The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck, Part I

#22 Lenny Dinardo
#36 Gregg Zaun
#146 Miguel Olivo
#162 Mike Bacsik
#185 Doug Brocail
#196 Chris Coste
#253 Kyle Davies
#336 Feilpe Paulino
#376 Brian Bannister

There are nothing but pitchers and catchers in this post.

Lenny Dinardo- Lenny signed this card for me before a game in Minneapolis in 2010 when he was with the Royals. It was at the final regular season series at the Metrodome.

Gregg Zaun- Lenny signed for me during batting practice at the K in 2009. He was with the Orioles at the time.

Miguel Olivo- I got this card signed by Miguel after a Royals game in 2008. He signed from the Royals parking lot.

Mike Bacsik- I got this card signed at a Wichita Wingnuts game in 2011. Mike was the starting pitcher for Ft. Worth that night and would not sign before the game. But, he came through afterwards, despite getting yanked in the first inning of the contest.

Doug Brocail- Doug signed this card for me at an Astros pre-season game at Minute Maid Park in 2009. Since it is dark picture, I thought that I would give the silver Sharpie a try. I did not like the results. Luckily, he was willing to go over it in blue for me.

Chris Coste- Last year, Chris got appointed to the coaching staff of the Fargo Moorehead Redhawks. So, I made sure to hit up a Wingnuts game while they were in town so I could get three cards signed. My two year old also got a card signed and he was thrilled as can be with it.

Kyle Davies- This is one of the many cards Kyle signed for me at the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Felipe Paulino- Felipe signed two cards for me at a Round Rock Express game in 2008. His unprepped '08 Topps card came out looking much better than this one.

Brian Bannister- Speaking of cards that came out looking bad, this one may take the cake. I am sure glad that I learned about prepping glossy cards at some point in 2009. This one was signed at a Royals game in 2008. He signed it after throwing 120 foot curveballs to Kyle Davies.

2008 Upper Deck, Bill White

#356 Bill White

Here is a card that I got signed by one of the four Bill White's to play Major League Baseball. This Bill White is the only one to play the game in this century and he signed it for me at a Rangers game in 2008.

Bill pitched in just 17 Major League games, all in relief with the Rangers. Over those 17 outings, he was 2-0 with a 9.45 ERA in 13.1 innings of work. He did well in his initial call-up in 2007. That season, he got into 9 games and pitched 9.1 innings. While he walked 7 batters, he did record 9 strikeouts while collecting his pair of wins and posting a 4.82 ERA for the season. But, the wheels fell off in 2008 when he walked 11 batters and gave up 9 earned runs in just 4 innings of work. 2008 was Bill's last season in affiliated ball.

I find it odd that Upper Deck did not use a picture of Bill as a Ranger on this card. He never played in the Majors with Washington and he logged big league action with Texas in 2007. They used a picture of him as a Ranger in their Artifacts set that year, but not this set.

This is another classic example of why you need to prep glossy cards.

2008 Upper Deck, Justin Maxwell

#326 Justin Maxwell

Here is a card that I got signed outside of Kauffman Stadium in 2014 while Justin was with the Royals. He got dropped off at the park that day and was nice enough to sign all three cards for me.

I like to think that signing autographs is good karma and that the player usually has a good game after signing earlier in the day. That was not the case for Justin. He got the start in right that night and went 0-3 against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. He made one more start for the Royals four days later before being shipped to Omaha for the remainder of the season while the rest of the club went on to the World Series.

Justin played in the Majors for parts of seven seasons with the Nationals, Astros, Royals, and Giants. Over that time, he was a .220 hitter with 41 home runs and 133 RBI. His best season was with the 'Stros in 2012. He played in a career high 124 games that season and responded with 18 dingers and 53 RBI.

Speaking of dingers, I got to see Justin hit a memorable one with the Royals in 2012. It was a Sunday afternoon in late September against the Rangers. James Shields and Alexi Ogando were the starting pitchers and they each cruised through their outings without allowing any runs. The bullpens took over and took a 0-0 game into the tenth inning. In the bottom of the tenth, the Rangers bullpen started to falter as Neal Cotts and Joakim Soria loaded the bases with nobody out. Joakim then induced a foul pop and a weak ground ball for two easy outs and was on the verge of getting out of the inning. But, Justin Maxwell came up and battled. He worked the count full before sending the sixth pitch of the at-bat about 400 feet to left field for a walk-off grand slam. It was phenomenal! That was the second walk off granny I had ever seen and, coincidentally, the second walk off granny Justin had hit.

I love the picture on this card. Apparently in 2007, the Nationals had the chance to head over to the then under construction Nationals Park and take some batting practice. Luckily, Upper Deck added this card to their set.

The Rest of 2008 Topps, Part III

#429 Billy Butler
#441 Miguel Olivo
#483 Mike Jacobs
#498 Matt Chico
#549 Gregg Zaun
#556 John Gibbons
#577 John Buck
#589 Dave Trembley
#594 Andy LaRoche

Billy Butler- Like most of the Royals cards from this set, Billy signed this card for me by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Miguel Olivo- Also by the Royals lot in '08.

Mike Jacobs- Got this card signed by Mike at Royals Fanfest in 2009.

Matt Chico- I got this one signed at a Wingnuts game in 2012 while Matt was playing for the visiting New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League.

Gregg Zaun- Gregg signed this one for me in Kauffman Stadium in 2009. He was with the Orioles at the time and he signed right after batting practice.

John Gibbons- The former Royals bench coach signed this card at a Royals game in 2009.

John Buck- John signed this card by the Royals parking lot after a game in 2008. He made an error that cost his team the game, but was still kind enough to sign some autographs afterwards.

Dave Trembley- For some reason, I thought I posted Dave's 2007 Topps card. Well, it turns out that he wasn't in '07 Topps. I was thinking of the Sam Perlozzo manager card that I got signed. So, this card should have been posted on its own. I will make up for it when I get to 2009 Topps Heritage. Dave signed this card for me at a Royals game in 2009.

Andy LaRoche- I got Andy on multiple occasions as he once played for the Wingnuts and also played with the Kansas Stars. This is one of the ones he signed for me as a Nut in 2015.

Posting all of these cards from 2008 Topps makes me realize how much I miss manager cards. For some guys, a manager card would be the only Topps card they ever get.

The Rest of 2008 Topps, Part I

#19 Robinson Tejada
#23 Chin-lung Hu
#34 Aaron Cook
#57 Wladimir Balentien
#133 Mike Bacsik
#148 Gerald Laird
#153 Luis Mendoza
#189 Esteban German
#196 Ross Gload

I posted thirteen individual cards from 2008 Topps with all but one of them being players that have never been featured on here. Now, it is time to the forty or so players that have been posted previously. This is the first in a five part series for this set.

Robinson Tejada- I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2008 while Rob was still with the Rangers. This is another example of me getting a guy's autograph before they become a Royal.

Chin-lung Hu- I got this card signed at an Oklahoma Redhawks game while he was playing for the visiting Las Vegas 51s.

Aaron Cook- Aaron signed two cards for me at a Royals game in 2008. He signed during batting practice and he is still the only starting pitcher to sign for me in the ballpark prior to their start. Both cards he signed for me were signed in black and both signatures were placed right on top of the pre-printed signature and are really hard to make out. That is why you should use blue Sharpies kids.

Wladimir Balentien- This is one of the three cards that Wlad signed for me at a Rangers game while his Mariners were taking batting practice in 2008.

Mike Bacsik- Mike signed three cards for me at a Wingnuts game in 2011 while he was playing for Ft. Worth.

Gerald Laird- Gerald signed three for me during batting practice at Kauffman Stadium during the 2008 season.

Luis Mendoza- Here is another future Royal. But, unlike Robinson Tejada, I did not get his autograph until he joined the organization. I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot after their home opener in 2012. This is the first card of Luis that I have posted on here, but he will be getting his own post shortly.

Esteban German- I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Ross Gload- I also got this card signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008, probably on the same day that I got the German card signed. It is crazy that I got so many 2008 cards signed in 2008. We are at the All Star break in 2019 and I only have two 2019 Topps cards signed.

2008 Donruss Elite, Danny Espinosa

#147 Danny Espinosa

Next up from the 2008 Donruss Elite set is this die-cut card of Danny Espinosa. This card is limited to 150 copies and I was able to get it signed at the Futures Game in St. Louis in 2009. Danny signed this card and one other for me.

Danny has played eight seasons in the Majors, with all but one of them with the Nationals. He also saw time with the Angels, Mariners, and Rays during the 2017 season. Last year was spent with three different organizations at the AAA level. Right now, he is in camp with the Mets as a non-roster invitee. It will be interesting to see if he can find his way back to the majors this season. Considering that he his hitting just .067 in 30 Grapefruit League at-bats, that may be a long shot.

During his time in DC, Danny was a .226 hitter with 92 home runs and 285 RBI. In 2016, he set single-season marks for himself by hitting 24 homers and driving in 72 runs. On the flip side, he hit just .209 with 174 strikeouts and just 15 doubles. The Nats traded him to the Angels after the season and, since then, he has signed with seven different teams.

If Danny is unable to find his way back to the Majors, he will have finished his career a .221 hitter with 98 home runs and 316 RBI.

2007 Bowman, Jake Smolinski

#BDPP63 Jake Smolinski

Here is a card that I got signed at Spring Training this past season. Jake was playing for the A's and I was able to get him by the dugout prior to a game at the Angels Tempe Diablo Stadium. He signed all three of my cards.

Jake has spent parts of five seasons in the Majors and really hasn't accomplished a whole lot yet. In his first season, 2014 with the Rangers, he did real well in the 24 games he played in. He hit .349 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI. But, the next season, he was hitting just .133 midway through June when the A's picked him up off waivers.

The A's kept him around for most of the 2016 season and he got into a career-high 99 games with them. Over his 290 at-bats, he hit .238 with 7 homers and 27 RBI. Unfortunately, he has battled some injuries since then that has limited him to just 35 games over the last two seasons.

So far for his career, Jake is hitting .235 with 16 dingers and 67 RBI.

Since the season has ended, Jake has been released by the A's and has signed a deal with the Rays.

In this card, Jake is shown with the Nationals, that team that drafted him in the second round of the 2007 draft. He played in their organization for just two seasons before being dealt to the Marlins. He was in the Florida/Miami organization for five seasons before getting picked up by the Rangers and making his MLB debut.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Josh Smoker

#FH-JS3 Josh Smoker

When I was pondering this post a couple of days ago, I thought it was going to be an short and easy one. I have had this card for a while and I was pretty sure that Josh had not played in the Majors yet and I was right. Since this card is about nine years old, I just assumed that Josh was out of baseball since he hasn't made it to the top yet. Turns out I was wrong there. Though he has yet to play ball above the AA level, and has only pitched in 21 innings of AA ball, Josh is still going strong. In fact, he is currently rated as the twenty-fourth best prospect in the Mets system.

A former first round pick by the Nationals, Josh pitched in their system for six seasons. He never got above high-A and was plagued with injuries that cost him much of the 2012 season. The Nats released him and he missed all of 2013. He pitched in the Frontier League in 2014 and did good enough to get signed by the Mets last season. With them, he pitched at three level, culminating in AA, and dominated at every stop. He pitched in 49 innings last season and went 3-0 with 6 saves, a 3.12 ERA, and 60 strikeouts. Not too bad for a guy out of the Frontier League.

This card was sent to me by Matt, from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius, many years ago. Until recently, I assumed Josh was a position player because he was wearing Oakleys in the picture. I was a bit off on that one.

According to the Mets website, Josh can hit 98 mph on the radar gun and he is currently on their 40 man roster.

On a side note, I got my first TTMs from Spring Training back today. I got a card signed by White Sox number one prospect, Carson Fulmer, and a card by Nationals number eleven prospect, Blake Perkins.

2007 Topps '52, Matt Chico

#115 Matt Chico

Here is the second card that I got signed by Matt Chico at a Wingnuts game in 2012. For a few seasons, the Can-Am League and the American Association both had an odd number of teams in the league. To combat that problem, the leagues did year-long interleague play so there wasn't a team in each league with a three to four day long off stretch. Because of that, I got to see the New Jersey Jackals play a couple of times and that is who Matt was with when he signed for me.

The first card I posted of Matt was his '07 Bowman Heritage card and it can be seen here.

In that last post, I talked about Matt's rookie season in 2007, where he went 7-9 with a 4.63 ERA. In his second season, things took a turn for the worse. He started the season in the rotation. After getting a no decision in his first start, he went on to lose five straight starts. He had one quality start over that span and failed make it into the fifth inning in the two last starts. He made one more start, where he got a no decision over 4.1 innings, before being demoted to the bullpen.

Things got a little better in the bullpen. He made three appearances out of the pen and pitched 6.1 innings and only gave up one run. His efforts got him a second chance in the rotation and he gave up four runs over five innings of work. After that, he was shut down for the season for the Nationals. He made one AAA start and that was it for his season. He ended up having elbow reconstruction surgery and would be out until mid-season 2009.

He finished his 2008 season 0-6 with a 6.19 ERA.

2007 Bowman Heritage, Matt Chico

#225 Matt Chico

Here is the first of three cards that Matt Chico signed for me at a Wichita Wingnuts game in 2012. Matt was playing for the visiting New Jersey Jackals when they came to town for interleague play.

Matt was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the third round of the 2003 draft out of USC. He pitched for the D-Backs organization for four seasons before being dealt to the Nationals for Livan Hernandez.

He broke camp in 2007 with the Nationals and was a mainstay in their rotation for most of the season. Though he did pitch in two AAA games in August, he made 31 starts at the Major League level and went 7-9 with a 4.63 ERA and 74 walks to 94 strikeouts. He had a hard time keeping the ball in the park that season as he gave up 26 long balls, including three in a game twice. The first three he gave up were in his Major League debut against the Marlins.

2005 Donruss Signature, Jose Guillen

#147 Jose Guillen

Here is a card that I bought from checkoutmycards.com in September. Jose may quite possibly be my least favorite Royal of all time, but at least I now have an autograph from him and it only set me back $1.49.

I tried on many occassions to get Jose to sign by the Royals parking lot and I was always turned down. Eventually, I gave up on even asking him to sign because I already knew the answer. But, it is now 2011 and Jose's 36 million dollar contract is finally off the books. Good riddance Jose.

This is the first Nationals card that I have posted on here.