The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck Heroes

#88 Brad Penny
#142 Felix Pie

I guess this set was kind of an Upper Deck version of Topps Heritage. In the early '90s, Upper Deck had Heroes insert cards that focused on a different player each year and this set mimics those inserts. The 2008 version was a 200 card set that featured past and present stars along with some rookies. And the set had about a bazillion parallels of numbered variations. You could pull base cards numbered to 25, 49, 99, 149, 199, 249, 299, 399, and 499. It was a little ridiculous.

Brad Penny- I got this card signed by Brad at a Twins game in 2012 while he was with the Tigers. I missed out on getting a card signed by Brad while he was on a rehab assignment in Oklahoma City in 2008 because I did not know about the assignment. So, I was happy to make up for that at the Twins game and was pretty excited to get a relic signed by him. Five years later, I would add six more autographs from him to my collection when he played for the Kansas Stars.

Felix Pie- This is the third and final card that I got signed by Felix at an Orioles game in 2009. I was thinking that I got an Orioles card signed by Felix, but that is not the case. After having about 100 Cubs cards made of him in 2007 and '08, he only got three base cards in 2009 as an Oriole.

The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck First Edition

#271 Rob Johnson
#278 Luis Mendoza
#297 JR Towles
#327 Kerry Wood
#408 Oliver Perez
#422 Wilson Betemit
#425 Bobby Abreu

I am not really sure what is going on with this set. I guess that it was Upper Deck's version of Topps Opening Day in that it lacks foil (although '08 Opening Day had foil). While all seven cards are foil-less, the cards come in two variations. The first three cards are from the main release of First Edition and the cards are glossy and they say "First Edition". The last four cards are from First Edition Update and the cards have no gloss and they do not say "First Edition". I have no clue why they switched up between the two releases, but I obviously prefer the non-gloss cards for getting signatures.

Rob Johnson- I didn't have much to choose from when I got Rob's autograph at a Rangers game in 2008. So, it was this card and his base Upper Deck card.

Luis Mendoza- Luis never pitched for the Red Sox. But, I guess this was the only photo Upper Deck had of him when they decided to make this card. Luis signed this one for me after the Royals home opener in 2012.

JR Towles- JR must have been a bigger prospect than Rob Johnson because I had a lot more options for cards with JR than I did with Rob. JR signed for me after a Round Rock Express game in 2008.

Kerry Wood- I got Kerry to sign at a Royals game in 2009 while he was with the Indians. Needless to say, but I was super-excited to get his autograph.

Oliver Perez- Speaking of the Indians, Ollie signed this card for me just last season when Cleveland came to The K. I saw the Indians play in Kansas City twice last year and Ollie signed both times. I took three cards to get signed the first time and he signed two of them. I got the third card signed when I saw them again a month later.

Wilson Betemit- I got Wilson to sign this card for me from the Royals parking lot in 2010.

Bobby Abreu- Bobby signed for me during batting practice at The K in 2009 while he was with the Angels.

The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck, Part II

#407 Doug Davis
#427 Luis Hernandez
#446 Felix Pie
#518 Reggie Abercrombie
#526 Mark Teahen
#549 Delwyn Young
#670 Vincente Padilla
#712 Elliot Johnson
#98-JK Jason Kendall

Here are the last of the 2008 Upper Deck base set.

Doug Davis- Doug signed this card for me at an Oklahoma Redhawks game in 2012. He was playing for the visiting Omaha Storm Chasers.

Luis Hernandez- Luis signed this card for me after batting practice at The K in 2009 during his one season with the Royals. He would later go on to play for the Wichita Wingnuts. But, by the time he was in Wichita, all of my cards of him were already signed.

Felix Pie- I was able to get Felix by the Orioles dugout on my last visit to Camden Yards in 2009.

Reggie Abercrombie- Though he never played for the Wingnuts, he played in the American Association long enough for me to get multiple autographs from him throughout the years. This one was obtained in 2016 while he was with Winnipeg. He was still with the club this past season at the age of thirty-eight.

Mark Teahen- Mark was always a great signer while with the Royals. This is one of the cards that he signed for me by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Delwyn Young- I got Delwyn to sign two years ago while he was a member of the second, and last, incarnation of the Kansas Stars.

Vincente Padilla- Vincente signed for me at a Royals game in 2008. His Rangers were taking batting practice at the time.

Elliot Johnson- Elliot signed for me at a Scranton-Wilkes/Barre Yankees game in 2009. He was playing for the visiting Durham Bulls at the time.

Jason Kendall- Jason worked as a special adviser for the Royals for a few seasons and I was able to get this card signed outside The K in 2013. That day, I had just this one card of him and it was on the same page as two Emilio Bonifacio cards. When I gave him my book to sign, he said "dude, that's not me". When I pointed out his card, he was like "oh, I was going to say I'm not black".

2008 Tristar Prospect Plus, Jay Jackson

#FH-JJ Jay Jackson

Here is a card that I pulled out of a pack in 2009. While I bought quite a few packs of 2008 Tristar Projections, I only bought one pack of Prospect Plus. That one pack yielded this autograph, so it worked out well.

Jay made his Major League debut with the Padres as a September call-up in 2015. He appeared in six games and posted a 6.23 ERA with 4 strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work. Jay got released after the season and he took his craft to Japan for the next three years. Playing for the Hiroshima Carp, Jay went 10-8 with 2 saves and a 2.10 ERA while striking out 192 batters in just 176 innings.

He came back to the States this season and was signed by the Brewers. It has worked out well for him as he has been on the big league roster since mid-July. This time around, he has so far pitched 24.1 innings and is 1-0 with a 4.81 ERA and 37 strikeouts.

With the big white border on this card, it looks like this card should have came out of the Projections set instead of this one.

The Rest of 2008 Tristar Projections

#83 Darren Ford
#90 Josh Horton
#198 Mitch Einertson
#256 Josh Vitters
#320 Salvador Sanchez
#399 Desomd Jennings

Darren Ford- Unlike the last card of Darren that I got signed at a Sacramento River Cats game, this one was pulled out of a pack. I actually bought the pack at the Kauffman Stadium gift shop for eight bucks just because it also came with an Eric Hosmer card. It worked out well as I eventually got the Hosmer card signed and I got an auto in the pack.

Josh Horton- I love the way this card looks. Josh's loopy blue signature just looks like it was made for this card. It is perfect. It definitely came out a lot better than the last card of him I posted when I had him sign in black. This card was signed at a Tulsa Drillers game in 2010 while he was playing for Midland.

Mitch Einertson- Mitch played for the Wingnuts for parts of two seasons and I was able to get this card signed at one of their games in 2012.

Josh Vitters- I got this card signed in Hoover, Alabama in 2010 while Josh was playing for the visiting Tennessee Smokies.

Salvador Sanchez- Sal signed this card for me the day after I got Vitters to sign. This time, though, it was in Birmingham at historic Rickwood Field for the 100th anniversary of the ballpark.

Desmond Jennings- I got Desmond to sign at the 2009 Futures Game in St. Louis.

The Rest of 2008 Topps Heritage, Part I

#7 Joey Gathright
#42 Jason Jennings
#96 Mark DeRosa
#123 Sam Fuld
#144 JR Towles
#152 Brian Bannister
#211 Mike Sweeney
#269 Horacio Ramirez
#417 Nate Robertson

Joey Gathright- I got this card signed by Joey by the Royals parking lot in 2008. Back then, he was signing just his initials. I got him five years later at an American Association game and he was signing his full last name at that point.

Jason Jennings- Speaking of the American Association, Jason did some time there in 2011. He signed this card for me at an Amarillo Sox game in 2011 while he was a member of the Grand Prairie AirHogs.

Mark DeRosa- I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2009. Mark was with the Indians at the time and he signed during batting practice.

Sam Fuld- Sam signed this card for me between games of a doubleheader in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009. He was playing for the Iowa Cubs.

JR Towles- JR signed this card for me after a Round Rock Express game in 2008.

Brian Bannister- I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2008.

Mike Sweeney- This card was given to me by Uncle Moe in 2009. I probably sent him some cards for his 2008 Topps set and he hooked me up with a few autos in return.

Horacio Ramirez- Horacio signed for me from the Royals parking lot after a game in 2008.

Nate Robertson- I got this card signed by Nate at a card show in Wichita in 2015.

2008 Topps Chrome, Kevin Hart

#224 Kevin Hart

This is a card that I picked up in a trade in 2008 or 2009. Jim from http://jamheat67.webs.com/ saw some Cubs cards on my blog that he needed and we worked out a trade. I sent him a Brian McRae, Les Lancaster, and Juan Guzman card and I got this one in return. I think he might have got the better end of the deal, but what are you going to do?

Kevin had a relatively short Major League career. After breaking in with the Cubs in 2007, he threw his last Major League pitch with the Pirates in 2009. Over that span, he was 6-11 with a 5.27 ERA.

Despite the short career, he did have one postseason appearance. In the 2007 division series against the Diamondbacks, he came in to relieve Ted Lilly in the fourth inning of game two. He did not allow a hit in his inning of work, yet he still managed to allow two earned runs to score. He came in with a runner on third and one out and proceeded to strike out the two batter he faced. He came back out in the fifth and walked two of the three batters he faced. He got yanked from the game and two relievers managed to allow his two runners to score. So, he postseason stat line is 2 walks and 2 K's with an 18.00 ERA in an inning of work.

The Rest of 2008 Playoff Contenders

#8 Byron Wiley
#32 Josh Vitters

That is it, just two posts from Playoff Contenders. There was just one new guy and two repeats.

I never bought any packs of this product. I just bought a few singles in the hope that I could get them signed. Overall, they are not bad cards to get autographed. The lack of a background helps out by making the auto that much easier to see.

But, one thing that I do not like about these cards is that they say "ROOKIE" in big font right across the front of the card. I think that just looks tacky and takes away from what is only an average looking card at best. Plus, and I know it is a small sample size, none of the three guys I posted were even rookies in 2008. Two are in their college unis and the other is maybe in a Spring Training uniform and sporting a snap back. The earliest any of the guys made the Majors and officially became a rookie was Chase d'Arnaud in 2011.

Byron Wiley- I got this card signed at a Wingnuts game in 2014. I believe Byron was playing for the Laredo Lemurs at the time. I like this card just because he is rocking his Kansas State digs in the photo, though it is not quite as cool as the card I linked to.

Josh Vitters- This card was signed at the same time as the last two cards of him I posted- at the 2009 Futures Game. Those were all the cards I had of him at the time, but I would eventually run into him a couple of years later and add two more signed cards by him to the collection.

2008 PCL Top Prospects, Sam Fuld

#5 Sam Fuld

In 2008, I found myself at a Round Rock Express game and I ended up picking up this Top Prospects set. My thinking was that I could probably get quite a few of them signed. It turns out that I could only get three signed in the eleven years I have had the set. I got one that day, one the next month, and one the next year. This is the one I got in 2009. Sam was playing for the Iowa Cubs still and I got him in Des Moines between games of a doubleheader.

Sam spent parts of eight seasons in the Majors with the Cubs, Rays, A's, and Twins. Over that time, he hit .227 with 12 home runs and 112 RBI. One of his best seasons was in 2014 and it was also his craziest. He started off the year with the A's, but got picked up off waivers by the Twins in late April. He stayed with Minnesota up to the trade deadline when he was traded back to the A's for Tommy Milone. So, the A's basically traded a decent pitcher for a player that they had designated for assignment three months earlier. You do not see that everyday.

Over the course of that 2014 campaign, Sam played in 113 games and had a career high 351 at-bats. He finished the season a .239 hitter with 4 homers and 36 RBI.

Sam hit just .197 for the A's in 2015 and retired after that season.

2008 Goudey, Alfonso Soriano

#33 Alfonso Soriano

Last year, for a brief four month span, Alfonso Soriano was signing autographs through the mail. I noticed it in August. By Thanksgiving, it was over. Luckily, I sent this one card to him in the middle of October and I had it back before the honey hole dried up. I thought I might have been too late on the action, but it made it back home in about two weeks time.

It is always nice when a six time All Star starts randomly signing cards through the mail. But, I am sure that he got overwhelmed real quickly and that is why he gave it up. On SCN, there are probably over 125 successes listed on there and that is just from the people that bother to track their successes on the site. Who knows how many requests he actually got during that time.

Nonetheless, I was able to add an autograph to my favorite set from 2008 for a dollar in postage. I will take it.

Alfonso played in the Majors for sixteen seasons with the Yankees, Rangers, Nationals, and Cubs. Over that time, he hit .270 with 412 home runs and 1,159 RBI. He played in the postseason five times, including two World Series appearances. He had over 100 RBI four times and hit 30+ homers seven times, including a career high of 46 with the Nats in 2006.

The Rest of 2008 Donruss Threads

#65 Danny Duffy
#69 Ryan Patterson
#DK-6 Josh Vitters

We hit the about everything in this set, from a Hall of Famer to a career minor leaguer and everything in between. While Donruss Threads is not the most appealing set of 2008, it sure is a great set to get signed. With the overexposed white border, the signatures really pop off the card.

Danny Duffy- He signed this card for me prior to a Royals game in 2011. It looks like he is the last active Major League player that I have posted from this set, though he is hurt and yet to play this year.

Ryan Patterson- It has been just over seven years since I have posted a Ryan Patterson card. The last couple I posted were signed while he was a Wingnut in 2010. This one was signed the year before when he was with the Ft. Worth Cats and it was signed at a Lincoln Saltdogs game.

Josh Vitters- I posted the first Josh Vitters card less than a week ago. This one was signed at the same time as the first.

Up next comes my favorite set from 2008- Goudey.

2008 Donruss Threads, Josh Vitters

#95 Josh Vitters

Here is another card that I got signed at the 2009 Futures Game in St. Louis. Josh was representing the USA club and was nice enough to sign three cards for me that day. A year later, he would sign two more cards for me at the Rickwood Classic in Birmingham.

Josh, a former number three pick by the Cubs, would only play in 36 Major League games. In 2012, he was tearing up the Pacific Coast League. Through 110 games, the twenty-two year old was hitting .304 with 17 home runs and 68 RBI. The Cubs called him up to the big leagues and he would hit just .121 in 99 at-bats over the final two months of the season.

It was back to the minors in 2013 and, after hitting just .213 in AAA in 2014, Josh was out of baseball.

He came back in 2016 and joined a team in the Atlantic League and he struggled. He dropped down to the American Association in 2017 and struggled there. Last season, he played in the Can-Am League and could only muster a .247 average at that level at the age of twenty-eight. I would be very surprised if he got signed by a team this year, but you never know.

Anymore, I only go 'graphing with a blue Sharpie. That obviously wasn't the case in 2009. But, the last two cards I posted from this set were signed in black and they both look great. Some sets are just like that.

2008 Donruss Elite, Josh Harrison

#57 Josh Harrison

I only bought a few packs of 2008 Donruss Elite, but I was lucky enough to pull this card out of one of them. At the time, it was just a sticker autograph of a minor league player that I had never heard of. Now, it is not that bad of a pull.

Josh was originally drafted by the Cubs in the sixth round of the 2008 draft out of Cincinnati. A year later, he was dealt to the Pirates to shore up some pitching for a playoff push that never materialized. It worked out great for the Pirates, though, as they ended up with a two-time All Star and key piece to their good teams a few years back.

During Josh's eight seasons in Pittsburgh, he would hit .277 with 52 home runs and 269 RBI while playing everywhere except center field, first base, and catcher. He made All Star teams in 2014 and 2017 and had his best statistical campaigns in those two years, though his 2014 season was probably the better of the two. That year, he had career highs in average (.315), doubles (38), and runs (77).

Josh became a free agent after this past season and will be joining the Detroit Tigers this year.

Unlike the other 2008 draft picks that I have posted from this set, Josh is not sporting his college digs in this photo. He is instead pictured in the minor league uniform of the Boise Hawks.

2008 Bowman, Welington Castillo

#BDPP82 Welington Castillo

Here is another card that I got signed at an Iowa Cubs game. The last card I posted from an I-Cubs game was signed in 2013 during an out of the way game during the College World Series. This one was obtained in 2011 on the way home from a Minnesota Twins game.

Welington was a super-friendly guy that would sign about anything. I had three cards of him and he signed all three. One kid had over a dozen cards of him and he signed them all, but not without giving the kid crap about selling his autographs. He was just joking with the kid and it was good to see that kind of interaction between a fan and player.

So far, Welington has played in the Majors every year since 2010. He spent the first five and a half seasons with the Cubs before bouncing around after that. Since 2015, he has played with the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Orioles, and is now currently with the White Sox.

To date, he is a .259 hitter that has 86 home runs and 298 RBI. His best season was probably with the Orioles in 2017. That year, he hit .282 with 20 homers and 53 RBI.

He signed a two-year deal with the White Sox after that, but had a rough season last year in his first year with the South Siders. Injuries limited him to just 49 games, though he did hit .259 with 6 dingers and 15 RBI in his limited action. I am sure he will be looking to bounce back this season so the Sox will pick up his option for 2020.

2008 Allen & Ginter, Geovany Soto

#118 Geovany Soto

Here is a card that I got signed at a Royals game in 2012. And by I, I really mean my future wife at the time. The two of us went to a weekday game against the Rangers and Geo was the starting catcher that night. He was out in the visiting team bullpen loosening up and I talked my future wife into asking for his autograph. I like getting autographs by the bullpen, but they usually consist of coaches or back-up catchers catching a bullpen session. Geo was down there by himself and I made my future wife ask for him to sign. I figured that he wouldn't sign since he was getting ready, but, in the off chance he did, he would be more willing to sign for a cute little female than my big, bearded ass. It actually worked and he even signed all three cards for her.

Unfortunately, my wife's autographing days are behind her. Ever since we had a little one, she gets tasked with watching over him while I do my 'graphing. One of these days, though, he will be 'graphing at my side and I may once again be able to put her to work for me.

Geo is one of those guys that had a monstrous rookie season and was never able to replicate it. He went off in 2008 with a .285 average, 23 home runs, and 86 RBI en route to an All Star Game selection and winning the National League Rookie of the Year. Even though he would play in the league for nine more seasons, he would never come close to those numbers again. By the time I saw him play that day in 2012, he wasn't even a .200 hitter any more. In fact, he barely reached double digit home runs in a season that he was traded for a minor league player that would never make the Majors.

In 2009, I went to an Iowa Cubs game and was impressed enough by a catcher's chest protector that I took a picture of it. It is Geovany's from the 2007 season when he was the Pacific Coast League MVP.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Josh Donaldson

#59 Josh Donaldson

Here is one of my most recent in-person autographs. If you recall, Josh Donaldson was traded to the Indians late this past season. Even though he was pretty much injured when he got traded, he managed to make it into sixteen September games for The Tribe. When I went to a game for the final series of the season in Kansas City, the Indians were in town and, apparently, Josh is a great signer. He signed for quite a bit during batting practice and even signed all three of the cards I had of him. I was quite impressed.

Even though Josh never played a game for the Cubs, I still thought that I should take this card with me. Along with this card, I also got a Blue Jays card and an A's card signed. All three featured a rushed looking ballpark signature, but one had one more loop in it than the other two. This is not that one. In fact, it looks like Josh had a hard time staying on the card with this one.

Although Josh managed to hit .280 for Cleveland during that final month of the regular season, the trade didn't really work out for them. They were going to win the division and make the playoffs with or without Josh. They were banking on him to help them during that postseason and that just didn't happen. Josh was 1-11 in the Division Series as the Indians were swept by the Astros.

Nevertheless, Josh was able to get a quick deal done this off-season and will be joining a new organization next year. On November 26th, the Braves signed him to a one year, $23 million contract. I was surprised to see him jump on a one year deal so soon, but, after last off-season, I can't say that I blame him.

1988 Iowa Cubs Procards, Damon Berryhill

#537 Damon Berryhill

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by Damon Berryhill at Spring Training in 2014. Damon was the manager of the Dodgers AAA affiliate at the time and he was nice enough to stop and sign while moving between practice fields. I posted the first card of him later that season and it can be seen here. The second one was posted Sunday and that one can be seen here.

Damon Berryhill is a guy I remember from my younger days and I was surprised to see that he was usually a backup catcher. Backup catchers usually do not stick with me over the years. Damon could have stuck with me because of his unusual last name. But, I am willing to bet that I remember him because he played with the Cubs and so many Cubs games were on WGN when I was a kid.

Back then, I would watch a lot of Cubs games just because there was never anything good on in the middle of the afternoon. While I do not have cable or satellite TV these days, I highly doubt that the Cubs get airtime on WGN like they did in the '80s and '90s. I wouldn't even be surprised if they were not televised on that channel at all.

This is just the second card from this team set that I have got signed. Jim Wright signed one for me in 2010 and that card can be seen here. I would like to get the Mark Grace card signed for the set, but that has not happened yet.

1988 Donruss Rookies, Damon Berryhill

#31 Damon Berryhill

Here is the second of three cards that Damon Berryhill signed for me at Spring Training in 2014. Damon was the manager of the Dodgers AAA team at the time and I got him during the minor league morning practice. I posted the first card the same year I got it signed and it can be seen here.

Damon spent parts of five seasons with the Cubs. Over that time, he saw significant playing time for two seasons. And by significant, I mean that he started nearly half of the games behind the plate. That was during the 1988 and '89 seasons and he did well those years. He hit .259 in '88 and .257 in '89. Those were two of the four seasons in his ten year big league career that he hit over .250. That is not too bad for a .240 lifetime hitter.

Damon left the Dodgers system after the 2015 season and he ended up managing the Braves AAA team this summer. The Gwinnett Braves finished the season at .500, 71-71, 15 games back of the International League champion Durham Bulls. Make that the AAA champion as the Bulls beat the Memphis Redbirds tonight to take the crown.

1987 Fleer, Dennis Eckersley

#563 Dennis Eckersley

Here is the second of three cards that I got signed by Hall of Famer, Dennis Eckersley, at the College World Series in 2014. Those were the good days when they brought in former players to sign autographs. I got a lot of great signatures over the years while they were doing that. But, on the other hand, it is kind of nice that they don't do it anymore. The signings were kind of a distraction and made it hard to watch baseball. I would leave games early to get in line or hang out in line while the people I was with went into the game to get a seat. Now I just get to relax and watch competitive college baseball. And not get autographs from Hall of Famers.

My wife actually got this particular card signed for me. In fact, she got two signed. I gave her this one and an A's card and told her to pick one out. Being indecisive, she was unable to do that, so Eck went ahead and signed both for her. Since he signed two, he did not add the Hall of Fame inscription like he did with the '81 Donruss he signed for me.

Dennis pitched for the Cubs for two and a half seasons. He was dealt to Chicago for Bill Buckner during the '84 season. After starting the season 4-4 with the Red Sox, he went 10-8 with the Cubbies and posted a 3.03 ERA. The next season, he was 11-7 with a 3.08 ERA. In 1986, he went 6-11 with a 4.57 ERA. The Cubs traded him to Oakland right before the start of the '87 season for three minor leaguers that would never play in the Majors. Eckersley would never start a game again and would go on to punch his ticket to Cooperstown as the A's closer.

1981 Donruss, Mick Kelleher

#513 Mick Kelleher

This card is one of my longer waited TTM returns for this set. I sent this card to the Yankees, whom Mick was a coach for, in 2013. I got it back three days shy of a full two years later. The only other card I got signed from this set that was out for that long was my Paul Molitor card. Unfortunately, I do not know exactly how long that one took to come back.

Mick played in the Majors for eleven seasons with the Cardinals, Astros, Cubs, Tigers, and Angels. He was a light hitting middle infielder that never hit a Major League home run in just over 1,000 at-bats. He was a .213 hitter for his career.

Since most of the photos used for the '81 Donruss set were shot in Chicago, it is rare to see a Cubs road uniform. That is too bad since the Cubbies were rocking some powder blue road unis in 1980. I am pretty sure this is the only instance of a road Cub that I have posted from this set on here. It looks like the photo was taken at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, but I might be wrong.

'81 Donruss Tracker: #221