1999 Ultra, Shane Reynolds

#18 Shane Reynolds

This is the third and final Shane Reynolds card that I got signed at Astros Fanfest last year. After Royals Fanfest on Friday, I kind of miss Strosfest (or even last years Royals Fanfest). At least there, you had former players that signed for a set time and not a set number of people. In Houston, I was able to hit up every single free autograph session that they had. On Friday, I only got to a third of them.

You can see the first Shane Reynolds card here and the second one here. I wish I would have found a Braves card of him before I went to Houston. Oh well, at least I had the Jackson Generals card.

Before I got this card signed, I didn't have a single card from this set signed. Over the past year and with the help of a couple of bloggers, I now have five cards from this set signed. I know that it is not a lot, but it is five more than I had last year.

1995 Leaf, James Mouton

#101 James Mouton

This is the third and final James Mouton card that I got signed at Astros Fanfest last spring. You can see the first one here and the second one here.

I really like this Leaf set. It's from 1995, so of course it has some foiling. But, it is pretty minimal. I like how the team name and inset picture have a foil-like look to them without using the typical foil process. I don't know what this is called, but it looks good. You can still see James' foot underneath the "A". Plus, when the light hits these cards right, the silver has a prism effect, almost like a refractor.

Click on the card and check out James' right forearm. Does that look freaky or is it just me?

1995 Donruss, Shane Reynolds

#307 Shane Reynolds

This is the second Shane Reynolds card that I have posted on here. The last one was a minor league card of him from his days in the Texas League. There is still one card of him coming up, but it probably won't appear until early 2010. Like the last Reynolds card, this one was obtained at Astros Fanfest.

I'm not a big fan of 1995 Donruss. The cards all look good, I just don't like the foil. Usually, I don't mind foil, but I have a hard time reading the name on the cards when I'm going through them quickly looking for a certain player.

This blog is in a bit of a funk right now. Starting with the Joe Randa card on Monday, all of the posts up to Friday feature players that have been on here before. That will end on Saturday, though.

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.

1992 Upper Deck, Kevin Bass

#107 Kevin Bass

Here is the third and final Kevin Bass card. You can see the first here and the second here.

The first thing I noticed about this card was the awesome photograph. It is a super-nice action shot from a different angle. But after I got it signed, the super-niceness faded and I kind of fealt bad for Kevin. Or maybe I don't feel bad for him because he didn't have to do it that way. But, nonetheless, he did sign right across his crotch on this card. That is a first here on "Autographed Cards".

Here is a funny Kevin Bass story from 'Strosfest. When I was about to get my cards signed by him, some guy came up to him from the oppisite direction that the line was going and said "hey, do you remember me form 'such-and-such' event a few years ago when I was with 'so-and-so'?". Kevin had a blank look on his face and said that he remembered the event. The guy said some more things that were supposed to help Kevin to remember who the guy was, but Kevin again answered that he remembered the event. The guy finally got the hint and told him to take care. As he walked off, I heard him tell whoever he was with "yeah, that was Jimmy Wynn".

1992 Skybox, John Hudek

#40 John Hudek

Do you realize that it has been a month and a half since I have posted a card from 1993. In that time, I have had a contest, won two contests and took second in a third, posted a picture of my dog, posted three cards from 1968, gone to the College World Series, posted a autographed card from the Royals first round draft pick, and posted seven '81 Donruss cards. That is all going to change tomorrow when I post one more 1993 card before finally starting the '94s on Saturday. I was planning on having a contest to celebrate, but because of the holiday, I will hold off on that one for a couple of days.

Here is my second and final card of John Hudek that I got Astros Fanfest. I know what you are thinking, "only two of him?". Yep, only two. I had a third minor league card of him that I could have taken with me (it was a '91 Line Drive and looked almost identical to this card). But, I was determined to find a Major League card of him. When I couldn't find one, I had forgot about the third minor league card and took off to Houston without it. You can see the first Hudek card here.

John is playing for the Birmingham Barons in this card. The Barons are still around today and they are still affiliated with the White Sox. They gained a ton of exposure in the mid '90s when Micheal Jordan played for them.

1992 Donruss, Brian Williams

#416 Brian Williams

One quickie post to end the night.

Here is the third and final Brian Williams card obtained at Astros Fanfest. You can the first here and the second here.

I told you it would be quick.

1991 Line Drive, Shane Reynolds

#572 Shane Reynolds

Here is another card that I got signed at the Astros Fanfest. Luckily, this is the first Shane Reynolds card that I have to show on here. Shane was in the first group of alumni that I was able to get signatures from that day. The others at his table were Larry Dierker and Scipio Spinks. Unfortunately, Scipio was a last minute addition and I did not have any cards of him with me. So, all I got signed was a Astros produced 4x6 of the inside of Minute Maid Park. Most of the other players had a 4x6 with their picture on it, but not Scipio.

Anyway, back to Shane Reynolds. Like all of the alumni, he signed all of my cards. I tried to find one of him with some team other than the Astros (or Astro minor leaguer) and came up empty handed. So, the other two cards feature him as an Astro. Before I went on my CWS trip I was looking through a binder that had mostly 2003 cards in it. Of course I found an '03 UD Vintage card of Shane as a Brave. I wish I would have looked through that a few months sooner.

This card depicts Shane as a Jackson General of the Texas League. The Generals played in the league for nine seasons. I am not sure where they moved to after that, but I suspect Round Rock. The Generals were named for former president Andrew Jackson. Jackson was in the military prior to his term in the White House and he fought in the War of 1812 and the First Seminole War. There is a little ballad about him called the "The Battle of New Orleans". That song is the battalion song of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment, the most decorated battalion in the United States Army. Luckily, I was one of the few tankers to have the honor of being a part of that regiment.

1991 Classic/Best, Brian Williams

#14 Brian Williams

Here is the second Brian Williams card that I got at Astros Fanfest. This is also the second card that I got signed there that featured an Osceola Astro on it. This picture must have been taken in Spring Training, though, since Brian has an "H" on his cap rather than the "O".

Luckily, I am almost done with all of these catch-up posts. On Saturday, I will be starting the 1994 cards. I'm looking forward to that because I am tired of showing the same people on here three times in a week or two. Plus, I am looking forward to getting back to doing one post a day. And to kick off the fact that I am finally getting to my 1994 cards, I will be having a one of a kind contest. So stay tuned for that.

1989 Star, John Hudek

#59 John Hudek

Here is another card that was obtained at Astros Fanfest. This is also another case of "why is this guy here?".

John Spent his first four years in the Majors as a reliever in Houston. In two of those years, he didn't even have 20 appearences. In the other two, he made at least 40. In his rookike season, he had 16 saves. That was a career high.

After his fourth year in Houston, he was traded to the Mets for Carl Everett. After 30 games with the Mets, he was traded to the Reds for Lenny Harris. He started the next year in Cincy, but got released after two appearances. The Braves picked him up for 15 games (and a few in Richmond) before letting him loose. The Jays thought that a third time might be a charm and signed him. He made three appearances for them (and a few with Syracuse) and was released after the season was over. The Cardinals signed him for the next season, but he must have been released during Spring Training since he has no stats for the season.

Anyway, does this sound like the type of alumni that you would invite to fanfest? I had a hard time just finding a couple of minor League cards of him. I couldn't find any Major League cards even though they do exist.

As for the team on this card, it is the Sarasota White Sox of the Florida State League. There is still a team in Sarasota and they are affiliated with the Reds. I bet you can't guess what their name is.

This is the third card that I have signed from this set. The first one is Moises Alou and the second one is Bill Masse.

1988 Donruss, Alex Trevino

#376 Alex Trevino

Just like with the Cabell card, this is my third and final Alex Trevino post. You can see the first one here and the second one here. The three cards I got him to sign featured him as a Met and a Dodger. I had found a couple of cards of him as an Astro, but I didn't take them with me since he was wearing the dark blue batting jersey. I have learned the hard way that it is best to stay away from those.

According to Baseball ALmanac, Alex's first name is actually Alejandro. I didn't no that Alex was short (or English) for Alejandro.

Did anyone see the end to that Texas-Arizona State game? 2-2 going into the ninth when ASU knocked in the go-ahead run. Two solo home runs in the bottom half and ASU is sent home. What a finish. I was going to go to the game tomorrow if ASU would have pulled it out.

1987 Topps, Enos Cabell

#509 Enos Cabell

I have a couple of short posts tonight. The first is obviously this Cabell card. This is the third and final Enos Cabell card. You can see the first one here and the second one here. This one, just like the last two, was obtained at Astros Fanfest.

1986 was Enos' last season, so this is one of his last cards. In '86, he had two home runs and one of them was a grand slam. That was the only grand slam that he hit in the majors.

I love the pop-up shades in the photo. You can never go wrong with those.

1987 Topps, Alex Trevino

#173 Alex Trevino

Here is the second of three cards that Alex signed for me at Astros Fanfest. As I said in the last Trevino post, Alex was mostly a backup catcher and he only appeared in over 100 games twice. He never played in a playoff game and was never an All-Star. But, I did get three cards signed by him. Nowadays, that would be difficult to do since most card sets don't include very many backup catchers, or even bullpen pitchers.

That is why it was really fun to collect cards in the '80s (I'm sure it was a blast before that, too, but I wouldn't know). You would pull cards of the same common players year in and year out and they are still names that you recognise today. With todays sets, most players will get a rookie card and that may be all if they are not a starter or a closer. Upper Deck makes some cards of these types of players, but not all of them and not every year. If only Topps was still making their Topps Total set, I wouldn't be ranting on about this.

Anyways, here is the signed card from the backup catcher. I will have one of him coming up later this week.

1986 Mother's Cookies Astros, Larry Dierker

#8 Larry Dierker

While I was at the card show at fanfest, I just happened to find this card in the same box that had the Jimmy Wynn. Since I only had two cards of Larry, I picked this one up also. I figured that I would deffinitely be able to get the Wynn card signed and I would try to get this card signed if Larry would sign more than one. Of course, Larry is a nice guy and signed both of the cards that I had of him.

Since I was down in Houston for my cousin's wedding (no, I didn't go there just for fanfest), my Dad went to fanfest with me. So, when going through the autograph lines, I gave him the one card that I wanted signed the most and I had two other cards in my book. With the exception of Enos Cabell and John Hudek, I only got two cards signed by each player. My dad got the third one.

Speaking of my Dad, when he saw these Mother's Cookies cards after I bought them, he said "you know these are fake, don't you". I told him that they look real to me. I think that he was just referring to them not being made by one of the main brands.

1986 Mother's Cookies Astros, Jimmy Wynn

#7 Jimmy Wynn

This is a sweet looking card. I bought this card at the card show held during Astros Fanfest for fifty cents. When I got to Houston, all I had was my one Jimmy Wynn card. So, my main goal for the show was to pick up at least one more card of him. This is the only card that I could find, but I am very happy with it.

While I have heard of Mother's Cookies cards before, this is the first time that I had actually seen one in person. I doubt that they all look this good. They are kind of goofy because they have rounded corners like a playing card and they are real thin. Other than that, they look like they would have been a great promotional item for an Astros game in 1986. This is just a good-looking card.

If you look closely at Jimmy's signature, you will notice something that is unusual. He crosses his n's.

1986 Donruus, Kevin Bass

#548 Kevin Bass

This is the second Kevin Bass card that I got signed at Astros Fanfest. The first one was posted a few months ago when I was posting my cards from 1993. I was able to find three cards of Kevin with three different teams and those were the cards I took with me. I'm not sure why I like to do that, but I do.

I'll post another card on here later tonight.

1981 Topps, Terry Puhl

#411 Terry Puhl

Here is the second Terry Puhl that I got signed at Astros Fanfest. I had got a third one, but I traded it to Tom of the Astros Baseball Cards blog.

If you were lucky enough to see game three of the 1980 NLCS on the MLB Network this past Saturday, then you saw Terry bat leadoff for the 'Stros and go 2-4 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. He finished off the series with a .526 average, 2 doubles, 3 RBI, and 3 steals. He got three pinch hit at-bats in the '86 NLCS and was 2-3 with a stolen base. So, for his career, he was a .545 hitter (12-22) in the playoffs.

1981 Topps, Alex Trevino

#23 Alex Trevino

Here is another card that I got signed at Astros Fanfest. That is cool that Alex and the Astros still partner up for these events since he only spent two and a half seasons in Houston, as a backup, before being released midseason in 1990. Prior to all of that, he had spent some time with the Mets (obviuosly), Reds, Braves, Giants, and Dodgers. After getting released by the Astros, he played in nine games for the Mets and seven games with the Reds to finish out the 1990 season and his career.

1981 Donruss, Enos Cabell

#138 Enos Cabell

Here is the second of three autographs from Enos that I got at Astros Fanfest. Enos was in the second group of alums and while I was standing in line, they were all told that they were only supposed to sign one item per person. As soon as I got to him, he signed all three cards without me asking and the rest of the alums signed all of mine, too. I guess it may make a difference that I have three cards on a page so I can set it in front of them as one piece rather than setting it down, grabbing it and setting something else down. I don't know. Maybe they are just that nice.

Look how skinny Enos' waist is in the picture. That almost doesn't look right.

1981 Donruss, Terry Puhl

#24 Terry Puhl

Here is another card that I was able to get signed at Astros Fanfest. Terry, like all of the 'Stros alum, signed all three of my cards.

I had always thought that Terry was a lifelong Astro. But, after looking at his stats, I discovered that he played his final season in Kansas City. He only got into 15 games with the Royals and went 4-18 with 3 walks and 3 RBI.

While '81 Donruss is not known for its photography, this picture of Terry looks a little more fuzzy than the average '81 Donruss. Maybe it is just the shadow over his face that is giving it that look.

I'm going to St. Paul Saints/Wichita Wingnuts game tonight. I was hoping to get Craig Brazell's autograph. But, the Saints sold him to the Hanshin Tigers of Japan's Central League. I guess that Kerry Lightenberg will be the main one tonight. The Saints are pitching last years 46th pick in the draft, Tanner Scheppers. It will be interesting to see how he does.