The Joy of a Completed Page, 1988 Topps

Here is another page that has been filled for over six months that I am just posting. This one actually has some twenty-year old autographs in it.

Here is how it breaks down.

TTM: 3 (two in the late '80s and one semi-recently)
Game: 2 (one at Lewis and Clark Park (Sioux City, IA) and one at Rangers Ballpark)
Padrograph: 1
Collective Troll: 1
Contest: 1 ('88 Topps Blog)

2004 Bowman, Freddy Thon

#BDP13 Freddy Thon

Here is a card that I got signed at a Kansas City T-Bones game last year. Freddy was playing for the Joliet Jackhammers at the time and I was able to get this card signed while he was walking from the clubhouse to the field. The clubhouses at Community America Ballpark are beyond the right field fence, so the players have to walk down the grass berm to get to the field. It is a little unusual, to say the least, but it is great for the autograph seekers.

Freddy was drafted by the Rangers out of Villanova in the 18th round of the 2004 draft. He played that summer with the Rangers Arizona League team and hit .291 in 51 games. He moved up to the Northwest League the next season and he hit .279, but he only played in 54 games. Still, he was bumped up to the Midwest League the next season and he did good enough to earn a mid-season promotion to the California League. He repeated the California League in 2007 and he finished the year hitting .284 with 11 home runs.

Apparently, that wasn't good enough for the Rangers and Freddy found himself playing for the Jackhammers in 2008. He must have shown some potential there because the White Sox signed him mid-season and assigned him to the Carolina League's Winston-Salem Warthogs. He was hitting .264 through 27 games before the Sox moved him up to AA. In Freddy's only taste of AA action, he hit .107 in 28 at-bats. After that, he was sent back to Joliet, where he still plays. That could change though since the fate of the Northern League is now in limbo.

2004 Bowman, David Pauley

#300 David Pauley

Here is another Padrograph of I guy that I had never heard of. Because of that, I just assumed that he had never appeared in the Major Leagues. Well, you know what happens when you assume things.

It turns out that David made three starts in 2006 and had six appearances in 2008 for Boston. I wouldn't have felt bad about not knowing a pitcher that had less than ten appearances for the Red Sox, but it turns out that David pitched in the Major this past season for Seattle. This year, in nineteen appearances (fifteen starts), David went 4-9 with a 4.07 ERA. While that doesn't sound great, keep in mind that with Boston, David was 0-3 with a 9.53 ERA. So, while he is not battling King Felix for the number one spot, he has made some improvements since his Boston days and he may be in the running for the M's starting rotation next season. Of course, that is all just speculation since I really do not know anything about this guy.

I just noticed a half hour ago that this card is a "1st Edition". I had no idea that Bowman ever messed with the first edition stamp. But, being a Topps brand, it really doesn't surprise me.

2004 Bowman, Rob Tejeda

#290 Rob Tejeda

Rob, or Robinson as he goes by now, Tejeda is easily the most established player from which I have got a signed '04 Bowman card. He broke into the Majors in 2005 with the Phillies and has played at least 14 Major League games every year since. He currently is one of the set-up men in the Royals bullpen and I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot prior to a game in April of 2009.

Robinson was signed by the Phillies when he was 16-years old in 1998 and made his professional debut a year later. He played in rookie or A ball for the first five seasons of his career before making it to AA in 2004. He played in AAA in '05 for five games before getting called up to Philly in May. He would stay with the big club for the rest of the season before being shipped to Texas for David Dellucci.

Robinson's tenure with the Rangers must have included a bus pass, because he was constantly up and down I35 from Arlington to Oklahoma City. In his two plus years as a Ranger, he made 35 appearances in the Majors and 30 in the minors. He had been a starter for most of his career, but in '08, the Rangers moved him to the bullpen. After four appearances out of the pen in '08, Robinson was claimed off waivers by the Royals and, aside for three rehab appearances last year, has been a legitimate big leaguer ever since.

Working out of the pen with the Royals, with a handful of spot starts, Robinson has posted a 9-9 record with a 3.47 ERA and 184 strikeouts in 174 innings of work.

Robinson's signature has shortened a great deal since he signed his first contract with Topps.

2004 Bowman, Kevin Richardson

#252 Kevin Richardson

Here is a card that I got signed at an Oklahoma Redhawks game in 2008. I spent most of my autographing time at that game on the visiting team's side, but I was able to get to the Redhawk side in time to get a couple of cards signed prior to the start of the game. That was when I got this card signed.

Looking back on it now, I'm amazed that I even owned this card to get signed. That was back before I knew about checkoutmycards.com and I was only able to get cards signed that I actually owned or could find at the local card shop (or overpay for on Ebay). I have twelve cards signed from this set and four of them were given to me. I got this card out of a pack and the other seven cards were all purchased from checkoutmycards.com. That is how much I rely on their services.

Kevin was a non-drafted free agent out of Gonzaga in 2002. He played in the Appalachian League that summer and hit to the tune of .157. The Rangers brought him back the next season and he split it between the Northwest League and the Midwest League, hitting a combined .251 for the season. He spent 2004 in the Midwest League and repeated in again in '05 before getting moved up to the Texas League mid-season. He spent '06 and '07 in the Texas League before moving up to AAA in 2008. He spent all of '08, most of '09, and part of '10 playing for the Redhawks. But during that time-span, something great happened.

On August 17, 2009, Kevin made his Major League debut in Arlington against the Twins. And to add a little personal touch to this post, I was actually at that game (unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Kevin from the game, but my ticket stub is at the bottom). Kevin went 2-4 in the game with a run and a strikeout. It was the only start in his brief Major League career. After that game, Kevin got into three more games and he got two more at-bats, finishing his stint 3-6. I know that he would have liked to have stayed up longer, but if he never gets another Major League at-bat, at least he can say he hit .500 in the big leagues.

2004 Donruss, Lee Gwaltney

#245 Lee Gwaltney

Here is a card that I got signed last year when I made a ballpark visit to Lincoln, Nebraska's Haymarket Field, home of the Lincoln Saltdog's. My main focus on the trip was to get autographs from the Ft. Worth Cats Aaron Crow and Wayne Terwilliger. But, I had a few cards of a couple other guys and obviously Lee was one of them. Since he wasn't pitching that day, Lee was one of the last guys out of the clubhouse. When I asked him where Terwilliger was, he told me that Wayne had a staff infection and didn't make the trip.

Lee was drafted by the Phillies in the 6th round of the 2002 draft out of Louisiana Tech. He reached as high as AA in the Phillies organization before making his way to the Cubs system in 2005. He played in three different levels that year and he must have injured himself at some point because in 2006, he only pitched in three games with the Arizona League Cubs.

He found himself pitching for Ft Worth in 2007 and, aside for a stint in the Mexican League and two starts for the San Antonio Missions, that was where Lee's career ended in 2009. At least I am assuming it has ended since I can't find any 2010 stats for him.

Lee was born in Germany and, yes, this card is a refractor.

2004 Bowman, Jon Knott

#222 Jon Knott

This is a rarity at Autographed Cards. This is an autographed Padres card that was not given to me by Rod, of Padrographs. This one was actually given to me by Matt of Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius and A Pack to be Named Later fame. If I remember correctly, he got this card in a lot that he bought off of Ebay.

Jon has 31 Major League at-bats on his resume and they were spread over three seasons and two teams. Jon made his Major League debut with the Padres on May 30th, 2004 and he popped out to the catcher. He finished the season 3-14 with two doubles and an RBI. He spent all of 2005 in the minors, but he got another call up from the Padres in September of 2006. He only got three at-bats during that call up and he went 0-3. Following that season, Jon became a free agent and he took his skills to the Orioles organization.

It was with the Orioles that he got his final Major League stint and he probably had his biggest highlight with them. In his first game as an Oriole, Jon hit his lone Major League home run. It was a pinch hit three-run shot off of Brian Stokes of the Devil Rays in the eighth inning. It didn't win them the game or anything, but it certainly got the team back into it and gave them a chance to come back (which they didn't do). Jon ended up finishing the season 3-14 with 3 runs and 4 RBI.

After that, Jon played a couple more seasons at AAA for a couple of different teams. It looks like 2009 might have been his final season since I cannot find any 2010 stats for him anywhere. He spent last year split betwwen the Pacific Coast League, the Mexican League, and the Atlantic League (where he spent most of the season).