2003 Ultra, Barry Wesson

#227 Barry Wesson

Here is the second card that I got signed by Barry Wesson at a Kansas Stars game two years ago. I posted the first card last week and that one can be seen here. Naturally, I did not have any cards of Barry prior to the Stars heading to Wichita to compete in the NBC World Series. Since he was probably the least known member on the team, I figured I had a pretty good chance of getting him to sign. So, I bought the two cards from COMC and Barry came through for me.

Barry played in 15 games for the Astros in 2002. In those games, he went 4-20 with a triple and an RBI. The Angles claimed him on waivers in September of that season, but he saw no time with them that year. He did play in 10 games with them the next season, though.

For his career, Barry hit .194 with 1 home run and 4 RBI in 25 contests. His lone home run was hit off of John Thompson of the Rangers.

I hate black jerseys on baseball cards. This auto does look slightly better in person than on the scan.

1997 Ultra, Darryl Strawberry

#103 Darryl Strawberry

Here is the Yankees card that I picked out to get signed by Darryl two years ago when he came to Wichita to preach at a local church. I already posted a card of him with the Mets and Dodgers and I did not have a Giants card of him to get signed.

Darryl spent his last five seasons wearing Yankee pinstripes. Those five years were riddled with injuries and his treatment for colon cancer, but the Yankees kept bringing him back every year. The reason for that was because, unlike his Dodger days, he did real well.

Darryl played in 231 regular season games with the Yankees and he hit .255 with 41 home runs and 114 RBI. That is a 162 game average of 29 homers and 80 RBI. Who wouldn't want that in their lineup? That is even more impressive considering that Darryl played for the Yanks in his age 33-37 seasons.

Though past his prime during his second go-around in New York, Darryl still accomplished some feats. He had a three home run game in 1996, which was only the second of his career. He hit 24 homers in '98, he next to last season. He got to play in the postseason three more times and came home with a ring each time. Though his postseason numbers with the Yankees were not that great, he was red hot during the 1996 ALCS. In the four games he played against the Orioles, Darryl was 5-12 with 3 home runs and 5 RBI.

2007 Ultra, Joaquin Arias

#237 Joaquin Arias

Here is the second of three cards that were signed by Joaquin Arias at an Omaha Storm Chasers game in 2011. Joaquin was playing for the Chasers at time and he signed the cards before hitting the field.

By the time this card came out, Fleer, as we knew it, was gone. The company basically filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and the name was purchased by Upper Deck for just over $6 million. Upper Deck put out some sets under the Fleer name in 2006 and '07 before killing off the brand for good in 2008. This set was one of the last ones made by Upper Deck.

By Ultra standards, this set looks like it could have been put out by Fleer. I have a hard time telling many of the Ultra sets apart because they all look so similar. They were usually a borderless card with some kind of foily name on the bottom portion of the card. This set certainly fits that description. This card is from the rookie subset and that is why it has the crazy-colored background. The normal cards from the set where not like that.

I will have another Joaquin Arias card posted later on today. It is not often that I have back-to-back posts for the same guy. But, today happens to be one of those days and I'm am going to knock them out at the same time.

1995 Ultra, Chris Bosio

#99 Chris Bosio

This is the third and final card that Chris Bosio signed for me last year at Spring Training. Chris was the pitching coach for the Cubs at the time.

You can read more about that day in the last post about Chris Bosio.

Tomorrow, 10/21, I get to go to my very first World Series game and I am pumped! I have been rooting on my Royals for fifteen years and it had been a long fifteen years. It had gotten to the point that I just expected them to suck every year, and mostly they did just that. But, this year has obviously been different. The team has clicked at just the right time. I just hope that they can keep it going this week against the Giants. After their sweep of Baltimore, they have had a bit of a break. But, hopefully, they will pick right up from where they left off.

This is my third playoff game in Kansas City this year, so it has been an expensive month. But, I would not have traded it for anything. After taking my wife to two games, and our son and my good friend to one, I get to go to the World Series with my dad tomorrow. We have been to many games at The K together, including five or six opening days and the All Star Game, but nothing is going to compare to game one of the 2014 World Series. I can't wait.

Four more wins!

Go Royals!!!

1995 Ultra, Kenny Lofton

#38 Kenny Lofton

Here is the third card that I have posted from the Kenny Lofton autograph line at the College World Series this year. It was an interesting autograph session as it was billed as hitting lessons and autographs. He was teamed up with Capital One and, before he started signing, he was over at the wiffle ball field Capitol One had set up. Normally, kids would be out there taking turns hitting a few balls and then shagging them. Then Kenny showed up and started giving lessons. It was pretty neat and he was really interactive with the kids. I told my then-fiance to take our kid over there, but he was way too deep in line to get to hit when Kenny was there.

While that was all going on, my dad and I were standing in line for autographs. There was a large monitor set up that was airing Kenny's hitting critique to everyone at Fanfest. I though it was pretty cool. My dad, on the other hand, thought otherwise. He was annoyed that he was over there and not signing and was worried that would be cutting into his time signing. I told him to chill out and that was how it was scheduled and that everything was going to be alright. As usual, I was right and I went through the line several times.

When I think of Kenny Lofton, I think of him as an Indian. He played for seventeen seasons and parts of ten of those were in Cleveland. He was with the franchise on three separate occasions and it is the only team, out of eleven, that he played with for more than one season. He ranks in the top ten for all time Indians players for hits (ninth), sac flies and WAR for position players (fourth), runs (third), and stolen bases (first). His 452 stolen bases is 173 more than second place, who happens to be Omar Vizquel.

On an unrelated note, I was supposed to be at game three of the ALCS tonight. Unfortunately, rain washed out the game and I was only an hour and ten minutes away from the stadium when I found out about postponement. But, I have it covered and, although I have to burn a day of vacation, I will be at the park tomorrow. I can't wait. Go Royals!!

1994 Ultra, John Kruk

#7 John Kruk

Here is the last card for some time that John Kruk signed for me this summer. John was at the College World Series with ESPN and he was nice enough to do two free autograph signings during the opening weekend of Fanfest. I made my way through each line once and I must say that John was one of the most talkative guys I have seen at CWS Fanfest. It really was a pleasure to get to meet him.

This card certainly fits the bill of one of my more fun cards that I got signed this summer (right along with his Collector's Choice checklist card). If you have never seen one of these cards before, it might be because you are not a Phillies fan. The Phillies Finest insert set was a small one dedicated to two players with bad haircuts- John Kruk and Darren Daulton. The set included twenty-four cards, twelve of each player. There were ten cards in each series and four cards were available as a wrapper redemption. Fleer even included 1000 signed cards by each player. Pretty rad, huh?

The back of each card chronicles the career of each player. This one talks about what lead to John being dealt to Philadelphia.

I am pretty sure that I had that exact same pair of cleats that John is wearing, but in black. They just don't make them like they used to.

1994 Ultra, Jeff Russell

#17 Jeff Russell

Here is the third and final card that Jeff Russell signed for me this summer. Jeff is the pitching coach for the Grand Prairie AirHogs and he signed the cards for me before a game in Wichita. You can see his A's card here and his Rangers card here.

Jeff pitched in Boston for a season and a half. After landing there via free agency in 1993, he had a very solid first season. He was 1-4 with 33 saves and 2.70 ERA. That was Jeff's third and final 30 save season. It was a little more rocky the following season, though. That year he was 0-5 with 12 saves and a lofty 5.14 ERA. The Sox traded him to Cleveland mid-season and he went 1-1 with 5 saves to finish off the season.

The following year, Jeff was back with the Rangers, the team where he had had the most success. He spent his final two seasons there and was 4-3 with 23 saves over the two years.

Jeff finished his career 56-73 with 186 saves and a 3.75 ERA.

1993 Ultra, Doug Henry

#220 Doug Henry

Wow. Doug Henry is the bullpen coach for the Royals, and has been for a couple of years now, but I just now realized that he actually pitched for the Royals at one time. The bad part is that he didn't pitch for them in the '90s when I was too busy playing baseball to go to pro baseball games. He actually pitched for the Royals in 2001. I became a Royals fan in 2000 after my first year at Kansas State. Manhattan is less than two hours away from Kansas City, so I probably averaged at least a dozen games a year while going to school there. In 2001, I just happened to see Doug pitch in person eight times. He was 2-0 in those games with a 4.96 ERA in 16.1 innings of work. I thought I was pretty good with the Royals of my generation, but I apparently am not nearly as good as I thought I was.

Before coaching with the Royals, Doug was the pitching coach for their AAA team in Omaha. On a whim one day in 2012, I wanted to go to a ballgame and the closest one being played to me that day was in Oklahoma City. So, I made the four hour trek down there and watched the Storm Chasers whoop up on the Redhawks. It was a fun game as I had great seats and got to see my favorite team's top farm club pull out a victory. Plus, I got my then new girlfriend, now fiance, to get her first autographs for me. This was not one of the ones she got, though.

Doug has a simple, yet effective, autograph. While it is by no means readable, if you know who signed that signature, you can say "yeah, I can see that".

1994 Ulta, Chris Bosio

#417 Chris Bosio

Here is my third and final Chris Bosio card that I got signed in Des Moines, Iowa this summer while Chris was working as the Nashville Sounds pitching coach. You can see the first card here and the second card here.

In my last Bosio post, I talked about his days in Milwaukee where Chris won fourteen or more games three times. After the 1992 season, he hit the free agent market and ended up with Seattle. Unfortunately for the M's, Chris didn't achieve the same level of success that he had had with the Brewers.

Chris spent four seasons in Seattle and, during that time, he made more than thirty starts once and less that twenty starts twice. He posted a decent ERA of 3.45 in his first season, but it ballooned each year after that. It was 4.32 his second season, 4.92 his third season, and then 5.93 in his fourth and final season. Also, he only reached double digit wins once with the M's and that was in 1995 when he won ten games.

I was glad that I was able to find a card of Chris that wasn't a Brewers card. But, I do have issues with this card. Whenever I display a horizontal card in a binder, I always have the bottom horizontal edge on the right side of a nine pocket sheet. Basically, it would look like this.



With the strange layout of '94 Ultra, the card now appears to be in the pocket upside down and I do not put cards in binders upside down. That would just be dumb. If I rotate the card 180 degrees, the name and team become readable again, but now the card is facing a different direction than every other horizontal card in my collection. So, instead of looking upside down, it now appears to be backwards. What should I do?

2003 Ultra, Brandon Duckworth

#150 Brandon Duckworth

Here is a card that I got signed at the first Royals Fanfest in the winter of 2008. Brandon pitched in 26 games for the Royals in '07 and I guess that they figured he would figure into their plans in '08, as well. It turns out that that was not the case as he only appeared in seven games and was not invited back to Fanfest the following year.

Brandon has spent parts of eight seasons in the Majors with the Phillies, Astros, and Royals. He got most of his playing time in the early part of his career as a starter for the Phillies. In 2002, Brandon had a career high in appearances with 30 (29 were starts) and that is the only season in his career that he pitched more than 100 innings in the Majors. He finished that season 8-9 with a 5.41 ERA and 167 strikeouts (also a career high).

Brandon is currently back in the Phillies system and he was pitching for their AAA team before hitting the disabled list earlier this month. He has not pitched in the Majors since 2008.

At the time of that first Fanfest, this was the only Brandon Duckworth card that I had to get signed and I thought that it was an Upper Deck card for the longest time. It just didn't look like what I thought an Ultra card should look like.

1999 Ultra, Michael Tucker

#187 Michael Tucker

Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff, got this card signed for me last season at an Atlantic League game. Micheal last played in the Majors in 2006 and he spent all of '07 playing AAA. He appears to have retired after that and he sat out of the '08 season, only to make a comeback last year in the Atlantic League. He started out the year with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs and finished it out with the Newark Bears. I'm not sure if the Bears acquired him to make a playoff push or what, but he was hitting .332 for the Blue Crabs.

This is the second Michael Tucker card that I have posted on here. The first autograph was obtained in 1995 or '96. It is kind of cool to compare the two signatures. They are both similar, but the older one has much more to it that Michael now leaves out. But, the new one has Micheal's uniform number that he wore as a Brave, 24. That's a nice addition.

1999 Ultra, Tony Womack

#111 Tony Womack

If I am not mistaken, this is the last autograph I have to post from the Collective Troll. The seventeen card well is now officially dry and I enjoyed each and every one of them. Thanks Marck! I'll always keep you in mind when I come across a current or former Rays player whose autograph you still need.

As for Tony, he spent thirtteen years in the Majors with the Pirates, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Cubs, Cardinals, Yankees, and Reds, just like yesterdays Tony who played for seven teams in thirteen seasons. The main difference between the two is that I only saw this Tony play seven times (compared to 14 for the other Tony) and he only hit .138 in those games (compared to the other Tony's .408). So, while Tony Graffanino needed me at the ballpark as much as possible, Tony Womack needed me to stay home on gamedays.

Tony Womack started all seven games at shortstop in the 2001 World Series for the champion D-Backs.

When I looked at the giant scan of this card, I thought that I was looking at Chico Lind. The glasses must have thrown me off.

1999 Ultra, Tony Graffanino

#71 Tony Graffanino

Todays autograph is from journeyman utility infielder, Tony Graffanino. During his 13-year Major League career, Tony has played for the Braves, Devil Rays, White Sox, Royals, Red Sox, Brewers, and Indians. He has played every position in the infield multiple times and has even logged six games in left field.

I have personally seen Tony play in 14 games as a White Sock, Royal, Brewer, and Indian. In those games, he has played all four infield positions and has even pinch hit. The most amazing thing about it, though, is that Tony was 20-49 (.408) in those games with 11 runs, 11 RBI, 5 doubles, a home run, and a stolen base. Maybe if I would had seen him play in person many more times, he would be more of a household name.

I got this card signed last April when the Indians were in Kansas City. Tony only played in seven Major League games last year, so I am glad that I was able to catch him in that window. Since he was a former Royal and that was my first game at the "new" Kauffman, I asked him what he thought about it. He replied that it looked great and then signed my three cards.

1999 Ultra, Carl Everett

#22 Carl Everett

Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff, got this card signed for me this past summer at a Newark Bears game. If I remember correctly, Paul was hiding out somewhere during a rain delay when Carl walked by. That is when he got this card signed.

Carl Everett is a former first round draft pick and a 14-tear Major League veteran. 2006 was his last year of playing Major League ball and he will be Hall of Fame eligible in two years. Despite all of that, Carl is still playing in the Atlantic League. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Long Island Ducks and the Bears. Each year, he has hit over .300 and has knocked in 80 or more RBI.

During his Major League career, Carl played for the Marlins, Mets, Astros, Red Sox, Rangers, White Sox, Expos, and Mariners. During that time, he was a career .271 hitter that had one 30 home run season and two 100 RBI seasons. He has 202 career home runs.

When I think of Carl Everett, I think of the guy that does not beleive in dinosaurs.

This is a pretty cool picture on the card. It has a great shot of the Dodger Stadium wall and a giant Kirk Gibson looming over Everett. This might be one of the most zoomed out shots I have ever seen on a baseball card. You can tell that the photographer was trying to get a little more than just Carl.

As for Carl's signature, I have no clue what is going on with it. The more I look at it, the less sense it makes to me.

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.

1996 Ultra, Scott Livingstone

#560 Scott Livingstone

I started out my 1996s with a Padrograph and I am going to end it with one as well.

This one features Scott Livingstone. Scott had a eight-year Major League career with the Tigers, Padres, Cardinals, and Expos. He was originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the sixth round in 1984, but he decided to go to Texas A&M instead. The Yankees drafted him in the twenty-sixth round two years later, but he still didn't sign. The A's took their chance in the third round the following year without any luck. Finally, in 1988, the Tigers drafted him in the second round and signed him.

Scott hit .281 as a big-leaguer, but his power numbers weren't there. Luckily, I got to see him play one time in a game that I will never forget.

The game was in 1996 in Denver Colorado while Scott was still a Padre. San Diego jumped to a quick lead early in the game and had a nice 9-2 lead after the top of the seventh. Then the skies opened up and it poured for a good thirty to fourty minutes. The field was drenched and I didn't think that there was any way that they were going to finish the game. Luckily, the game was at the year and a half old Coors Field which had a very good drainage system.

When the game restarted, many people had left. So we moved up from the Rock Pile to the left field bleachers to watch the remainder of the game. I wish I would have had a camera then because we were sitting pretty close to Ricky Henderson.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Rockies managed to put 11 runs on the board off of five different Padre relievers. The best part about it was how they did it. The first batter of the inning grounded out. Then, it went HBP, single, single, single, walk, single, double, intentional walk. By this point, the Rockies have scored five runs to make the score 9-7 San Diego. Plus, they have the bases loaded. Vinny Castilla is up and he is the only batter to make an out that inning so far. Vinny hits the first pitch he sees for a grand slam and gives the Rockies an 11-9 lead. They tack on two more in the inning for a 13-9 lead. But, what does this have to do with Scott Livingstone?

Well, Scott ended up pinch hitting in the top of the ninth. He had two on with one out and was down in the count 1-2 when he hit a home run to make it a one-run ballgame. Rickey got a single after him, but the next batter hit into a game-ending double play. Final score was 13-12 Colorado. That was only the second Major League ballgame that I had been to and it is one that I will never forget.

To this day, Scott and Jeff Blauser are the only two players that I have seen for only one at-bat and have hit a home run.

1994 Ultra, Wally Whitehurst

#284 Wally Whitehurst

Here is the third and final Wally Whitehurst card that I got signed in Wilmington, Delaware. This was the only card of him that I could find where he is not a Met. Also, this is one of the few Padre cards that I have that wasn't sent to me by Rod, of Padrographs (who is running a contest right now). You can see the first card here and the second card here.

I'll have one more card up tonight (an '81 Donruss) and then I will start with my 1995s tomorrow.

1994 Ultra, Rondell White

#233 Rondell White

Here is another through the mail success that I had in the mid '90s while Rondell was an Expo. Rondell was a former first-rounder that spent half of his career with the 'Spos before bouncing around to the Cubs, Yankees, Padres, Royals, Tigers, and Twins. He had a few decent years in Montreal, but he never broke the 100 RBI barrier and he only had 20 or more home runs three times in his 15 year career.

In 2003, the Royals picked up Rondell at the trading deadline. He only played in 22 games for the Royals before a hamstring injury shut him down for the year. But in those 22 games, it seemed like he could do no wrong as he batted .347 with 21 RBI. He quickly became a fan favorite in my group and earned the nickname "Ron-D". After the season, the Royals decided not to bring him or Raul Ibanez back. They opted for Juan Gonzalez instead. It has been a downward spiral ever since.

Tomorrow will be my last post until Tuesday. I'm heading down deep into Texas to see the grandparents. I am hoping to be at a game in Ft. Worth on Friday and Arlington on Monday. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area is about the halfway point in the trip, and since I'm riding solo, it will be a good way to break up the drive. Tomorrow just happens to coincide with my last 1994 card. When I get back, I will do my usual rewind to catch up on all of the older cards that I have got since I started the '94s. Hopefully, I will have a signed 1950 card to show on here.

I almost forgot to mention this. Check out the third baseman's pants. Or rather, his lack of socks. I guess that that was a predecessor to today's style? I do not remember that one, myself.

1994 Ultra, Omar Vizquel

#125 Omar Vizquel

I was lucky enough to get this card signed through the mail in the mid '90s while Omar was with the Indians. While he was a slick fielder back then, I had no idea that he would still be around today. That is pretty impressive.

Last year, I almost had another Vizquel autograph when the Giants came to Kansas City. A native Venzuelan was able to draw Omar over with his Venzuelan flag that he was getting signatures on. He only signed a few autographs, so I didn't get one. But, I did see one of his autographs and it looked very similar to this one. It's good to see a player's signature stay the same for so long.

So what do you think? Is Omar Vizquel a Hall of Famer?

1992 Ultra, Roberto Alomar

#143 Roberto Alomar

I got this card signed through the mail while Roberto was with the Blue Jays. This is the first Roberto Alomar card that I got signed. Rod, from Padrographs, gave me another one that I posted in December. You can see that one here. I posted that card on the 19th of December. It's a 1991 Fleer card. Today is the last day of February and I haven't even finished up my 1992s yet. But, I should be done with those in by Tuesday. Then I'll be showing some older cards that I got signed at Royals Fanfest and ones that I have received through the mail.

I'm glad that Rod gave me that other Alomar card. The signature on this one is hard to see (it actually looks better in the scan) as it is signed over the dark dugout. Any more, I try to avoid getting cards with dark areas on them signed, if at all possible. Sometimes, they are the only card I have. But, back then, I didn't really care what card I sent as long as I had doubles.