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, Callix Crabbe

#706 Callix Crabbe

Back-to-back Padrographs! Ten years ago, that was a regular occurrence. Nowadays, they are few and far between. But in 2009, they were so common that I started to post two cards a day- one Padrogarph and one non-Padrograph. That was back in the day when not only did I have time to post daily, but I could bust out two a day. The times sure have changed. Anyways, here is the card of Callix Crabbe that Rod sent me way back when.

Callix was a Rule V pick of the Padres prior to the 2008 season. He made the team's roster out of Spring Training and got into 21 games with them. Unfortunately, those 21 games would be the only time that Callix would see the Major Leagues. During that time, he hit just .176 with a double and 2 RBI. On May 16th of that season, the Padres returned Callix back to the Brewers organization.

He would spend the rest of '08 in AAA before getting let go by the Brew Crew. He would play three more years of professional ball before hanging up the cleats.

Unlike many of the guys that I have posted that had rookie cards in this set, Callix actually got a Topps base card as well.

2008 Upper Deck, Scott Hairston

#633 Scott Hairston

Here is a card that was given to me by Rod, from Padrographs, many years ago. If I remember correctly, it was in his initial package he sent me that included over 125 signed Padre cards. That has been over ten years ago now. It is truly hard to believe that I have been at this blog for that long.

As for Scott, he had a long eleven year Major League career. During that time, he played with the Diamondbacks, Padres, A's, Mets, Cubs, and Nationals. He was a .242 career hitter that knocked 106 home runs and drove in 313 RBI. His best season was with the Mets in 2012. That year, he played in a career high 134 games and responded by batting .263 with 20 home runs and 57 RBI. Despite the long career, Scott never appeared in the postseason.

It looks like Rod and I were in the same boat in 2008 and getting glossy cards signed without prepping them first.

2008 Upper Deck, Milton Bradley

#189 Milton Bradley

We have finally made it to Upper Deck! It was looking like that was never going to happen, but here we are. If I can get back to a semi-consistent posting schedule, I might be able to wrap up all of the 2008 cards by Thanksgiving. That is a big IF, though.

First up from 2008 Upper Deck is this card of Milton Bradley that was given to me by Rod, from Padrographs. If it wasn't for this card, I wouldn't even remember that Milton played for the Padres. He seems to have played for quite a few teams during his career, but all I remember him with are the Indians, Rangers, and Cubs. It turns out that he also played with the Expos, Dodgers, A's, and Mariners.

During his twelve year big league career, Milton was a .271 hitter with 125 home runs and 481 RBI. His best season was with Texas in 2008 when he made his lone All Star team while hitting .321 with 22 dingers and 77 driven in.

Unfortunately, Bradley's long baseball career has been overshadowed by his temper and domestic issues, which resulted in a 32 month prison sentence.

The Rest of 2008 Tristar Prospect Plus

#3 Eric Hosmer
#52 Jaff Decker

Eric Hosmer- I can't believe this is only the second card of Hos that I have posted on here. The guy was a mainstay on the Royals for seven seasons and I racked up a few autographs from him during his time in the Royals organization. Then, when I finally get around to posting some cards of him, he is with the Padres. But, that is how it goes. That is especially how it goes when I post cards on here from oldest to "newest".

I got this card signed by Eric in Burlington, Iowa in 2009 while he was playing for the Bees.

Jaff Decker- I have not posted a card of Jaff on here before. But, at some point, I will. So, he gets lumped into this "rest of" post just so I did not have to do a repeat Hosmer post. This card was given to me by Rod in 2011.

I am glad I never bought much of this product. In the limited cards that I have signed, they are horrible for autographs. There is a dark border, zoomed in shots, and dark pictures. This set is the complete opposite of that year's Tristar Projections set. I glad I bought a lot of Projections and passed on this one.

2008 Tristar Prospect Plus, Allan Dykstra

#31 Allen Dykstra

Coming into this post, I was assuming that I was going to be doing another post about a career minor league player. Unbeknownst to me, though, is that Allan made his Major League debut with the Rays in 2015.

The Rays picked him up as a free agent after the 2014 season and he made their Opening Day roster. He made his Major League debut in the Rays third game of the season and was 0-1 with a walk and a strikeout. He would go on to play in thirteen games that month before the Rays sent him down to AAA. During his time in the Majors, he hit .129 with a home run and 4 RBI. His lone homer was a three-run shot off of Yankees pitcher, Adam Warren.

Allan would only appear in 39 games in AAA before being released by the Rays. He then signed on with the Sugarland Skeeters to finish off the season. He called it a career after that.

What a whirlwind season. After being taken in the first round of the 2008 draft, he finally made it to the Majors in 2015, only to finish the season in the Atlantic League. It is a crazy game these guys play.

This card was given to me by Rod, of Padrographs, when I met up with him in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2015.

2008 Tristar Projections, Matt Antonelli

#124 Matt Antonelli

Here is a card that I purchased when making a COMC order in 2012. For the longest time, I always felt like I needed to buy an autograph whenever I made a purchase on there. Because of that, I bought a lot of Bowman and Topps Pro Debut autos that I really didn't need. So, I have discontinued that practice. But, I will occasionally buy an auto with my purchase. Those, though, tend to be of guys I collect in some way, shape, or form. On the bright side, this card only set me back 95 cents. It's listed as $2.43 right now.

Matt had the privilege of playing 23 Major League games with the Padres in 2008. During that time, he hit just .193 with a homer and 3 RBI. His one dinger was a two-run shot off of Jason Hirsch at Coors Field.

Despite never making it back to the Major Leagues, Matt continued to play ball up into the 2013 season.

This card features Matt with the San Antonio Missions, who were the Padres AA team at the time. The Missions are still around and they got bumped up to AAA this season, though they still play in an AA ballpark. The Missions are now the Brewers top affiliate.

For some reason, Tristar did not list a position on cards for this set.

2008 Goudey, Chris Young

#155 Chris Young

This is one of the two cards that I got signed by Chris Young at Royals Fanfest in 2017. The other card I had him sign was his 2016 Topps card that showed him celebrating the Royals World Championship, which was a must for a Royals fan. I had one other card with me that day of him, his 2008 Allen & Ginter. I asked my wife which one I should get signed and she wisely chose this one.

Chris pitched in the Majors for thirteen seasons with the Rangers, Padres, Mets, Mariners, and Royals. Over that time, he had a 79-67 record with a save and a 3.95 ERA in nearly 1300 innings of work. He appeared in the postseason twice and made one All Star team.

Chris probably had his best season during the 2007 campaign with the Padres. While his record wasn't great (9-8), he did post a 3.12 ERA and stuck out a single season best 167 batters. Coincidentally, that was the one year he made the All Star team.

While I wasn't a huge Chris Young fan during his tenure with the Royals, especially after his first season, I absolutely love his signature. It is actually readable, which is a rare trait anymore.

2008 Donruss Elite, Jeudy Valdez

#50 Jeudy Valdez

Here is another Padrograph from Rod that was given to me when we met up in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2015. This card features Padre minor leaguer Jeudy Valdez.

Jeudy had a long professional career, but he never made it up to the Majors. In fact, he never made it above AA. He played for ten seasons and did three stints in AA, but that was as far as he got. In his final season of affiliated ball in 2014, he actually spent the entire season at high-A and hit only .197. He then played in 2015 with three indy teams in three different leagues before calling it a career.

This image really helps to characterize this set. Yesterday, we had a college photo. Now we have a minor league photo with Jeudy playing for the Eugene Emeralds. This set is basically a hybrid of prospects from Bowman mixed with Bowman Draft. It is the best of both worlds with no airbrushing (or Major League teams/logos).

The Rest of 2008 Bowman

#86 Billy Butler
#219 Alberto Gonzalez
#BP95 Matt Buschmann
#BDP22 Nick Hundley
#BDP46 Warner Madrigal
#BDPP47 Johnny Giavotella

I have been posting 2008 Bowman cards for about two months, but that is over now. Here are the cards I skipped over. I originally planned on skipping over cards when it was of a player that I have posted on here before. But, I decided to switch it up when I got to Alberto Gonzalez. I have not posted a card of him yet, but I have a 2008 Upper Deck Artifacts card of him where that is the only card of the set that I have signed. So, I have to post that card. So, rather than doing two posts about him, I will be lumping him into the "Rest of" category twice before he gets his first post.

Billy Butler- He signed this card for me from the Royals parking lot after a game in 2008. Those were the good ol' days.

Alberto Gonzalez- He signed for me in 2015 while he was playing for the Wichita Wingnuts.

Matt Buschmann- A Padrograph. I don't think I mentioned it in his original post, but Matt is the bullpen coach for the Blue Jays now. I also have one more of these if anyone needs one.

Nick Hundley- Another Padrograph.

Warner Madrigal- He signed this for me at a Northwest Arkansas Naturals game in 2010 when he was on a rehab assignment with the Frisco Rough Riders.

Johnny Giavotella- This one is like Alberto Gonzalez in that I haven't given Johnny his own post. But, that is coming shortly. This one was signed in 2009 at the Wilmington Blue Rocks game I attended. If I had to guess, I would say that this photo was taken at Wichita State's Eck Stadium in 2008. WSU hosted a regional that year and Johnny's New Orleans Privateers were one of the four teams there. Back then, Eck featured a turf infield and grass outfield just like the photo on this card. I went to two games in that regional, but I did not see New Orleans play.

2008 Bowman, Anthony Bass

#BDPP58 Anthony Bass

Here is another signed Padre card that was given to me by Rod of Padrographs fame. He hooked me up with this card when we met up at a Hillsboro Hops game in 2015.

Leading up to this post, I was unsure if Anthony had ever made it to the Majors or not. To my amazement, not only had he made it to the Majors, but he has pitched there in every season since 2011 except for 2016. How did I not know that?

Anthony pitched for the Padres for parts of three seasons before making stops with the Astros, Rangers, and Cubs. So far, for his career, he is 5-9 with 3 saves and a 4.51 ERA in nearly 300 innings of work.

Anthony only saw 15.1 innings of work last year with the Cubs, but he pitched rather well. He posted a 2.93 ERA and struck out 14 batters. That is the closest to a strikeout per inning that he has ever been.

It looks like Anthony is currently in Reds camp on a minor league deal trying to earn a spot in their 'pen.

2008 Bowman, Mattew Buschmann

#BCP95 Matthew Buschmann

Here is a card that was given to me from Rod, of Padrographs fame. I am not sure how he has gotten so many of these, but he has given me three signed versions of this card. I have this one chrome card and then two of the non-chrome cards that are signed.

Matt pitched in the Majors for just a cup of coffee. He made it in 2016 with the Diamondbacks and got into three games for 4.1 innings of work. In those three games, he had no record with an ERA of 2.08 and three strikeouts.

Matt pitched a scoreless inning in each of his first two appearances. In his third and final appearance, he entered the game in the second inning after Shelby Miller walked in a run with the bases loaded. Down 2-0 with the bases full, Matt struck out Wil Myers to end the side. He then got his lone plate appearance to lead off the third inning, where he grounded out to short. To open the bottom of the third, he gave up a solo home run to Matt Kemp before getting the next three batters to ground out to third. In the fourth, he got a flyout to center before striking out the next two batters. He was then pinch hit for in the fifth and that was the end of his Major League career.

On paper, it seems like Matt did well in his limited big league action. I assumed these were all September appearances after the rosters opened up, but they were actually April games. More than likely, Arizona added him to the roster as an extra bullpen arm to start the season since there is usually an extra day off during the first week. Once a fifth starter was needed, back to the minors Matt went.

That was Matt's last season playing ball.

2008 Bowman, Luis Durango

#BP52 Luis Durango

Here is a Padrograph that was given to me early on in my blogging days. Rod and I started our blogs around the same time and he once sent me stack of over 100 signed Padre cards. This is one of those.

Luis is kind of a rarity in this set based on the fact that he actually made it to the Major Leagues. Okay, maybe it is not that rare- nearly half the prospects that I will be posting on here made it to the Show.

Luis played in 39 Major League games with the Padres and Astros from 2009-11. In his limited work, he actually did real well. In 2009, he played in just nine games, but went 6-11 at the plate. Then, in 2010, he got into 28 games and went 12-48 with 5 steals. In 2011, he got into just two games and was 1-6. So, all in all, he finished his career a .292 hitter. All 19 of his hits were singles.

This past season, Luis was playing in the American Association and I happened to catch him at a Wingnuts game where I got three more cards signed by him. He has a cool looking sig that has changed a bit since this one was signed.

2007 Topps, Justin Germano

#UH36 Justin Germano

Here is the second card that Justin Germano signed for me at the Kansas Stars game I attended in 2016. I posted the first card in September and that one can be seen here.

Justin spent parts of nine seasons in the Majors with seven different teams- the Padres, Reds, Indians, Red Sox, Cubs, Blue Jays, and Rangers. And, when I say parts of seasons, I really mean parts. There were three seasons where he only appeared in one or two games. Nonetheless, he still pitched in 96 Major League games with exactly half of those being starts. In those games, he posted a 10-30 record with a 5.40 ERA while striking out 209 in 330 innings of work.

His best season was with the Padres in 2007. That year, he got into a career-high 26 games and was 7-10 for the year with an ERA of 4.46.

For those of you keeping score at home, this card is a red back variation. I never understood the red backs in this set. But, they appear to be a hobby only parallel.

2005 Topps Total, Jake Peavy

#475 Jake Peavy

Here is the first card of Jake Peavy that I have posted in eight years. That one was given to me by Rod, from Padrographs. This one, on the other hand, was obtained in-person last summer while Jake was playing for the Kansas Stars.

I had three cards for Jake to sign, but he was strictly a one-per guy. Luckily, I gave some cards to my dad and he was able to get a second card signed for me. That one is from a 2014 set, so it will be another eight years before I get that card posted. Who am I kidding? At my rate, it will be closer to eighteen years.

When I last posted a card of Jake, he was still an active player. That is not the case anymore as he last played in 2016. He had a rough go at life since that 2016 season which included a divorce and his financial adviser screwing him out of millions of dollars he had saved up for retirement. He was trying to make a comeback this season, but I had not heard anything about that since Spring Training.

So, if Jake never pitches again, he will finish his career with a record of 152-126 and a 3.63 ERA with 2,207 strikeouts.

2004 Topps, David Pauley

#T208 Dvaid Pauley

This is the second card of David Pauley that I have ever posted on here. I posted the first one eight years ago. When I posted that card, I was surprised to see that David had actually pitched in the Major Leagues because I had never heard of him. When I was getting ready to post this card, I again thought that I was going to post a card about a guy that had never pitched in the Majors. I guess my memory is not as good as it once was.

David pitched in 91 games over a five year span with the Padres, Red Sox, Mariners, Tigers, Angels, and Blue Jays. He started 20 of those games and was 9-19 for his career with a 4.68 ERA. His best season was with the Mariners in 2011. In 39 relief outings, David was 5-4 with a 2.15 ERA in 54.1 innings of work. He was then dealt to the Tigers at the deadline with Doug Fister and his numbers went up with Detroit. Even with his 5.95 ERA with the Tigers, he still managed a 3.16 ERA for the season. That was the only time he had an ERA under 4.00.

Despite pitching for six different clubs, David only has Padre and Red Sox cards made of him. All of those were made in 2006 or earlier.

This card, like the first one of Pauley, were given to me by Rod from Padrographs.

2004 Topps, Justin Germano

#T118 Justin Germano

This card is almost a rarity for this blog. This is a signed Padre card that was not given to me by Rod, from Padrographs. I actually got this card signed myself.

Justin was on the Kansas Stars roster in 2016 and I was able to get him to come over and sign by the third base line before the game I attended. That was after I got the boot by the clubhouse where I was killing it. Once I joined the masses down the line, the going got rough and I was only able to snag Justin and Adam LaRoche. I am glad I was not in that spot the entire time.

Justin had a whirlwind career, appearing in Major League games in nine seasons with seven different teams- the Padres, Reds, Indians, Red Sox, Cubs, Blue Jays, and Rangers. Despite playing for all those teams, he only has Padre cards and a lone Phillies card. The Phillies card is from the 2006 Topps '52 rookie set. I am not sure how that card makes any sense since Justin made his Major League debut in 2004 with the Padres. Nonetheless, I kind of wish I would have picked that card up to get signed.

2004 Topps, Phil Nevin

#446 Phil Nevin

Here is the first of three straight Padre cards. This one is a Padrograph that was given to me by Rod in 2015.

This is now the sixth card of Phil Nevin that I have posted on here. I got three signed by him in Spring Training in 2014 and Rod has given me three cards on two separate occasions. I think I am good to go on cards signed by Phil. When I went and saw the Yankees play earlier this year, I didn't even bother looking for any cards of him.

Phil played for a handful of clubs during his career, but San Diego is where he spent the majority of his time. He spent nearly seven seasons with the Friars and racked up a .288 batting average with 156 home runs and 573 RBI. He ranks in the franchise's top ten in average, slugging, OPS, runs, hits, singles, doubles, home runs, total bases, and RBI. He made his lone All Star team as a Padre in 2001.

If I do ever get a chance to get Phil's signature again, I might try to find a card or two of him. But, with five signed Padre cards already, I will probably stay away from those cards. Instead, I will look for him playing with the Astros, Angels, Cubs, Rangers, or Twins. I already have a Tiger card signed by him.

2004 Grandstand Midwest League Top Prospects, Sean Thompson

Here is a Padrograph that was given to me in 2015 when I met up with Rod in Hillsboro, Oregon. This one features Padre farmhand, Sean Thompson.

Leading up to this post, I was thinking that this was going to be my third post of Sean because I thought that Rod had given me a couple of autographs from him ten years ago. It turns out that this is the first post of Sean because those other two posts were of former Padre, Mike Thompson.

While Mike actually pitched in a handful of games at the Major League level, the same cannot be said of Sean. The highest Sean reached was the three games he pitched in AAA in 2007. Aside from the scoreless inning he accumulated at that level, he spent parts of three seasons in AA and was 19-23 with a 4.05 ERA.

In his All Star season with the Fort Wayne Wizards, Sean was 9-6 with a 3.65 ERA and had 157 strikeouts in 148 innings.

Fort Wayne joined the Midwest League in 1993 and kept the Wizards moniker until changing the name to the Tin Caps in 2009.

2002 Topps Total, Phil Nevin

#TTC24 Phil Nevin

Here is the fifth card of Phil Nevin that I have posted on here. I posted the first one back in 2011 after Rod had sent it to me. Then, I posted three in 2014 and 2015 after I had gotten them signed at Spring Training when Phil was the manager of the D-Backs AAA team. Now, here is this one, another gift from Rod. This one was given to me three years ago when we met up at a Hillsboro Hops game.

If you look at the number on this card, you will see that it has an insert-like number. This card is actually a team checklist. I don't think I ever bought any packs of 2002 Topps Total, but it seems odd that a team checklist card would be considered an insert. It is worth noting that '02 Topps Total was actually a glossy set unlike later sets. But, while the front of this card is glossy, the back of it is not. Also, this card and Phil's base card look exactly the same on the front.

Phil no longer works in the Diamondbacks organization. He is currently the third base coach of the Yankees.