1951 Bowman, Carl Scheib

#83 Carl Scheib

Two years ago, I was looking through my signed cards and I realized that I did not have a signed 1951 Bowman. So, I purchased this card of Carl, mailed it to him the next day, and had it back signed the next week. Three months later, at the ripe ol' age of 91, Carl passed away.

Carl pitched in the Majors for parts of eleven seasons with the A's and Cardinals. He broke into the Majors at the age of sixteen in 1943 and hung in the game until 1954. Over that time, he went 45-65 with 17 saves and a 4.88 ERA. One of his best seasons was with Philadelphia in 1951. Though he finished the year with a 1-12 record, he posted a 4.47 ERA and had career highs in saves (10) and strikeouts (49).

One thing that strikes me when I look at Carl's stats is his strikeouts and walks. Carl was not a strikeout pitcher by any means. In '51 when he struck out 49, it took him 143 innings to reach that number. In fact, Carl was more likely to walk the batter than strike him out. He finished his career with 493 walks to only 290 strikeouts. That has got to be one of the worse K:BB ratios in the history of the game. In 1949, he walked 118 batters. Add in his 191 hits allowed in his 182.2 innings of work and you have a WHIP of 1.692, which was barely above his career average. It was a different game back then and probably better, too.

On the flip side, Carl was a decent hitter that hit .250 for his career. In 1948, he hit .298 in 104 at-bats with 21 RBI and 13 extra base hits. He hit so well that year that he got two starts in the outfield. Like I said, it was a different game back then.

And probably better, too.

The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck, Part II

#407 Doug Davis
#427 Luis Hernandez
#446 Felix Pie
#518 Reggie Abercrombie
#526 Mark Teahen
#549 Delwyn Young
#670 Vincente Padilla
#712 Elliot Johnson
#98-JK Jason Kendall

Here are the last of the 2008 Upper Deck base set.

Doug Davis- Doug signed this card for me at an Oklahoma Redhawks game in 2012. He was playing for the visiting Omaha Storm Chasers.

Luis Hernandez- Luis signed this card for me after batting practice at The K in 2009 during his one season with the Royals. He would later go on to play for the Wichita Wingnuts. But, by the time he was in Wichita, all of my cards of him were already signed.

Felix Pie- I was able to get Felix by the Orioles dugout on my last visit to Camden Yards in 2009.

Reggie Abercrombie- Though he never played for the Wingnuts, he played in the American Association long enough for me to get multiple autographs from him throughout the years. This one was obtained in 2016 while he was with Winnipeg. He was still with the club this past season at the age of thirty-eight.

Mark Teahen- Mark was always a great signer while with the Royals. This is one of the cards that he signed for me by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Delwyn Young- I got Delwyn to sign two years ago while he was a member of the second, and last, incarnation of the Kansas Stars.

Vincente Padilla- Vincente signed for me at a Royals game in 2008. His Rangers were taking batting practice at the time.

Elliot Johnson- Elliot signed for me at a Scranton-Wilkes/Barre Yankees game in 2009. He was playing for the visiting Durham Bulls at the time.

Jason Kendall- Jason worked as a special adviser for the Royals for a few seasons and I was able to get this card signed outside The K in 2013. That day, I had just this one card of him and it was on the same page as two Emilio Bonifacio cards. When I gave him my book to sign, he said "dude, that's not me". When I pointed out his card, he was like "oh, I was going to say I'm not black".

The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck, Part I

#22 Lenny Dinardo
#36 Gregg Zaun
#146 Miguel Olivo
#162 Mike Bacsik
#185 Doug Brocail
#196 Chris Coste
#253 Kyle Davies
#336 Feilpe Paulino
#376 Brian Bannister

There are nothing but pitchers and catchers in this post.

Lenny Dinardo- Lenny signed this card for me before a game in Minneapolis in 2010 when he was with the Royals. It was at the final regular season series at the Metrodome.

Gregg Zaun- Lenny signed for me during batting practice at the K in 2009. He was with the Orioles at the time.

Miguel Olivo- I got this card signed by Miguel after a Royals game in 2008. He signed from the Royals parking lot.

Mike Bacsik- I got this card signed at a Wichita Wingnuts game in 2011. Mike was the starting pitcher for Ft. Worth that night and would not sign before the game. But, he came through afterwards, despite getting yanked in the first inning of the contest.

Doug Brocail- Doug signed this card for me at an Astros pre-season game at Minute Maid Park in 2009. Since it is dark picture, I thought that I would give the silver Sharpie a try. I did not like the results. Luckily, he was willing to go over it in blue for me.

Chris Coste- Last year, Chris got appointed to the coaching staff of the Fargo Moorehead Redhawks. So, I made sure to hit up a Wingnuts game while they were in town so I could get three cards signed. My two year old also got a card signed and he was thrilled as can be with it.

Kyle Davies- This is one of the many cards Kyle signed for me at the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Felipe Paulino- Felipe signed two cards for me at a Round Rock Express game in 2008. His unprepped '08 Topps card came out looking much better than this one.

Brian Bannister- Speaking of cards that came out looking bad, this one may take the cake. I am sure glad that I learned about prepping glossy cards at some point in 2009. This one was signed at a Royals game in 2008. He signed it after throwing 120 foot curveballs to Kyle Davies.

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 Goudey, Dennis Eckersley

#135 Dennis Eckersley

I figured that since Bobby Doerr and Sparky Anderson each got a post from this set, Eck might as well get one, too.

So, here is the third and final card that I got him to sign at the College World Series in 2014. My main focus at the event was getting his '81 Donruss signed. After that, I had this card and his '87 Fleer card and it didn't really matter which one got signed. In the line, I had the '81D and my wife had the other two cards. Somehow, she sweet-talked her way into getting both of them signed by him. She never ceases to amaze me.

Anymore, when retired players appear in modern sets, I would much rather get an original card of theirs signed instead of one after they retired. And, while I wanted a signed card of Dennis with the A's, he was with them during the junk wax era. So, when it came down to taking a 1990 Donruss card or this one, this was the easy choice.

Dennis pitched for the A's for nine seasons and was phenomenal. After being a starter his whole career, the A's threw him out of the bullpen and it resurrected his career. During his tenure in Oakland, he went 41-31 with 320 saves and a 2.74 ERA. He made four All Star teams with them and lead the league in saves twice, including his career high of 51 in 1992. Plus, he helped the club to the postseason four times and helped them to the championship in 1989.

For a couple of years, the CWS stopped doing autograph signings. It was kind of a bummer because I was so used to coming home from Omaha with autographs like this. Then last year, they started it back up again. The only difference was that they were during the week instead of the weekend. The day I was there last summer was supposed to have Ryan Howard signing. But, some crazy weather hit town and it got cancelled. So, you will not be seeing a signed 2008 Goudey Ryan Howard on here.

I posted the first two cards of Dennis two years ago. His '81D can be seen here and his '87 Fleer here.

2008 Goudey, Joe Blanton

#133 Joe Blanton

Here is a card that I got signed in Kansas City during Joe's brief stay with the Royals. It was a Sunday day game, which is autograph day at The K. Like most everything else that the Royals do that is autograph related, the event is poorly ran. You have to get to the park early so that you can make it into one of the two lines. Of course, you have no clue who is going to be signing, so it is a total crapshoot. Once you are in line, you have to stand there for thirty minutes before the players come out. Then, they only sign for about twenty minutes.

On this particular day, I got in one line and my wife and kid got in the other. The dude in my line ended up being a reliever that didn't have any cards. So, I got out of line. The other line had someone I needed, so my family stayed in it. Since it was autograph day, I didn't bring my book with me. I put my cards in two hard cases so I could split them up between the two lines. So, once I got out of line, I was free to head down to the field and try to get some of the pitchers out there. Joe ended up being the only guy that I got and I only had this one card in my case. But, that is alright since this is probably the best Joe Blanton card that I own.

Joe lasted in the Majors for thirteen seasons and saw time with the A's, Phillies, Dodgers, Angels, Royals, Pirates, and Nationals. Over that time, he amassed a 101-97 record with 2 saves and a 4.38 ERA. He last pitched in the Majors in 2017.

2008 Donruss Elite, Petey Paramore

#80 Petey Paramore

Here is a card of Petey Paramore that I got signed at a Wichita Wingnuts game in 2013. Petey was playing with the visiting Kansas City T-Bones at the time and he was nice enough to sign all three cards that I had of him.

Petey was drafted by the A's in the third round of the 2008 draft out of Arizona State. He would play in the A's farm system for just five years before moving on to the independent ranks. In those five years, he would spend the bulk of his time in some form of A ball and he hit .237 with 22 home runs and 136 driven in.

He played in the American Association and Atlantic League for two seasons before retiring after the 2014 season.

Petey got the opportunity to play in two AAA games in 2012 and he did well in the limited action. In the two games, he was 2-7 with a solo home run.

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.

2008 Bowman, Anthony Capra

#BDPP56 Anthony Capra

Here is a card that I got signed at a Tulsa Drillers game in 2010. Anthony was playing for the visiting Midland RockHounds that summer. At the game I was at, he had the night off and was charged with charting pitches from the stands. A fellow collector pointed him out to me and I was able to get him to sign this card for me right before the game started.

When I got this card signed, I also got one signed by Travis Banwart, who was helping Anthony chart pitches. Those two players have a lot in common. They both pitched at Wichita State. They were both taken in the fourth round by the A's. They both played together for a couple of seasons in the minors. And they both ended up in the American Association, playing for the Wichita Wingnuts. But, ultimately, Travis had a more successful career than Anthony did.

Anthony was out of affiliated ball before the 2012 season was over. He pitched in just one AAA game and the majority of his affiliated time was in some sort of A ball. He then joined the Wingnuts in 2012 after the A's released him. He pitched in Wichita for five seasons before retiring and becoming the teams pitching coach for the 2017 season. He held that role for two seasons before the club disbanded following the 2018 campaign.

You have got to love it when a player's autograph looks exactly like the pre-printed signature on the card.

2008 Bowman, Travis Banwart

#BCP206 Travis Banwart

Here is a card that I got signed in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2010. Travis was pitching for the visiting Midland Rock Hounds that season and he had that night off. So he and Anthony Capra were charged with charting pitches in the stands for that game and he was nice enough to sign for me from the seats.

That is one of the fun things about minor league baseball. You can always find a pitcher or two in the stands. The hard part is identifying them without a uniform on. But if you can, they are usually pretty good about signing. Danny Duffy made me wait until after the game to sign for me once, but all the others signed when I asked. Just make sure to go up to them between innings so you are not distracting them.

Travis, a fellow Kansas, never made it to the Majors. He made it to AAA in 2011, but stalled out there. After three and a half seasons of AAA, he took off for Korea and pitched there for two and a half seasons. He came back in 2017 for one more year of AAA ball before ending up on his hometown Wichita Wingnuts last season.

After the Wingnuts were forced to disband after this past season, it seems like many of the players, including their manager, have ended up on the Cleburne Railroaders. Travis was on their roster, but it looks like he decided to take his game to Mexico next season. He is now signed with the Pericos de Puebla.

2004 Upper Deck Vintage, Barry Zito

#14 Barry Zito

Here is the second card that Barry signed for me during his farewell campaign with the Nashville Sounds in 2015. I posted the first card three years ago and it can be seen here.

This card marks a bit of a milestone for this blog. This is the 100th Athletics card that I have posted on here. Only two other teams have hit the 100 card mark, the Royals and Padres. The Royals are up there because they are my local team. The Padres passed the mark because Rod, from Padrographs, loves to send me signed Padre cards. The A's reached that level because they used to play in Kansas City and I like getting KC A's cards signed. By my best count, I currently 26 signed KC A's cards with all but one of those already being posted on here. If it wasn't for my interest in that era of the team, there would have only been about 80 A's cards posted on here. In case you are wondering, the Angels are the team that is closest to reaching 100 card posts and they are currently sitting on 82.

Barry pitched for the A's for seven seasons and went 102-63 with a 3.58 ERA. During his time in Oakland, he made three All Star teams and was awarded the 2002 American League Cy Young Award. That year, he was 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA and 182 strikeouts.

Last I heard, Barry was trying to make it as a musician in Nashville. I have heard one of his songs and I actually like it. You can check it out on YouTube here.

2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot, Tim Hudson

#85 Tim Hudson

Here is the second card that I got signed by Tim Hudson at the NBC World Series in 2016. I posted the first one last month and it can be seen here.

At that game, I did 98% of my 'graphing by the clubhouse and batting cages in left field. The one problem with 'graphing there is that there is a nine foot tall chain link fence to keep you from going into the clubhouse. Since I use a book with photo corners to hold my cards in, the fence was a major obstacle for me. If I were getting balls signed, it would not be a big deal. But, I do not toss the book around like I would a baseball.

So, to circumvent the fence, I ended up finding a low spot on the ground and handing my book under the fence. While it wasn't ideal, it certainly got the job done and all the cards came out OK with the exception of this one. This one ended up scraping the bottom of the fence and it caused a streak right through the signature. But, considering that I got about forty cards signed at that spot and only one got messed up, I think I came out alright.

Tim pitched for Oakland for six seasons and had some of his best success with them. He went 92-39 with the A's. I know wins and losses do not tell much of a story of how good a pitcher is doing, but that .702 winning percentage is really impressive. Tim made two All Star teams with the A's and won 20 games for them in 2000 and had a single season high of 181 strikeouts in 2001.

I was a little worried about how well the signature was going to show up on this foil card. But, minus the streak, it came out looking good.

2003 Upper Deck Vintage, Tim Hudson

#15 Tim Hudson

Here is a card of Tim Hudson that I got signed at the Kansas Stars game in 2016. That was the first year the Stars played in the NBC World Series and it was quite an event. I had to buy tickets in advance of the game because they were selling out. That never happens for that tournament. The game was actually sold out before I got tickets, but they ended up releasing some standing room only tickets and I was able to get some of those. It probably didn't help that I was going to the first game that the Stars played in and there was lots of hoopla for it.

Unfortunately, after playing in the tournament for two years, the Stars did not come back this year. They claim they didn't come back because the casino that hosted them, the Kansas Star, was hosting a convention and didn't have rooms for the team. Personally, I think that is a load of crap. I think that the NBC didn't want them out there whooping up on college kids. But, that is just my opinion. Needless to say, but I did not go to the NBC World Series this year.

The Stars players obviously had a good time playing because they "relocated" to Louisville this year and are playing in the Bluegrass World Series right now. This is the inaugural year for the Bluegrass World Series and it is basically the NBC World Series, but at a nicer venue and with the Stars. It is kind of sad that Louisville recognized the opportunity that the Stars provided, but not Wichita.

Tim Hudson is still playing for the Stars, but he has not started either of their two games yet.

1999 Topps Chrome, Ryan Christenson

#88 Ryan Christenson

Here is a card that I got signed by Ryan Christenson at a Spring Training game earlier this year. Ryan is the bench coach for the A's and he was nice enough to sign my one card for me prior to the start of the game.

Ryan played in the Majors for six seasons with the A's, Diamondbacks, Brewers, and Rangers. Over that time, he got into 452 games and he hit .222 with 16 home runs and 102 RBI. His best season was his rookie campaign with the A's in 1998. That year, he hit .257 with 5 homers and 40 RBI, all single season highs for him.

Ryan's playing career overlapped the time when I was in college and not actively collecting cards. Still, I somehow ended up with a decent amount of Topps product from 1999 and was lucky enough to have this lone card of him to get signed. Ryan has a long last name and I am amazed whenever I see a plaery sign every single letter like he does. That is a rarity in this day and age.

1995 Score, Mike Aldrete

Here is the second card that Mike Aldrete signed for me at Spring Training last year. I posted the first back in July and that one can be seen here. It is pretty sad that I have only made it to my 1995 cards since July. I need to find time to post more.

When I got this card signed, Mike was the A's hitting coach. He has since been demoted to the team's assistant hitting coach. I saw him again this spring and he signed three more cards for me. One of those will be showing up here in the coming months. The other two are older, so it will be years before they make an appearance on here.

Mike played for the A's for two and a half seasons. During his time in Oakland, he played in 231 games and he hit .260 with 18 home runs and 72 RBI. During the 1993 season, Mike clubbed a career high 10 home runs while with the A's.

This is the only card from this set that I have signed and it seems perfect that it is of an Athletic. This set seems like it was meant for that club.

1991 Topps, Ozzie Canseco

#162 Ozzie Canseco

Here is Ozzie Canseco card number three. This one, however, was signed by him in 2016, a year after the first two. Ozzie was the hitting coach for the Sioux Falls Canaries at the time and I got the cards signed by him at a Wichita Wingnuts game.

This is the only base Topps card of Ozzie, which is kind of surprising. While Ozzie had a very short Major League career (24 games), he had a decent amount of cards made of him. I am sure that it mostly because of his name. Upper Deck and Score each made two base cards of Ozzie. Every other brand made just one, except for Fleer. Fleer only had an Update card of him. Sure, Ozzie appeared in a Bowman set and Stadium Club, but this his only regular issue Topps card.

Ozzie played in just nine games with the A's. In those games, he got 19 at-bats and only 2 hits. One of those hits was a double and he also drove in a run. The downside to his limited Oakland days were his strikeouts. Ozzie fanned 10 times. That was the main reason for his .105 batting average.

The A's released Ozzie after the 1990 season and he spent '91 playing in Japan.

1991 Line Drive AAA, Johnny Guzman

#536 Johnny Guzman

Just like the last card I posted, this one was also given to me by Rod, from Pardographs, when we met up at a Hillsboro Hops game in 2015.

While I was familiar with this card, since it was in my collection, I was not familiar with Johnny Guzman as a player. Like most of the players in the Line Drive sets, I just assumed that he never played in the Major Leagues. Turns out I was wrong. Johnny logged 8 innings in the Majors with the A's in 1991 and '92. While he did earn one win, it was a rocky 8 innings. He ended up striking out 3 and only walking 2. But, he gave up 9 runs on 19 hits to the tune of a 10.13 ERA. In Johnny's defense, he did not allow a home run and he was 21 or younger in each of his appearances.

In his one win, Johnny entered a tie game with two outs in the eighth with two runners on. After going to a full count, he got the Tigers Lou Whitaker to ground out to the second baseman to end the inning. The A's came up in the bottom half of the inning and put up a six spot to secure the victory. Some guy named Dennis Eckersly came out for the A's and pitched the ninth inning.

Johnny would go on to pitch only one more season before calling it quits at the age of 22. Though coming out of the Dominican Republic back then, it is hard to say if that was his actual age or not. But, that is pure speculation on my part.

1991 Line Drive AA, Tom Carcione

#281 Tom Carcione

Here is a card that I got this past summer while I was in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was on our College World Series trip. When we make the trip, we usually camp out at a small state lake in Iowa. But, the state park was changed to a day use only park with no camping. When I found that out, I looked into another state park in Nebraska. But, with the chance of severe thunderstorms for the weekend, we opted to stay in a hotel in Lincoln. It is a little out of they way, but is so much cheaper than Omaha during the series.

So, the night we got to Lincoln, we went to a Lincoln Saltdogs game (American Association). I had cards of two of their coaches to get signed and got them both before the game started. We only stayed four or five innings. True to the weather report, it rained cats and dogs for almost an hour. Luckily, we made it out of the park before it came and sat out the storm at Blue Blood Brewery.

Tom played five seasons in the A's minor league system, reaching AA in parts of three of those seasons. For his affiliated career, Tom was a .229 hitter with 19 home runs and 151 RBI.

Tom is the Saltdogs hitting coach.

1990 Fleer, Ozzie Canseco

#U-117 Ozzie Canseco

Here is the second of three cards that Ozzie Canseco signed for me at a Wingnuts game in 2015. He was the hitting coach for the Sioux Falls Canaries at the time, but has since been replaced. I posted the first card of Ozzie a few weeks back and that one can be seen here.

About seven or eight years ago, I got a Christmas gift from my best friend. It was a pre-packaged baseball card stocking that he bought at Ace Hardware. In it was some junk wax packs, a minor league team set, and a boxed update or traded set. The boxed set was the highlight of the stocking and I went to Ace the next day and bought four more of them. Out of them all, I ended up with '85 Fleer Update, '86 Topps Traded, '88 Donruss Rookies, '91 Score Traded, and this set. The Topps set was missing the main top rookies, but all the rest were complete sets.

Out of all of those sets, I have at least four cards from each one signed. They are still in their boxes and they are small, so they are really easy to look through to find a card to get signed. But, this Canseco card is the only one from the '90 Fleer Update set that I have signed. I am not sure why that is exactly. I know I have taken a few cards out to get signed and had no luck, so it is not because I overlook the set. It must be because I don't really like 1990 Fleer. There is just too much white on them.

That is probably why '91 Fleer is blinding yellow. They got too much grief for this set being boring, so the spiced things up the next year.

1989 Upper Deck, Ozzie Canseco

#756 Ozzie Canseco

It has been a month since I have posted a card on here of a player for the first time. A month ago, it was Don Mattingly. Here is Ozzie Canseco, the lesser of the Canseco brothers. The difference between Mattingly and Ozzie is that I only have one card signed by Donnie Baseball. Ozzie signed five cards for me over the two encounters I had with him.

This one was signed the first time I met him. It was at a Wingnuts game two years ago. The Nuts were hosting the Sioux Falls Canaries. When the season started, Roosevelt Brown was the Canaries hitting coach. I knew I was going to see them play, so I picked up a card of Roosevelt from COMC. When game time came around and I started rounding up cards for the game, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Roosevelt had been fired and Ozzie took his place. Even though Roosevelt had significantly more playing time in the Majors than Ozzie did, I actually had cards of Ozzie. Plus, he is a Canseco. And he was super nice, too.