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, 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, Bill Lee

#28 Bill Lee

I got this card signed through the mail. I got it back last Saturday after sending it off to Bill in the beginning of April. I had pretty much given up on it until it arrived in my mailbox.

I had sent three cards to get signed- this card, a '75 Topps, and an '81 Donruss. Unfortunately, the '81 Donruss never made it home. The other two cards were signed, but there was no sign of the Donruss card. It was cool to get those two cards back, but I think that I was more disappointed than happy because of the loss of the Donruss card (I probably would have been just as disappointed if this card hadn't come back since it would have broke up my set). Now I have to acquire another card to send out to him again. Maybe he just doesn't like signing his Expos cards.

On a brighter note, I went to the Royals last home game of the year today. It was great weather, a great crowd, and a Royals win. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Zack Grienke looked great and I got to see the Royals win for only the second time this year. Nearly 30,000 people showed up to see a crappy Royals team and Grienke. I've been to many final home games this decade, but I had never seen anything close to 30,000 people at one. So, that was good to see. It would have been a great way to end my year, but I'll be seeing the Royals two more times in Minnesota next weekend. Hopefully they can repeat what they did today.