2010 Bowman Platinum, Mike Trout

#BPA-MT Mike Trout

Here is the best pull of my life! I had the pleasure of pulling this out of a pack in 2010 that I purchased at Target. At the time, Mike was the top rated prospect in baseball, so I was pretty happy to get this card. Ten years, eight All Star teams, and three MVPs has really amped up my appreciation for this card and I doubt that I will ever pull another autograph of a generational player again.

Mike's signature looks a lot different now than it did when he signed this card. He now has more loops and he doesn't lift his pen between his first and last name. He added his number to his signature for a bit, but that has been dropped off. Yesterday, I stumbled upon a Twitter post that chronicles the evolution of Mike's signature.

I have had the pleasure to see Mike play seven times. One of those was a Spring Training game in Tempe and one was at Safeco Field. The rest all occurred at Kauffman Stadium. Of the five games at The K, three were regular season games, one was the 2012 All Star Game, and one was the last postseason game that Mike appeared in. In case you aren't sure, that playoff game was back in 2014.

The Rest of 2008 Upper Deck Documentary

#133 Mark Teahen
#CC Callix Crabbe

Upper Deck Documentary was a great concept- the set chronicled every game from the 2008 season. In fact, it chronicled every game twice- once from the home team perspective and once from the visitor's. Because of that, the set ended up being 4890 cards. While Upper Deck had an interesting concept, the set ended up being a failure for many reasons.

For starters, the photo on the front of the card has nothing to do with the game documented. For Teahen's card, there is no mention of him in the write-up on the back. It is only about Zack Grienke. Secondly, the same photos got used on multiple cards. The Teahen photo is used on at least ten different cards. And my least favorite part about the set is that it doesn't tell you who is actually pictured on the card. The only name listed anywhere on the Teahen card is Grienke's. So, while Upper Deck had a great idea for a card set, they executed it very poorly and Documentary was a one and done set.

Mark Teahen- I got this card signed at the Metrodome in 2009 at the final regular season series at the "park".

Callix Crabbe- I bought one pack of documentary and I pulled an auto. Yay me! Callix never played a Major League game with the Brewers, but did see some time with the Padres.

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.

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, 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 Stadium Club, Brent Lillibridge

#157 Brent Lillibridge

Here is a card that I pulled out of a blaster in late 2009. I guess I was really wanting to open some packs at the time and there wasn't anything new out. So, I found a year old blaster at Walmart for a reduced price and went that route. It worked out well for me as I got this card in it.

Brent spent parts of six seasons in the Majors with six different clubs. He made his debut with the Braves in 2008 before being dealt to the White Sox after the season. He then spent nearly four years in Chicago before they dealt him to the Red Sox in 2012. His tenure in Boston lasted exactly one month before they shipped him to Cleveland. He finished off the season with the Indians before signing with the Cubs for the 2013 season. He lasted in the Cubs organization for for half the season before they sold him to the Yankees. Though he played AAA ball in 2014, he never made it back up to the Major Leagues.

For his career, Brent played in 358 games and hit .205 with 19 home runs and 71 RBI. His best season was with the White Sox in 2011. That year, he played in a career-high 97 games and he hit .258 with 13 homers and 29 driven in.

Nearly three years after pulling this card, I would get Brent's autograph in-person. Actually, my oldest boy got it for me and then held the card against his Royals jersey and smeared it. So, this is one of the rare instances where I prefer a certified autograph over an in-person autograph.

2008 Goudey, Billy Wagner

#GG-BW Billy Wagner

Here is a card that I pulled out of a pack in 2008. And, of course, the pack was a retail pack from Wal-Mart. Ninety percent of the packs I get are retail and all of my best pack pulled autos came out of retail packs.

Billy pitched in the Majors for sixteen seasons with the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, and Braves. Over that time, he had a 47-40 record with 422 saves and a 2.31 ERA. Billy made seven All Star teams during his career, was in the top five of saves in the National League four times, and made the postseason seven times. His 422 saves rank him sixth all-time.

Billy was fairly consistent his whole career, minus the postseason where he had a 10.03 ERA in 11.2 innings of work. But, the one season that stands out to me is his final season in 2010 with the Braves. Billy turned thirty-nine during his one season in Atlanta and had a phenomenal year. That season, he was 7-2 with 37 saves and a 1.43 ERA. Better yet, he struck out 104 batters in just 69.1 innings. It was his first 100 strikeout season since 2003. Way to go out on top, Billy!

Billy has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for four years now. He stayed in the 10-11% voting range for the first three years before jumping up to 16.7% this year. It was a nice spike, but he has a long ways to go to reach the magical 75% plateau.

2008 Donruss Elite, Josh Harrison

#57 Josh Harrison

I only bought a few packs of 2008 Donruss Elite, but I was lucky enough to pull this card out of one of them. At the time, it was just a sticker autograph of a minor league player that I had never heard of. Now, it is not that bad of a pull.

Josh was originally drafted by the Cubs in the sixth round of the 2008 draft out of Cincinnati. A year later, he was dealt to the Pirates to shore up some pitching for a playoff push that never materialized. It worked out great for the Pirates, though, as they ended up with a two-time All Star and key piece to their good teams a few years back.

During Josh's eight seasons in Pittsburgh, he would hit .277 with 52 home runs and 269 RBI while playing everywhere except center field, first base, and catcher. He made All Star teams in 2014 and 2017 and had his best statistical campaigns in those two years, though his 2014 season was probably the better of the two. That year, he had career highs in average (.315), doubles (38), and runs (77).

Josh became a free agent after this past season and will be joining the Detroit Tigers this year.

Unlike the other 2008 draft picks that I have posted from this set, Josh is not sporting his college digs in this photo. He is instead pictured in the minor league uniform of the Boise Hawks.

2008 Bowman, Chris Tillman

#SOF-CT1 Chris Tillman

Here is a card that I pulled out of a pack in 2008. If it wasn't for this card, I never would have known that Tillman was originally drafted by the Mariners. But, before he could ever debut with them, they shipped him to the O's for Erik Bedard. Considering that Baltimore also got Adam Jones in the deal and that those two players played for the team for ten years each, I would say that the O's got the better end of that deal.

In ten seasons with the O's, Chris amassed a record of 74-60 with a 4.57 ERA and 847 strikeouts. He had double-digit win totals four times and topped out at 16 wins twice. He never made an All Star team, but he did pitch in three postseason games.

After winning 16 games for a second time in 2016, Chris has had a rough go of it since. He ended up getting demoted to the bullpen in 2017 and he only pitched in seven games last year before getting designated for assignment. Over that span, his record is 2-12 with a 8.46 ERA in 119.2 innings of work. That might help explain why the thirty year-old is currently a free agent.

It is still early in Spring Training, so I would think that there is a team out there willing to take a chance on Chris with a cheap incentive-laden deal. We will see.

2004 Studio, Jason Bartlett

#208 Jason Bartlett

Every once in a while, my dad will buy me some baseball cards. He's been doing it since the mid-80s and I do not see him stopping anytime soon. Even when I was in college and could care less about baseball cards, my dad would still buy me a pack or two every now and then. I think he is just curious of what they are looking like from year to year.

Anyways, a couple of years ago, my dad called me to tell me that he pulled an autograph out of a pack. I was expecting something cool out of a current pack of Allen & Ginter or even Topps Archives. Nope, this was the card he pulled. It turns out that he got bored by the card selection at Target, so he picked up a repack box with a few packs and a 100 loose cards. This was one of the loose cards.

Now, I don't mean to sound like I am ungrateful that my dad pulled this card. That is not the case as I love any and all autographs, especially guys that I never got in-person that had respectable careers, like Jason. I just wasn't expecting him to pull an auto that was a dozen years old.

Jason played in the Majors for ten seasons with the Twins, Rays, and Padres. Over that time, he hit .270 with 31 home runs and 286 RBI while playing in the postseason three times. He best season was with the Rays in 2009 when he had career-highs in nearly every offensive category including average (.320), runs (90), doubles (29), home runs (14), RBI (66), and stolen bases (30). He was rewarded that season with his only All Star team selection.

2007 Bowman, Jonathan Van Every

#SOF-JV Jonathan Van Every

It has been a while since I posted last. Since then, I made a trip out west and saw games in Seattle, Hillsboro, OR, Sacremento, and San Francisco. Then, after I made it back home, I went to the AAA All Star Game in Omaha. I did not do quite as well as I had hoped on the autograph front out west, but I still got a little over thirty cards signed. Rod, from Padrographs, helped make up for that by meeting me at the game in Hillsboro and handing over a nice lot of Padrographs. That was very cool of him. Then, in Omaha, I did pretty well as I got twenty-seven cards signed there. So, overall, it was great little vacation and a much needed break from work.

Here is a card of Jonathan Van Every that I pulled out of a pack in 2008.

Jonathan played for parts of three seasons with the Red Sox. He was a .255 career hitter with 2 home runs and 9 RBI over 47 at-bats. He had the privilege of pitching in two games for the Sox, as well. He pitched a scoreless 2/3 of an inning in 2009. Then, in 2010, he pitched an inning against the Yankees and gave up a two run home run to Mark Teixeira, which happened to be Mark's third home run of the day. But, he did get Brett Gardner looking for his only strikeout. So, in 1.2 innings pitched, Jonathan had a 10.84 ERA.

Jonathan retired from baseball after the 2011 season.

2007 BBM, Fumihiro Suzuki

NN Fumihiro Suzuki

A few years back, I saw on Japanese Baseball Cards that a major Japanese card distributor was going out of business and was having a huge sale. Having never bought a pack of Japanese cards before, I could not pass it up. The cards were very reasonably priced and the shipping was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. So, I picked up about a dozen packs. My hopes were to get some cards of guys that might make it to the States some day so that I would have cards for them to sign. So far, that has not been the case. But, I was pleasantly surprised to pull two autographs out of the packs.

This one features the light-hitting catcher, Fumihiro Suzuki. Fumihiro played pro ball in Japan for fourteen seasons with the Dragons and Buffaloes. He was mostly used as a backup catcher, though he was the main catcher for two seasons. He hit just .185 over his 501 games and had 3 home runs and 56 RBI. His best season was probably with the Dragons in 2000. That year, he hit .226 with a home run and 10 RBI in just 62 at-bats.

Fumihiro was also a member of the 2000 Japanese Olympic baseball team. He retired after the 2012 season.

How about this sticker autograph? People would freak out if Topps used something this big. But, with the Japanese script, maybe this is a must for the Japanese card companies.

2005 Leaf, Hector Gimenez

#220 Hector Gimenez

Here is a card that I got in a repack box from Wal-Mart two years ago. I bought a few repack boxes from there between 2008 and 2009 and this is not the only hit that I got. In fact, I pulled my lone jersey letter swatch (or whatever they are called) from a pack that came out of a repack box. Unfortunately, I haven't bought any repack boxes recently. The ones that I was buying back then always had packs from the years that I wasn't collecting cards, so it was fun to see what I missed. It seems that all of the repack boxes that are out there now have packs from 2007 and 2008 and that doesn't intrigue me at all.

Until recently, Hector had a stat line of two games played with two at-bats and no hits. That was with the Astros in 2006. After that, he played in the Rays and Pirates organizations and he spent all of last season catching for the Pirates AA team in Altoona [on a side note, Altoona has a new mascot- Al Tuna]. Fast-forward to this year and it appears that Hector broke camp with the Dodgers. He was 1-7 to start the year before heading to the disabled list ten days ago because of a swollen knee. That is great that he made it back to the Majors after such a long break away and it is cool that he finally got his first Major League hit. 0-2 would have been an unfortunate career line.

It is funny that Baseball Almanac has this same card posted for Hector's signature. Lucky for them, though, that they have a card that is signed with a fresh Sharpie. I wasn't so lucky.

2004 Topps, Austin Kearns

#AK Austin Kearns

Here is an autograph that I pulled out of a pack of 2004 Topps. It was most likely a retail pack, but to be honest, I do not remember how I got this card. For some reason, I always thought that this card was a 2002 card and I got it while I was in college. But it turns out that I was getting this card, the first autograph I pulled out of a pack of Topps, confused with my first game-used card that I got in college in 2002. Now I am not sure when I got this card. Oh well. I have it and that is what counts.

I do know that I was pretty excited when I pulled this card, though. For one, this is the only autograph that I have ever pulled out of the base Topps set. But the main reason I was excited was because I thought Austin was an up-and-coming star. He had 13 home runs as a 21 year old rookie in 2002 and 15 in '03. But, unfortunately for the Reds, the star status never hit Austin and he was out of Cincinnati by July of 2006.

Austin was traded to the Nationals that year and that ended up being one of Austin's best seasons. That was the only season that he had more than 20 home runs and 80 RBI. He stayed with the Nats through the 2009 season before he signed with Cleveland last year and was traded to the Yankees at the deadline. I believe that Austin is currently a free agent.

Overall, I really like this card. It is an on-card auto with a nice open spot to sign and a unique design. What more can I say?

2003 Topps All TIme Fan Favorites, Cory Snyder

#FFA-CN Cory Snyder

I graduated from college in 2003 and for some reason, I started to get back into cards that summer. I was amazed at all of the products that were out and I thought that the new cards that looked old were a cool concept. So, every time I went to Wal-Mart, I had to check out the card section and pick up a couple of packs. For some reason, I always grabbed a couple of packs of the All Time Fan Favorites.

After about a month of that, I noticed something. The box of All Time Fan Favorites was halfway empty and it seemed like I was the only person that was buying it. I also noticed that there was one autograph per box. After that, I started to buy the packs four or five at a time because I was determined to pull the autographed card. If you take the time to look at some of the autographs available in the set (there are at least 50 Hall of Famers), you'll quickly see why I wanted the autograph out of that box.

Obviously, I got the autograph from the box and it wasn't a Hall of Famer. But, it is an autograph and it is on-card, so I can't complain. I already had a TTM Snyder autograph from many years ago and it was fun adding a certified one to the mix as well.

The funny thing about this set is that if it came out today, I don't think that I would get into it like I did in 2003. But, that is just me.

2000 Royal Rookies Futures

#3 Alex Requena
#5 Tony Mota
#13 Jeff Bailey
#16 Frederick Torres

Here are some cards that I had never heard of until a couple of years ago. I got all four of these cards in Wal-Mart repack boxes. I got two of them in packs and the other two were the special bonus item in the boxes. I had never heard of any of the players, so let's see what we have here.

Alex Requena was an undrafted free agent signed by the Indians. He played in the minors for nine seasons for the Indian, Dodger, and Giant organizations. He never made it above AA, though. His last season was 2007.

Tony Mota was a 17th round selection by the Doddgers that looked like he was on the fast track to the Majors. He was in AA by the end of his third year and had made it to AAA a year and a half later. He then spent three seasons at that level before bouncing around independent teams and lower level affiliated teams. His last season was 2006. The card of him appears to be an error card. It is a reverse negative.

Jeff Bailey was a second round draft pick by the Marlins in 1997. He played for the Marlins organization for five seasons before being dealt to the Expos. In his three years in the Expos organization, he made it up to AAA. After that, he signed with the Red Sox and played in their system all the way up to last season. The difference between Jeff and the rest of the guys on here is that Jeff made his Major League debut in 2007. He played for Boston over parts of the last three seasons and is a .228 career hitter. He is a free agent at this time.

The final card is of a former Rangers undrafted free agent, Frederick Torres. Torres signed in 1996 and played in the Ranger system for five seasons, spending most of his time playing for Charlotte of the Florida State League. He retired after the 2002 season. However, he came out of retirement last year and played in 42 games with the Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League. He only hit .236 for them, so it will be interesting to see if he plays this summer.

Well, I got one card of a player that made it to the Majors. I guess that is not too bad.

1998 Best, Braden Looper

NN Braden Looper

This card of former reliever/now starter, Braden Looper, is one of the few cards from 1998 that wasn't sent to me by another blogger. In fact, I got this card in one of the strangest places. You know those packages of cards from Target that has 100 random cards in it and a couple of junk wax packs? I actually bought one of those once and I got this card in it. I was so happy about it that I went and bought another one. I wasn't so lucky on the second one and I never bought any more.

Looper, a Wichita State alum, used to close for the Marlins and Mets. As a Met in 2004, he recorded a career high 29 saves. He then went to St. Louis and pitched in relief for a year before Tony LaRussa decided to turn him into a starter. He has started since 2007 and his numbers aren't that great. He is 38-33 with a 4.76 ERA and 295 strikeouts. His career ERA is 4.15, so it was probably under 4 as a reliever.

This is actually my fourth card that I have posted of the Prince William Cannons. The previous three were of Yankee farmhands. This one is from their affiliation with the Cardinals.

I probably don't have to say it because it is so obvious, but I will anyway. Braden Looper has one of the worst signatures that I have ever seen.

1996 Leaf Signature Extended Autographs, Jack Howell

NN Jack Howell

Here is the autograph that I got out of the other pack of this stuff that I bought. After these two autographs, I didn't even bother with the set any more.

When I got the two cards, I thought that the Jack Howell was the better player of the two. But, after looking at the career stats now, I'm not so sure about that. Both played every infield position and Jack also got some time in the outfield. Alex's batting average was .26 points higher (with almost 900 less at-bats) than Jack's. But, Jack had over five times as many home runs as Alex. OK, maybe they aren't the same type of player offensively. With the exception of average, Jack has much better offensive numbers.

So, maybe Jack is the better of the two. He was at least better known to me at the time since he had been around longer.

1996 Leaf Signature Extended Autographs, Alex Arias

NN Alex Arias

I got this card in a pack in 1996. The only reason I even bought the two packs was for the autographs. Leaf borrowed a concept from Signature Rookies and made a set that included one autograph per pack. The only problem was the these packs were pretty pricey. I can't remember how much they cost, but I do know that two packs was all that I could afford.

Alex played parts of 11 seasons with the Cubs, Marlins, Phillies, Padres, and Yankees. He played all four infield positions, but he got the most playing time at shortstop. His best season was probably 1999 with the Phillies. That year he had career highs in every offensive statistic (except for triples) including 20 doubles and a .303 average.

There is no number on the back of this card. Beckett lists the card number as 4.

1995 Classic 5 Sport, Chad Hermansen

#122 Chad Hermansen

I pulled this card out of a pack, maybe in 1996. I bought a box of this stuff for cheap at a KB Toy Store when I was out of town at a baseball tournament. The box was a year old, so I probably paid 10-15 bucks for it. It sounded like a good idea at the time and it gave me something to do on the ride home.

I was very surprised to find this card in there. I didn't even know that there were autographs in the box. I pulled two, this one and some hockey player that never made it to the NHL. There is no number on the card back (I got the number from his regular card). All it says on the back is "Congratulations! You Have Just Received A Limited-Edition Autographed Card."

Chad played in 189 Major League games with the Pirates, Cubs, Dodgers, and Blue Jays. He was a .195 career hitter who tallied 13 home runs.

I have no idea how many of these cards he signed for Classic. I just hope that all of them are not as hard to see as mine is.