2004 Topps Total, Warner Madrigal

#817 Warner Madrigal

If you thought you knew who Warner Madrigal is and are thrown off by this card, don't worry. This is the same Warner Madrigal that pitches for the Rangers. It just so happens that he began his pro career as an outfielder.

Warner was signed by the Angels in 2001 and he made his professional debut in the States in 2003 at the age of nineteen. He hit .369 in his debut season while playing Rookie ball in the Pioneer League. That was the highlight of Warner's batting stats and his average dropped every year after that for the next three seasons. By 2006, Warner was hitting .235 in the Midwest League. It was during that season that the Angels decided to convert him to a pitcher.

They sent him to the Arizona League to work on his stuff and Warner posted a 3.75 ERA in 11 innings. He was back in the Midwest League in 2007 and he posted a 2.07 ERA while recording 20 saves. Then the Angels released him.

That worked out great for the Rangers as they picked him up and assigned him to their AA team in Frisco. He blew through the Texas League and did good enough at AAA to get promoted to the big club in time to make 31 Major League appearances. He pitched in 36 innings that year and posted a 4.75 ERA with an 0-2 record and 1 save. Not bad for a guy that had been cut by a A team the previous season.

Warner spent most of 2009 in AAA and he did well there. But, it looks like he got called up to the Rangers about three different times and he did not have the same success there. He finished his 2009 Major League campaign with no record and a 9.75 ERA in only 12.2 innings of work.

I got this card signed this past summer in Springdale, Arkansas while Warner was making a rehab appearance for the Frisco Roughriders. It seems that 2010 was a rehab year for him since he did not make a single Major League appearance. But, he appears to be playing winter ball in the Dominican, so maybe he will be ready for the Majors again next season.

2004 Topps Total, Adam Greenberg

#789 Adam Greenberg

If you have never heard of Adam Greenberg, than you are in for a treat. Adam has the distinction of being one of the two players in the history of the game to be hit by a pitch in their only Major League plate appearance without ever taking the field. The other player was the Phillies Fred Van Dusen in 1955 and I do not know what ever happened to him. But, I do know what happened to Adam and it isn't a pretty story.

Adam's Major League hit by pitch was a 92 mile an hour fastball to the back of the head. It occurred in July of 2005 and it gave him a mild concussion. While he no longer suffers any symptoms of the beaning, he still has a hard time digging in at the plate and getting ready to hit (according to his manager this past season via this ESPN article). But the good news is that Adam is still playing ball and looking for another shot at the Major Leagues.

Prior to his Major League plate appearance, Adam was a prospect for the Cubs that had been called up from AA. By the following season, Adam had been released by the Cubs after hitting under .180 in just over a hundred at-bats at AA and AAA. He was picked up by the Dodgers and he spent the remainder of the season playing for their AA team and he ending up hitting .228 for them. He moved on to the Royals AA team in 2007 and he hit .266 in 132 games. The Royals released him after the season and he played for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League to start the 2008 season. He did good enough there to be picked up by the Angels and assigned to their AA squad. He finished the '09 campaign with them batting .271.

Unfortunately, that was Adam's last season playing affiliated ball. Since then, he has spent the past two seasons playing for the Bluefish. He only hit .245 in his first season there, but he was able to raise his average to .258 this past season.

The good news is that Adam is still playing ball and is trying to get another shot at the Majors. He will be thirty when this next season starts, so his window is starting to close. But, I wish him the best of luck.

I was fortunate to get this card signed for me by Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff, at an Atlantic League game in 2009.

I got to see Adam play a couple of times as a member of the Wichita Wranglers in 2007. At the time, I knew that I had seen a card of him (this one), but I had no idea of the story he had. Too bad I hadn't got back into autographs a year earlier.

Also, I like the sleeveless Cubs jersey on this card. It's just too bad that the team didn't wear them. Like Alberto Callaspo from a couple of days ago, this is probably just a photo-shopped minor league picture.

2004 Topps Total, Kevin Richardson

#787 Kevin Richardson

Here is the second and final Kevin Richardson card that I got signed in Oklahoma City in 2008. Kevin was playing for the Rangers AAA team at the time, the Oklahoma Redhawks, and he signed this card for me by the dugout just prior to the start of the game. The first card that he signed for me can be seen here.

After making his Major League debut in 2009, Kevin had an up and down 2010. He only played in 63 games in '10 and a third of them were at the AA level. At the AAA level, Kevin only hit .235 which is only slightly lower than his career minor league average. Even though Kevin didn't hit spectacuilarly last season, it is still kind of amazing that he didn't play for the Rangers at some point considering that they used five different backstops throughout the course of the year.

According to Kevin's minor league page, he is currently a free agent.

2004 Topps Total, Alberto Callaspo

#784 Alberto Callaspo

Here is the second of three Alberto Callaspo cards that I got signed by the Royals parking lot in 2009. If I remember correctly, I got these cards signed on the day I drove three hours to Kansas City just to stand around the parking lot for another three hours before realizing that it was too cold to go to the game that night. Sadly, that was not the last time I did that. But the next time I did, I had no intention of staying for the game.

I mentioned in my first Callaspo post that he is a great hitter, but he really struggles defensively. He spent most of 2009 playing second base and he had 17 errors at that position. In 2010, he primarliy played third base and he recorded only 10 errors there. But, his fielding percentage was worse at third than at second the previous year because he had fewer chances.

If Alberto is going to stick in a Major League infield, it is going to have to be at third base. For a small and wirey guy, Alberto is slow. He is not going to steal any bases and he has horrible range in the middle infield. Another problem he had at second was turning double plays. He would catch the ball fine and make a great turn, and then the ball would fly behind him when he was transferring it to his throwing hand. This had to have happened at least ten times in 2009, and since the out is recorded and double-plays are not automatic, an error is not awarded on the play. But, he still cost his defense outs by not being able to turn a routine double-play. Ultimately, if Alberto expects to be in a Major League lineup constently, it is going to have to happen as a third baseman or maybe even as a left fielder.

I was surprised to see that Topps used this photo on this card. This photo is an airbrushed version of Bert's (as Trey Hillman loved to call him) 2003 Cedar Rapids Kernals minor league card. I had no idea that Topps did that before. I always thought they used their own pictures.

2004 Topps Total, Brandon Duckworth

#711 Brandon Duckworth

I believe that this is the third and final Brandon Duckworth card that I have to post on here. Usually when I have three signed cards of a player, that means that I got them signed at one setting since my autograph book holds three cards per page. But that is not the case with Brandon. I have three signed cards of him and each one was signed by itself on seperate occasions. The first one was signed at the Royals inaugural Fanfest (which is looking pretty bleak this year without Greinke and DeJesus) in 2008 and the second one was signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008 while Brandon was talking on his cell phone. To be honest, I have no idea when I got this card signed but I would imagine it would have been signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008.

Actually, I think I do know when Brandon signed this card for me. It was in September of 2008 and it was by the Royals parking lot when he was talking on his cell phone. You can read all about that experience in the second Duckworth post. I seem to have confused my second Duckworth signing with my third. But, I do know that this was the last card I got signed by him because the first two cards were Phillies cards and I wanted to get an Astros card signed before it was too late.

Maybe I have too many signed cards if I am already having problems remembering which ones I have got signed where.

This is probably the first time that I have posted back to back Astros cards since I did my catch-up from 'Stosfest.

Merry Christmas!

2004 Topps Total, Brad Ausmus

#663 Brad Ausmus

Here is a quick little Christmas Eve post. This is another card of Brad Ausmus and this one came from the same person that sent me the first one I posted just over a month ago- Paul, from Paul's Random Stuff. The cards did not come in the same package, though this one was in the same Christmas package as yesterdays Scott Hairston autograph. Again, I would assume that Paul got this one signed through the mail, but I have been wrong before (like yesterday, for instance).

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and if I get bored tomorrow, I may post another card. If not, I'll be back on Sunday.

2004 Topps Total, Scott Hairston

#659 Scott Hairston

Here is a card that I got in a random package about fifty weeks ago. The package was from Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff, and in it included about twenty new autographs for my collection, as well as a few Royals cards.

Scott is the brother of Jerry, Jr. and they are the sons of former big leaguer, Jerry Hairston, Sr. For some reason, though, I can never remember which brother is which. And to make things more complicated for myself, both of them were members of the Padres last season.

Scott had a rough season this past summer. He played in 104 games for them, but hit a measly .210 in 295 at-bats. He only had 10 home runs after hitting 17 each in the previous two seasons. Scott hasn't reached free agency yet, but I believe that he is arbitration eligible. After this past season, he should just take whatever the Padres offer him.

I do not know how Paul got this card signed, but I would be willing to bet that he got signed through the mail. This is the second Scott Hairston card that has been given me by fellow bloggers. It may be another year before I get to posting the first one.