1992 O-Pee-Chee Premier, Jeff Fassero

#119 Jeff Fassero

Here is the first of three cards that I got signed by Jeff Fassero at Spring Training last year. Jeff was the pitching coach for the AAA affiliate of the Reds, but he was nowhere to be found at the minor league diamonds that morning. But, he did show up at the Major League game and another fan pointed him out to me. That particular fan was impressed that I actually had a card of Jeff with me.

Jeff pitched with the Expos for six seasons. Over that time, he went 58-48 with a 3.20 ERA and 750 strikeouts. His best season was with Montreal in 1996. He was 15-11 with a 3.30 ERA and a career best 222 strikeouts. That was the only 200 strikeout season of his career.

I am heading up to Royals Fanfest tomorrow. Why I keep going there year after year, I do not know. It seems like it gets worse every year. But, hopefully, with three big names gone, there will be less people there and I will be able to get some cards signed. Salvy is still priority number one as I still do not have any cards signed by him even though he has been with the team for seven years.

My biggest concern this year is that there are quite a few guys slated to be there that I do not have cards for. Most of them are young players that have no cards, but there are a small handful where every card I have of them is signed already. I just worry about sitting in a line for an hour and a half and then Scott Barlow comes out to sign.

1980 O-Pee-Chee, Willie Aikens

#191 Willie Aikens

To date, I have posted three cards of Willie Aikens on here. I thought it was much more than that. But, as it turns out, I have got a small handful of cards from the last two Royals Fanfest that I have yet to post. So, here is the first of those. This one was obtained at the 2014 Fanfest.

The first three cards I posted showed him with three different teams. There was one of him as a Royal, a Blue Jay, and an Explorer from the senior league. Since I had a card signed by him from the Royals and Jays, naturally I needed a card of him with the Angels signed. This O-Pee-Chee card was the best I could do on short notice in 2014. So even though it clearly says Royals on the card, Willie is still in an Angels uniform and that counts for something.

Willie's tenure with the Angels lasted just parts of two seasons. After being drafted by the Halos in the first round in 1975, he made his debut with them in '77. He got into just 42 games and hit .198. He spent the next season in the minors, but returned to the Angels in '79 and did real well. That year, he hit .280 and clubbed 21 homers while driving in 81 runs.

After that season, the Angels traded him and Rance Mulliniks to the Royals for Al Cowens and Todd Cruz.

The Blue Jays card I linked to above was signed by Willie at Fanfest in 2013. That card was signed Willie Mays Aikens. Willie apparently dropped the Mays out of his signature shortly after that.

1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier, Alan Trammell

#123 Alan Trammell

Here is one of the cards that I got signed at Spring Training this year. Alan is the bench coach for the Diamondbacks and he signed before the team worked out the day I was there. Alan would only sign one per person and I had him sign a late-'80s Fleer All Star insert card. He kept singing, so I sent my kid up and he got this one signed. I told him he could have it, as Alan was quite a player during his day, but he declined.

I've posted a few times about 'graphing the Dodgers minor league complex, but this is the first card I have shown from the Diamondbacks facility. This was the day before the D-Backs left for Australia and I ended up getting quite a few autographs from the Major League players. I went over to the back fields to check out the minor league action and I came home empty-handed. Most of the Spring Training facilities I have visited in Arizona were the opposite away around where you had easy access to the minor leaguers, but not the big boys. Talking Stick was a nice surprise.

I got Trammell through the mail five years ago when he was with the Cubs and that card can be seen here. It is one of my many '81 Donruss signatures.

The D-Backs have the worst winning percentage in the National League right now. After their poor season last year, manager Kirk Gibson could be the first manager fired this year. If that were to happen, I wonder if Alan would be sent packing with him or possibly replace him.

On the eve of the All Star Game, I think it is right to mention that Alan was a six-time All Star.

1977 O-Pee-Chee, Jim Rooker

#161 Jim Rooker

Here is the third and final Jim Rooker card I got signed at Fanfest. I of course got this card from checkoutmycards.com and even though it has a nice crease in it, I couldn't pass up getting a '70s OPC card signed. I think that I now have four OPC cards signed- one each from the '70s, '80s, '90s, and '00s.

It seems that the main reason Jim was at Fanfest was to promote his new career. He is now writing baseball themed childrens book. Nearly the whole day I was at Fanfest, Jim sat at a desk selling books and signing autographs. The only time I didn't see him there was when Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews was there selling books and signing autographs. During that time, Jim was on the main stage being interviewed about his books. I was too far away to hear much of that interview, but if you are interested, you can check out his site here. If you buy a book, you can even get a free autographed card from him.

1985 O-Pee-Chee, Rollie Fingers

#182 Rollie Fingers

Here is another card that I got signed at the College World Series this year. Rollie was a last-minute addition to the AT&T signing booth and I didn't have a card of him with me. So, I had to scramble over the card shop across the street to find one. I asked the shop owner if he had any and he went to check. When he came back, he said that he couldn't find his A-F box. And that was that. So, I started looking through boxes of cards that were sitting on counters. I made it through one box while only finding a couple of cards from the '80s. I gave up on that approach when I noticed a big box of team sets. I started going through those and eventually found a couple of mid 80s team sets of the Brewers. I think he charged me $7 for this '85 OPC team set. If anyone needs some '85 OPC Brewer cards, I'm your man.

This is the only Topps look-alike OPC card that I have had signed. So, it is a nice addition to the collection. I would have preferred to have had my '81 Donruss card signed instead, but this one still looks good.

1992 O-Pee-Chee Premier, Albert Belle

#100 Albert Belle

Through the mail. Early '90s. As for this card, I beleive that this was the second year that OPC made a set that was independent of the Topps set. If I remember right, both the '91 and '92 set looked exactly the same except this set had the '92 on it. There was no year on the '91's front. Also, the players name and position were slightly different in '91. On the '91s, there was two lines of text. The name was on top and the team and position was on bottom. The only place that I remember seeing these was at card shows at the mall.

Looking back on it now, I am surprised that I got this card signed through the mail. Albert didn't have the best reputation. To me, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would be an avid signer. Maybe I underestimate the guy (heck, supposedly Milton Bradley signs TTM). Or maybe I just got lucky and got to him early enough in his career. I don't know. Did anyone else out there have any success with him?