steve had a career line of 8-5 with 11 saves and a 4.28 ERA.

The three cards I posted of Steve show a nice progression of eye-wear. His '69 Topps has him in sports goggles. He then swapped those out for some wire frame glasses on his '71. Then, when this card came out, Steve was either wearing contact lenses or forgoing glasses altogether.

1972 Topps, Steve Arlin

#78 Steve Arlin

I am all moved and nearly settled in, so I figured it was time to start posting some cards again. Here is a card of Steve Arlin that I got signed through the mail in late 2012. This card took Steve less than two weeks to return to me.

Steve did not have a great Major League career. Playing on the Padres expansion team from 1969-1974, Steve went 32-62 with a 4.19 ERA. He led the league in losses in 1971 and '72 with 19 and 21 losses respectively. He also lead the league in walks (122) and wild pitches (15) in '72.

But, Steve's Major League exploits were not the reason I wrote to him for his autograph. As most of the regular readers know, I am a college baseball fan and have gone to the College World Series each of the past ten years. Most people probably do not know that Steve Arlin is a CWS legend.

Steve pitched for Ohio State and led them to Omaha twice. He made the All Tournament team both times and led his Buckeyes to the 1966 National Championship. He set the record for most strikeouts in a CWS game when he fanned 20 Washington Huskies. It may have took him 15 innings to do so, but that only adds to his status. Over the two tournaments, Steve struck out 57 batters over 47 innings and had a 0.96 ERA.

Sadly, Steve passed away in August.

1971 Topps, Grant Jackson

#392 Grant Jackson

It has been well over a week since I posted last and it may be just as long until I post another card. Besides working too much over the last two weeks, I have also been going through the process of buying my first home. We started moving into that today. Once I get this computer torn down, who knows how long before I have it up and running.

Here is a card of Grant Jackson that I got signed through the mail last year. I picked this card up at the Wichita card show to send along with Grant's '81 Donruss card. This card is not the best looking card around, but it is a '71 Topps so I cannot complain. It took just a week to get the cards back from Grant.

That was actually my second try at getting Grant through the mail. I sent him three cards a couple of years before that and they never made it back home. One of those cards was from my Pacific Senior League set, the first and only card from the set that I have lost. Grant is a really good TTM signer, so I wonder what happens when cards never make it back to my mailbox.

With me in the process of moving, I hope I do not miss out on any old returns. It has been so long since I filled out a change of address form that I do not know how long they forward that stuff along. You never know when a long forgotten TTM request will show up unannounced.

Grant's signature has changed a bit from the fake one on the card. It is still a nice looking sig, though.

1971 Topps, Steve Kealey

#43 Steve Kealey

Here is the second of three cards that were signed for me by Steve Kealey at the Wichita card show last year. I posted the first card of Steve earlier this month and it can be seen here.

Steve pitched for the Angels for parts of three seasons, never appearing in more than seventeen games. Over 38 appearances for the Halos, Steve made just three starts and was 3-1 with a save and a 3.82 ERA. One of those starts happened to be a complete game shutout of the Orioles. In that contest, Steve scattered seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. His two strikeout vivtims were Hall of Famers Brooks and Frank Robinson. That is not a bad night right there.

Steve was traded to the White Sox after the 1970 season.

Unfortunately, Steve had given up on the sports goggles by the time this picture was taken. Just see my previous post of him to see what I am talking about.

1979 Topps, Ed Ott

#561 Ed Ott

Last season, both the American Association and the Can-Am League fielded an odd number of teams. Rather than have a team sitting out for a three or four game stretch, the two leagues decided to play interleague ball against each other. As a result of that, I was able to get Ed Ott's autograph at a Wichita Wingnut game as Ed is the pitching coach of the New Jersey Jackals. The Jackals were the lone Can-Am team to travel to Wichita last year and it appears that they will be the only one this year, as well.

Ed signed all three cards for me before the game I went to. He was in good spirits despite being less mobile than he was in his playing days (it was fairly obvious that his time behind the plate took its toll on his legs). I knew the Jackals had a small road trip through the American Association, so I was curious if they brought a bus or if they ponied up the money for a plane ride. Ed said that they flew into Kansas as there was no way his body would have survived the bus drive from New Jersey.

Ed is still the pitching coach of the Jackals and I am sure that I will try to make it to one of their games in Wichita again this season. If anyone needs an autograph from Ed, let me know and I will probably be able to get one for you.

For such a short name, there is a lot going on with Ed's signature.

1979 Topps, Barry Bonnell

#496 Barry Bonnell

This is another card that I got signed through the mail, though I did not unlock the card on the Topps Diamond Giveaway. I was going to send Barry his '81 Donruss card to sign for me and then I noticed that he had this card, too. So, I bought this card from checkoutmycards and the reason why I did that is because I love the late '70s Braves jersey that Barry is sporting on it. It really is a unique jersey and, luckily for Braves fans, one that was only worn for four seasons.

I sent this card to Barry right after Thanksgiving and I had it back about three weeks later.

Barry played for the Braves, Blue Jays, and Mariners during his ten year Major League career. He played in 100 or more games in seven of his ten seasons and, for his career, he was a .272 hitter with 56 home runs and 355 RBI. His best season probably came in 1980 with the Jays when he had career highs in home runs (13), RBI (56), and walks (37).

Of the fifty pitchers that Barry hit home runs off of, he had the most off of the knuckle ball throwing Charlie Hough.

1979 Topps, Tim Johnson

#182 Tim Johnson

Here is the third and final Tim Johnson card that I got signed in Wichita last summer. The other two cards he signed for me were Brewer cards, so I had to mix it up by getting a Blue Jay card signed. And I picked out a good one, too, as Tim is sporting a very stylish perm in this card. However, I have to point out that he unfortunately no longer wears his hair in this style.

Tim spent his last two seasons in Toronto after being traded there early in the '78 season. He played sparingly and hit .212 while playing all four infield positions.

After his playing days were over, Johnson scouted and coached. In 1998, he was named the manager of the Blue Jays and guided the team to a 88-74 record, third in the AL East. After that season, Tim got into some hot water after admitting that he lied to his players about his time in Vietnam and about being an All-American high school basketball player. He went to Spring Training with the club in 1999, but was let go about a month before Opening Day because he had become too much of a distraction.

After Toronto, Tim managed in Mexico and various independent teams. He is slated to manage the El Paso Diablos again this coming season.

1978 Topps, Tim Johnson

#452 Tim Johnson

Here is the second of three cards that I got signed by Tim Johnson last season in Wichita. Tim managed the El Paso Diablos for a majority of the season and I got him to sign at the Wingnuts final home stand of the regular season. You can see the first card I posted here.

Tim played in the Majors for seven seasons with the Brewers and Blue Jays. He was a light-hitting middle infielder that was mainly used as a back-up. The one exception to that was his rookie year in 1973 when he played in a career-high 136 games. That season, he hit .213 with 25 runs, 99 hits, 10 doubles, and 32 RBI (all season highs except average). For his career, Tim was a .223 hitter that never hit a Major League home run.

He did accomplish an unusual feat in 1974, though. That season, he hit 7 triples, which matched his total for doubles on the year. He had so many triples that year that it was over half of what he got for his career (13).

1978 Topps, Andy Hassler

#73 Andy Hassler

Oh boy, I am about done with my Topps Diamond Giveaway cards. There is only one more to go after this one and it will be a few days before I get to it. The one features Andy Hassler. I sent this card to him at the beginning of last May and I got it back about three weeks later. I sent another card with this one and part of the signature ended up on the back of that card.

Andy pitched in the Majors for parts of fourteen seasons. He was well traveled and spent some time with the Angels (twice), Royals, Red Sox, Pirates, Mets, and Cardinals. He mostly relieved in his career and he finished with a 44-71 record with 29 saves and a 3.83 ERA. Andy had a career high of nine wins with the Royals in 1977 and ten saves with the Angels in 1980.

Nothing really stands out in Andy's stats. But something did stand out to me on Andy's transactions page. Andy changed teams six times. Out of the six times, he signed as a free agent twice. For the other four times, he was sold to the other team. He was never traded for another player.

1978 Topps, Bill Atkinson

#43 Bill Atkinson

Here is one of the two '78 Topps cards that I unlocked in the Topps Diamond Giveaway. Coincidentally, it is also the third Expos pitcher that I unlocked in the event. This one features Bill Atkinson, who pitched for the Expos for parts of four seasons.

Bill was mostly used out of the bullpen in his short Major League career and he compiled an 11-4 record with 11 saves and a 3.42 ERA. His best season was in 1977 when he appeared in 55 games and posted a record of 7-2 with 7 saves and a 3.35 ERA. Bill was also a .300 hitter in his career, which isn't too shabby for a relief pitcher.

The one problem with getting Bill's autograph through the mail is that Bill lives in Canada. Luckily, I noticed a lot of successes with him on SCN as everyone just sends him a couple of bucks and Bill provides the return postage. I guess everyone must be overpaying him for the postage because it is common for Bill to include a signed postcard as well. Here is the one that I got.

I sent this card to Bill at the beginning of May last year and I got it back seventeen days later.