1993 Select, Dan Gladden

#244 Dan Gladden

Here is a card of Dan Gladden that I got signed at a Royals game last season. The Twins were in town and Dan is a broadcaster for the team. I noticed him on the field during batting practice and I got him to come over and sign for me right before he left the field.

That was the second time that I got Dan to sign for me. I got him at The Ballpark in Arlington (or whatever it was called at the time) in 2009 and that card can be seen here. When I got that card signed, I gave Dan my book with three cards of him and he just signed the one. This time, eight years later, I gave him my book with two cards to sign. Those two cards were the same two cards that he didn't sign in Texas. The next time I see Dan, I am sure I will just have his '86 Topps card to sign, the one he didn't sign the other two times.

Dan spent his last two seasons with Detroit. In 1993, his final season in the Majors, he had a good year. Though he played in just 91 games, he still hit .267 and had a single season best of 13 home runs. His 56 RBI were the second most that he ever had in a season.

Dan would play the 1994 season in Japan before calling it a career.

1993 Select, Willie Wilson

#395 Willie Wilson

It has been over a year since I posted a card of Willie Wilson. The last one I posted was his '81 Donruss card and that one can be seen here. You can check out a few other Wilson cards from the blog's early days here, here, and here.

This card, like the '81 Donruss, was signed at a Royals Caravan stop in early 2013. After a three year exile from my home town, the Royals Caravan returned that year with Willie, Aaron Crow, Everett Teaford, and Eric Hosmer. It was a pretty good selection and I thoroughly enjoyed the event. However, it was a short-lived reprieve as the Caravan bypassed Salina again this year. Why this happens is unknown to me. I know that turn-out wasn't super-awesome, but what do they expect when they announce it three days prior and schedule it mid-day on a Thursday?

Before getting some cards signed by Willie at the Caravan stop, I had gotten three cards signed by him in 2008 after I had jumped back into autograph collecting. I picked out cards then based on the first ones I found. Nowadays, I try to be more choosy if I have the time to be. So, when I got cards signed by Willie last year, I took my '81 Donruss and two non-Royals cards since all of my other signed cards were him as a Royal. That is how I came to have a signed A's card of him.

Willie joined the A's for the 1992 season after fifteen seasons in Kansas City. He had a rough year his first year in Oakland and hit just .238. That was the lowest average he had posted since his first full season in the Majors in 1978. But, he bounced back the next season and had an average of .270.

Willie seemed a little surprised to see an A's card of himself. I handed it to him and and he just stopped and looked at it for a few seconds. He then showed it off to Everett Teaford and started telling him about the place he had in the Bay Area.

1993 Select, Jeff Russell

#365 Jeff Russell

Here is the second of three cards that Jeff Russell signed for me earlier this season. Jeff is the pitching coach for the Grand Prairie AirHogs of the American Association and he signed three for me on Opening Night in Wichita. I posted the first card two and a half months ago and it can be seen here.

Jeff pitched in the Majors for fourteen seasons, spending a majority of the time with the Rangers. He made two All Star teams with Texas in the late '80s and was the AL Rolaids Relief Man Award winner in 1989 when he lead the league with 38 saves. That was one of three years of 30+ saves.

On the last day of Auguest, 1992, Jeff, Ruben Sierra, and Bobby Witt were sent to Oakland for Jose Canseco. Jeff's tenure in Oakland lasted for the last month of the '92 season before moving on via free agency. In that one month, he was 2-0 with 2 saves in 8 games. He gave up just 4 hits and no runs in 9.2 innings of work.

This '93 Select set was really made for the A's players. The border, even though it has two shades of green, really works for the A's. I like it when borders match the team color. Because of that, I really like the Topps Wal-Mart blue border cards for my Royals.

1993 Select, Jason Kendall

#359 Jason Kendall

Here is a card that I got signed outside of Kauffman Stadium earlier this season. Jason works for the Royals in some capacity. I honestly have no clue what his role actually is as he is not even listed anywhere on the Royals website. But, I do know that if you are going to 'graph outside of The K, take along a card of Kendall because you will most likely see him at some point.

Jason had a long career as a Major League catcher. The former first round draft pick of the Pirates spent nine successful years in Pittsburgh and was a .306 hitter with the Bucs. He made three All Star teams with them and even made the team in his rookie season. His best season with them came in 1998 when he hit .327 with 12 home runs and had career-highs in RBI (75) and stolen bases (26).

Jason never played in the World Series, but he did play in the playoffs three times with three different teams. The 2006 A's team he was on made it to the ALCS, which is as far as he ever made it.

Jason recently put out a book- Throwback: A Big-League Catcher Tells How the Game Is Really Played.

What was up with Score and the cloud backdrops on their 1993 cards? The card of Dave Magadan I posted a couple of days ago had the same backdrop. However, that card was cropped much better so that it didn't look like he was floating on air. I wish I could say that about this card.

1993 Select, Mariano Duncan

#151 Mariano Duncan

Here is a card that I got signed by Mariano Duncan this past Spring Training. Mariano is the batting coach for the Cubs A+ team in Daytona and he was nice enough to sign two cards for me after the Cubs minor leaguers worked out the day I was there.

Mariano played in the Major Leagues for twelve seasons with five clubs- the Dodgers, Reds, Phillies, Yankees, and Blue Jays. He mainly played up the middle, spending a tad bit more time at second than at short. He was a .267 career hitter that had 87 home runs and 491 RBI.

I am glad that Mariano signed a Phillies card for me as he had his best season as a Phillie (he signed two of the three cards I had). In 1993, his second season in Philadelphia, Mariano hit .282 with 11 home runs and a career-high 73 RBI. It might have been a little late, but he was rewarded for his good season with a trip to the All Star Game the following season. That was the only All Star team that he ever made, but at least he got to start it. He was 0-1 in the game with a ground out off of Jimmy Key.

Mariano was lucky enough to play in three World Series. He played in it in 1990 (Cincinnati), '93 (Philadelphia), and '96 (New York). He did really well in the '93 Series (10-29 with a triple and 2 RBI), but not so hot in the other two (3-33). Strangely, the two he hit poorly in were the two he won.

It has been a bit of a Phillies parade of late. Three out of the last six cards I have posted have been of one.

I like this card because it features two other predominant middle infielders from the '90s- Micky Morandidi and Jay Bell.

This card lists Mariano as playing second base and left field. Surprisingly, in 1992, he started more games in left than at second.

1994 Select, Ron Karkovice

#33 Ron Karkovice

I thought that this post was going to be the last one before I started onto the 1995 cards. But, I got a few autographs in the mail today. So 1995 is going to be delayed until Friday.

This card came in today from Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff. Amizingly, this Select card fell in between the '94 Score I posted earlier and the '94 Ultra I had planned for tonight. Good timing Paul.

Ron is a coach for the Newark Bears, Paul's local Atlantic League team. When Paul offered to help out people with autographs from the Atlantic League teams, he made a few rules. One of the rules was there were a few coaches that didn't seem to like signing and he tried to avoid- don't send cards of them. Another rule was don't send cards of pitchers since they were hard to get to. The final rule was not to send cards of the Bears because they were not great signers.

Well, like the good gremlin owner that I am, I only broke two of the three rules. I sent him one pitcher and a handful of Bears. The pitcher was a former Royal and I told him if he could get it, that would be great. If he couldn't, it is not a problem. As for the Bears, it was kind of the same deal, except I told him to go ahead and keep whatever he was unable to get signed (with the exception of tomorrows card).

When I got all of my cards back from him last month, I noticed I was missing a couple of cards that I sent him. I figured that he was just unable to get them signed and he kept them like I told him to do. But, I didn't get back the one card that I wanted back regardless, so I emailed him. To my pleasant surprise, he was still trying to get those cards signed for me.

Paul- Thank you very much! I owe you one.

1994 Select, James Mouton

#184 James Mouton

Here is another James Mouton card that I got signed at Astros Fanfest right before the season started. This is the second Mouton autograph that I have shown on here. The first one was posted back in April, about a week after 'Strosfest.

James, in my opinion, falls into the same catagory that John Hudek and Brian Williams fell into. To me, they seem like some lesser players that had very short tenures with the team. I've only been to one 'Strosfest and I am hoping that these guys aren't invited every year. If they aren't, then it is a great idea to have some different lesser players come in every year. It wouldn't be much fun to go to the event every year if it is just the same people signing. That is how Royals Fanfest is starting to look after only its second year. Hopefully, both teams will mix it up next year, even though I probably will not be going to either one.

These rookie prospect cards are completely different than the base cards. They still keep a portion of the front tinted, but that is about the only resemblence to the base cards. I do, for some reason, like the tear going through the card. It is very subtle and divides the tint and non-tint nicely.

1994 Select, Brady Anderson

#55 Brady Anderson

I picked this card up in a trade. It was actually my first trade that only involved autographed cards. One day, I got an email from a guy that wanted a couple of '89 Donruss that I had signed. The email came from Derick, who runs DK's Baseball Signatures. Derick is trying to get his '89 Donruss set autographed and he asked if I would be willing to part with my Dickie Thon and Bob Dernier. I only have one Dickie Thon autograph, so I kept that one. But, I have three autographs from Dernier, so I traded one for this Brady, straight up. The edges of the Brady card are a little beat-up. But, it's Brady Anderson, so I'm not too worried about.

If you get a chance, check out Derick's site. He has 77% of the '89 Donruss set signed, so he still needs a little help. He is also trying to get the '95 Score set signed and the 2000 Victory set. If you have any cards that would move him toward his goal, he has a trade list of cards he is willing to part with. That is where I picked this card from.

1993 Select, Eric Wedge

#561 Eric Wedge

Here is the second autograph of the Indians manager that I have shown on here. The last one that I posted was just over two weeks ago. That was the day before I left for Houston to see the Inians and Astros play a preseason game. Well, at that game, I got Eric to sign three more cards for me.

I wasn't impressed with the setup in Houston in regards to getting autographs. There really wasn't a good place to stand for someone trying to get cards signed. If I wanted to get some balls signed, I could have just stood anywhere behind the dugout. So, I just went to the outfield side of the dugout to try to get some pitchers to sign after they came in form BP. As soon as I got over there, Eric headed to the same place I was at to talk to a buddy of his. It was an interesting conversation to listen in on. Apparently the guy was a childhood friend of Eric's (he told his son that they played little league together). The friend asked him if he ever makes it back to Ft. Wayne and Eric said that he did once or twice a year to see the folks. Then he asked Eric how the team was going to do this year and Eric didn't really know what to say. He basically said that they have the talent, but they need to pull it together. They were pretty sloopy in their final games in Arizona and were hoping to get it all worked out in Houston before the season started.

Apparently, that didn't happen as they started the season 1-5. But they seem to be rolling now, at least offensively, after scoring 22 against the Yankees tonight.

Also, look how nicely this card looks signed after sitting around for 16 years. It looks much better than the previous Score Select cards.

1993 Select, Juan Guzman

#180 Juan Guzman

Out of the three '93 Selects that I got signed through the mail in the ear;y '90s, I think that this one turned out the worst of the three. After getting this one back, I ended up sending him another card to sign later in the year.

Juan was a very good pitcher in his first few years in the Majors. In his second season, he made the American League All-Star team and finished with a 16-5 record with a 2.64 ERA. The next season, he recorded 194 strikeouts. His ERA ballooned the next couple of seasons, but bounced back in 1996 with a 2.93 ERA (but with an 11-8 record). He struggled the next couple of seasons and started to bounce around a little bit. He made one start in 2000 with Tampa Bay and got lit up. That was his last appearance in the Major Leagues.

1993 Select, Chuck Knoblauch

#36 Chuck Knoblauch

Here is another card that I got signed through the mail. Again, I got this in the early '90s, probably in 1993 or '94. The main reason why I sent for Chuck's autograph was because I saw something in Beckett that said that he signed TTM. I was thinking about sending him my 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensation insert card. Those were some high dollar insert cards at the time and thankfully I didn't send him mine. The reason for that is because I did not get the same card back that I sent to him. It has been over fifteen years since then and I do not know what card I sent him, but I am 100% positive that it wasn't this card. With my luck, I probably sent him a low-gloss card and got this high-gloss card in return. Either way, I was still pretty happy about it.

I was a pretty big Knoblauch fan back in the day. If I search through all of my albums, I know that I could find one that had a Knoblauch player collection going in it. Luckily, I was pretty much out of card collecting when he was traded to the Yanks. I was even more lucky to be almost completely out of card collecting when he signed with the Royals. Unfortunately, I do have a Kauffman Stadium poster that I got for cheap at the K that has Knoblauch up to bat in it. Oh well, it's still a cool poster. It is even cooler now after the renovation.

I think that this is the first horizontal card that I have posted on here since the '55 Bowman Carl Erskine. I could be wrong though (and probably am).

1993 Select, Larry Walker

#27 Larry Walker

Here is another early '90s card that I got signed through the mail. One thing that I always thought was weird is how the card is signed sideways. This was probably the first time that I had ever seen that before. Baseball Almanac's signature is also sideways. There's turned out better since the card they used wasn't as glossy as mine. The next two cards that I'll have on here look about the same because of the gloss. The third one was signed a week and a half ago and looks much better.

As for Larry Walker, I got this card signed early in his career. I remember going to some Rockies games towards the end of his career and hearing horror stories about him tearing cards in half. I have no idea if there is any truth to those stories or not. Has anyone else heard or read about his signing habits?

Well, my Royals fell to the Indians today, but I had a lot of fun. I was having a ton of fun until Kyle Farnsworth came in to pitch. But hey, that's baseball. Unfortunately, I spent too much time trying to get autographs that I didn't have much time to explore the renovated ballpark. I made one quick lap around the new outfield area, checked out the new Dick Howser statue, and then headed up to the upper deck to get a quick bight to eat and find a seat. But, it turned out to be a nice day and I came home with a very slight sunburn and seventeen autographed cards, including two from Kerry Wood. Plus, I think that I saw Mike Jacobs hit the longest home run that I have ever seen at that ballpark. So, even though the home team loss, it wasn't a bad day at all.

Unfortunately, I wasn't in a picture taking mood and I only came home with two new pics. I thought that this one was the better of the two.



Here is the other one. Everything in this picture is brand new except the fountains, the lights, and the video board (it was put up last year, but its crown is new).