2004 Studio, Jason Bartlett

#208 Jason Bartlett

Every once in a while, my dad will buy me some baseball cards. He's been doing it since the mid-80s and I do not see him stopping anytime soon. Even when I was in college and could care less about baseball cards, my dad would still buy me a pack or two every now and then. I think he is just curious of what they are looking like from year to year.

Anyways, a couple of years ago, my dad called me to tell me that he pulled an autograph out of a pack. I was expecting something cool out of a current pack of Allen & Ginter or even Topps Archives. Nope, this was the card he pulled. It turns out that he got bored by the card selection at Target, so he picked up a repack box with a few packs and a 100 loose cards. This was one of the loose cards.

Now, I don't mean to sound like I am ungrateful that my dad pulled this card. That is not the case as I love any and all autographs, especially guys that I never got in-person that had respectable careers, like Jason. I just wasn't expecting him to pull an auto that was a dozen years old.

Jason played in the Majors for ten seasons with the Twins, Rays, and Padres. Over that time, he hit .270 with 31 home runs and 286 RBI while playing in the postseason three times. He best season was with the Rays in 2009 when he had career-highs in nearly every offensive category including average (.320), runs (90), doubles (29), home runs (14), RBI (66), and stolen bases (30). He was rewarded that season with his only All Star team selection.

1991 Studio, Brook Jacoby

#44 Brook Jacoby

Here is the second Brook Jacoby card that I got signed in Kansas City the night before the College World Series started. You just cannot go wrong with Studio. The '91 set wasn't as flashy as the '93 set. But it was slightly less senior portraity than the '92 set. The '91s and '92s are probably pretty equal. I'm just basing my judgement on the two cards that I actually have signed from those sets. At least Brook doesn't have his hand on his chin like Jeff Montgomery did.

Let's see what goodies are on the back of this card.

PERSONAL: His father, Brook, Sr. played in the Cleveland and Philadelphia organizations.

CAREER: Named to A.L. All-Star team for the 2nd time 1990.

HOBBIES & INTERESTS: Golf and fishing...likes top 10 music...favorite TV show: Thirtysomething... Lakers fan.

HEROES: Rocky Bleir and Pete Rose.

They had more stuff on there for personal and career. I just included more of the odd-ball stuff, the stuff that usually isn't on the back of a baseball card.

1993 Studio, Todd Hundley

#206 Todd Hundley

I got this card signed through the mail in the early or mid '90s. I probably got it before 1996, the year Todd set the catchers home run mark when he hit 41. For some reason, I thought that Mike Piazza broke that record. Come to find out, the most Mike ever hit was 40. It was Javy Lopez that broke the recod when he hit 43 in 2003. What was I thinking?

It is kind of funny that Mike Piazza replaced Todd in New York and Todd ended up replacing Mike in Los Angeles. It is also funny to see that Charles Johnson was in the package to LA in the Piazza trade. After that season, Johnson was traded to the Mets for Todd. The Mets then flipped him to the Orioles for Armando Benitez. I'm sure that Johnson wasn't feeling too popular that year.

1993 Studio, Charlie Hough

#205 Charlie Hough

Here is the third and final Charlie Hough card that I got signed through the mail last December. He signed three cards for me- a Dodger card, a Ranger card, and this Marlins card. Just like Brian at 30-year Old Cardboard, I had to get a Marlins card signed. Charlie was the starting pitcher in the very first Marlins game.

I will always remember the first Marlins game. I missed most of it because I had school and I don't even know if Hough was still in the game when I got home. But, I was pretty excited because they were playing the Dodgers. The fans looked like they were having a great time and the most memorable part of the game was when they were doing their Darryl chant for Darryl Strawberry.

As for this card, I really liked this Studio set. It was a big step up from the previous sets. They got rid of the posed senior photo shots and used more candid photos. They used jerseys and hats for the background, which really brightened this set up. With no borders and only a foil autograph and logo on the front, this set came out looking really nice. I wish I had more than two of them signed.

1992 Studio, Jeff Montgomery

#190 Jeff Montgomery

The first thing that I notice when I look at this card the is the senior photo-like pose. How cheesy. Other than that, I always liked the Studio cards. They were always a little different and had interesting facts on the back rather than stats. For instance, here's some of the stuff from this card:
Hobby is playing with gadgets...Favorite singer is Elton John; actor is Kevin Costner; movie is Top Gun; book is A Whole New Ball Game; talk show host is Johnny Carson...Pat Tabler is his closest friend in baseball...Would like to meet Elton John.
You just can't find that kind of information on a card anymore.

I got this card signed at Turkey Bowl IV, the charity flag football game, in 2003. That was the same year that Jeff was enshrined in the Royals Hall of Fame. He racked up 304 saves as a Royal, had a career high of 45 in 1993, and was a three time All Star.

The Royals got Jeff in a trade with the Reds for Van Snider. That may be the best trade in Royals history.