2009 Tristar Projections, Daniel Hudson

#123 Daniel Hudson

Here is a card that I got signed at a Spring Training game in 2014. Daniel was with the Diamondbacks at the time and he stopped along the third base line to sign some 'graphs before getting to the dugout. He signed two out of three for me that day, including his 2012 Topps Heritage card.

Out of all the cards that I could have picked to blog about today, I picked this one for two reasons. The first is that it was in the album that I happened to grab to look for cards to scan. Once a came across this card, I knew I had to pick it because this is the lowest numbered card that I have got signed.

If you are unfamiliar with this 2009 Tristar product, this particular card happens to be a gold parallel. The difference is pretty subtle with just the two slivers of gold foil in the border. These parallels are numbered out of 25. To date, I have yet to get a lower numbered card signed. I have a Mike Moustakas card numbered to 10 and a Josh Hamilton printing plate that I thought I had decent chances of getting signed, but I was never able to get them done.

Josh finished out last season strong. After getting picked up by the Nationals in a deadline trade from the Blue Jays, he would go 3-0 with 6 saves and a 1.44 ERA to finish off the regular season. He then threw 9.2 innings of relief in the postseason, going 1-0 with 4 saves and 3.91 ERA en route to a World Series Championship.

The Rest of 2008 Tristar Prospect Plus

#3 Eric Hosmer
#52 Jaff Decker

Eric Hosmer- I can't believe this is only the second card of Hos that I have posted on here. The guy was a mainstay on the Royals for seven seasons and I racked up a few autographs from him during his time in the Royals organization. Then, when I finally get around to posting some cards of him, he is with the Padres. But, that is how it goes. That is especially how it goes when I post cards on here from oldest to "newest".

I got this card signed by Eric in Burlington, Iowa in 2009 while he was playing for the Bees.

Jaff Decker- I have not posted a card of Jaff on here before. But, at some point, I will. So, he gets lumped into this "rest of" post just so I did not have to do a repeat Hosmer post. This card was given to me by Rod in 2011.

I am glad I never bought much of this product. In the limited cards that I have signed, they are horrible for autographs. There is a dark border, zoomed in shots, and dark pictures. This set is the complete opposite of that year's Tristar Projections set. I glad I bought a lot of Projections and passed on this one.

2008 Tristar Prospect Plus, Jay Jackson

#FH-JJ Jay Jackson

Here is a card that I pulled out of a pack in 2009. While I bought quite a few packs of 2008 Tristar Projections, I only bought one pack of Prospect Plus. That one pack yielded this autograph, so it worked out well.

Jay made his Major League debut with the Padres as a September call-up in 2015. He appeared in six games and posted a 6.23 ERA with 4 strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work. Jay got released after the season and he took his craft to Japan for the next three years. Playing for the Hiroshima Carp, Jay went 10-8 with 2 saves and a 2.10 ERA while striking out 192 batters in just 176 innings.

He came back to the States this season and was signed by the Brewers. It has worked out well for him as he has been on the big league roster since mid-July. This time around, he has so far pitched 24.1 innings and is 1-0 with a 4.81 ERA and 37 strikeouts.

With the big white border on this card, it looks like this card should have came out of the Projections set instead of this one.

2008 Tristar Prospect Plus, Allan Dykstra

#31 Allen Dykstra

Coming into this post, I was assuming that I was going to be doing another post about a career minor league player. Unbeknownst to me, though, is that Allan made his Major League debut with the Rays in 2015.

The Rays picked him up as a free agent after the 2014 season and he made their Opening Day roster. He made his Major League debut in the Rays third game of the season and was 0-1 with a walk and a strikeout. He would go on to play in thirteen games that month before the Rays sent him down to AAA. During his time in the Majors, he hit .129 with a home run and 4 RBI. His lone homer was a three-run shot off of Yankees pitcher, Adam Warren.

Allan would only appear in 39 games in AAA before being released by the Rays. He then signed on with the Sugarland Skeeters to finish off the season. He called it a career after that.

What a whirlwind season. After being taken in the first round of the 2008 draft, he finally made it to the Majors in 2015, only to finish the season in the Atlantic League. It is a crazy game these guys play.

This card was given to me by Rod, of Padrographs, when I met up with him in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2015.

The Rest of 2008 Tristar Projections

#83 Darren Ford
#90 Josh Horton
#198 Mitch Einertson
#256 Josh Vitters
#320 Salvador Sanchez
#399 Desomd Jennings

Darren Ford- Unlike the last card of Darren that I got signed at a Sacramento River Cats game, this one was pulled out of a pack. I actually bought the pack at the Kauffman Stadium gift shop for eight bucks just because it also came with an Eric Hosmer card. It worked out well as I eventually got the Hosmer card signed and I got an auto in the pack.

Josh Horton- I love the way this card looks. Josh's loopy blue signature just looks like it was made for this card. It is perfect. It definitely came out a lot better than the last card of him I posted when I had him sign in black. This card was signed at a Tulsa Drillers game in 2010 while he was playing for Midland.

Mitch Einertson- Mitch played for the Wingnuts for parts of two seasons and I was able to get this card signed at one of their games in 2012.

Josh Vitters- I got this card signed in Hoover, Alabama in 2010 while Josh was playing for the visiting Tennessee Smokies.

Salvador Sanchez- Sal signed this card for me the day after I got Vitters to sign. This time, though, it was in Birmingham at historic Rickwood Field for the 100th anniversary of the ballpark.

Desmond Jennings- I got Desmond to sign at the 2009 Futures Game in St. Louis.

2008 Tristar Projections, Carlos Triunfel

#370 Carlos Triunfel


Here is the last single card post from this set. Then, I will do a "rest of" post before moving on- moving on to another Tristar set, Prospect Plus.

So, here is a card that I got signed at a Sacramento River Cats game in 2015. Carlos was playing with the Cats at the time and was nice enough to come over and sign the two cards of him that I had.

Carlos played parts of three seasons, from 2012-14, with the Mariners and Dodgers. Over that time, he appeared in just 39 games with nearly half of those with the M's in 2013. In his 39 games, he got 81 at-bats with 13 hits. Along with his .160 average, he also had a home run and 6 RBI. His lone home run was a solo shot off of Colorado's Tammy Kahnle in Denver.

Carlos kept playing ball through last season, spending last year with the New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League.

2008 Tristar Projections, Eddie Kunz

#243 Eddie Kunz

In 2009, I went down to Houston for my cousin's wedding. While it was before the baseball season officially started, it was really good timing because the Astros were in town. They had wrapped up their Grapefruit League schedule and went home to Minute Maid Park for two exhibition games before the season got underway. During one of those games, Minute Maid hosted Astros Fanfest.

Strosfest was way different than Royals Fanfest. The biggest difference was that it was held during a ballgame. Because of that, no current Astros players participated. So, it was only alumni that signed. Some signed for free and some costs money. It was a rather busy afternoon with running around getting alumni autographs, a baseball game in the background, and a card show at the event. But, it was a great time and I got a lot of cool autographs from the alumni signings, including a couple of '81 Donruss cards. Plus, I pulled this card out of a pack from the card show.

Eddie was drafted by the Mets at the end of the first round of the 2007 draft. In 2008, he was making his Major League debut with them and would appear in four games and post a 13.50 ERA with a strikeout in 2.2 relief innings. Sadly, that would be the only time he pitched in the Majors.

Usually, when a players gets to the top that quick, they tend to stick around a bit. But, not Eddie. He spent 2009 in AAA before spending all of 2010 in AA. Prior to the 2011 season, he was dealt to the Padres and would repeat AA. 2012 was split between AA and AAA and Eddie called it quits after that season.

In case you are wondering, Eddie's one Major League strikeout was Marlins pitcher, Josh Johnson.

2008 Tristar Projections, Jeremy Hellickson

#208 Jeremy Hellickson

Here is a card that I got signed at a Royals game in 2010 while Jeremy was a rookie with the Rays. It was a Sunday day game, so I was trying to get pitchers down the line in the outfield. When Jeremy came over to sign, I handed him my card book and Sharpie. I always try to take the cap off of the Sharpie just to make it easier for the players. On that day, Jeremy didn't realize that I took the cap off for him and he tried to take it off himself. Instead, all he did was get blue Sharpie all over his hand. When he realized what he had done, he just looked up at me and gave me a dirty look. It was quite funny.

Jeremy pitched for the Rays for five seasons, going 40-36 with a 3.78 ERA. The Rays traded him to the Diamondbacks after the 2014 season and he has bounced around a bit since then. Besides playing for the D-Backs, he has seen time with the Phillies, Orioles, and Nationals, his current team. But, this season has basically been a wash for him as he has been on the injured list since late May (I think that is the first time Injured List has been used on here). For his career to date, Jeremy is 76-75 with a 4.13 ERA. He was the 2011 American League Rookie of the Year and he won a Gold Glove in 2012.

Jeremy is pictured with the Columbus Catfish on this card. Unfortunately, the Catfish no longer exist. They left Georgia after the 2008 season and became the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

2008 Tristar Projections, Wade Davis

#201 Wade Davis

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest in 2013. At the time, Wade had just come over from the Rays. He was basically a throw-in in the Wil Myers/James Shields trade. There wasn't any real expectations for him except to help fill in the rotation. Absolutely no one envisioned that he was going to be a dominant reliever that would anchor a bullpen that would lead the Royals to back-to-back World Series appearances, let alone revolutionize how a bullpen could be used.

While with the Rays, Wade was a starter for his first two plus years before moving to the bullpen for his last season in Tampa Bay. As a starter, he was 25-22 with a 4.22 ERA and 254 strikeouts in 388.1 innings of work. Then, out of the 'pen, he was 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA and 87 K's in just 70.1 innings of work. Why the Royals would want to move him back to the rotation is beyond me. They probably just lacked rotation depth and needed a starter.

So, Wade started his Royals career as a starter and made 24 starts in 2013 and also had 7 relief appearances at the end of the year. As a starter, he was 6-10 with a 5.67 ERA with 107 strikeouts in 125.1 innings. In his brief time out of the 'pen at the end of the year (after missing a month of the season to injury), he was 2-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 7 strikeouts in 10 innings.

The Royals kept him in the bullpen the following year and the rest is history. For three seasons of relief work out of the Kansas City 'pen, Wade would go 19-4 with 47 saves, a 1.18 ERA, and 234 strikeouts in 182.2 innings. On top of that, he only allowed three home runs. And, as if you thought those numbers were lights out, he was even better in the postseason.

During the Royals two postseason runs, Wade was 2-0 with 4 saves with a 0.36 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 25 innings of work. Those numbers just look unreal.

The Royals traded Wade to the Cubs before the 2017 season and he signed with the Rockies last year where he would lead the National League in saves. But, he is having a rough go of it this year and is not the team's closer and is sporting a non Wade Davis-like ERA of 7.43.

In case you are wondering, this card has an error on the back. It lists Wade's birth date as 9/8/89 when it is actually 9/7/85.

2008 Tristar Projections, Balbino Fuenmayor

#182 Balbino Fuenmayor

Here is a card that I got signed at a Burlington Bees game in 2009. Actually, my dad got this card signed for me. The Bees were a Royals affiliate at the time, so I was on that side of the field getting Bees autos. I sent my dad over to 'graph the visiting Lansing Lugnuts side for me and he was able to get two cards signed for me. This is obviously one of those cards.

If you have never heard of Balbino, you are missing out on an interesting story. The Blue Jays signed Balbino out of Venezuela in 2006 and he spent seven seasons in the Jays system. The only problem was that he never made it out of A ball. In fact, he spent parts of four seasons with Lansing. So, the Jays let him go and it was off to the independent leagues. Over a two year stretch, he played in the Can-Am League, American Association, and the Frontier League.

He did good enough there to get a look by the Royals in 2015 and made their AA team out of Spring Training. He then proceeded to tear up the Texas League and found himself playing for the World Team at the Future's Game during the All Star break. For that season, that was split between AA and AAA, Balbino ended up batting .341 with 17 home runs. He would then spend all of 2016 in Omaha where he hit .291 with just 6 homers.

The Royals released him after that season and he hasn't played affiliated ball since. But, he is still playing and is tearing up the Mexican League this summer. Through 99 games, Balbino is batting .329 with a career high 30 home runs. Being just twenty-nine years old, there still may be hope for him to return to affiliated ball.

2008 Tristar Projections, Eric Duncan

#175 Eric Duncan

It was bound to happen. When you make a minor league set, you know going into it that not every player is going to make it to the Majors. Here is the first player from this set that I have posted that never made it.

Eric is pictured with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees on this card and I actually got it signed at a SWB Yankees game. What are the odds of that? Well, to be exact, my buddy got it signed at the game. I was busy 'graphing the visiting Durham Bulls and he was nice enough to grab a few 'graphs for me from the Yankee side.

Eric was the Yankees first round pick in 2003. He was a top 100 prospect for a couple of seasons and got his first taste of AAA in 2006. Then he got stuck in AAA and was there through the 2009 season, which is when he signed this card. The Yankees released him after that season and he went on to play three more years of AA ball with three different organizations before calling it a career.

It is hard to tell in the scan, but this card is a reflective parallel.

The Yankees still have their AAA team in SWB, but they have ditched the Yankee name. They are now the Rail Riders.

2008 Tristar Projections, Jordan Brown

#170 Jordan Brown

Here is a card that I got signed at an Iowa Cubs game in 2011. Jordan was playing for the visiting Nashville Sounds at the time and was nice enough to sign three cards for me that day.

Jordan spent parts of two seasons in the Majors. He saw time with the Indians in 2010 and the Marlins in 2013. During those two seasons, he hit .225 with 7 RBI. Though he never hit a dinger at the Major League level, he did manage to swat 8 doubles and those made up a quarter of his hits. Jordan last played professionally in 2014.

For whatever reason, it seems like the Nashville Sounds are the minor league team that I have seen play the most, with the exception of Omaha. And I have never been to a game in Nashville. That will all change next year when the Baby Cakes move to Wichita. They should pass Omaha and Nashville unless the 'graphing their is just terrible. They are going to have netting from foul pole to foul pole, so who knows.

Speaking of Wichita baseball, they are slowly releasing seven finalists for the team name. The first one came out last week and it is the Wichita River Riders. While I do not hate the name, AAA baseball already has the Rail Riders and I don't think it needs another name that sounds so similar. To make matter worse, the River Riders have an awful logo that looks more like a logo for the River Festival than a professional sports franchise.

As for the Akron Aeros, whom Jordan is pictured with here, they are still the AA affiliate for the Indians. But, they changed their name and are now the Rubberducks. In case you didn't know that Rubberducks was one word, now you know.

2008 Tristar Projections, Matt Antonelli

#124 Matt Antonelli

Here is a card that I purchased when making a COMC order in 2012. For the longest time, I always felt like I needed to buy an autograph whenever I made a purchase on there. Because of that, I bought a lot of Bowman and Topps Pro Debut autos that I really didn't need. So, I have discontinued that practice. But, I will occasionally buy an auto with my purchase. Those, though, tend to be of guys I collect in some way, shape, or form. On the bright side, this card only set me back 95 cents. It's listed as $2.43 right now.

Matt had the privilege of playing 23 Major League games with the Padres in 2008. During that time, he hit just .193 with a homer and 3 RBI. His one dinger was a two-run shot off of Jason Hirsch at Coors Field.

Despite never making it back to the Major Leagues, Matt continued to play ball up into the 2013 season.

This card features Matt with the San Antonio Missions, who were the Padres AA team at the time. The Missions are still around and they got bumped up to AAA this season, though they still play in an AA ballpark. The Missions are now the Brewers top affiliate.

For some reason, Tristar did not list a position on cards for this set.

2008 Tristar Projections, Duane Below

#62 Duane Below

First off, I fianlly made it back home after a little ballpark trip with the family. I have always wanted to take my dad to Wrigley Field and I finally had that chance last week. Chicago is about twelve hours away from here. So, with my three year old, I had to break the drive down in segments so we would all survive. Because of that, the five day trip took us to four ballparks. Besides Wrigley, we took in Busch Stadium, Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana and Impact Field in Rosemont, Illinois. Personally, I had a blast. I am not too sure about my fourteen year old and wife, though. But, I am glad that they came along, nonetheless.

As far as this card, I got it signed at a Royals game in 2011. Duane was with the Tigers at the time and he signed two of these cards for me before the game started. I still have the other one he signed, so it is available to anybody that needs it.

Duane pitched in the Majors for parts of three seasons with the Tigers and Marlins. In that time, he pitched in 44 games (3 starts) and was 2-4 with a 4.27 ERA. He last pitched in the Majors in 2013 and has pitched in Korea and Japan since then. He is still playing now as he is working on stepping off of the rubber to throw to first in the Atlantic League.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Josh Donaldson

#59 Josh Donaldson

Here is one of my most recent in-person autographs. If you recall, Josh Donaldson was traded to the Indians late this past season. Even though he was pretty much injured when he got traded, he managed to make it into sixteen September games for The Tribe. When I went to a game for the final series of the season in Kansas City, the Indians were in town and, apparently, Josh is a great signer. He signed for quite a bit during batting practice and even signed all three of the cards I had of him. I was quite impressed.

Even though Josh never played a game for the Cubs, I still thought that I should take this card with me. Along with this card, I also got a Blue Jays card and an A's card signed. All three featured a rushed looking ballpark signature, but one had one more loop in it than the other two. This is not that one. In fact, it looks like Josh had a hard time staying on the card with this one.

Although Josh managed to hit .280 for Cleveland during that final month of the regular season, the trade didn't really work out for them. They were going to win the division and make the playoffs with or without Josh. They were banking on him to help them during that postseason and that just didn't happen. Josh was 1-11 in the Division Series as the Indians were swept by the Astros.

Nevertheless, Josh was able to get a quick deal done this off-season and will be joining a new organization next year. On November 26th, the Braves signed him to a one year, $23 million contract. I was surprised to see him jump on a one year deal so soon, but, after last off-season, I can't say that I blame him.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Josh Smoker

#FH-JS3 Josh Smoker

When I was pondering this post a couple of days ago, I thought it was going to be an short and easy one. I have had this card for a while and I was pretty sure that Josh had not played in the Majors yet and I was right. Since this card is about nine years old, I just assumed that Josh was out of baseball since he hasn't made it to the top yet. Turns out I was wrong there. Though he has yet to play ball above the AA level, and has only pitched in 21 innings of AA ball, Josh is still going strong. In fact, he is currently rated as the twenty-fourth best prospect in the Mets system.

A former first round pick by the Nationals, Josh pitched in their system for six seasons. He never got above high-A and was plagued with injuries that cost him much of the 2012 season. The Nats released him and he missed all of 2013. He pitched in the Frontier League in 2014 and did good enough to get signed by the Mets last season. With them, he pitched at three level, culminating in AA, and dominated at every stop. He pitched in 49 innings last season and went 3-0 with 6 saves, a 3.12 ERA, and 60 strikeouts. Not too bad for a guy out of the Frontier League.

This card was sent to me by Matt, from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius, many years ago. Until recently, I assumed Josh was a position player because he was wearing Oakleys in the picture. I was a bit off on that one.

According to the Mets website, Josh can hit 98 mph on the radar gun and he is currently on their 40 man roster.

On a side note, I got my first TTMs from Spring Training back today. I got a card signed by White Sox number one prospect, Carson Fulmer, and a card by Nationals number eleven prospect, Blake Perkins.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Mike Moustakas

#21 Mike Moustakas

Here is the second Mike Moustakas card that I have posted on here. The first one was posted back in June when I was just getting started on my cards from 2007. Here I am nearly nine months later and I haven't even got to my 2007 Upper Deck cards yet. Five years ago, I thought that I was eventually going to run out of cards to post on here. While that is not ever going to be an issue, it is a little troubling that the newest cards I am posting are almost ten years old. But, that is the format I used when I started this blog and I am a little resistant to change. So, I guess it is going to stay that way for now. Luckily, pack issued minor league cards came back around that time and occasionally I will post a player that is relevant today, like Moose here.

I got this card signed in 2010 at a Northwest Arkansas Naturals game. The NWA Natties, as I call them, are the Royals AA team. My buddy and I stopped there on the way back from the Rickwood Classic and were barely able to get into the ballpark. The Natties play in Springdale, Arkansas which is around Wal-Mart's corporate headquarters. When we got to the game, it was sold out because Wal-Mart bought all of the seats for a huge corporate outing. Luckily, I was able to sweet talk the guy at the ticket booth to sell us two berm seats. Otherwise, it would have been a wasted trip to that portion of the Natural State.

The game sucked as the Natiies got blown out, but I got a decent about of cards signed and saw Moose hit a home run. So, it wasn't a total wash.

Since I posted that last card of Moose, he became an All Star and Wold Champion. Plus, he had career-highs in average (.284), home runs (22), and RBI (82). 2016 was good to him. I hope 2017 will be, too.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Clayton Mortensen

#7 Clayton Mortensen

Here is a card of Clayton Mortensen that I got signed at an Omaha Storm Chasers game last season. Clayton was pitching for the Chasers at the time and he was nice enough to sign two cards for me prior to the game starting.

To date, Clayton has pitched in the Majors for five seasons with four clubs- the Cardinals, A's, Rockies, and Red Sox. Originally drafted by St. Louis, he pitched in just one Major League game for them before being traded to Oakland in the Matt Holliday deal. He then pitched in seven games for the A's before being dealt to Colorado. He pitched in a career-high 58.1 innings with the Rockies in 2011 before being traded to Boston. He then lasted two seasons with the Red Sox before being traded to the Royals. He has spent the past two seasons playing AAA for the Royals.

For his Major League career thus far, Clayton is 6-11 with a 4.68 ERA. His best season came with the Red Sox in 2012 when he appeared in a career-high 26 games and posted his best ERA of 3.21 while striking out 41 in 42 innings of work.

Clayton is pictured here with the Swing of the Quad Cities. Yes, that was the actual name of the team. Usually the Quad Cities River Bandits, the team changed its name for all of three seasons before changing it back to the River Bandits in 2008.

This card would have came out looking better if Clayton hadn't signed over the dark area on the bottom of the card. But, he also signed a horizontal card that was with this one, so he must have been tilted and did not feel like coming out of it. Hence the sideways signature.

2007 Tristar Autothentics, Travis Denker

#75 Travis Denker

Here is the second card that I have posted on here of Travis Denker. This one was obtained late in the 2014 season at a Wingnuts game. Travis was playing for Laredo at the time. I posted the last card this past April and it can be seen here.

When I posted that last card, Travis was playing in Mexico. He played for the Reynosa Broncos all season and hit .264 with 10 home runs and 70 RBI. After the season in Mexico was over, he rejoined Laredo and helped them down the stretch. He played in 20 games for them and hit .361 with 4 home runs and 15 RBI. He helped the Lemurs clinch the Am-Ass wild card spot en route to an eventual league championship.

The two cards from this set that I posted are the only two I own. Based off of the two cards, I am not a big fan of this set. There is just way too much border on these cards and not enough picture. I get that the set was meant for the randomly inserted autographs, but they could have mixed up the look of the autos and the base cards better. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two, besides that signature, is the lack of a team logo on the bottom of the signed card. That is where the signature is. Either way, this set could have done a little better. But, that was in Tristar's early years while it was trying to figure everything out. Too bad they did not last long enough to figure it out.

On a side note, right now you can pick up a Nick Adenhart autograph from this set on COMC for about four bucks.

2007 Tristar Autothentics, Van Pope

#30 Van Pope

He is a card from the former Braves prospect, Van Pope. I got Van to sign two cards for me in 2011 at an Amarillo Sox game while he was with the Sox. I posted the first card later that season and it can be seen here.

Van had a very good season in 2011, hitting .299 with 10 home runs and 61 RBI. Unfortunately, nothing big came out of it and he was back with Amarillo the next season. He had an off year that season and hit .281 with just 2 home runs and 24 RBI in 53 games. Van called it a career after that season.

About a month ago, I was watching "The Great Food Truck Race" on Netflix when the trucks stopped in Amarillo for a challenge. They had to set up shop outside of the Sox ballpark for a challenge and Van was actually in the episode presenting the winning team with a key to help them out later on in the city. I was probably one of only a handful of people to see that episode and exclaim to my wife "hey, I have his autograph!".