1990 Classic, Pete Rose, Jr.

#75 Pete Rose, Jr.

Over the past two seasons, Pete Rose, Jr. has been the manager of the Wichita Wingnuts. Over those two seasons, his clubs won their division and advanced to the league championship, losing both times. The Wingnuts were 122-77 under Pete and they decided to not renew his contract for next season. That kind of seems like a Yankees, or Nationals, or Red Sox type of thing to do.

In the few Wingnut games I attended over the last two years, I only got Pete to sign for me once. That was at the first game I attended last year. I had one card of him in my collection and I bought this one and one other and he happily signed all three for me.

It is always an exciting time when the 'Nuts are in a managerial search. The next one will be the fourth one in eleven seasons. As an autograph collector, I always hope for someone with Major League experience that has plenty of cards out there. The last two managers had Major League experience, but only 25 games between the two of them.

This is an interesting card of Pete, Jr. He was drafted in 1988 and played his first pro season in '89. At two different stops that season, he hit .254 with 2 home runs and 33 RBI. I guess that Classic wanted him in the set just for the name, and quite possibly the batting stance. Another interesting thing about this card is that there is not a position listed for Pete. It looks like all the cards from the set might have been like that.

1992 Classic Draft Picks, Levon Largusa

#70 Levon Largusa

Last spring, Ryan from The Great Orioles Autograph Project sent me a little card package with a few Royals and many autographs. A few of the autos were for my '81 Donruss set while the rest were just random autographs that he had laying around. Ryan knows how I am and realizes that I will take whatever I can get. That is where this awesome card of Levon Largusa from the 1992 Classic Draft Picks set comes from.

Levon was taken by the Blue Jays in the third round out of the University of Hawaii. He pitched in the Jays minor league system for four seasons, reaching high-A ball. He put up some decent numbers over his first two seasons, but he only appeared in 38 games in the four years. He was let go by the Jays and he pitched a season of independent ball in the Texas-Louisiana League. He did well enough there to earn another shot in affiliated ball and the Cubs sent him to their high-A team. He got into 14 games with Daytona, but must have been used as a LOOGY as he only pitched 8.2 innings. He gave up 16 hits and 11 runs, 8 earned, while walking 8 and striking out 5. The Cubs let him go and that was the end to Levon's career.

I am not sure where Ryan picked up this autograph. If I had to guess, I would bet that he got it while Levon was with the Hagerstown Suns.

I love the Converse cleats Levon is wearing in this pick. Wichita State was wearing Converse cleats around that time. Because of that, I was more than willing to get some Cons for my first set of metal spikes. Man, how the times have changed!

1991 Classic, Brian McRae

#T49 Brian McRae

Here is the umpteenth Brian McRae card that I have posted on here. By my count, I now have ten cards signed by him. I should have more, but I always try to get cards of him signed for other people. Otherwise, I would have a couple dozen cards signed by him.

When I saw he was going to be at Royals Fanfest again this year, I looked for some specific cards of him. My first priority was to get a Mets card of him signed. For some reason, I hadn't done that yet. Then, I had to get a couple of his minor league cards, that had been in my collection for over twenty years, signed. Then, I looked for some oddball cards and that is why I took this one. As of right now, this is the only Major League Classic card that I have signed.

I do not remember much about about the Major League Classic cards. I do know that they were not available in packs, which is why I hardly have any. I think that they were sold as a parts of a board game, but that might not be entirely correct. So, if anyone has any fond memories of Classic cards, feel free to chime in in the comments.

I will say that I love the blue border with the blue jersey and hat, though.

1992 Classic Draft Picks, Brant Brown

#58 Brant Brown

Here is the 45th, and hopefully final, post of the month. That may seem like chump-change to some of you hardcore bloggers, but I haven't had this many posts in a single month since December of 2008. But, I guess doing about a post and a half a day and running a drawn-out contest can do that to a person.

Anyway, here is the first of three Brant Brown signatures. I got this card signed in Springdale, Arkansas earlier this month while I was on my annual ballpark road trip. Brant is the batting coach of the Frisco Roughriders, the AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

By just looking at Brant's signature, it is easy to assume that this is just a hurried ballpark sig. While it is a ballpark sig, it was in no means hurried. Brant was very slow and deliberate in deciding where to sign each name on the card. I know that it looks like he signed the same thing for his first and last name, but he sure seemed to take his time about it and he tried to have the same spacing on all three cards. It may not be the best looking signature, but at least all three cards were consistent.

I now have two Classic draft pick cards signed (this one and a 4-Sport) and both of them feature a player from Fresno State. Since the College World Series just ended yesterday, I am going to throw out this tidbit of info- The 2008 CWS champions, Fresno State, were the lowest ranked team to ever win a national championship in any NCAA sport. They barely made it into the 64 team field. How 'bout that?

1994 Classic, Brooks Kieschnick

NN Brooks Kieschnick

Here is a card that I picked up from checkoutmycards for ninety-nine cents. Brooks was a Cubs first round pick that never really panned out. He played in a handful of games at the Major League level with the Cubs, Reds, and Rockies. Realizing that he wasn't getting anywhere as an outfielder, he reinvented himself as a pitcher.

Here is why I wanted his autograph. In 2003, I was watching a Brewers/Cubs game on WGN. Brooks was warming up in the bullpen. It then showed him sprinting into the dugout where he grabs a bat and helmet and then heads to the on deck circle. The batter made the third out of the inning and Brooks went back out to the bullpen to continue warming up. The Brewers pitcher made it though the inning alright, so Brooks went back to the dugout afterwards and then pinch hit for the pitcher and stayed in the game as the pitcher. I had never seen anything like it and that is the reason I wanted this card.

Brooks played for the Brewers for two seasons as a hitter/pitcher. In his first season, he posted a 5.26 ERA in 53 inning pitched while batting .300 with 7 home runs. In his second season, Brooks had a 3.77 ERA in 43 innings and hit .270 with 1 home run. I think every National league team could use a player like that.

For some reason, the Brewers released Brooks after only two seasons. The Astros picked him up for the 2005 season, but they kept him in the minors all year. That was his last season in baseball.

Brooks is playing for the Orlando Cubs on this card. I don't think Orlando has had a minor league team since 2003.

1994 Classic, Terry Bradshaw

#58 Terry Bradshaw

Was this not the Terry Bradshaw that you were expecting? What other Terry Bradshaw would be in a minor league baseball set?

I got this card signed last year in Albuquerque. Terry was the Omaha Royals hitting coach and they were in town to play the Isotopes. I got this card signed after the game when the victorious O-Royals were leaving the field. Isotopes Park, like many minor league parks, does not have access to the clubhouse from the dugout. So, the players have to leave the dugout to to get to the clubhouse. In Albuquerque, that entrance happens to be right by the dugout and it provides ample room to stand around to get autographs before and after the game.

Terry is still in the Royals organization. But he is now the hitting coach for the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

In this card, Terry is playing for the Arkansas Travelers. The Travelers are still playing in the Texas League. They are now affiliated with the Angels and have decent looking uniforms. I never realized it before, but the Travs logo says "greatest game on dirt". They apparently still use that logo. I just thought that that was funny since that is what the College World Series bills itself as.

Contest coming up later tonight.

Update- I have to work tonight. The contest post is scheduled to be posted at 6:00, central time. I have heard that the post options may be acting screwy. If that is the case, the post will appear after I get off work around 9:00.