2008 Just Minors

#27 Chris Getz
#46 Daniel Mayora
#60 Derrick Robinson

I only have three cards signed from this set and all three feature players that have been posted on here before. So, I get an easy day today.

Chris Getz- This card was signed at Royals Fanfest in 2013.

Daniel Mayora- I got this card signed at Dodgers Spring Training in 2014. To my surprise, Daniel is still playing ball. He is playing in Mexico, where he has played since 2017.

Derrick Robinson- Derrick signed this card for me in 2009 while he was a member of the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Derrick last played pro ball in 2017. In 2016, he played in the American Association and I was bummed that I could not find his 2013 Topps Update card to get signed at a game. It was in my collection, but missing in action.

I find it strange that this is a minor league set, but it really doesn't focus on the minor leagues. I know three cards is a small sample size, but only one of the three shows a definitive minor league uniform. While the other two could possibly be minor league unis, they could just as easily be Spring Training shots. The backs have no mention of the minor leagues and don't even tell you where the players played the previous season when the racked up the stats that are listed.

2007 Just, Jason Berken

#JA-04 Jason Berken

This is the second card of Jason Berken that I have posted in here. The first one was posted in 2011 and that card was given to me by Ryan, from The Great Orioles Autograph Project. This one, too, was given to me by Ryan. But this one came from him in 2013.

Jason pitched in the Majors for parts of four seasons. He mainly played for Baltimore, but he did have a brief stop with the Cubs in 2012. Over those four seasons, Jason pitched 248.2 innings, splitting them almost equally as a starter and a reliever. He holds a career 10-20 record with a 5.36 ERA and 163 strikeouts. His best season was his first season coming out of the pen for the O's in 2010. That year, he was 3-3 with a 3.03 ERA.

Jason still pitches and has spent the past three seasons playing AAA for three different organizations. He just finished up the 2015 campaign pitching for the Phillies AAA team in Lehigh Valley. He went 5-8 with a 4.61 ERA for them.

2000 Just, Chris George

#BA14 Chris George

Here is another COMC pick up. This one features the Chris George that played for the Royals, not the one that played for the Brewers. This card set me back $1.09.

Chris pitched for the Royals for parts of four seasons. The former first round draft pick got his first call up in 2000 when he was just twenty-two years old. He made 13 starts and went 4-8 with a 5.59 ERA. That would be the lowest ERA he would post as a Major Leaguer. He made just six starts for Kansas City the following season and was 0-4.

In 2003, Chris made the Royals rotation out of Spring Training and got off to a splendid start. He won his first two games while allowing only 3 earned runs over twelve innings. The wheels started to fall off, though, in his third start when he gave up eight earned runs to the White Sox in under five innings. His season flamed out of control after that and he was sent down to Omaha in July. Even though he was leading the team in wins at the time, his ERA had ballooned to 7.11. It didn't help that he had walked 44 batters and given up 22 home runs in 93.2 innings.

Chris got a shot with the Royals in 2004, but continued to pitch poorly. In just 42.1 innings, he had a 7.23 ERA and a strikeout to walk ratio of 3:5.

Chris never pitched in the Major Leagues after that stint, but he continued to pitch at the AAA level through the 2012 season. He finished his career with 1244.1 AAA innings pitched with a 68-74 record and a 4.98 ERA. That was slightly better than his big league numbers, 14-20 and a 6.48 ERA.

This is a funky looking card that Just put out. I am not sure if they were trying to be artsy, or what, but I am not a big fan of this blocked-out look. Chris does have a good looking signature, though.

1999 Just Minors, Eric Byrnes

NN Eric Byrnes

Here is a card that I picked up of Eric Byrnes for cheap from COMC. This one set me back a whopping sixty-nine cents. You cannot beat that.

Eric played in the Majors for parts of eleven seasons with the A's, Orioles, Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Mariners. He hit .258 for his career with 109 home runs and 396 RBI. He was only an everyday player for four seasons, two with Oakland and two with Phoenix, and he put up some good numbers during three of those seasons (20+ home runs, 70+ RBI). He even started to steal some bases when he got out of Oakland and topped out with 50 with the D-Backs in 2007.

That was probably his best season. Besides the career highs in stolen bases, he also had highs in average (.286) and RBI (83). Things took a turn for the worse the following season, though, when Eric was limited to just 52 games. He landed on the disabled list that season for the first time in his career and ended up hitting just .209 for the season. He rebounded to the tune of .226 the next season, but was limited to 84 games. He was released by the D-Backs after the season and hooked on with the Mariners the following year. His tenure lasted 15 games before getting released and he called it a career.

Since retiring, Eric has had various broadcasting duties with multiple networks. I believe he currently works for the MLB Network.

I really like the signature on this card. It looks much better than the one on the 2005 card on his Baseball Almanac page.

2004 Justifiable, Brian Anderson

#1 Brian Anderson

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest ten months ago. I was lucky to get this card signed since I didn't go through the line where Brian was signing. Instead, I was waiting in line for the second group of signers and if you want to guarentee that you get to go through the line, you have to be in line before the first group is done.

So I was standing in line waiting for the first group to finish so the second one could come up. When the first group was finally done signing, they all got up and left. Luckily, Brian didn't make it too far. He apparently ran into someone he knew and stopped to talk to them. I didn't think he was going to stand there too long since he was right beside the autograph line. But, he was still talking after a minute, so I went over there to get my card signed. I don't like going up to people that are talking just to interupt them for an autograph, but Brian made it easy for me. I stood off to the side with my autograph book and Brian just reached over and grabbed it and signed my card without missing a beat in his conversation.

Brian was a questionable addition to the Royals last off-season. He was one of the first free agents the Royals signed and, to me, it seemed like the Royals had signed a player that they already had in the form of Mitch Meier. It then got stranger when the Royals added Scott Podsednik and Rick Ankiel. In Spring Training, Brian ended up being the odd man out, so the Royals did what any other team would do and they converted Brian to a pitcher.

He pitched in 17.1 innings this season between three levels of minor league ball and he posted a 2.08 ERA with 17 strikeouts and five walks. The Royals outrighted Brian to AAA on Wednesday, but he opted to become a free agent. So all the National League teams should be on the prowl. The next Brooks Kieschnick is available on the free agent market.

This is the only 2004 Justifiable card that I have signed and I love it. This set was meant to be signed.

Brian is playing for the Winston-Salem Warthogs on this card. There is still a team in Winston-Salem, but they are now called the Dash (after the dash between Winston and Salem). The Dash are still affiliated with the Chicago White Sox.

1999 Just Minors, Pablo Ozuna

NN Pablo Ozuna

Here is another signed minor league card that was sent to me by Padrograph Rod. This one features the former Marlin, Rocky, White Sock, and Dodger utilityman, Pablo Ozuna.

Pablo played in the Majors for seven years. During that time, he spent time playing every position except pitcher and catcher. If he was still playing today, maybe he would have taken Omar Infante's spot on the All Star team.

Actually, Pablo is still playing. He just signed on with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League a few days ago.

On this card, Pablo is playing for the Portland Sea Dogs. The Dogs are still members of the Eastern League, but they have shed there teal for some navy and red as they are now affiliated with the Red Sox.

Unfortunately, the card back is one of those "congratulations on recieving a limited edition autograph card of Pablo Ozuna from Just Minors", so I have no idea what position Pablo is listed as on it.

2000 Just, Shane Heams

#244 Shane Heams

Here is a card that was sent to me by Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff. It is always cool when a package arrives from Paul. While Paul wants an autograph from every single Mets player, he is also like me in the fact that he will take an autograph from anyone he can get. A good example of that is this card of Shane Heams.

Shane never made it to the Major Leagues, but he did get a few looks at the AAA level. That's not too bad considering that he was the 1138th pick in the 1994 draft by the Mariners. In his first season of pro ball, he was an outfielder that hit .197 in 61 at-bats. He was then converted to a pitcher and he pitched two seasons with the AZL Mariners before getting released and picked up by the Tigers in 1998. By 2000, Shane had made it up to AAA and also represented the USA in the Olympics, helping to bring home the gold.

Unfortunately, Shane didn't do too well at AAA as he spent parts of the next three seasons there. The best ERA that he had in his four AAA stints was 5.53 in 14.2 innings. It looks like he retired after the 2002 season. He then reemerged in 2004 with the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League. He pitched for them for two seasons before finally hanging them up for good.

Shane is pitching for the West Michigan Whitecaps in this card (at least that is what the card says). The 'Caps are still playing in the Midwest League and are still affiliated with the Tigers.