The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck Timelines

#85 Rico Washington
#95 Yaz Yabuta
#186 Chris Smith
#196 Joakim Soria
#328 Brandon Jones

This set was basically an Upper Deck version of Topps Archives. While some of the cards had their own borders made just for the set (see Washington and Yabuta), most of the cards were inspired by some Upper Deck cards that came out in the '90s.

Rico Washington- Rico signed this card for me at a Winguts game in 2010 while he was with the Kansas City T-Bones.

Yaz Yabuta- Yaz signed this card for me after a Royals game in 2009. He was in the parking lot and about to hop in his card before coming over and signing two cards for me.

Chris Smith- Chris spent a season playing for the Wingnuts in 2013, which is when he signed this card for me. When I last posted a card of Chris in 2015, he was pitching in the Padres system. The following year, he made it back to the Majors with the A's and pitched in 27 games with them between 2016 and 2017. He finished his career with a 1-4 record with a 5.41 ERA.

Joakim Soria- Joakim signed this card for me from the Royals parking lot in 2010. That was probably the last year that you could get a decent amount of autographs from the Royals lot.

Brandon Jones- I got this card signed by Brandon in 2014 at a Wingnuts game. He was playing for the Sioux Falls Canaries at the time.

The Rest of 2008 Topps Heritage, Part II

#472 Manny Corpas
#479 Tony LaRussa
#532 Willie Bloomquist
#561 Mike Aviles
#628 Esteban German
#670 Joakim Soria
#672 Taylor Teagarden
#RP2 Mike Aviles

Manny Corpas- This is the second card that Manny signed for me at a Royals game in 2010 while he was still with the Rockies.

Tony LaRussa- I got this one signed through the mail in 2009. I sent him his '81 Donruss card to sign and threw this one in with it. I still need to get an A's card signed by him and maybe even a card from his playing days. In case you are wondering, it looks like Tony still signs through the mail. If you need his autograph, send it care of the Boston Red Sox.

Willie Bloomquist- Willie signed this card for me in Minneapolis when I went to the Twins final regular season series at the Metrodome. Willie was playing for the Royals at the time.

Mike Aviles- I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot in 2009. Before leaving for Kansas City that week, I went by my local card shop to see if he had this card. He did not, so he opened packs until he pulled this one for me.

Esteban German- Esteban signed this one for me at Royals Fanfest in 2009.

Taylor Teagarden- I got this one signed in Springdale, Arkansas in 2010 while Taylor was playing for the Frisco Rough Riders. He was nice enough to sign for me from the dugout after the game.

Mike Aviles- In case you couldn't tell by the super thin signature, this card was signed at the same time as the other Aviles card on here. It was a regular Sharpie, so I am not sure why it came out so thin. He must have just been grazing the surface of the card with it.

On a side note, I almost posted one of these cards of Mike Aviles as its own post. Then, after a quick search, I realized I posted his 2006 Bowman card way back in 2011. Yikes! It took me eight years to get from my 2006 cards to my 2008s.

2008 Bowman, Bryan Anderson

#BDPP96 Bryan Anderson

Here is a card that I got signed at an Omaha Storm Chasers game in 2016. Bryan was playing with the visiting Nashville Sounds at the time and he stopped and signed three cards on his way to the field.

At the time, Brian was rocking some long hair. It looked similar to his picture on his Baseball-Reference site, but it was past his shoulders at that point. He looked more like a roadie than a professional ballplayer. It was quite impressive.

Bryan had a relatively short Major League career. Though he played in the bigs during five different seasons, he only got to play in 40 Major League games. Of those 40, only 16 were starts.

Bryan's last season playing ball was that 2016 minor league season. Over his 40 games with the Cardinals, White Sox, and A's, he was a .221 hitter with 4 doubles, no home runs, and 7 RBI. He finished with more strikeouts than hits.

2008 Bowman, Shane Peterson

#BDPP33 Shane Peterson

Here is a card that I got signed in 2010 at a Tulsa Drillers game I attended. Shane was playing for the visiting Midland RockHounds at the time. It took a few tries to get him to come over and sign, but I eventually got him before he went back into the clubhouse.

Shane has played parts of three seasons in the Majors. He got his first taste of action with the A's in 2013 when he got into 2 games with them. He then played in 93 games with the Brewers in 2015. His last big league action came with the Rays in 2017 when he got into 30 games. Over those 125 games, Shane has hit .254 with 4 home runs and 28 RBI. Since this is an odd year, maybe he will resurface on a Major League roster at some point in the year.

After spending last season on the Padres AAA team in El Paso, it looks like Shane will be heading to Dodgers camp next week as a non-roster invitee. So, more than likely, he will be spending his summer in Oklahoma City.

Shane was originally a second round pick of the Cardinals out of Long Beach State. The Cards dealt him to the A's when they landed Matt Holliday. Even though the A's also got two other players in that deal, I think that the Cardinals got the better end of that deal.

2005 Topps Total, Cal Eldred

#613 Cal Eldred

Here is a card that I got signed this past summer in Kansas City. Cal is the pitching coach for the Royals and I was able to get him to sign some cards for me from the bullpen at one of the games that I went to. When he saw this card, he made sure to tell me that he wasn't the one I needed to sign this card. That is no joke and I doubt that I will ever be able to add Adam to it.

While Cal signed three cards for me that evening, and this is the first of those three to get posted on here, this is not the first card of him to ever appear on this blog. I sent Cal a TTM request in the mid-'90s and I posted that card nine years ago. That card, a '93 Fleer, was glossy and unprepped and the signature bubbled up pretty good. But, you can still make it out and it is cool to see that Cal's signature has not changed a bit in nearly twenty-five years. He has, of course, added a Bible verse and his number to his autograph.

Speaking of his number, he wore 21 during that majority of his career. But, in his three seasons with the Cards, he wore 23. Considering that there are hardly any cards of him from his time in St. Louis, it is cool that he signs his correct number when given the chance.

During Cal's time with the Cardinals, he was 12-6 with 9 saves and a 3.41 ERA.

When I got Cal to sign this card, it was during Player's Weekend. The name on the back of his jersey was "Corn Fed". I asked him about that and he said it was because he was always a bigger guy and that it didn't help that he was from Iowa.

2004 Bowman Heritage, Blake Hawksworth

#320 Blake Hawksworth

Here is a card that I got signed at the College World Series last summer. Blake was the pitching coach for Cal State Fullerton and I was able to get him to sign two cards for me prior to a game in which his pitching staff blew a lead against Oregon State. Somehow, this autograph got smudged and I have no clue how it happened.

It is not very often that I get autographs from coaches at the College World Series, but I have got a few. Off the top of my head, I have got Mike Benjamin, Mike Birkbeck, Ray Heyward, Lars Davis, and Chris Valaika. Considering that I have been going to the CWS every year for a dozen years now, you can see that autograph chances with guys that have cards are pretty scarce.

Blake pitched in the Majors for three seasons with the Cardinals and Dodgers. Over that span, he was 10-13 with a 4.07 ERA in 183.1 innings of work. His best season was with the Cards in his rookie season, 2009. That year, he was 4-0 in 30 appearances out of the pen and had an ERA of 2.03.

Cal State Fullerton seems to go through pitching coaches pretty rapidly. The year before Blake was the pitching coach, Chad Cordero had the role and some other guy had the job this season. Right now, the Titans do not even have a pitching coach listed on their website.

2003 Upper Deck 40 Man, Jeff Fassero

#445 Jeff Fassero

Here is the third and final card of Jeff Fassero that I got signed at a Reds Spring Training game last year. Jeff is the pitching coach for the Reds AAA affiliate in Louisville and he was nice enough to stop and sign on his way to the dugout. I posted the first card of Jeff, a nice-looking Expos card, earlier this year and it can be seen here. The second card I posted can be seen here.

Jeff arrived in St. Louis just before the 2002 trade deadline after being sent over by the Cubs for a pair of players to be named later. He made 16 relief appearances with the Cards and was 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 18 innings. He helped the Cardinals make the postseason and pitched well in relief there, as well. In the Division Series against the D-Backs, Jeff picked up two of the three victories for the team, tossing 2.2 innings of shutout ball in the three game sweep. He only pitched in one game of the NLCS against the Giants, facing two batters and getting them both out. That was the closest that Jeff had ever come to playing in the World Series.

He spent all of 2003 with the Cardinals and did a bit of everything. He appeared in 62 games, which included 6 spot starts, and racked up a 1-7 record with 3 saves and a 5.68 ERA. Despite the lofty ERA and being 40 years old, he still had something left in the tank and pitched for three more seasons with the Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Giants.

Jeff spent parts of sixteen seasons in the Major Leagues and went 121-124 with 25 saves and a 4.11 ERA.

This has got to be one of the best looking Jeff Fassero cards out there. I am glad that I had it in my collection and was able to get it signed.

2003 Upper Deck, Brett Tomko

#407 Brett Tomko

Here is a card that I got signed at the NBC World Series two years ago when the Kansas Stars made their first appearance there. The Stars were a roster of former Major League players competing in a tournament against college kids. Even though Wichita hosts the tournament every year, I never bothered to go until the Stars came around.

When I went to the Stars first game, I got there really early to try to get players as they showed up to the ballpark. That was a bust as all the guys came on a bus and the bus didn't stop outside of the park; it backed up into the gates. So, I went inside and it was a madhouse in there. There was a game going on at the time, so I made my way to the outfield to see if I could get some players by the clubhouse and batting cages. To my amazement, I was the only person out there and I quickly nabbed Brad Penny and Roy Oswalt after they concluded interviews with the local news outlet.

Shortly thereafter, another guy joined me out there. And then one more. We tore it up for about a half hour until a crowd gathered out there with us. Then the fun police came out and shut us down. They threw up a PVC fence to keep everyone away from that area. So, I went back to the third base line to join the madhouse and I only got two guys to sign for me there. That was nothing compared to the forty cards I got signed by the clubhouse.

This year's NBC World Series started up this past weekend and, sadly, the Stars are not a part of it. That is too bad since 'graphing the Stars games the last two years had definitely been my 'graphing highlight each season.

1993 Donrus, Ozzie Canseco

#336 Ozzie Canseco

Here is the fifth and final card of Ozzie Canseco that I got signed during his days in the American Association. Ozzie was the hitting coach for the Sioux Falls Canaries and I got this particular card signed at a Wingnuts game in 2016.

Ozzie's career in St. Louis lasted all of fifteen games. He played in nine games in 1992 and six in 1993. Over his 54 at-bats with the organization, he hit .239 with 5 doubles and 3 RBI. Despite playing in just nine games in '92, Ozzie still managed to appear in six different '93 sets- Bowman, Donruss, Pacific, Pinnacle, Score, and Stadium Club. That was one of the benefits of having more than one company making cards, there was more opportunities for lesser players to have cards made of them.

Between Ozzie and his twin brother, Jose, they have a combined 462 home runs between the two of them. The only problem is that Jose hit all 462 of those bombs. Despite hitting over 100 home runs in the affiliated minor leagues, Ozzie was not able to knock one out of the park in any of his 74 Major League plate appearances.

Nonetheless, Ozzie was super nice the two times that I met him and seemed to appreciate signing for me. At the very least, he liked seeing the cards I had of him as it really took him back.

Here are the other four cards that I got signed by Ozzie.

1992 Skybox AAA, Ozzie Canseco

#124 Ozzie Canseco

Here is the fourth card of Ozzie Canseco that I have to show on here. Ozzie was the hitting coach for a season and a half with the American Association's Sioux Falls Canaries. The four cards were signed on two separate occasions at Wichita Wingnut games.

Ozzie had a few minor league cards that were available in packs, but this is the only one I have. It comes from the Skybox set that looks nearly identical to the Line Drive set from the previous year. How or why the two sets look nearly the same is unknown to me. I do know that I have very few of the Skybox cards, so I probably wasn't very impressed with the copycat look.

Ozzie was released by the A's after the 1990 season. He went to Japan in 1991 (though I can find no stats for him) before coming back to the States for the 1992 season. He spent most of '92 in Louisville and he hit 22 home runs for them, the most he ever hit in a single season at any level.

1991 Score, Donovan Osborne

#677 Donovan Osborne

Here is the third and final card that I won in a Twitter contest in 2015. This card was actually the main prize and the other two cards were just thrown in. Those two cards featured Eric Bullock and Don Slaught.

Donovan pitched in the Majors for nine seasons. He spent the majority of the time with the Cardinals, but spent the last two with the Cubs and Yankees. Over his career, he racked up a 49-46 record with a 4.03 ERA.

His best season was with the Cards in 1996. That season, he won a career high 13 games while posting a 3.53 ERA and 134 strikeouts, both also career highs.

Donovan was the thirteenth pick in the 1990 draft out of UNLV. He made his Major League debut just two years later.

1991 Donruss, Rex Hudler

#599 Rex Hudler

I just posted a card of Rex four days ago. In that post, I mentioned how good the signature was on that card and that it was the best I have gotten from him. This, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of that. This is one of Rex's hurried ballpark signatures that I got from him at a game in 2016. It is so different from the one that I got four months later that it is not even funny.

If I am not mistaken, this is the seventh card of Rex that I have posted on here and I still have two more to go. On top of that, I have one more card of Rex that I need to get signed, his '85 Donruss card. When I get that one signed, I will have a card signed by him with each team he played for- the Yankees, Expos, Cardinals, Angels, and Phillies. I even have a Japanese card signed by him. Hopefully I will be able to get the Yankees card signed at Fanfest, if I am able to go.

Even though the picture on this card was taken in 1990, it still seems like a pic from the '80s with the pullover jersey. It's too bad that it is not powder blue.

1990 Topps, Ted Power

#59 Ted Power

Here is the card that I got signed by Ted Power at a Reds Spring Training game earlier this year. Ted is the team's assistant pitching coach and he stopped to sign one card for me by the dugout.

Ted pitched in the Majors for thirteen seasons with eight different clubs- the Dodgers, Reds, Royals, Tigers, Cardinals, Pirates, Indians, and Mariners. Over that time, he racked up a record of 68-69 with 70 saves and a 4.00 ERA. Ted bounced around a bunch towards the end of his career, but he did spend about half of his career in Cincinnati. It was with the Reds when he had his best season in 1985. He was 8-6 that season with a 2.70 ERA and a career high 27 saves.

I did not know it at the time that Ted signed this card, but we share a couple of things in common. We both grew up in Kansas and Ted went to high school about twenty miles from my home town. Also, we both went to Kansas State. How I did not know that he went there is beyond me.

Here is my dilemma. I have kind of started a little Royals autograph project. I have been sending out TTM requests to random former Royals that I do not have autographs from. All of the cards that I send out feature the player with the Royals. So, I obviously have Ted's autograph. But, I do not have a Royals card signed by him. Ted seems to be a good TTM signer. Do I send out a Royals card of him to sign or just be happy with the one?

1990 Leaf, Milt Thompson

#308 Milt Thompson

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by Milt Thompson at Spring Training earlier this year. Milt was the hitting coordinator for the Reds and I was able to get him to sign while switching fields at the Reds minor league workout. At first, he told me he couldn't sign because he was working. But, once he realized I was by myself, he motioned for me to come over and he signed all three cards for me. You can see the first card I posted here and the second one here.

That first card had Milt with the Braves and the second one had him with the Phillies. Here he is with his third team, the Cardinals. He played with them from 1989-'92 and had some productive years there, hitting .274 with 20 home runs and 149 RBI with the club. His best offensive season was with them in 1989 when he hit .290 with 8 homers and had career highs in doubles, 28, and RBI, 68.

After the Cardinals, he went back to the Phillies for a couple of years before finishing up with the Astros, Dodgers, and Rockies. Unfortunately, I do not think there are any mainstream cards of him playing for those last three teams.

1986 Topps, Mike Heath

#46T Mike Heath

Here is the second card that I got signed by Mike Heath through the mail in 2014. The other card was his '81 Donruss card and that one can be seen here.

After spending seven seasons with Oakland, Mike got traded to the Cardinals after the 1984 season concluded. It was Mike's first foray into the National League and it did not go as well as he would have hoped. Through 65 games with the Cardinals, Mike hit just .205. He was doing so bad for them that they traded him to Detroit in August. Because of that, I feel like this card should feature Mike as a Tiger instead of a Cardinal.

Mike did better, though, back in the American League. He got into 30 games with the Tigers and managed to hit .265 to raise his season average up to .226. That was the lowest single season average Mike ever posted until his final season, which happened to be with another National League team (Braves).

I love the photo on this card. If that picture does not scream action shot, than nothing does. Plus, this kind of shot is rare in this traded set. If you do not believe me, just wait for the next three or four posts.

1960 Topps, Solly Hemus

#218 Solly Hemus

Here is the next card from the '60 Topps set, a managers card of Solly Hemus. I sent this card to Solly on the last day of 2012 and I had it back about two months later.

Solly had an eleven year playing career with the Cardinals and Philiies. He started out with the Cards before joining Philly for the second half of his career. Then, he rejoined the Cardinals in 1959 as their player/manager. That gig ran through June before he quit playing and was just a manager.

Solly was at the helm of the Cardinals for less than three seasons. The club finished the '59 season in seventh place with a 71-83 record. They turned it around a bit the next year with a 86-68 record, but it was only good enough for a third place finish. Then, in '61, the team was 33-41 when Solly got the ax. Johnny Keane took over and he had them in the World Series three years later.

Solly would never manage a Major League team again.

I love the layout of the mangers cards from this set. Though it is odd to have the cards so different from the rest of the cards in the set, they still came out looking good. I kind of wish that Topps had made an entire set based off of this design.

1960 Topps, Duke Carmel

#120 Duke Carmel

Here is the first 1690 Topps card of a player from eastern Missouri. And, for whatever reason, this is the third straight post where I sent the guy two cards to sign. So, there will be another card of Duke coming up next month. Anyways, I sent the cards to Duke early in 2012 and I had them both back nine days later.

Duke, whose real name is Leon, played in the Majors for just four seasons with the Cardinals, Mets, and Yankees. The New York native spent parts of two and a half of those seasons in St. Louis in 1959, '60, and '63. In '61 and '62, he ended up in the Dodgers and Indians organizations, but never made it to the big leagues with them. In fact, he got traded by the Cardinals three times. After he got traded to the Dodgers and Indians, he ended back with the Cardinals before the next season in what Baseball Reference lists as an "unknown transaction". The third time he got traded was when the Cards shipped him to the Mets.

Duke played in 71 games with the Cardinals and he hit .186 with 1 home run and 5 RBI. That one home run was a pinch hit home run in the bottom of the ninth off of Roy Face that tied the game for the Cardinals. They went on to win that game two batters later.

1956 Topps, Alex Grammas

#37 Alex Grammas

At the end of 2012, I started attending the bi-monthly card show held by Rock's Dugout in Wichita. There was one dealer there that always had a nice assortment of singles from the mid '50s through the early '70s. Back then, I would spend 95% of my time at the show looking through his stuff in search of cards of guys that signed through the mail. The guy would always cut me a good deal which brought me back every time. Because of him, I have this nice assortment of random TTMs that I am posting now.

This one features the former Cardinal, Red, and Cub, Alex Grammas. Alex was the prototypical slick-fielding/light-hitting shortstop that was the norm back in the day. He was a .247 career hitter with just 12 home runs and 163 RBI over his ten year career. His best season was probably with the Cardinals in 1959. That year, he had a career-high 368 at-bats and responded with a .269 average with 3 dingers and a career-high 30 RBI.

I sent this card to Alex in February of 2013 and I had it back one week later.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Clayton Mortensen

#7 Clayton Mortensen

Here is a card of Clayton Mortensen that I got signed at an Omaha Storm Chasers game last season. Clayton was pitching for the Chasers at the time and he was nice enough to sign two cards for me prior to the game starting.

To date, Clayton has pitched in the Majors for five seasons with four clubs- the Cardinals, A's, Rockies, and Red Sox. Originally drafted by St. Louis, he pitched in just one Major League game for them before being traded to Oakland in the Matt Holliday deal. He then pitched in seven games for the A's before being dealt to Colorado. He pitched in a career-high 58.1 innings with the Rockies in 2011 before being traded to Boston. He then lasted two seasons with the Red Sox before being traded to the Royals. He has spent the past two seasons playing AAA for the Royals.

For his Major League career thus far, Clayton is 6-11 with a 4.68 ERA. His best season came with the Red Sox in 2012 when he appeared in a career-high 26 games and posted his best ERA of 3.21 while striking out 41 in 42 innings of work.

Clayton is pictured here with the Swing of the Quad Cities. Yes, that was the actual name of the team. Usually the Quad Cities River Bandits, the team changed its name for all of three seasons before changing it back to the River Bandits in 2008.

This card would have came out looking better if Clayton hadn't signed over the dark area on the bottom of the card. But, he also signed a horizontal card that was with this one, so he must have been tilted and did not feel like coming out of it. Hence the sideways signature.

2006 Topps, John Rodriguez

#491 John Rodriguez

Here is the fourth and final card of John Rodriguez that I have to post on here. I posted the first one two and a half years ago shortly after I got it, and this one, signed at a Wingnuts game. John was in his first of two seasons with the 'Nuts and they were two highly productive seasons at that.

In 2012, John hit .332 with 16 home runs and 81 RBI. He then nearly repeated those numbers the following year when he posted a .337 average with 19 home runs and 86 RBI. John was supposed to rejoin the team for the 2014 season, but it never materialized. I thought he was going to go back to the Atlantic League to be closer to his family, but he has no stats for 2014. So, it would seem that John may have retired.

Nonetheless, John made it to the Show. He spent parts of two seasons with the Cardinals and hit .298 with 7 home runs and 19 RBI. Most of his playing time came in the 2006 season, yet it doesn't seem like he got a card in a 2007 set.

John made the Cardinals postseason roster in each of his two seasons in the big leagues. He did not do too well in October, though, as he went 0-9 with 1 run and 2 RBI. He did get one World Series at-bat, but he struck out against Detroit's Fernando Rodney. It all worked out, though, as the Cardinals won the World Series and John got his ring.