1998 Best, Russ Ortiz

NN Russ Ortiz

Check out this early Russ Ortiz signature card. It is so early in his career, in fact, that he was still going by his given name of Russell. That may be why I was able buy this card for a mere seventy-five cents. At least that is what I thought until I got it and noticed it had a small wrinkle in it. But, for the price, I don't really care.

Russ pitched in the Majors for parts of twelve seasons with the Giants, Braves, Diamondbacks, Orioles, Astros, and Dodgers. He was mostly a starter and spent half of his big league seasons with the Giants. He was a 20 game winner once and made his lone All Star team that season. For his career, Russ was 113-89 with a 4.51 ERA and 1,192 strikeouts.

Russ pitched in one World Series for the 2002 Giants. After a solid start in the NLDS, where he was 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA, Russ started to have some issues in the second round. In the NLCS, he was 0-0 in one start with a 7.71 ERA. He got two more starts in the World Series and again had no decisions and a 10.13 ERA.

His poor postseason performance might have been the main reason why the Giants shipped him off to Atlanta during the off-season for Damian Moss and Merkin Valdez. The Braves got the better end of that deal as Russ had his All Star season in Atlanta in 2003. His postseason struggles continued, though, as he was 1-1 with a 7.24 ERA in three starts over two Division Series.

The Braves let him walk after the 2004 season and Russ's career as a journeyman began.

1996 Best Harrisburg Senators, Scott Forster

#12 Scott Forster

Here is the last of four straight minor league cards. Next, I will be coming with some guys with Royals ties before hitting a solid month of Leaf Signature Series.

Here is another Best team set card that was sent to me by Ryan, from The Great Orioles Autograph Project. Like the card I posted yesterday, I assumed Scott Forster was another career minor leaguer. And like yesterday, I was wrong again.

Scott made it to the big leagues for one season with the Expos in 2000. He made it into 42 games and it looks like he was mainly used as a left-handed specialist since he only pitched 32 innings. Or he might have only pitched 32 innings because he did not do so hot. That season, he went 0-1 with a 7.88 ERA. Yikes, that is a lofty ERA for 42 games of Major League work.

I mentioned that Scott might have been used as a LOOGY based on that fact that he is left-handed and pitched in less innings than games. So, I decided to look at his splits for that season and that definitely was not the case. Scott fared much better against righties than lefties. He faced 36 more righties that season than lefties and the righties hit just .195 while the lefties teed off for a .289 average. Left-handed hitters also hit one more home run off of him than righties.

After his one season in The Show, it was back to the minors for Scott. He pitched for four more seasons, splitting time in three different organizations and with three different Atlantic League squads.

1996 Best Binghamton Mets, Brian Edmondson

#6 Brian Edmondson

Here is another minor league card that was given to me by Ryan, from the Great Orioles Autograph Project. This was part of a small lot of random autos and Royals that Ryan sent me a couple of years ago.

When I got this card, I assumed that Brian Edmondson was just one of the many minor league players that never made it to the Major Leagues. It turns out that I was wrong.

Brian was originally drafted in the third round by the Tigers in 1991. He advanced up to AA with them before landing in the Mets organization. He spent three years in the Mets system and in his final year, he posted a 1.23 ERA at AA and a 2.90 ERA in AAA. The Braves took notice and selected Brian in the Rule V Draft after the season.

He made his Major League debut with the Braves in 1998 and was 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA in 10 games. The Braves designated him for assignment in June and he was picked up by the Marlins, whom he finished the season with. He was back with the Marlins again in '99 and pitched in 68 games for them, all out of the bullpen.

He seems to have missed all of the 2000 season, but played for three more seasons after that in the minor leagues. For his career, Brian pitched in 121 Major League games and was 9-12 with 1 save and a 4.98 ERA.

1996 Best, Mendy Lopez

#40 Mendy Lopez

Here is a card that I picked up from Checkoutmycards for sixty cents.

Mendy's Major League career spanned parts of seven seasons with the Royals, Marlins, Astros, and Pirates. He was a utility infielder that played all four spots and a bit of outfield. He saw the most significant playing time as a rookie for the Royals in 1998. That season, he got into 74 games and had 206 at-bats. That was the only season that he ever had more than 100 at-bats. He hit .243 that year with 10 doubles and 15 RBI.

Mendy would play in just 117 games over the next six seasons. The only time he got decent playing time was when he came back to the Royals in 2003. That year, he got into 52 games and had 94 at-bats. He had career highs in home runs (3) and average (.277) that season.

While Mendy was never a star player, or even a regular, he is held high in Royals lore. On Opening Day in 2004, Mendy hit a three-run pinch hit home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the ballgame. The Royals went on to win the game. It was supposed to be the home run that was going to jump start the team's season, as they were picked as the favorites by most people. But, the team never got it going and Mendy was sold to the Korean League after playing in just 18 games.

Even though Mendy hasn't played in the Majors since '04, he kept on playing in Mexico through last season.

1990 Best, Brian McRae

#276 Brian McRae

Here is another Brian McRae card. This one was signed at Royals Fanfest in 2013.

This card comes from the 1990 Best set. This was a year before Best teamed up with Classic and sold their minor league cards to the masses. While these cards did come in packs, I encountered very few of them. In fact, I think the only packs I ever bought came from a vendor at a flea market.

I like the lack of a border on the front, but it would be much better if all of the pictures were not posed. Still, there are some good cards in the set such as Bernie Williams, Jeff Bagwell, and Frank Thomas.

I think this card is kind of strange because Brian is wearing his Memphis Chicks hat and road pants, yet an actual Royals batting practice jersey. I have no clue where the picture was taken, but it doesn't really look like a Florida Spring Training park. Maybe the Royals provided all of their minor league affiliates with Royals batting jerseys back then just to help cut down on cost. Who knows?

1990 Best Memphis Chicks, Stu Cole

#4 Stu Cole

Here is another card that I got signed in Colorado Springs this summer. This one was signed by Stu Cole, the Sky Sox manager.

Unknown to me at the time, Stu saw a bit of Major League action in 1991 as a Royals September call-up. Since the only card I could find of him was a minor league card, I just figured that he was a career minor leaguer. But, that was not the case and I was actually surprised to see that Stu did appear in two different Topps set. He was in 1992 Stadium Club and 1992 Topps Debut, a set I had never heard of before. I knew Topps put out a Debut set in 1990, but I had no idea that they did it more than once.

Stu got into nine games with the Royals that September and October and he went 1-7 at the plate with a run and two walks. The one hit he did have set up a twelfth inning walk-off walk for the Royals. He only started one game during the call-up and it was on the final day of the season. On that day, most of the regulars got the day off and the Kansas City Royals basically put the Omaha Royals out on the field that day. Here are some of the names that filled out Hal McRea's lineup that day- Bobby Moore, Harvey Pulliam, Jorge Pedre, and Tim Spehr. Stu was eventually pinch hit for in the bottom of the ninth by some guy named George Brett, who struck out looking.

After that season, it was back to the minors for good for Stu. He played for four more seasons, spending the final three with the Sky Sox, the team he currently manages.

2000 Team Best Rookies, Mike Thompson

#197 Mike Thompson

Here is a Padrograph from former Padre, Mike Thompson. Make pitched in the Majors for parts of two seasons, 2006 and 2007. In 2006, he made 16 starts and had 3 relief appearances with the Padres. He had a record of 4-5 with a 4.99 ERA while striking out only 35 in 92 innings of work.

In 2007, Mike pitched exclusively out of the 'pen for the Padres and he only logged 15.2 innings of work. In that time, he had no record and an ERA of 6.90 while striking out 5 and walking 7.

After the '07 season, Mike signed with the Pirates. He pitched in the minor league system in 2008 and then apparently called it quits after the season was over.

This is the first card that I have seen from this set. The set is a little boring and it reminds me of the 1990 Best set. The only thing that changed on the front of the card between the two sets is that the 2000 set has the card number on it and the Team Best logo. I do like the idea of having guys from the Rookie Leagues in the set, though. It seems a bit odd, but at least those guys have some cards in a semi main stream set.

1990 Best, Andy Tomberlin

#265 Andy Tomberlin

Here is the second of three cards that I got signed by Andy at the Rickwood Classic last month.

The reason why I picked out this card to get signed is simple. Prior to this autograph, I did not have a card from this set signed. Now I have one and I doubt that I will be able to add many more.

I got this card in a pack in 1990 or 1991. I'm not one hundred percent positive, but I think that the these were the first minor league cards that I ever bought. I'm not even sure where I bought these, but for some reason I want to think that I picked them up at a flea market. I bought one or two packs of these and I haven't seen any more since. So, I only have a small handful of cards from the set and I am now lucky enough to have one signed.

Can anyone tell me what kind of bat Andy is holding in the photo?

1999 Team Best, Vernon Wells

NN Vernon Wells

Here is the last of my checkoutmycards purchase. I was able to acquire this one for $1.25. I felt like that was a very good price for an autograph of a two-time All Star and three-time gold glover. I'm sure Vernon has some autographs in some newer sets that would cost at least five dollars, so I am very happy with my pick up. Plus, unlike most newer autographs, this one is on-card.

Vernon was an All Star in 2003 and 2006. 2003 was his best year and he had career highs in all of the major offensive categories, including average (.317), home runs (33), doubles (49), and RBI (117). After his All Star season of 2006, the Jays rewarded Vernon with a seven year, $126 million contract. I think that the contract is back-loaded, but it averages out to $18 million a year.

Since signing that contract, Vernon hasn't had more than 20 home runs or 80 RBI in a season. The one season that he hit better than his career average was 2008 and he missed a third of the season to injuries. Last year, he put up respectable numbers (.260, 15, 66), but nothing close to the numbers you would expect from someone making $18 million dollars a year.

According to Baseball Almanac, Vernon made just under $5 million in 2009. Maybe he is basing his stats on how much he is getting paid at the time. If that is the case, then he better have 50 homers and 140 RBI in 2014 while he is probably making close to $25 million.

1998 Team Best, Ryan Minor

#31 Ryan Minor

Here is a cool minor league card that I won in a contest last year. The contest was held by the Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff, and all I had to do was answer a simple question. I had name all of the professional teams that drafted Ryan. The trick to the question was the Ryan was also drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. He obviously chose the baseball route instead.

His playing career lasted ten seasons. During that time, he got into 142 Major League games in a four year span with the Orioles and Expos. He only hit .177 in those games with 5 home runs. The Dodgers even experimented with using him as a pitcher, but that plan was short-lived. After a few seasons of playing and coaching in the Atlantic League, Ryan is now the batting coach for the Delmarva Shorebirds.

Ultimately, Ryan will probably be remembered as the guy that replaced Cal Ripken Jr. when Cal decided to end the streak.

I thought that it was kind of neat that he is now coaching the same team that he is playing for on this card. Obviously, the Shorebirds are still around and they are still affilated with the O's.

1998 Best, Braden Looper

NN Braden Looper

This card of former reliever/now starter, Braden Looper, is one of the few cards from 1998 that wasn't sent to me by another blogger. In fact, I got this card in one of the strangest places. You know those packages of cards from Target that has 100 random cards in it and a couple of junk wax packs? I actually bought one of those once and I got this card in it. I was so happy about it that I went and bought another one. I wasn't so lucky on the second one and I never bought any more.

Looper, a Wichita State alum, used to close for the Marlins and Mets. As a Met in 2004, he recorded a career high 29 saves. He then went to St. Louis and pitched in relief for a year before Tony LaRussa decided to turn him into a starter. He has started since 2007 and his numbers aren't that great. He is 38-33 with a 4.76 ERA and 295 strikeouts. His career ERA is 4.15, so it was probably under 4 as a reliever.

This is actually my fourth card that I have posted of the Prince William Cannons. The previous three were of Yankee farmhands. This one is from their affiliation with the Cardinals.

I probably don't have to say it because it is so obvious, but I will anyway. Braden Looper has one of the worst signatures that I have ever seen.

1997 Best Lancaster Jethawks, Jim Slaton

#2 Jim Slaton

Believe it or not, this is actually the third Jim Slaton card that I have posted on here. I got all three cards signed at an Oklahoma Redhawks game in '08 while Jim was the pitching coach for the Las Vegas 51s. The first two cards were posted in this blog's infancy over a year ago. The first one was posted in August of '08 and the second one was done in October of '08. So far, that is the biggest gap between cards that were signed together.

I didn't say much about Jim in the first two Jim Slaton posts, so I will take care of that now. Jim had a 16-year career with the Brewers, Tigers, and Angels. He made one All Star team as a Brewer in 1977 as he went on to record a career high 17 wins. After the season, the Brew Crew shipped him to Detroit for Ben Oglivie and then was able to sign as a free agent the following season. He had a career 4.03 ERA and he is the Brewers all-time leader in wins, innings, starts, and shutouts. He started coaching after his playing days and he was still the Dodgers AAA pitching coach this past season.

As for this card, I got the team set for cheap at a Lancaster JetHawks game last year. The 'Hawks revamped their logo prior to last season and they were trying to get rid of anything with an old logo on it in their gift shop. So I was able to pick up two or three old JetHawk team sets and a California/Carolina League All Star set for a buck or two each. It is hard for me to believe that it takes a logo change to drop the prices of old team sets. It amazes me that some teams keep trying to sell five to ten year old team sets for the usual eight or nine dollars. You would think that they would drop the price after a year or two.