1991 Line Drive AAA, Johnny Guzman

#536 Johnny Guzman

Just like the last card I posted, this one was also given to me by Rod, from Pardographs, when we met up at a Hillsboro Hops game in 2015.

While I was familiar with this card, since it was in my collection, I was not familiar with Johnny Guzman as a player. Like most of the players in the Line Drive sets, I just assumed that he never played in the Major Leagues. Turns out I was wrong. Johnny logged 8 innings in the Majors with the A's in 1991 and '92. While he did earn one win, it was a rocky 8 innings. He ended up striking out 3 and only walking 2. But, he gave up 9 runs on 19 hits to the tune of a 10.13 ERA. In Johnny's defense, he did not allow a home run and he was 21 or younger in each of his appearances.

In his one win, Johnny entered a tie game with two outs in the eighth with two runners on. After going to a full count, he got the Tigers Lou Whitaker to ground out to the second baseman to end the inning. The A's came up in the bottom half of the inning and put up a six spot to secure the victory. Some guy named Dennis Eckersly came out for the A's and pitched the ninth inning.

Johnny would go on to pitch only one more season before calling it quits at the age of 22. Though coming out of the Dominican Republic back then, it is hard to say if that was his actual age or not. But, that is pure speculation on my part.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Charlie Manuel

#99 Charlie Manuel

Here is another random card that was given to me by Rod, from Padrographs. This sucker is a little bent out of shape. But, it is an autograph from a World Series winning manager, so I don't really care.

Did you know that Charlie Manuel managed the Indians for parts of three seasons? I'm not sure what I was doing those three years, but I do not remember that at all. He is ingrained as a Phillie in my mind and that is all I can picture him as.

But, before managing in the Majors for twelve seasons and making the playoffs six times, Charlie spent six seasons managing AAA ball with four different clubs. Over those six seasons, his teams made the playoffs twice.

Before becoming a manager, Cornbread Charlie played in the Majors for parts of six seasons with the Twins and Dodgers. During that time, he hit .198 with 4 home runs and 43 RBI.

With this card, I have autographs from the manager and two coaches of the Sky Sox in this set. Jim Gabella and Rick Adair were the coaches and you can see their dual signed card here.

1991 Line Drive AA, Tom Carcione

#281 Tom Carcione

Here is a card that I got this past summer while I was in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was on our College World Series trip. When we make the trip, we usually camp out at a small state lake in Iowa. But, the state park was changed to a day use only park with no camping. When I found that out, I looked into another state park in Nebraska. But, with the chance of severe thunderstorms for the weekend, we opted to stay in a hotel in Lincoln. It is a little out of they way, but is so much cheaper than Omaha during the series.

So, the night we got to Lincoln, we went to a Lincoln Saltdogs game (American Association). I had cards of two of their coaches to get signed and got them both before the game started. We only stayed four or five innings. True to the weather report, it rained cats and dogs for almost an hour. Luckily, we made it out of the park before it came and sat out the storm at Blue Blood Brewery.

Tom played five seasons in the A's minor league system, reaching AA in parts of three of those seasons. For his affiliated career, Tom was a .229 hitter with 19 home runs and 151 RBI.

Tom is the Saltdogs hitting coach.

1991 Line Drive, Kenny Lofton

#614 Kenny Lofton

Here is a card that was signed by Kenny Lofton at this year's College World Series. Kenny was signing at the Capital One booth and I was able to get a handful of cards signed there.

It amazes me how different the autograph lines are at the College World Series Fanfest. The main one is the AT&T booth. They have been there since I started going in 2008 and they always have the big names, though one year they were kind of lacking. Sometimes, other booths will have signings and they are completely different from the AT&T booth. On a Saturday and Sunday, you can only get through the AT&T booth one time. But, if you go to another booth, you can go through the line multiple times. This year, John Kruk signed at the AT&T booth one day and the Buick booth the next. Even though John will talk to you like he has known you for years, you were only going to get through the AT&T booth once whereas I could have gone through the Buick booth multiple times if I still had more cards to get signed. Not that it mattered for Kruk as I saw him sign eight cards for one guy.

I guess all I am saying is that I was able to get about six cards signed by Kenny because I was able to go through his non-AT&T line multiple times. It helped that he didn't really interact with the fans, which is obviously not a good thing. When I had him sign this card, I said "I bet you didn't spend much time in Tuscon". He just chuckled to himself and then said "no".

Turns out he did play 130 games for the Toros. Considering he skipped AA, that was way more than I thought.

This is the last of the Line Drive cards. For some reason, I got a bunch of 1991 cards signed over the last couple of years. I've been posting '91s since the beginning of June and I still have nine more to go.

1991 Line Drive, Leo Garcia

#256 Leo Garcia

Here is the second card that I got Leo Garcia to sign at Spring Training this year. Leo is the batting coach for the Dodgers Pioneer League team, the Ogden Raptors. He signed two cards for me and the first one can be seen here.

Since I could only find two minor league cards of Leo, I assumed that he never played in the Majors. WRONG! It turns out that Leo had two stints with the Reds in the late '80s. He got into 31 games in 1987 and went 6-30 with 8 runs, 2 RBI, and a home run. He got into 23 games the following year and was 4-28 with 2 runs and a double. For his career, Leo hit .172.

Speaking of being wrong, something funny happened to me the other day at a Wingnuts game. Earlier this year, the Sioux Falls Canaries had signed Chris Duffy and I had been planning on going to a game in Wichita to get some cards signed. And by Chris Duffy, I assumed that it was this Chris Duffy, the former Pirate.

Turns out that it was this Chris Duffy. See any differences?

Luckily, it was obvious that it was the wrong Chris Duffy and I did not make an ass out of myself.

1991 Line Drive AAA, David Rosario

#215 David Rosario

Here is another Spring Training autograph from this year. This one features the former minor leaguer David Rosario. David is pitching coach for the Cubs Midwest League team, the Kane County Cougars, and he signed two cards for me after the minor leaguers worked out the day I was there. The other card he signed was this same card. So, if anyone needs it, let me know.

David played most of his minor league career in the Cubs organization. He started off going 3-10 in his initial minor league season as mainly a starter. After that, he worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen and he gradually worked his way up the ladder. He reached AAA in his fifth season as a pro, but he never got the promotion to the Majors.

He pitched five seasons in AAA, with three different organizations, before retiring after the 1993 season. He made a brief comeback in 1998 in the Atlantic League and a briefer one again in 2001. My guess is that he was a pitching coach at the time and stepped in when the team was hurting for pitching. I saw the Wingnuts do that a couple of years ago with their pitching coach. If that was indeed the case, his Atlantic League teams fared much better with him than the Wingnuts did.

When I got this card signed, David had to think for a bit about how he should sign it. He obviously went the vertical route.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Razor Shines

#194 Razor Shines

Seeing this card makes me realize that Impel got a little carried away with their "Pre-Rookie" label for this set. By the time these cards came out, Razor Shines Major League career was over. He had made his Major League debut eight years earlier and then played in his final game in 1987. I realize that the "Pre-Rookie" label is part of the card and cannot be taken away from certain player's cards. Maybe they should have just dropped the label for the AAA set.

Razor signed this card, and one other, for me on this years Spring Training trip to Arizona. He is the manager of the Dodgers AA team in Chattanooga and he signed for me after the minor leaguers morning practice.

Razor played in the minors for sixteen seasons and nine of them were spent with the Indianapolis Indians. That has got to be some kind of modern day record. Even when the Indians changed affiliation from the Expos to the Reds in 1993, Razor stayed with the club. He ranks fifth in games played for the franchise, third in home runs, fourth in doubles, and second in RBI. The Indians all-time leader in games and RBI played for the club ninety years ago.

The Indians hosted "Razor Shines Day" in 1993 and there is apparently a suite named after him at Victory Field. The Indians even gave out a bobblehead of him in 2003.

1991 Line Drive, Mike Butcher

#428 Mike Butcher

Here is a card that I got signed at a Royals game last summer. Mike is the pitching coach for the Angels and he was nice enough to sign a couple of cards for me before the game.

Mike seems to have a friend that lives around Kansas City because I was able to get the cards signed as they were talking it up by the fence. I mention that because he did it again this past Sunday. It looked like Mike was getting interviewed on the Angels pregame show and then he went into the camera bay area and talked up his friend for a good twenty minutes. I would have got some more cards signed then, but I got them all signed last year. I apparently need more Mike Butcher cards as he is an easy autograph in Kansas City.

Looking at Mike's minor league stats, I am surprised that he ever made it past AA. He spent three seasons in the Texas League and he posted ERA's of 6.55, 6.21, and 5.22. I guess getting his ERA under six earned him a promotion to AAA. He responded there with a 3.07 ERA and stint with the big league club. Shows how much I know.

1991 Line Drive AA, Dave Jorn

#25 Dave Jorn

Here is a card that I unexpectedly got signed in Manhattan, Kansas last year. Dave is the pitching coach for Arkansas and they made the trip north to play in the Regional hosted by Kansas State. Since it was the first Regional ever hosted by K-State, I bought session passes and then reworked my work schedule to make most of the games. Before leaving town, I checked the coaching staffs to the non-Kansas schools and found that Dave had a card that I actually had in my collection. How about that? I was able to get the card signed on the first day of action before the Razorbacks were upset by Bryant.

Dave pitched in the minors for White Sox and Cardinals for six seasons. He was mainly used as a starter and made it all the way to AAA. He didn't do too well at that level in his nine starts and he retired after the 1981 season. He started coaching at Arkansas in 1983 and was their pitching coach for six seasons. He left the college game to join the Yankees minor league coaching staff in 1989. He stayed a minor league coach/manager through 2001 and then rejoined the Arkansas staff in 2003 and has been there ever since.

Some of the Arkansas pitchers to work under Dave include Dallas Keuchel, Drew Smyly, and Duke Welker.

I have no idea who Bob Mariano is and I have not yet taken the time to look him up. But if anyone has any clues, please let me know as I would love to get this card completed.

This is the third straight Yankees card that I have posted. That may never happen again.

Update: Bob apparently is the manager for the Fresno Grizzlies. I have sent out one TTM request to a AAA manager this year and have not received it back yet. What should I do? Do I send it out and try to get it completed or just keep it as it is? I'm leaning with testing my luck.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Rick Adair/Jim Gabella

#100 Rick Adair and Jim Gabella

I originally posted this card about two and half years ago and that post can be seen here. The original post only contained Jim Gabella's signature, so I am re-posting the card now that I have been able to add Rick Adair's signature to the card.

A few weeks ago, I was browsing the blogs when I noticed a post on The Great Orioles Autograph Project that included a signed Orioles postcard of Rick Adair. I didn't even realize that Rick was with the O's now and I left a comment asking Ryan what Rick's signing habits were. The O's are in Kansas City in May and I have tickets to one of the games. So, I was basically just trying to gauge what my chances of getting Rick's autograph at that game were going to be like.

Much to my surprise, Ryan emailed me the next day saying that he was heading down to Florida for Spring Training and that if I sent the card to him, he would try to get it signed for me. So, I did just that and Ryan obviously got it signed.

Thanks a lot, Ryan! I really do appreciate it.

This is definitely the oddest card that I have signed by two people. The photos are split up a little differently than usual. But, both coaches signed the card at the same angle as the line that divides them and it came out looking great.

This is actually the second card that is signed by two players that Ryan has helped me out on. A few years ago, he got the ball rolling on a 1987 Fleer John Stefero/Kevin Seitzer card. You're the best, Ryan!

1991 Line Drive AAA, Terry Clark

#607 Terry Clark

Here is the third and final Terry Clark card that I got signed in Omaha this summer. Terry is the pitching coach for the Round Rock Express and he signed this card prior to a game in July.

I really have nothing else to say about Terry that I hadn't already said in the previous two posts. But, I will say this:

First- I love how well the blue Sharpie came out over the red jersey. The signature just pops off the card.

Second- I think it is funny that Line Drive dubbed this set as "pre-rookie" even though Terry and yesterdays post, Robbie Wine, had actual rookie cards in base sets in the late '80s. Maybe 'pre-rookie" is not the best moniker for a AAA set.

And Last- If I did not know any better, I would think that Terry's name is Ty Clark, based off his signature.

One Last Thing- Terry is still rocking the mustache.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Robbie Wine

#572 Robbie Wine

Here is the third and final Robbiw Wine card that I got signed at a Wichita State game this past spring. Robbie is the head baseball coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions.

This card shows Robbie as a member of the Tidewater Tides. The funny thing about this card is that Robbie never played a game for the Tides. Robbie's Baseball Reference page lists 1990 as his final season as a player and that season was spent with the Indians AA team. So, I guess that the Mets signed him after that season and assigned him to their AAA team and then cut him before he ever appeared in a game for them? Sounds good to me. At least he was around for photo day to take this nice posed shot.

I went to the Royals game today and it could have been a good day for 'graphing if the weather would have cooperated. It had been cloudy all day, but the rain stayed away. But, shortly after the gates opened, it started to sprinkle. I still got a few signatures, but it would have been much better if it was dry. I missed out on the White Sox Matt Thornton, Sergio Santos, and Chris Sale because I didn't want to get my cards signed while it was sprinkling. If you have ever tried 'graphing cards in wet weather, it is usually not a good idea. The smallest sprinkle of rain on a wet Sharpie signature shows up real easily and if the Sharpie hits a water drop on the card, you end up with a two-tone signature. Either way, it is not good. About half of the cards that I did get signed today had one of those two problems associated with it.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Bill Dancy

#499 Bill Dancy

Here is the second and final card that I got signed at the Rickwood Classic by the manager of the Tennessee Smokies. You can see the first card here.

Bill played professionally for six seasons in the Phillies and Mets systems. He made it up to AAA, mostly as a middle infielder, and he actually spent parts of four seasons at that level. But after his playing days, he went into coaching and that is where I cannot find much information on him. There is nothing on the Smokies site about him and all that Wikipedia has to say is that he was the Phillies third base coach from 2005-06. Other than that, I know nothing about his coaching career. I wish that there was some sort of site out there that listed all of the coach's stops. I'm sure that it would be hard to put together, but it sure would be a useful tool if it could be done.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Andy Tomberlin

#445 Andy Tomberlin

Here is the third and final Andy Tomberlin card that I got signed at the Rickwood Classic. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

All three cards that I got signed by Andy are minor league cards. He had a few Major League cards available, but I do not have one. I could have picked one up on checkoutmycards.com before I left for my trip. But, I spent $50 on the site buying cards of the minor leaguers that I would be seeing and I figured that the cards I had would work just as well. So I held off.

Speaking of Andy's Major League career, it spanned parts of six seasons with the Pirates, Red Sox, A's, Mets, and Tigers. The most games that he ever got into in one season was 63 with the Mets in 1996. He finished his career with a .233 average with 11 home runs and 38 RBI.

I like the team logo on this card. It is different than the one used by CMC in 1990. Any team logo that puts the ballpark's name in it is alright by me.

The Richmond Braves are no longer around. They moved to the Atlanta suburbs and are now the Gwinnett Braves. Richmond has a new team and they are the Flying Squirrels. They play in the Eastern League (AA).

1991 Line Drive AA, Steve Foster

#158 Steve Foster

Here is the second of three cards that were signed for me earlier in the year by the Royals bullpen coach. Speaking of him being their bullpen coach, every time I see Steve on TV, he always has on a pair of catcher's shinguards. He obviously is a former pitcher and I have never seen him behind the plate in the bullpen, but he always looks like he is ready. I was amazed when I got this card signed that he didn't have them on yet. I thought that I wasn't going to be able to recognize him without them, but I got lucky and he was the only person in the pen at the time.

Steve is playing for the Chattanooga Lookouts on this card. The Lookouts are still playing in the Southern League, but they are no longer affiliated with the Reds. They are now part of the Dodgers organization.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Jim Gabella

#100 Jim Gabella

I got this card signed the day before the Futures Game when I went to a game in Burlington, Iowa. Jim is the manager of the Burlington Bees. He signed both cards I had of him, this one and a Bees team card.

Jim never made it to the Major Leagues. In fact, he never made it above A ball. A majority of his time in pro ball has been as a coach or manager in the minors. In this card, he is a AAA hitting coach. Close to twenty years later, he is managing a low A team. I couldn't find out much more about him, but I think that it would be safe to assume that he has been coaching in some sort ever since he quit playing in 1980. I'm sure that he knows a thing or two about the game.

The other guy on the card is the pitching coach for the Mariners. I didn't get to see them play this year. But the next time I do, if Rick is still with them, I will try to get him so sign it.

I typed this post last night since I am out of town for a few days. I'm running short on time, so there will not be any posts on Saturday. I'll be back on Sunday and will have a couple of cards up then.

If you are not a Yankee, Mariner, or Tiger fan (or Twins), make sure to root on Zack Grienke tomorrow when he takes on the Twins on Fox.

1991 Line Drive, Shane Reynolds

#572 Shane Reynolds

Here is another card that I got signed at the Astros Fanfest. Luckily, this is the first Shane Reynolds card that I have to show on here. Shane was in the first group of alumni that I was able to get signatures from that day. The others at his table were Larry Dierker and Scipio Spinks. Unfortunately, Scipio was a last minute addition and I did not have any cards of him with me. So, all I got signed was a Astros produced 4x6 of the inside of Minute Maid Park. Most of the other players had a 4x6 with their picture on it, but not Scipio.

Anyway, back to Shane Reynolds. Like all of the alumni, he signed all of my cards. I tried to find one of him with some team other than the Astros (or Astro minor leaguer) and came up empty handed. So, the other two cards feature him as an Astro. Before I went on my CWS trip I was looking through a binder that had mostly 2003 cards in it. Of course I found an '03 UD Vintage card of Shane as a Brave. I wish I would have looked through that a few months sooner.

This card depicts Shane as a Jackson General of the Texas League. The Generals played in the league for nine seasons. I am not sure where they moved to after that, but I suspect Round Rock. The Generals were named for former president Andrew Jackson. Jackson was in the military prior to his term in the White House and he fought in the War of 1812 and the First Seminole War. There is a little ballad about him called the "The Battle of New Orleans". That song is the battalion song of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment, the most decorated battalion in the United States Army. Luckily, I was one of the few tankers to have the honor of being a part of that regiment.

1991 Line Drive, Tim Bogar

#626 Tim Bogar

This is the second of three cards that I got signed in Kansas City last summer. At the time, Tim was the quality assurance coach for Tampa Bay. Next season, he takes over as first base coach for the Red Sox.

The last card that I showed of Tim had him in AAA. This card came out the next season and it has him back in AA. Speaking of AA, this card is of the Williamsport Bills. Williamsport now has a short season A team, the Williamsport Crosscutters. Of the four AA cards that I have shown from this set, two cities dropped down to A ball, one dropped down to independent ball and one moved up to AAA. I guess that goes to show how the economics of minor league baseball work.

These cards were made by Impel. They came in two sets, one of AA cards and one of AAA cards. After this, it's back to Major League cards until I get to 1992 Classic/Best.

Also, I think that I'm going to start off the new year with a contest. I have never done a contest on here, so I'm looking forward to it. So keep checking back during the next few days if you might be interested.

1991 Line Drive, Steve Shifflett

#417 Steve Shifflett

I got this card signed in the winter of 1993 at the mall when the Royals Caravan came to town. He came to town the same year as Kevin Koslofski. I mentioned in my Koslofski post that Kevin thought that the Ft. Myers card was pretty cool. But, now that I think about it, I think that Steve thought that the Ft. Myers card was cool. He wasn't nearly as impressed by his Memphis card.

1992 was the only year that Steve appeared in the Majors. He made 34 appearances and pitched 52 innings while posting a 2.60 ERA. Not bad for non-drafted rookie. The next year (and the year after that), it was back to Omaha. Then he split time in 1995 between Iowa and Colorado Springs, not doing too well at either place. That was his last season in pro ball.

I'm sure Steve wasn't the first one-season relieving wonder, and he surely won't be the last.

As for minor league ball in Memphis, the fans in that city now get to watch the Cardinals AAA team, the Redbirds.

1991 Line Drive, Al Martin

#211 Al Martin

I got this card signed through the mail in the early '90s while Al was with the Pirates. If it wasn't for this card, I would have forgot that he was ever in the Braves organization.

Al was the starting left fielder for the Pirates for eight seasons. In 1999, he hit a career high 24 home runs. After that season, he was traded to San Diego for John Vander Wal. He was having a decent season there before being shipped off to Seattle at the trade deadline. He finished the season there and was back with the M's the next season, too. The next year, he was signed by the Cardinals, but was cut in Spring Training. He ended up sitting out that year but was back the next year with the Devil Rays. He played in 100 unproductive games for the D-Rays, and that was the end of his career.

This card shows Al as a Greenville Brave. A few years ago, the team moved to Pearl, Mississippi and are now known as the Mississippi Braves. They are still the AA affiliate of the Braves. Greenville, on the other hand, got a new ballpark and dropped down a level to the South Atlantic League. The new team is called the Greenville Drive.