1988 Topps, Mike Mason

#87 Mike Mason

Here is the second of two cards that Mike Mason signed for me in Des Moines last month. Normally, I always take three cards of a player/coach with me with the hopes that they might sign all three. But, I only took two cards of Mike with me on that trip because that was I all I could find. I have most of my cards from the '80s and '90s neatly organized in 5000 count boxes. But I have one major flaw with my collection. Once a card comes out of those boxes for whatever reason, it rarely makes it back into them. That's why I could only find two cards of Mike this summer. I went to my first I-Cubs game two years ago and Mike was their pitching coach back then, too. I took three cards of him to that game and didn't get them signed. Those three cards had been missing ever since. I actually came across those cards a couple of weeks ago while searching for another long-lost card, but it was a little late by then. I guess that if there is one thing I need to improve upon with my collection, it is keeping up with my organization. This was not the first time that this situation had occurred.

Mike pitched in the Major Leagues for parts of seven seasons. He spent the majority of the time with the Rangers, but he did spend some time with the Cubs and Twins as well. He was mostly a starter and his best season probably came in 1984. He was only 9-13 that year, but his did post career bests in ERA (3.61) and strikeouts (113).

Mike has been the I-Cubs pitching coach since 2008.

1988 Donruss, Robbie Wine

#508 Robbie Wine

I am completely understaffed at work and have been working 55+ hours a week the past two weeks. So, if you have been wondering where I have gone, that's where. The bad news is that there is no immediate end in site. But, I will be working less nights next week, so I hope to post a few more cards next week than I posted this week. The key word there is hope.

Anyway, here is a card of Robbie Wine that I got signed in March. Robbie is the head coach for the Penn State baseball team and I was able to get this card signed at a Wichita State game. Robbie was really nice and he signed all three cards that I had of him.

I got the cards signed on the 20th of March and I was surprised to learn that Penn State hadn't even played a home game yet. By that time, the Shockers had hosted eight home games and six of them were held in February. Now, hosting outdoor baseball in Kansas in February is somewhat questionable since the temperatures barely reach the 40s, but they somehow pulled it off. It just seems strange to me when northern and eastern colleges travel to Kansas for their spring break games.

The one year I played JUCO baseball in southern Kansas, we went down to Texas on spring break to get games in. This past year, I had at least four NAIA schools come through my store that were playing the local Kansas schools for their spring break. That just seems so weird to me. It might have something to do with the economy and gas prices, but is still seems odd. I just never envisioned Kansas as an ideal spring break destination. But if you play baseball for Iowa Wesleyan, apparently Kansas is the place to be in March.

Robbie is the son of former player/manager Bobby Wine. I recently traded for a card of Bobby on the Topps Diamond Giveaway site to send to him TTM for an autograph. If it wasn't for getting his son's autograph, I probably would have traded for someone else.

1988 CMC, Jim Eppard

#498 Jim Eppard

Here is a card that I was able to get signed last month at a Colorado Springs Sky Sox game. Jim was the hitting coach for the visiting Salt Lake Bees and I was able to get this card signed after the game.

That game, I decided to 'graph the home team side and I had my buddy 'graph the visiting team side. My friend doesn't collect cards or autographs, so I basically just threw him to the fire. He had a little bit of practice the night before at an American Association game, but that is nothing like 'graphing a AAA game where seventy-five percent of the players have cards made of them. But, my buddy did a surprisingly good job and I think that he got more autographs at the game than I did. And, even though he doesn't collect cards, he has started a small autograph collection for his son with some of the doubles that he got signed for me on that trip. His son, who is only four, absolutely loved the autographs. Hopefully I have created a new autograph collector.

Unfortunately, my buddy missed all of the Bees coaches. Since none of them had much for Major League cards, I was lucky enough to find some minor league cards of them on checkoutmycards.com. I've noticed that there has been much more minor league cards on there recently and most of them cost less than a dollar. So, I picked some up on there and I was not leaving that park without a few of them signed. Even though the Bees lost in ten innings, I was still able to get cards signed by two of their three coaches. The manager was the only one that wasn't willing to sign.

Jim is playing for the Edmonton Trappers in this card. At that time, they were the Angels AAA team. Since then, though, the Trappers have moved to Texas where they are now known as the Round Rock Express. Pro ball is still being played in Edmonton, though, but it is in the form of the North American League's Edmonton Capitals.

This is the first card from this set that I have got signed.

1987 Topps, Spike Owen

#591 Spike Owen

Here is the second and final Spike Owen card that I was able to get signed in Omaha last month. Spike is a coach for the Round Rock Express and I got this card signed prior to a game against the Storm Chasers.

Spike played in the Majors for thirteen seasons and he played for five teams- the Mariners, Red Sox, Expos, Yankees, and Angels. He never made an All Star team, but he did start all seven games of the 1986 World Series where he hit .300 and played errorless shortstop. He hit .246 for his career and he hit 46 home runs, including a season-best 7 with the Expos in 1992.

I don't know what it is about this card, but the signature sure does stand out.

1987 Donruss, Mike Mason

#284 Mike Mason

Here is a card that I got signed in Des Moines last month. Mike is the pitching coach for the Iowa Cubs and I was able to get this card signed prior to a game against the Nashville Sounds.

Mike spent most of his pre-game time talking with that nights starter, Casey Coleman. When I asked him to sign for me, he just held out his finger like he was telling me to wait a minute. He then continued talking to Casey for another five minutes or so. When they were done talking, Mike started to make his way to the stands to sign and by that time, there was a bunch of kids around asking for his autograph. But, he came straight to me and signed my two cards before moving over and signing for the kids. I thought that was pretty cool.

As for his pre-game pep talk to Casey Coleman, I hope that they were talking about batting. Casey lasted seven innings, but he surrendered six runs. At the plate, though, he was 2-3 with a triple and two RBI. I'm not sure if I had ever seen a pitcher hit a triple before that night.

Mike has got to have the two craziest "M's" that I have ever seen in a signature. I really do not know what to make of them. If you click on the link at the top of the post, you'll be redirected to Mike's Baseball Almanac page. They have an autograph of him there that must have been obtained a few years ago becuase the signature is similar, but the "M's" are completely different.

1986 Topps, Jerry Mumphrey

#76T Jerry Mumphrey

Here is the third and final card that Jerry signed for me TTM this past winter. I sent Jerry his '78 Topps card, his '81 Donruss card, and this one. I sent the '78 just because I had unlocked it in the Topps Million Card giveaway and the '81 because I like the set. I sent this one, though, for a little bit different reason.

When I posted the '85 Fleer Update card of Gary Lavelle, I talked about how I got an incomplete complete set out of a stocking that my buddy gave me for Christmas. When I saw the set in there, I asked him where he got it and if they still had any left. He said that they did and that they were on clearance, too. So, a couple of days later, I went over to the hardware store and bought four more stockings. One had the '86 Topps Update set(minus Bo, Barry, Bobby, and Wally Joyner), one had the '88 Donruss Rookies set, one had an actual sealed and unopened set of '90 Fleer Update, and the last had a '91 Score Rookie/Traded set.

Since the '86 Topps set was not complete, I had no problem with sending this card out with the other two. The funny thing is that this one actually got damaged on the trip home while the other two cards came out unscathed. It's funny how things work out like that.

Jerry sure does have an interesting "J". I would say that it looks more like a "Z" than a "J", but what do I know?

1986 Topps, Bret Saberhagen

#720 Bret Saberhagen

Here is the second Bret Saberhagan card that I got signed at my local Menards grand opening in May. If you haven't read about how great a show Meanrds does for their grand openings, just scroll down a few posts to the previous Saberhagen post and check it out. They seem to go all-out for them.

I have three more Saberhagen cards to post after this one and I am short on time, so I am going to keep this one short. But, I will say this. For some reason, I have always liked the '86 Topps All Star cards. They are similar to the base set, but are clearly different. There is no black on the border and these cards tend to look a little better than the base cards after twenty-five years of wear and tear.

I'm real OCD when it comes to my autographed cards and I like to store them in binders by year, brand, and card number (just like I post them on here). It just happened to turn out that this card sits next to my John Tudor All Star card from the same set. For those of you that don't remember or weren't around then, the Royals and Cardinals squared off in the '85 World Series and Tudor and Saberhagen were the number one starters for their respective teams. Every time I flip my binder to that page and I notice those two cards, I always chuckle to myself and mumble something to the effect of "suck it Cardinals".