1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Dave LaRoche

#97 Dave LaRoche

Here is the most recent card from this set that I have got signed. I got this card signed this summer when Dave was the pitching coach for the Kansas Stars. This was the first card from this set that I have got signed in two years.

When I went to my first Stars game in 2016, I did not expect Dave to be there. I should have known better since Andy and Adam were both there, but I was not prepared. So, I came ready this year with the only two cards of him that I owned and one from the '74 set that I picked up beforehand. I was unable to get Dave prior to the game, but I stuck around and was able to get him afterwards. He signed all three for me.

At the games I went too both years, there was a fourth LaRoche there, Jeff. I am assuming that he is the eldest brother, but there is not a lot of info on him.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Dennis Leonard

#84 Dennis Leonard

To my surprise, this is only the eighth card of Dennis Leonard that I have posted on here. Dennis is such a huge part of the Royals family, it seems like he is always signing autographs at events, whether it is Fanfest, alumni autograph Sundays, or the old winter caravan. This signature was obtained at one of the autograph Sundays at The K in 2015.

This was the first time that I got a senior league card signed at a signing. All the rest were either by the dugouts at games or through the mail. Since this was the only card I got signed by Dennis, I asked him his thoughts on the short-lived league. He told me that it was a lot of fun, but they could not get much fan support and that is what did the league in.

Personally, I would think that the senior league would be an autograph hunter's go-to place in Florida in the years before Major League ball. They played longer than Spring Training clubs did and most of the guys were former established Major League players, which would be better than 'graphing the Florida State League. But, it was a different time then, so who knows what it was really like.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Leon Roberts

#30 Leon Roberts

This is the third card of Leon that I have posted on here. The first one was a TTM success from 2012. You can see that card here. The second one was his '85 Topps card that my best friend, Dustin, got signed for me while we were at a Sacremento River Cats game in 2015. That card can be seen here. This card was also signed by Leon that day.

Even though Leon played in the Majors for eleven seasons, I have very few cards of him. In fact, all four cards I own are now signed. Leon coached in the Royals system last year, and when I went to Surprise for Spring Training, I had nothing of Leon to get signed. That is too bad because he has some really good-looking cards from the '70s. It is just that I didn't start collecting cards until Leon's playing career came to a close. That is why half of the cards I have of him are from after he retired.

I have four signed cards of Super Sox from this set. All four of them feature less than spectacular action shots. The three batter shots look identical to this, with the one pitcher shot looking a little better. Every other team has nothing but posed shots, with the exception of the Tropics, which has a mixture. Again, I am only going off of the cards that I have signed, so it is a small sample size. But, it seems strange that all of the shots in the set are posed except the Super Sox and a few random others (Willie Aikens being one of those).

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Roy Howell

#12 Roy Howell

Here is the second of two cards that Roy Howell signed for me through the mail in 2014. I posted the first card, his '81 Donruss, back in April and that one can be seen here.

Most times, when I send out an '81D in the mail, I will only send that card. But, after that set, this one might be my second favorite one to get signed. So, I will throw in this card with the '81D occasionally. In fact, I did that this morning when I sent cards to Doug Corbett to get signed.

I have about thirty cards from this set signed. I do not really send them out to get signed unless I send them with another card. But, I am seriously thinking about changing that strategy. I might start concentrating on this set more and send them out by themselves to guys that were not in the '81D set. That may be my new focus for 2018.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Dyar Miller

#211 Dyar Miller

Here is the final card that I have to post from this unique set. The set dragged on a little longer than I wanted it to, but there wasn't much I could do when my computer crapped out on me.

I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2012 when the Cardinals visited the K. Dyar was the Cards bullpen coach at the time. Even though he has a few cards out from his playing days, those days were before my time and this was the only card that I had of him. But, since it was just one of the two cards I got signed that day, I am glad that I had it.

Dyar pitched in the Majors for seven seasons in the '70s and early '80s. He pitched for the Orioles, Angels, Blue Jays, and Mets and he relieved every game he was in except for one. For his career, he was 23-17 with 22 saves and a 3.23 ERA.

As you can see on this card, Dyar was a coach in the SPBA. He was also a player in the league, where he posted a 0-2 record with a 3.18 ERA. I have no idea how many appearances he made, but I do know that he finished the season as the Juice's manager. The club started off 9-12 before he took over and went 28-23 the rest of the season.

Dyar is currently the minor league pitching coordinator for the Astros.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Sal Butera

#209 Sal Butera

Here is the second card that Sal Butera signed for me through the mail last winter. The other card was of course his '81 Donruss card which can be seen here. Sal took just two weeks to get the cards back to me.

Sal has a World Series ring from his time with the Twins. He was on their championship team in 1987, though Sal was used sparingly. He appeared in just one game against the Cardinals and it was as a defensive replacement in the eight inning in game four. He did not bat. But, he did start a game against the Tigers in the ALCS. In game three, he went 2-3 in a game the Twins lost 6-7.

In the SPBA, Sal hit .283 with no home runs and 22 RBI. His 5 stolen bases lead the team. That was five more than he had in his Major League career, In fact, Sal never even attempted a stolen base in the big leagues. I wonder if that SPBA stat might be a typo.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Bob Shirley

#207 Bob Shirley

I finally have a new computer, so now I can get back to my semi-regular posting.

Here is the Bob Shirley card that I got signed when I sent him his '81 Donruss card in November of 2012. Bob signed both of the cards and had them back to me in a month.

Bob's Orlando Juice (the OJ's?) finished the season 37-35, just missing the playoffs by one game to the Bradenton Explorers. Bob contributed by going 6-6 with a 4.93 ERA.

I made it to three ballgames last week, seeing the Wichita Wingnuts, Kansas State Wildcats, and Kansas City Royals. It was an OK week as I got thirteen cards signed at the Nuts game, one at the Cats game, and four at the Royals game. But, the best part was that all three home teams won. The Nuts came back from an early 6-2 deficit to win. The Cats scored three in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with a victory. Then I got to see Alex Gordon go 4-4 with two home runs and six RBI in the Royals win. Not a bad week.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Johnny Grubb

#191 Johnny Grubb

Here is a card that I got signed through the mail this past summer. I sent this card to Johnny, along with his '81 Donruss card, at the end of August and I had them back a week later. Unlike the rest of the cards from this set that were sent out with an '81 D, Johnny's Donruss card has not been posted on here yet. It is a more recent acquisition and will be appearing here at a later date. At the rate that I am posting, it might pop up in 2018.

Johnny played in the Majors for sixteen seasons with the Padres, Indians, Rangers, and Tigers. He mostly played in the outfield, usually center or left, and was a .278 hitter for his career. He had 99 home runs and 475 RBI. He made the All Star team in 1974 as a Padre.

Johnny played for the Orlando Juice in the SBPA. The Juice missed the playoffs by one game. Johnny hit .305 for them with 4 home runs and 35 RBI.

After the steroid era, I am fairly certain that there will never be a professional baseball team called the juice ever again. Just a hunch.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Tim Stoddard

#182 Tim Stoddard

Here is the third and final card that Tim Stoddard signed for me at a Wichita State game last season. Tim is the pitching coach for the the Northwestern Wildcats and he also signed an '81 Donruss and '85 Topps for me.

Tim pitched in the Majors for thirteen seasons with the White Sox, Orioles, Cubs, Yankees, Padres, and Indians. He never started a game in his career, but he finished over half of the ones he appeared in. He finished with a 41-35 record with 76 saves and a 3.95 ERA. You would think that someone who finished 262 Major League games would have more than 76 saves, but it was a different game when Tim pitched in the '70s and '80s.

Tim's best season came with the O's in 1980. He finished that year 5-3 with a 2.51 ERA and a career-high 26 saves.

In the SPBA, it appears that Tim might have been a starter. He finished the season 10-2 with a 4.10 ERA. Tim's Tropics won the Southern Division crown and ended up in the championship game, losing 12-4 to the Pelicans.

Tim played basketball at North Carolina State and he is the only person to win a NCAA basketball championship and a World Series.


Tim also appeared in the movie "Rookie of the Year" as a pitcher for the Dodgers. I wish I would have realized that when I met him in Wichita. I definitely would have brought that up.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Stan Cliburn

#150 Stan Cliburn

Here is a card of Stan Cliburn that I got signed at a Wichita Wingnut game in 2012. Stan was the manager of the Sioux City Explorers at the time.

Stan played professionally for fourteen seasons in the Angels, Pirates, and Braves organizations. He spent a majority of those years in AAA and he hit .233 with 34 home runs and 170 RBI at that level. He did get a cup of coffee with the Angels, though, in 1980. That summer, he got into 54 games and he had 56 at-bats. He hit .179 with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and 6 RBI. Unfortunately, neither Topps, Donruss, nor Fleer thought that Stan warranted a card in their 1981 sets.

After his playing days were over, Stan got into coaching. He got his first managerial job with the Watertown Pirates in 1988. He then went on to manage in the Rangers and Twins organizations, spending four seasons in AAA. He managed Sioux City the last three seasons, posting one winning season. The Explorers finished last season 38-62 and Stan was replaced during the offseason.

In the SPBA, Stan hit .281 with 4 home runs and 31 RBI. His Bradenton Explorers finished in second place in the Northern Division and lost to the Pelicans in their one playoff game.

Stan's brother Stew pitched for the Angels.

This has got to be one of the nicest signatures I have posted in a while.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Steve Luebber

#94 Steve Luebber

Here is a card that I got signed at Spring Training last year. Steve is the pitching coach for the Royals Carolina League team, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, and I was able to get him to sign this card after the minor leaguers worked out.

I was completely caught off guard by how easy it was to get this card signed. I had crossed paths with Steve three and a half years earlier and it was like pulling teeth to get him to sign for me then. I likened him to Will Ferrell's Mustafa character in the Austin Powers movie. You had to ask him three times to get anything out of him. This time around was the complete opposite. I asked him once and he stopped and signed with a big smile. To his credit, the first time I asked him was prior to a Carolina League playoff game and the second time was after a spring practice. I can totally understand how he was working when I asked the first go-around.

Steve pitched in the Majors for parts of five seasons with the Twins, Blue Jays, and Orioles. He both started and relieved and he posted a 6-10 record with 3 saves and a 4.62 ERA over 206.1 innings. Interestingly, he racked up two of his three saves in the same season that he pitched two complete games. The game is not played like it used to be. Case in point- Danny Duffy could have picked up an old-school three inning save yesterday. But, they put a different pitcher in for the ninth when the lead had been extended to 8-2. You want Danny to be a starter? Leave him in for the ninth and stretch him out a bit. You do not get that opportunity too often with todays specialized bullpens.

Anyway, for some reason, I cannot find any stats for Steve from the full season of the SBPA. But, I did learn that he was 1-1 with the Sun Sox, with a 3.07 ERA, when the league folded during its second season.

Steve has been the pitching coach for the Blue Rocks since 2007 and the first card I posted of him can be see here (hopefully the Austin Powers clip still works).

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Steve McCatty

#89 Steve McCatty

Here is the third and final card of Steve McCatty that I got signed at a Royals game last season. Steve is the pitching coach for the Washington Nationals and he signed the cards for me before the game. Since I am mainly only able to see the Royals on Sundays, my autographs mainly consists of the pitching and bullpen coaches anymore. I used to be able to get pitchers on Sunday, but they do not workout on the field like they used to.

The first card of Steve can be seen here and the second one here. I may have missed out on his '81 Donruss card, but at least I was able to get this one signed.

Steve spent his entire Major League career with the A's, so he looks at home in the green and gold of the Ft. Myers Sun Sox. Steve went 5-6 in the SPBA with a 4.60 ERA. His five wins were good enough to tie him for the team lead.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Rick Manning

#86 Rick Manning

Here is the third and final card that Rick Manning signed for me through the mail in 2012. The first card was Rick's '77 Topps that I unlocked in the Topps Diamond Giveaway. The second card was his '81 Donruss card.

Rick played in the Majors for thirteen seasons with the Indians and Brewers. He was a .257 hitter with 56 home runs and 458 RBI. He never played in the playoffs, but he did bring home a Gold Glove award in 1976.

Rick currently works with the Indians as the color commentator for their TV broadcasts. This season marks Rick's twenty-fifth year in that role. It just so happens that he started that gig after his season in the SBPA.

With the Sun Sox, Rick hit .288 with 6 home runs and 33 RBI.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Gene Richards

#48 Gene Richards

Here is the second card that Gene signed for me through the mail in 2012. The first card was his '81 Donruss card and that can be seen here.

Gene spent eight seasons in the Majors, playing seven with the Padres and one with the Giants. He never made an All Star team and he never played in the playoffs. The Padres made a World Series run in 1984 and, of course, that was the year Gene was with San Francisco. Gene was a career .290 hitter with 26 home runs and 255 RBI. His best season was probably the '78 season, his second in the Majors. That year, Gene hit .308 with 26 doubles, 12 triples, and 45 RBI. Those were all career highs. Gene also stole 247 bases in his career, swiping fifty or more twice.

In his one season in the SBPA, Gene hit .326 with 4 home runs and 25 RBI. He lead the Super Sox with 11 stolen bases.

Since the SPBA played during the winter, I think that the Super Sox should have been called the Winter Sox. Or maybe that could have just been a shortened version of Winter Haven Super Sox.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Doug Simunic

Here is a card of Doug Simunic that was signed for me at a Wichita Wingnut game in 2012. Doung is the manager for the Fargo Moorehead Redhawks and he signed this lone card for me before the game.

Doug was pretty unique when it came to the SBPA. He was one of the few guys in the league that never played in the Majors. He was drafted in the third round by the Expos in 1976. He then went on to play in the minors for nine seasons, spending parts of the last three at the AAA level. He spent time in the Expos, Royals, Indians, and Mariners organizations, but he never got the call. He ended up a career .249 hitter with 71 home runs and 361 RBI.

In the SPBA, he hit .230 with a home run and 12 RBI for the last place Super Sox.

Doug started managing with the Rochester Aces in 1993. He spent one season there and two in Winnipeg before moving on to the Redhawks, where he has been ever since. During his tenure in Fargo, he has won five league championships and has been to the playoffs every year except for two. His clubs have had a winning record every season except for one. Not too shabby.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Randy Lerch

#23 Randy Lerch

Here is the second card that Randy Lerch signed for me through the mail last year. The first one was his '81 Donruss card and it can be seen here.

At the end of September in 1978, Randy started a game against the Pirates. His Phillies just barely lead Pittsburgh in the standings with just a few days left in the season. Randy pitched six innings that day and picked up his eleventh win and the Phillies clinched the NL East. The final score was 10-8 and the two run difference was the result of the two solo home runs that Randy hit in the game.

By the time the SPBA came around, Randy hadn't pitched professionally in three years. That might have explained his 4-5 record and 6.88 ERA with the Pelicans. Nevertheless, the Pelicans managed to win the lone SBPA championship. I find it strange, though, that the league's season spanned 72 games and then the playoffs were just single games rather than a series. I guess the league founders forgot that Spring Training was starting up and they would be losing their parks. So, all three playoff game were played in the same park and were completed in just two days.

In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays payed tribute to the Pelicans by wearing their uniforms for a throwback night. You can see a couple of pictures from the event here.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Steve Kemp

#10 Steve Kemp

Here is the fourth and final card that I have to post from Steve Kemp. All four cards were signed through the mail in December of 2012. The main card out of the bunch was his '81 Donruss card for obvious reasons. I also sent along his '83 Donruss card, because of the nice beard he is sporting, and his '85 Fleer Update card, just because I have a not so complete set of it laying around. I don't usually send out four cards to be signed by a player. In fact, this is the only time I have done so. But, for some reason, I really wanted those four cards signed and others have had good success with Steve. So, I gave it a shot.

After some searching, I have found that Baseball Reference has some partial stats for the only full season of the SPBA. Steve batted .329 that year with 3 home runs and 32 RBI.

Steve had only been out of baseball for one full season when the SPBA started. He hit real well that season, but his .329 average was only the seventh best on the team. It seems that the batters had lost a little less than the pitchers had and the league was very hitter friendly.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Jon Matlack

#9 Jon Matlack

For the next month, I will be showcasing cards from my second favorite set, the 1989-90 Pacific Senior League set. For those not familiar with the Senior Professional Baseball Association, it was a league that lasted all of a season and a half and all of the players in the league were at least 35 years old. The league was based in Florida and the teams played a 72 game season over the winter. Poor attendance eventually forced the league to close its doors. I'm not sure if a league like that would do any better today, but I'm sure it would be a great place to get some autographs.

Most of the cards I will be showing from this set were signed through the mail when I mailed off an '81 Donruss card. This one, though, is an exception. While Jon does have a card in the Donruss set, I have not gotten it signed. Instead, I sent this card to him with his '74 Topps card that I unlocked in the Topps Diamond Giveaway. I had a little trouble getting the cards signed as they got "Return(ed) to Sender" at one point. But, a second attempt made it through and the cards came back a month later.

I did not send the '81 Donruss card to Jon because I did not have it at the time. I have it now, but my SCN membership has expired. I haven't sent out any TTMs this year, but maybe I will keep an eye out for Jon's new address.

Jon won ten games for the Pelicans.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Bobby Jones

#98 Bobby Jones

Here is the second card that I got Bobby to sign for me before his Round Rock Express took on the Omaha Storm Chasers in Omaha this summer. The first card can be seen here.

I really love this set and I enjoy getting cards signed from it. Unfortunately, this is the only signed one that I have been able to aquire this year. The last time I posted a card from this set was June of 2010. That was quite a drout. But, I finally got one signed over the summer and it was also my first Fort Myers Sun Sox card from the set that I got signed. I think there is just one more team that I do not have a card signed from and that is the Orlando Juice.

Bobby lead the Express to the playoffs this season, but the team fell to the Storm Chasers in the first round.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Tito Landrum

#168 Tito Landrum

Here is the third and final card that Tito signed for me at the '85 Classic. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

Do you think that a Senior League would do well today? With the success of all of the independent leagues, I don't see why it couldn't. I don't think that Florida would necessarily be the most ideal spot, but maybe Texas, Arizona, or California would. Or maybe a league that is spread out over the three states. I know that I would rather go to a Wichita Wingnuts game if it was a team full of former Major Leaguers rather than a team full of career minor leaguers. But, that is just me and my autograph mentality thinking.

What do you think? Would a Senior League work today? Or would it just be a one year wonder like the original league was?