1996 Signature Rookies Autobilia, Darin Erstad

#B3 Darin Erstad

Way back in March, I attended my first baseball game of the year. Unfortunately, it was not a Spring Training game. It was just a college game. But one of the teams involved was Nebraska and the newest addition to the Nebraska coaching staff was none other than Darin Erstad. So, rather than being "just" a college game, it was one of the few college games played in my area where a former big leaguer was a part of the coaching staff. Not only did I leave the park with my first ballpark autographs of the year, but I also got to see a Kansas State victory. It was a good day all around.

I took this card with me to get signed for two reasons. The first reason is because I like this card. If I remember correctly, this card was a preview card that was inserted into a Signature Rookies football set. The set it was previewing never came out, so I would think that this card might be harder to find than most other Darin Erstad cards.

The second reason why I took this card is because it shows Darin in his old Nebraska uniform and that is the team he coaches with now. Plus, it was nice getting a non-Angel card signed even though it technically is an Angel card.

I was surprised to see the other day that Nebraska is coming back to Manhattan again next season. That surprises me because Nebraska is no longer in the Big 12. So, if anyone needs a Darin Erstad autograph this spring, let me know and I will see what I can do.

Here is a fun Nebraska themed fact- Darin was the punter on the 1994 Nebraska National Championship football team and he was the fourteenth best punter in the nation, based on average punt.

1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended, Jorge Fabregas

#50 Jorge Fabregas

Here is another COMC purchase that I bought for no particular reason besides the fact that it was only a buck. The only other reason I could think of buying it is because Jorge was the backup catcher for the highest scoring Royals team ever- the 2000 Royals.

Jorge was your standard journeyman backup catcher. He was a first round pick by the Angels in 1991 and he made his Major League debut with them in 1994. He stayed with the Halos for a few years. Then, after a 3-38 (.079) start at the plate in 1997, he was traded to the White Sox.

With the Sox, Jorge experienced the best season of his career. He played in 100 games for the only time and he had career highs in nearly all of the offensive categories. It was a short-lived tenure with the team, though, as the Diamondbacks selected Jorge in the expansion draft after the season.

He then played in 50 games for the D-Backs before being traded to the Mets mid-season. He then caught on with the Marlins in 1999 before being released at the end of August and signing with the Braves. He spent 2000 with the Royals and put up some decent numbers in limited action. In 2001, he was back with the Angels and he stayed with them until he was traded to Milwaukee in 2002. That was the last season that he played in the big leagues.

For his career, Jorge played for eight teams in nine seasons and he hit .241 with 23 home runs and 211 RBI.

If I remember correctly, Jorge was behind the plate for the Angles when Cal broke Lou's consecutive games streak.

1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended, Archi Cianfrocco

#29 Archi Cianfrocco

Here is yet another checkoutmycards.com bargain bin find. This autograph from former Expo and Padre, Archi Cianfrocco, set me back a whole dollar.

I am really not sure why I thought that I had to have this card. The only thing that I can come up with is the name- Archi Cianfrocco. That has got to be one of the coolest names for any ballplayer. It doesn't really roll off the tongue, but it sounds pretty cool when said correctly.

Archi played in the Majors for seven seasons. He never played in a hundred games in a season and was mainly used as a utility guy. In his seven seasons, he played every position except for pitcher and center field. None of his seasons stand out against the rest, but he did finish his career with a .241 average with 34 home runs and 185 RBI.

Based off of his signature, I never would have guessed that his first name began with an "A". But, it is a cool looking signature.

1996 Leaf Signature Series, Quilvio Veras

#230 Quilvio Veras

Here is another card that I picked up from checkoutmycards.com for cheap. This card set me back all of ninety-eight cents.

I remember Quilvio for two reasons. The first reason is because he lead the Major Leagues in stolen bases in 1995 when he stole 56 in his rookie season. But, the main reason why I remember Quilvio is because his name begins with a "Q".

Back in my high school years when I was playing American Legion baseball, we would always play "The Name Game" (TNG) while we were criss-crossing Kansas in vans. TNG was a simple game that helped pass the time in the days before smart phones and laptop computers. It was really easy. The first player would name any baseball player. Let's say George Brett. George's last name begins with a "B", so the next player had to think of a ballplayer whose first name began with a "B", like Bret Saberhagan. Each player had about a thirty second time limit to come up with a name that hadn't been said or he would be eliminated. The object of TNG was to be the last person standing and I quickly learned that if you wanted to win, you had better have a decent stockpile of ballplayers whose first names began with "Q", "Y", and "Z". That is where Quilvio Veras came in handy.

This is the first card that I have posted on here of a player whose first name begins with a "Q". Unfortunately, Quilvio's signature didn't meet my expectations as the first letter he signed looks more like an "O" or even a "D".

1996 Leaf Signature Series, Ben McDonald

#151 Ben McDonald

Here is another checkoutmycards.com bargain that I could not pass up. I was able to add this Ben McDonald autograph to my collection for just one dollar. How could I pass this one up?

Ben was a stud college pitcher for Louisiana State in the late '80s. He won the Golden Spikes award with them in 1989 for being the best college player in the nation. For his efforts that season, the Orioles rewarded him by making him the number one pick in the draft that year.

Ben made it to the Major Leagues in the same season that he was drafted, making six relief appearances for the O's that September. After making ten minor league starts in 1990, Jeff moved up to the big club for good. Again, he started out in the bullpen before he was eased into the starting rotaion. He finished up that season 8-5 with a 2.43 ERA.

Unfortunately, Ben could not maintain that level of success in the Major Leagues. His record dipped to 6-8 the following year while his ERA rose to 4.84. He posted slightly better numbers in 1992 before having a career year in 1993. His record was only 13-14 that season, but he had career highs in ERA (3.39 [20 or more starts]), complete games (7), and strikeouts (171).

Back to back seasons of more than 220 innings caught up to Ben as he made only 24 starts in 1994 and 13 in 1995. After that season, the O's and Ben parted ways and Ben signed with the Brewers.

For some reason, I do not remeber Ben ever playing for the Brewers.

Ben had a strong 1996 with the Brewers. He went 12-10 that season with a 3.90 ERA in 221.1 innings. But the arm problems caught back up with him the following season, limiting him to just 21 starts.

The Brewers traded Ben to the Indians after that season was over. But, when the Indians learned that Ben wasn't going to be able to pitch at all that season, they traded him back to Milwaukee. Ben then retired from baseball.

For his career, Ben was 78-70 with a 3.91 ERA.

1994 Ulta, Chris Bosio

#417 Chris Bosio

Here is my third and final Chris Bosio card that I got signed in Des Moines, Iowa this summer while Chris was working as the Nashville Sounds pitching coach. You can see the first card here and the second card here.

In my last Bosio post, I talked about his days in Milwaukee where Chris won fourteen or more games three times. After the 1992 season, he hit the free agent market and ended up with Seattle. Unfortunately for the M's, Chris didn't achieve the same level of success that he had had with the Brewers.

Chris spent four seasons in Seattle and, during that time, he made more than thirty starts once and less that twenty starts twice. He posted a decent ERA of 3.45 in his first season, but it ballooned each year after that. It was 4.32 his second season, 4.92 his third season, and then 5.93 in his fourth and final season. Also, he only reached double digit wins once with the M's and that was in 1995 when he won ten games.

I was glad that I was able to find a card of Chris that wasn't a Brewers card. But, I do have issues with this card. Whenever I display a horizontal card in a binder, I always have the bottom horizontal edge on the right side of a nine pocket sheet. Basically, it would look like this.



With the strange layout of '94 Ultra, the card now appears to be in the pocket upside down and I do not put cards in binders upside down. That would just be dumb. If I rotate the card 180 degrees, the name and team become readable again, but now the card is facing a different direction than every other horizontal card in my collection. So, instead of looking upside down, it now appears to be backwards. What should I do?

1994 Topps, Bret Saberhagen

#245 Bret Saberhagen

You didn't think I was going to get all of these cards signed by Bret and only get Royals cards signed, did you? No way, Jose. I had to get at least one Mets card signed and I would have gotten cards signed by him as a Rockie and Red Sock if I could have found some.

The eleventh of December, 1991, is still regarded as one of the saddest days in Royals history. It was on that day that the Royals traded two-time American League Cy Yound Award winner, Bret Saberhagen, (and Bill Pecota) to the Mets for Gregg Jeffries, Keith Miller, and Kevin McReynolds.

In hindsight, though, the trade does not look as bad today. It seems like the Royals traded Saberhagen at the right time. It would have looked a little better if the Royals had gotten some better players in return, but that is said of just about every single trade made.

Kevin McReynolds had two average seasons in Kansas City before being dealt back to the Mets. Gregg Jeffries spent just one season in KC before he was traded to St. Louis. Keith Miller lasted four seasons for the Royals, but he missed most of the last three because of injuries.

On the other hand, Bill Pecota played just one year for the Mets before leaving for Atlanta via free agency. Bret Saberhagen only lasted with the Mets for three and a half seasons and he was hurt for much of that time.

So in the end, this trade was pretty much a bust for both sides.