2003 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres, Josh Anderson

#81 Josh Anderson

Here is another card that I got signed at the Metrodome last season. Josh was with the Royals at the time and I was able to get this card signed during batting practice. Josh was heading back to the outfield after batting when I asked him to sign. He started to say something over his shoulder as he ran out on the field, but then stopped and came over and signed all three cards for me before heading back out there. For a second, I thought I was going to get the same response that I got from Mitch Maier. But, that was not the case.

Josh was purchased by the Royals just prior to the deadline last year and he spent the rest of the season basically trying out for the Royals. His tryout didn't go as well as everyone had hoped and he got released after the season was over.

This seasons hasn't gone any better for Josh. After being released by the Royals, he was signed by the Reds. He went to Spring Training with them and started out the season on their AAA club. After 17 games there, he got released. He was then picked up by the Brewers and assigned to their AAA team. Again, he got released after 17 games. He was then signed by the Braves and attached to their AAA team. He made it 19 games with them before getting released. As far as I can tell right now, Josh Anderson is a free agent.

Come back tomorrow to learn about my experience of baseball in Mexico.

2003 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres, Mitch Maier

#50 Mitch Maier

Here is a card that I got signed at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome last October. I asked Mitch to sign when he came in from batting practice and he told me that he would get me later. Usually, that means that you are out of luck, but that was not the case for Mitch. Right before the game started, Mitch was out on the field stretching and warming up. When he was done, he started to head back to the dugout, and, after a few yells his way, he finally heard me and came over to sign, just like he said he would.

Everyone always heard about how loud the Metrodome got. But, if you have never been there, it is hard to really appreciate the noisiness of the place. I found that out while I was trying to get Mitch to sign right before the game started. There was really nothing going on at that point, yet Mitch could barely hear me call to him. Everyone sitting in their seats talking to the people beside them was enough of a disturbance to prevent Mitch from hearing me call for him from twenty feet away.

When Mitch was signing for me, I asked him how he dealt with the noise at the Metrodome and Mitch played it off like it was nothing. He told me that it was loud everywhere and they just had to use hand signals to communicate in the outfield. Yeah, right.

You'll notice that Mitch is listed as a catcher on this card. That is because he was a catcher at the University of Toledo when the Royals drafted him 30th overall in the 2003 draft. The Royals had him catch in Rookie ball that year, but they moved him to third base the following year before moving him to the outfield for good in 2005.

2003 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres, Justin James

#40 Justin James

Here is a card that I got signed at the Wichita Wingnuts preseason game I went to. Justin was playing with the Kansas City T-Bones at the time. I got lucky when I got this card signed since I didn't even know what number Justing was. He came out of the clubhouse in a Blue Jays pullover, so I called out his name and he looked over and I asked him for his autograph. But, if it wasn't for the Jays pullover, I might not have got this card signed.

Justin was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 2003 draft. By 2007, he was in AAA. After that season, the Jays traded him to the Reds to complete an earlier deal. He only pitched in 22 games in 2008 and he must have had some injuries since he threw in rookie, high-A, and AA. After that, he got released and he found himself in the Northern League last season with the T-Bones.

He must have had a lights-out spring with the T-Bones because the Oakland A's signed him to a minor league deal before the Northern League's season began. He has been doing really well in the A's organization. He posted a 2.29 ERA in 12 AA outings before being called up to AAA. With the Sacramento River Cats, he has a 1.50 ERA through 15 appearances while racking up four saves. He is even averaging 13 strikeouts per nine innings with them. That's not too bad for a former indy leaguer. I hope that he can keep it up and find himself on a Major League roster one day. It would be fun to see him pitch on TV and then tell everyone that I got his autograph at a Wingnut game.

2003 Upper Deck, Brandon Duckworth

#476 Brandon Duckworth

Here is another card that I got signed by Brandon Duckworth. The card I posted a couple of days ago was the lone Brandon Duckworth card that I had until I pulled this one out of a re-pack box. After I pulled this card, I was able to get it signed by the Royals parking lot in August of 2008.

That summer, the Royals were in the middle of the their renovation with Kauffman Stadium. One of the many changes that they had included was the players parking lot. It used to be that the players parked where ever they wanted in the small lot behind home plate. But with all of the constuction going on with Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadium, the Royals players got their own parking lot that was fenced in. They would park in there and walk over to an outhouse-looking building that led them to the underground tunnel to the ballpark. All of us autograph seekers ended up by the stairwell building to get autographs.

On the particular day that I got this card signed, Brandon decided that he didn't want to park in the players lot. Instead, he parked right outside of it where we were all trying to get autographs. He got out of his truck talking on his cell phone and that usually means that he wasn't going to sign. The cell phone trick is a great way for the players to ignore you while not being a complete dick about it. I've seen rookies hop out of their car, pull out their phone and put it to their ear and not say a single word while they walk to the tunnel. But that wasn't the case for Brandon. He got out of his truck and just stood there talking on his phone. Eventually, he had a "crowd" of about three of us just hovering around him, waiting for him to get off of the phone. Without missing a beat, he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder and he motioned for us to come to him and he then signed for all of us. It was pretty cool for him to do that since most players use a phone as an excuse for not signing.

Since I posted a card of Brandon earlier in the week, I may post another card tonight after I get off of work.

2003 Upper Deck, Raul Gonzalez

#7 Raul Gonzalez

I was supposed to post another Brandon Duckworth card tonight, but I decided to go against the grain and show this card instead. Here is a card that I got signed about six hours ago at a Wichita Wingnuts game. Raul is one of the newest member of the Nuts and I was able to get him to sign this card for me prior to the game.

Raul has been around the game for quite some time. He was originally drafted by the Royals in 1990 and he made his pro debut in 1991. He played in the Royals system through 1998, but he never advanced above AA. He then started to bounce around a bit, but in 2000, he got his first call-up with the Cubs. He only got into 3 games, but it was a start. In '01, he got called up by the Reds and he got into 11 games. He got called up by the Reds again in '02 and that time he got into 10 games before being dealt to the Mets. He got into 30 games with them over the remainder of the season. Then, in 2003, Raul got into 107 games as a Met. He only had 246 at-bats, but it was the most action that he was ever going to see at the big league level. After that, it was 11 games in 2004 with the Indians and that was the last of his Major League service time. For his Major League career, Raul was a .233 hitter that racked up 5 home runs. One of his home runs was off of Roy Oswalt, though.

Since then, Raul has played in about every league out there. He played in the Pacific Coast League, the International League, the Mexican League, the Atlantic League, and now the American Association. The Nuts picked him up just earlier this month after the Mexican League's season ended.

I didn't realize this until I started to write this post, but Raul now plays his home games at Wichita's Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. That was Raul's home ballpark from 1995-1998 while he was a member of the Royals AA team, the Wichita Wranglers. I went to my first minor league game in 1997 at Lawrence-Dumont, and, since Raul played in 129 games for the Wranglers that year, there is a good chance that I got to see him play that night. And what team were the Wranglers playing that night? It was the El Paso Diablos, the same team the Wichita played tonight. Minor league baseball is a crazy enterprise.

2003 Upper Deck, Runelvys Hernandez

#14 Runelvys Hernandez

I ask a ton of players for autographs and I get rejected more often than not. It's just a part of the game and I usually just leave it at that. But that was not the case on the night I got an autograph from Runelvys Hernandez. On that night, I practically had to beg.

Runelvys was the starting pitcher for the Round Rock Express at the lone Express game I attended in 2008. I asked him to sign for me before he took the field and he told me that he had to get ready (he was the starting pitcher that night), but he would sign for me after the game. Well, Elvis didn't stick around for the whole game. He decided to head to the clubhouse during the ejection marathon that ensued in the seventh inning. Luckily, I saw him making his way to the clubhouse in left field and I intercepted him on the concourse and asked for his autograph again.

This time, he told me that he would get me tomorrow. I told him that he already told me that he would get me after the game and that I wouldn't be around tomorrow. So, he then told me that he was tired. After that, I told him that the game he pitched in the Royals home opener in 2002 against the White Sox was probably the best pitching performance that I had ever seen and he finally broke down and signed all three cards for me.

So, it took a bit of begging with a little bit of flattery to get this card signed.

Amazingly, this signature looks the best out of the three.

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.