2008 Donruss Elite, Dusty Coleman

#32 Dusty Coleman

Here is a card that I got signed through the mail in 2009. I mailed this to the single-A team that Dusty was playing for at the end of the season and I got it back a few weeks before Thanksgiving.

The reason why I felt I needed to get this card signed is because it features a Wichita State player. When I was growing up, Wichita State baseball was the cream of the crop. They were always winning their conference and were always in the hunt to go to Omaha. While they are nowhere close to where they used to be, I still keep tabs on them. I saw Dusty play a few times in the 2008 Regional and Super Regional, so I thought it would be cool to try to get a card signed by him.

Dusty was drafted in the 28th round by the A's in 2008, but would never make it to the Majors with them. He got his first taste of big league action when he got into four games with the Royals in 2015, going 0-5 with three strikeouts.

Luckily, he got another shot two years later with the Padres. That time, he played in 27 games and he it .227 with 4 home runs and 9 driven in.

Dusty played in AAA all last year with the Padres organization. It looks like he is teamless right now and, considering he hit just .202 in 103 games last season, it very well could be that his career is over.

1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks, Jamie Bluma

#65 Jamie Bluma

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I like to pick up autographed cards every time I make a purchase from Check Out My Cards. That is how I got this card. I picked it up almost two years ago for just $0.99.

Most people would not think much about a certified auto of Jamie Bluma that costs less than a buck. But I picked this card up for two reasons. The first is that Jamie is a former Royal. But, the main reason is because he is pictured on the card in his Wichita State uniform.

When I was growing up in the late '80s and early '90s, there was probably more talk in the spring about Wichita State baseball than Royals baseball. The program was in its heyday and they really were the talk of the state, at least for baseball fans. They made the College World Series six times in a nine year span and won it all in 1989, while finishing runner-up twice. Even though the program has almost dropped off of the map since 2008, I still support them, even though my alma mater Kansas State program has really stepped up its game.

I met Jamie at Fanfest this year and I gave my kid an unsigned version of this card to get signed. Jamie just laughed when he saw it and commented that he has signed about 8,000 of these cards. I asked him how long it took him to sign the cards for Signature Rookies and he said that it took him several weeks to do it.