1988 Donruss, Mike Birkbeck

#49 Mike Birkbeck

This is the second of three cards that Mike Birkbeck signed for me in Omaha in 2012. Mike is the pitching coach at Kent State and he signed the cards for me before a game at the College World Series, hence the "CWS 2012" inscription.

Mike pitched in the Majors for parts of six seasons with the Brewers and Mets. He was almost exclusively a starter and he has a career record of 12-19 with a 4.86 ERA. 10 of his wins came for the Brewers in 1988 when he made a career-high 23 starts, finishing the season 10-8 with a 4.72 ERA and 64 strikeouts.

Mike's best Major League season might just be his final season in the Bigs. In 1995, he made just four starts for the Mets. After a rough initial outing where he gave up three runs in six innings, Mike went on to pitch 21.2 more innings while surrendering just two runs. Unfortunately, the Mets lost all three games while scoring just six total runs. Mike, however, got a no decision in each one.

After that season, Mike went on to pitch in Japan for parts of two seasons. He only made ten starts there and went 2-2. Those two wins, though, were his first "Major League" wins since 1988.

I am heading up to Royals Fanfest tomorrow and I am pumped. I am not expecting to rake in the autographs there like I did five years ago, but I am still excited. It has been a long, cold winter and I am ready to get some autographs. I even got some cards from the 2014 Topps set that I am ready to get signed. If I can do that, this will be the quickest that I ever got a card from the most recent Topps base set signed.

1987 Topps, Ken Oberkfell

#627 Ken Oberkfell

Here is the first of three cards that I got signed by Ken Oberkfell at a Wichita Wingnuts game last summer. Well, at least it was supposed to be the first of three. Since then, it has turned into the second of four since my kid got a card signed by him and then abandoned it in his room.

Ken played for six teams during his sixteen year Major League career. I already had his '81 Donruss card signed a few years back from when he was with the Cardinals and I was able to add three different teams this go around. I was glad to get this card signed because I had gone two years without getting a card from this set signed. On top of that, when I think of Ken, I always think of him as a Brave. He only played for Atlanta for about four seasons, but that was right when I was really getting into baseball and would watch any game that was on TBS or WGN. Because of that, he is ingrained in my head as a Brave.

I was a little worried about getting this card signed in blue with him wearing a blue jacket in the photo. It would have looked a little better in black, but I am not disappointed in the outcome at all.

Ken is the manager of the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association.

1987 Topps, Mike Maddux

#553 Mike Maddux

Here is a card that I got signed outside of Kauffman Stadium last year. It was the last homestand of the season and the Rangers were in town. Mike is the Rangers pitching coach and he showed up to the park in a cab with Andy Hawkins and Jackie Moore. All three guys signed autographs that day, though Mike tried to make an excuse not to.

It was a Sunday, so it was a getaway day for the Rangers. They were leaving Kansas City after the game. All of the coaches had a bag or two when they got out of the cab. Mike had a pull along suitcase and another bag. When he was first asked to sign, he said that he couldn't because of his bags. They guy that asked said it was alright because he would hold his bag for him. So, Mike signed for a couple of minutes and every person he signed for had to hold his bag while he signed their item. It was a little strange, yet comical at the same time.

He signed just one of the three cards I had of him that day, but that was one more than he signed for me the previous year. That time, I tried to get him inside the park in the bullpen. It was a little before game time and he was in there waiting for the starting pitching to start warming up. I finally got his attention and he came over and caught my autograph book I dropped down to him. He took one look at the single card I had of him, his 1990 CMC Albuquerque Dukes card, and looked back up to me and asked if I had any Major League cards of him. I told him that was the only card I had and he threw the book back up to me and walked off. It seems like Mike doesn't like to sign his minor league cards.

So, if you ever have the chance to get Mike Maddux's autograph, make sure you bring a Major League card of him.

1987 Procards Ft. Myers Royals, Brian McRae

#2245 Brian McRae

Here is a card that I got signed at Royals Fanfest last winter. Brian is a regular at the event and I have lost track of how many cards that I have signed by him. It has gotten to the point where now I just focus on getting oddball and minor league cards signed by him. He is going to be at Fanfest again later this week and I think I still need a Mets card signed by him. So, that is going to be one of my goals Saturday.

I got this Ft. Myers Royals teamset for Christmas many years ago. I got one card signed from the set in 1993 and it took me twenty years to add this second signed card. I am going to try for number three on Saturday, but Fanfest has pretty much been hit or miss the last several years. You just hop in an autograph line and hope whoever shows up at the table is someone you really need autographs from and not Brian McRae. No disrespect to Brian, but I still do not have anything signed by Salvador Perez. He is my number one goal for Saturday.

Apparently, Brian was drafted by the Royals as a second baseman. He played that position for his first four professional seasons before switching to the outfield for his first full season of AA in 1988. At the Major League level, Brian never played the field at any position besides centerfield.

1987 Fleer, Bobby Thigpen

#507 Bobby Thigpen

Yesterday, I posted a card from the White Sox old bullpen coach, Juan Nieves. Here is one from their current bullpen coach, Bobby Thigpen.

I got this card, and another one, signed by Bobby at Spring Training last year. We went to see the White Sox game and got there early enough to watch the players do their morning workouts on the back fields. Unfortunately, the Major League camp was not working out that day, but all of the minor leaguers were. Most of the autographs I got that day were from the minor league coaches. Towards the end of the workout, though, I noticed a guy signing who had driven out to the field on a golf cart. I had no clue who it was and I had to ask one of the other guys. Turns out it was Bobby. I thought for sure that I would recognise him if I saw him, but that was not the case.

I was pretty excited to get these cards signed because Bobby was a Major League record holder for many years. In 1990, he saved 57 games for the White Sox. That was eleven more than the old record that was set by Dave Righetti in 1986. Bobby's record stood for eighteen years before Francisco Rodriguez saved 62 for the Angels in 2008. Bobby is still in second place for the single-season saves mark. Dave Righetti, however, has dropped out of the top thirty.

1987 Fleer, Juan Nieves

#352 Juan Nieves

Here is the first of three cards that Juan Nieves signed for me in 2012. Juan was the White Sox bullpen coach at the time and he signed the three cards for me in Kansas City by the visiting team's bullpen prior to the start of the game.

I just checked Juan's career stats and I was shocked to see that he only pitched for three seasons. I went over to Wikipedia to see if I could find out why his career was so short and all it said was that an arm injury ended it.

He tried to pitch for a couple more seasons in the minors, but apparently his arm was not holding up. He made three starts in AAA in 1989 and seven in A-ball in 1990. That was the end of his career until he made a comeback bid with the independent Sioux Falls Canaries of the Northern League in 1998. He made five starts with them and went 0-3 with 8.06 ERA before re-retiring and dedicating himself to coaching.

1987 Fleer, Chris Bosio

#338 Chris Bosio

Here is the first of three cards that I got signed by Chris Bosio at Spring Training last year. Chris is the pitching coach for the Cubs and I was able to get the cards signed by the Cubs bullpen before a game against the Brewers in Maryvale.

This was my second encounter with Chris as I was able to get him to sign three cards for me two and a half years ago when he was the pitching coach for the Brewers AAA in Nashville. Those cards were signed in Des Moines at an Iowa Cubs game. It's kind of funny that the first time I got him was while he worked for the Brewers and was visiting the Cubs. Then this last time, he was working with the Cubs and visiting the Brewers.

Chris is going to be back with the Cubbies again this year. He is one of the few holdovers from Dale Sveum's staff. Speaking of the Cubs coaching staff, I noticed that Eric Hinske is now their first base coach. I guess I did not realize that he had retired.