2008 SPx, Alex Gordon

#WM-GO Alex Gordon

Since this is the fifth card of Alex Gordon that I have posted on here, I would normally add him in a set round-up post. But, this is the only card from this set that I have signed, so Alex gets another stand alone post.

I bought this card to get signed at a Royals Fanfest, but I missed out on Alex that year. Luckily, I was able to get him by the Royals parking lot after their home opener in 2012. I miss the days when you could easily get autographs by the Royals parking lot.

I was pretty excited when I bought this card because it looked really cool online. I swore that it was a triple swatch with two bat pieces and one jersey piece. But, then it arrived and I was a little disappointed. There are no bat pieces on the card. It just has the one jersey swatch and room for two more relic pieces that are filled with some gold foil instead. That was kind of a bummer. But it was cheap and I got it signed, so it turned out well.

Alex had been playing some pretty bad baseball the last few years, but he has picked it up this season. Through 43 games this year, Alex is currently hitting .291 with 8 homers and 33 RBI. If he stays healthy and keeps driving in runs, he may get his first 100 RBI season of his career.

Speaking of his career, there was some talk of this season being his last. But, with him hitting the ball again, he has backed off the retirement talk a bit and is considering playing some more. If he keeps hitting, I am fine with that.

2007 SP, Kevin Kouzmanoff

#164 Kevin Kouzmanoff

Here is another card in the long line of Padrographs that Rod has sent me. Rod sent me my initial Padrographs in 2008 and this was not one of those. This one came from Rod in 2011. To date, this is the only card that he has sent me that features a sticker autograph.

Kevin Kouzmanoff played for the Padres for parts of three seasons after coming over from Cleveland for Josh Barfield. He was the everyday third baseman for San Diego while he was there and he put up some decent numbers. He consistently hit around .260 and had at least 18 home runs, 30 doubles, and 74 RBI every year for the Friars. He topped off with 23 home runs in 2008 and 88 RBI in 2009.

Then, prior to the 2010 season, he was dealt to the A's, with Eric Sogard, for Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham. His numbers slipped a bit in his first season back in the American League as his average dipped to .247. But, he still hit 16 dingers and 32 doubles while driving in 71. That was his last season as an everyday player.

2006 SP Aunthenic, Tom Gregorio

#WBC-50 Tom Gregorio

Here is the second card that Tom Gregorio signed for me at a Royals game in 2013. Tom is the Angels bullpen catcher and he was nice enough to sign the cards for me on the way to the bullpen before the game. It was a slow day of 'graphing, so I was glad that spent a couple of bucks to buy the two cards of him from COMC. The first card I posted of him can be seen here.

This is the first World Baseball Classic card that I have ever posted on here. I have posted some Team USA cards before, but they were all from National or Olympic team sets. Come to think of it, I don't think I have any USA WBC cards signed. Off of the top of my head, I believe I only have two other WBC cards signed- one Canadian and another "Italian".

I was pretty excited when the WBC was first announced. I followed the 2006 event pretty closely and I kept tabs on the 2009 edition. But, I barely noticed the last installment in 2013. I watched a couple preliminary games with the new teams like Isreal and Spain, but I didn't follow the actual tournament at all. Even more surprisingly was the fact that there were very few cards out for the event. Topps did put out a Tribute set for the event, but I don't know if they were only available as a set, online, or hobby only. I just know that I never even knew of the set until I saw some singles on COMC a year later.

As for my personal interest in the event, I think it has waned for a couple of reasons. The first is because the US does so poorly in it. But, more importantly, is the timing of the games. They play them way to early and, as a result, have stupid pitch count restrictions. Many players, especially pitchers, balk at playing because they are not ready to play at that high of a level in the first week of March. Because of that, it is not the best players a country has to offer representing them. It is the best players who are willing to play, which is not the same.

The WBC is a great concept, but it definitely needs some tweaking to become the premier global event it is intended to be.

Despite the rant about the WBC, I do like this card. Take away the "Future Watch" strip along the side and you have a really simple, yet great looking, card set.

2004 SP Prospects, Brett Hayes

#NH-BH Brett Hayes

Here is a card of Brett Hayes that I got signed at Royals Fanfest last year. The set-up for Fanfest last year was less than ideal. The set-up for this year looked nearly identical which led to me not attending Fanfest for the first time. But, the one bright spot to Fanfest last year was the final signing of the evening. By that time, the autograph lines had thinned out immensely. Because of that, we were able to hit up four of the six lines they had. Prior to that, you could not go through more than one line per session. Brett was in the second line that we hit as we criss-crossed Bartle Hall to end the long day.

Brett was the Royals back-up catcher last season. Or at least he was until they acquired Eric Kratz from the Blue Jays. He got into 27 games and hit .135 with a home run and 2 RBI.

It looks like Brett is going to be playing for the Indians this season.

I only have three cards from this set that are signed. One of the other ones just happens to be another jersey card from this insert set. It is of Luke Hochevar. You cannot beat a signed jersey card, especially when you can pick one up for about a buck.

2000 SPx, Rob Ramsay

#100 Rob Ramsay

Here is a card that I picked up in a grab bag from a card show in 2013. The first card shop in Kansas, Rock's Dugout in Wichita, holds a card show every other month at the bowling alley where the shop is located. There are always dealers there that have a decent amount of singles from the '50s and '60s and I have gone through a few of those boxes looking for some TTM bait. I usually end up at a show in the winter when there are no new packs out, so one time I bought two grab bags that were guaranteed to contain one auto in each bag. I let my kid pick out the one he wanted and he ended up with an '08 Topps Jason Nix. I got this cool SPx card of Rob Ramsay.

I will admit that I had never heard of Rob when I got this card. But, it turns out that he had a decent Major League season with the Mariners in 2000. That year, he got into 37 games and held opponents to a 3.40 ERA while posting a 1-1 record. That is pretty good considering that he walked more people than he struck out (40 to 32). While his WHIP wasn't very good, he and the other M's relievers were able to keep most of his base runners from scoring.

He then spent all of 2001 in the minors before missing the 2002 season. He played in the Padres organization in 2003, but made just two appearances above A-ball.

For his career, Rob was 1-3 with a 4.19 ERA over parts of two seasons with Seattle.

I have no idea how SP and SPx differ. I am just saying.

1993 SP, Chili Davis

#20 Chili Davis

Here is another card that I was able to get signed at Spring Training this year. Chili is the A's hitting coach and he was nice enough to sign this card for me before the visiting A's took on the White Sox. He just signed one of the three cards, but he definitely signed the best of the three.

Chili had a long Major League career. He broke into the league with the Giants in 1981 and played his final game in the World Series for the Yankees in 1999. Over the course of his career, he also saw time with the Twins, Angels, and Royals. During those eighteen seasons, Chile accumulated 350 home runs and 1,372 RBI to go along with his .274 batting average. He was a three time All Star that also won three World Series rings- two with the Yankees and one with the Twins.

Chili had just one 30 home run season, though he had 20 or more nine times. He also eclipsed the 100 RBI plateau just once while having 90-plus five times. While he started out his career as an outfielder in the National League, he spent the second half of his career almost exclusively as a designated hitter. He did quite well in that role and was the best DH in 1991 when he won the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award (now the Edgar Martinez Award).

Chili was such a good hitter that in his final season, at the age of thirty-nine, he hit .269 with 19 home runs and 78 RBI.

It is hard to make much out of Chili's signature. But, if you compare it to the one on his Baseball Almanac page that is linked above, you can make a little more sense of it.

2004 SP Prospects, Luke Hochevar

#NH-LH Luke Hochevar

Here is a card that I got signed by Luke Hochevar at Royals Fanfest. This was one of four game-used cards that I got signed that day and it is the first game-used card that I have posted on here. I think that I now have six game-used cards signed.

This year, Luke gets the nod as the Royals Opening Day starter. I have mixed feelings about that, but after the loss of Grienke and Meche, Luke kind of became the ace of the staff by default. The main problem I have with Hochevar is that he has a hard time staying healthy. In three seasons with the Royals, he has yet to throw over 150 innings. Last season, he only threw 103 innings. Maybe all of that will change this season and he will be able to last 180 innings or more. I can only hope that that is the case.

The other problem I have with Luke is his consistency. There are some days when he looks like he really knows what he is doing and then other days where he just looks confused and beaten on the mound. I would prefer him to be in control every game he pitches, but just being more consistent in his starts would be good enough for me.

On an unrelated note, I will say that Luke has been a good signer thus far into his career. I have got him to sign inside the ballpark and outside by the parking lot. He even signed outside the ballpark one day for about ten minutes when he had his Saint Bernard with him.

I didn't realize that the flat bill trend was going on in 2004. I don't recall seeing flat bills until Chad Cordero was sporting one in the 2005 season. Nevertheless, Luke still wears the flat bill. Maybe it was he that started the trend.

Not only is this the first game-used card that I have posted on here, this is also the fisrt Team USA card as well.

2004 SP Prospects, Christopher McConnell

#CH Christopher McConnell

Earlier this month, I posted a Nic Jackson card that I got in a trade with reader Peter. This was the other card that was included in the trade. To land the two cards, I had to send Peter three signed SP Prospects cards from this set. The trio included Trevor Lawhorn, James Fasano, and the base Christopher McConnell card.

When Peter first proposed the trade, he said that he was trying to complete the '04 SP Prospects set. Since the three cards he wanted from me were signed, I just assumed that he was trying to get the whole set signed. But, after exchanging emails, I learned that was not the case. He just wanted to complete the set and a signed base card was just as good as an unsigned one.

In our first volley of trade proposals, I told Peter that I would trade the Lawhorn and Fasano cards to him since they are still playing in the American Association and they wouldn't be hard to replace them. I doubted that I would ever run into McConnell again, so I wanted to keep his card. But, Peter said that he would throw in this card, which had a much better looking signature on it than mine did, and I bit. So, the trade was my three signed SP Prospects cards for this card, the Nic Jackson card, and two random unsigned cards from this set.

Even though this autograph is on a sticker, the signature on it is so much better than the ballpark signature that I got from Chris. So, it was a good trade. Thank you Peter and I hope your set collection is progressing nicely.

2000 SP Top Prospects Chirography, Brad Penny

#BP Brad Penny

Here is another card that I bought from checoutmycards.com a few months back. The reason why I bought this card is because I missed out on getting a card signed by Brad in 2008. That summer, I went down to Oklahoma City to visit AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. The visiting Las Vegas 51s were in town and Brad was on a rehab assignment with them. The only problem was that I was unaware that Brad had joined the team and I didn't take any of his cards down there with me. When I found out he was there, I tried to trade for a card of his and I had no luck. I even found a guy with a small stack of his cards, but he wouldn't trade me one because "he didn't have any of these cards signed yet".

By then, I was hoping that Brad wouldn't even sign, but that wasn't the case. Brad is from Oklahoma and still lives there in the offseason. Because of that, he came out early to sign and he signed for everybody. It was good to see a big league player do that, especially in his home state, but I just wish that I had a card for him to sign. Instead, I got I got my ticket stub signed. But now, I do finally have a card signed by him and it only set me back $1.15.

I like the look of this card. It is a little odd, but it sure does showcase the signature. This design probably wouldn't go over today with the players, though, as many of them do not like to sign big open white spaces. I don't understand it, but they claim it has something to do with identity theft.

It looks like Bard is pitching for the El Paso Diablos in this card. The Diablos are no longer a part of the Texas League, but they have been reincarnated into the Diablos of the American Association. The back of the card features a Portland Sea Dogs logo because, by the time this card came out, Brad had been traded to the Marlins organization.

Here is a picture from Brad's rehab start in OKC.

2004 SP Prospects, Christopher McConnell

#251 Christopher McConnell

Here is the third and final 2004 ninth round draft pick from the SP Prospects set. I got this card signed this past season and the one difference between Chris and the prvious two guys that I posted from this set is that, as of the end of the 2010 season, Chris is still in affiliated ball. I got this card signed in Springdale, Arkansas at a Northwest Arkansas Naturals game while I was on my way back home from the Rickwood Classic. Chris was playing for the Naturals, the Royals AA team.

Chris was drafted by the Royals out of high school with the 265th pick of the 2004 draft. Chris' pro career got off to a slow start and it was 2007 before Chris advanced to high-A. It would be two more years before Chris got to AA and he would have to repeat that level in 2010. Last season with the Naturals, Chris hit .231. Yet, he somehow managed to be one of nine or ten Naturals that made the Texas League All Star team.

Until I started to post the cards from this set, I had no idea that the three guys that I have cards signed from were all drafted within six spots of each other. Trevor Lawhorn was number 258, Jim Fasano was 261, and Chris was 264. Normally, a weird coincidence like that could take years to accomplish. But I was able to stumble across the three players in less than a months time. What are the odds?

I was pretty disappointed in Chris' signature. It looks like he signs his first and last name the same. I could understand that if you are Randy Ready and there isn't much difference between you first and last name. But Chris' names don't even begin with the same letters.

In case you are wondering, only three out of the thirty players taken in the ninth round of the 2004 draft have reached the Major Leagues.

2004 SP Prospects, James Fasano

#248 James Fasano

Jim has spent the past three seasons playing in the now apparently defunct Northern League. He spent the entire time with the Kansas City T-Bones and I got this card signed when the Bones visited the Wichita Winguts for a pre-season game earlier in the year.

Jim was drafted by the Rangers in the ninth round of the 2004 draft out of the University of Richmond. He began his pro career that summer playing for the Spokane Indians of the Northwest League and he hit .266 in 300 plate appearances. He was bumped up to the Midwest League's Clinton Lumber Kings in '05 and he hit .302 there in 394 plate appearances. He got promoted to the California League the following season, but he only played in 14 games before getting moved up to AA. At AA, Jim played in 96 games and batted .244.

2007 was much like 2006 for Jim. He started out in the California League and played in 18 games before moving back up to the Texas League. That season for the Frisco Roughriders, Jim hit .284 (the highest he had hit since 2005) with 9 home runs and 39 driven in. Once that season was over, Jim was without a job.

I guess the Rangers just gave up on Jim because he didn't figure into their future plans. He must not have fit into any other teams plans since he ended up in the Northern League. But, he was done well in Kansas City by hitting 20 home runs twice and hitting a career high .319 this past season. It will be fun to see what the future holds in store for Jim.

Interesting to me is that Jim was the 261st overall pick in the '04 draft. That is three picks after yesterdays player, Trevor Lawhorn. Of the two people that were drafted between those two, neither one has played pro ball since 2007. So these two must be doing something right. I actually have one more 2004 ninth round draft pick coming up tomorrow. The only difference is that this one is of a guy that is still playing affiliated ball.

2004 SP Prospects, Trevor Lawhorn

#245 Trevor Lawhorn

Here is a card that I got signed back in May at a Wichita Wingnuts game. Trevor was playing for the Souix Falls Pheasants at the time.

Trevor was drafted by the Reds in the ninth round of the 2004 draft out of East Carolina. He was in the Reds organization for three years and got up to the high-A level. But after hitting .224 for Sarasota in 2006, Trevor was dealt to the Blue Jays organization. The Jays must have released him in Spring Training because he never played for any of their teams.

Instead, he started 2007 with Souix Falls and did good enough to get another look in affiliated ball. The Mariners picked him up and assigned him to their A team. He played with them for 29 games before joining the Nationals organization. He finished out 2007 with them and played with them in 2008 where he hit .236 at two levels of A ball. He even tried to convert to a pitcher that year, but he posted a 5.68 ERA in 6.1 innings. In 2009, it was back to Souix Falls and that is still where he plays now.

Trevor was the 2009 American Association All Star game MVP.

1999 SP, Carlos Febles

#CF Carlos Febles

Here is the second Carlos Febles card that I have posted on here and, unlike the first one, this one is a pack-pulled on-card auto that was given to me by Brian, from Play at the Plate. I got lucky and won the first manager fired contest that he had and this is one of the great prizes that he included in the prize pack. I now have two autographs from this set and both of them are Royals that Brian has sent my way. I wonder how many autographs that he has from this set.

It is kind of cool to compare the two Febles signatures. They are signed almost ten years apart, but you can definitely see that his signature evolved a great deal in that time.

I think that I have his signature on a Royals team ball, somewhere. I need to find his signature on there and compare to the two different ones that I have. That signature would probably be from 2000 or 2001, so it would probably resemble this signature more than the newer one. When I post my next Febles autograph, I just may have to do that.

As for my last post, I ended up giving the "Rod Carew" ball back to my aunt. She was glad that I did and she was not very happy about the whole deal. She had bought the ball at a Rotary dinner silent auction fundraiser and she could not figure out why the guy would do what he did. That's why I do not buy autographs. I had enough bad experiences in the '90s to know better and that is why I prefer to get them in person (or from other bloggers). My aunt doesn't think that she will be able to get her money back, but her husband knows the guy that had the ball and she said that he will be getting an earful. I guess that is better than nothing. Thanks for helping me choose the right course on this one, especially Jeff Bunnell.

1998 SP Top Prospects, Ricky Ledee

#RL Ricky Ledee

Wow, Ricky Ledee played for ten seasons with seven different teams? I had no idea that he lasted that long. I guess I saw him play in 2006 when he was a Dodger playing in Miami. Luckily, I kept score or I wouldn't have been able to recall that. Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that Rickey was such a promising prospect as a Yankee, that that is the team that I mainly remember him playing for. I guess playing in the Fall Classic after your first and second Major League season will do that to some players.

I got this card from checkoutmycards for $1.25. Looking at his stats now, I kind of wonder why I bought this card. I guess that I thought he played in a few more fall classics than he actually did. I think that I may have imagined a player that was made up between Ricky and Shane Spencer. That explains my delusion. Either way, it is still a great looking card of a player that played in 855 games with the Yankees, Indians, Rangers, Phillies, Giants, Dodgers, and Mets.

I didn't realize it until I saw the scan, but this happens to be a minor league card. The Columbus Clippers logo is how I figured that out. I apparently missed the minor league baseball logo on the back.

1999 SP, Dee Brown

#DB Dee Brown

This card was an unexpected surprise on the day of Fanfest. I didn't get this card signed at Fanfest. But, it was in my mailbox when I got home that night. Brian, from Play at the Plate, sent this card to me along with a couple of 2004 Topps Chrome cards. Thanks a bunch, Brian!

Dee was a 1996 first round draft pick of the Royals who turned down a football scholarship from Maryland to play baseball. After just a couple of seasons in the minors, he got his first cup of coffee in Kansas City. But, it took him about six years to make the Royals club and in 2001, he played in 106 games for the Royals and hit .245 with 7 home runs and 40 RBI. Unfortunately for him, that was his last full season in the big leagues and he has been bouncing around the AAA circuit ever since. He spent last season playing for the Dodgers' affiliate in Albuquerque.

I was so out of collecting in 1999 that I didn't even know that signed cards were in packs. If I would have known that then, I may have bought a few more. Also, as you can see on the card, Dee's given name is Dermal. He is the only person I have ever heard of with that name. I wonder is he tells people that his name is Greek and then forgets to mention that it is Greek for skin.

Thanks again, Brian!

1995 SP, Mike Macfarlane

#126 Mike Macfarlane

Here is the only Mike Macfarlane autograph I ended up with from Fanfest. Mike was at Fanfest the previous year and I was able to get three Royals cards signed by him. So this year, I wanted to mix it up a bit and I bought this Red Sox card from checkoutmycards.com.

Mike's tenure in Boston lasted all of one season. He was the primary catcher there and he hit .225 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI. He also got his only taste of the playoffs with Boston and he went 3-9 in the three game sweep by the Indians. In the off-season, he ended up back in Kansas City as a free agent signing. He was a Royal until he was traded to Oakland at the beginning of the 1998 season. For some reason, I couldn't find a card of him as an A.

Only two more cards until I am caught up from Fanfest. Then, I will be diving into the year 2000.

1995 SP, Raul Casanova

#20 Raul Casanova

This is another Padrograph from Rod. This one features journeyman backup cacher, Raul Casanova. Interestingly, Raul never played a game with the Padres. He was traded to Detroit before that could happen.

Raul played parts of nine seasons in the big leagues. He only appeared in more than 100 games in a season once. He spent time with the Tigers, Brewers, Orioles, White Sox, Devil Rays, and Mets. He also spent some time in the Padres, Rockies, Red Sox, Royals, and A's organizations. This season was spent playing for two different Mexican League teams.

Speaking of Padrographs, there is only a couple of days left to enter his contest. If you haven't already done so, check it out.

1993 SP, Tim Bogar

#145 Tim Bogar

This is the final card that Tim signed for me last season in Kansas City when he was coaching for the Rays. For a refresher, you can see the first one here and the second one here.

It was hard for me to find three cards of Tim before I headed up to KC. This is one that I wasn't expecting to find since I had so few of them. Without digging out the box that I store these in, I would guess that I had bought maybe three packs of these premium cards.

They are a funky, but, good-looking card. It is hard to see the foil half circle going over the top of the picture that has a batman ear. The orange and blue half border give them the funky look that I was referring to. I have no idea why they felt that they had to put that line in the middle of ss. These were definitely some unique cards.

Does anyone know what SP stands for?