1987 Fleer, Steve Carlton

#635 Steve Carlton

Here is a fun card of Steve Carlton that I got signed at the College World Series in 2014. This is the third and final card that I got signed that day. The first one, his '81 Donruss, can bee seen here and the second one here.

On August 5th, 1986, Steve struck out Eric Davis to record his 4,000th career strikeout. In my opinion, that is quite a milestone. At that point, he was just the second pitcher to ever record 4,000 strikeouts. Yet, for some reason, this is the only base card of Steve commemorating that feat. While Donruss never really had a subset for milestones or record breakers, Topps did at that time and this one went unrecognized by them. I think it is funny that Steve broke the record while with the Giants, but us shown with the White Sox on this card, though.

In case you are wondering, Steve is now fourth on the all-time strikeout leaderboard with 4,136 K's. Nolan Ryan is first, followed by Randy Johnson and then Roger Clemens.

It is so strange seeing Steve with the White Sox. It is about as strange as seeing Tom Seaver with them.

1987 Fleer, Dennis Eckersley

#563 Dennis Eckersley

Here is the second of three cards that I got signed by Hall of Famer, Dennis Eckersley, at the College World Series in 2014. Those were the good days when they brought in former players to sign autographs. I got a lot of great signatures over the years while they were doing that. But, on the other hand, it is kind of nice that they don't do it anymore. The signings were kind of a distraction and made it hard to watch baseball. I would leave games early to get in line or hang out in line while the people I was with went into the game to get a seat. Now I just get to relax and watch competitive college baseball. And not get autographs from Hall of Famers.

My wife actually got this particular card signed for me. In fact, she got two signed. I gave her this one and an A's card and told her to pick one out. Being indecisive, she was unable to do that, so Eck went ahead and signed both for her. Since he signed two, he did not add the Hall of Fame inscription like he did with the '81 Donruss he signed for me.

Dennis pitched for the Cubs for two and a half seasons. He was dealt to Chicago for Bill Buckner during the '84 season. After starting the season 4-4 with the Red Sox, he went 10-8 with the Cubbies and posted a 3.03 ERA. The next season, he was 11-7 with a 3.08 ERA. In 1986, he went 6-11 with a 4.57 ERA. The Cubs traded him to Oakland right before the start of the '87 season for three minor leaguers that would never play in the Majors. Eckersley would never start a game again and would go on to punch his ticket to Cooperstown as the A's closer.

1987 Fleer, Dale Sveum

#358 Dale Sveum

Dale Sveum has been the Royals hitting coach since 2014 and this is the only autograph that I have gotten from him. I was lucky enough to catch him outside The K before a game late last season and he was nice enough to sign one of three for me.

Dale played in the Majors for twelve seasons with the Brewers, Phillies, White Sox, A's, Mariners, Pirates, and Yankees. Over that time, he was a .236 hitter with 69 home runs and 340 RBI. He had one monster season with the Brew Crew in 1987. That year, he hit a robust .252 with 25 dingers and 95 RBI. It was only one of two seasons that he hit double digit home runs and the only one where he hit more than 15.

Dale spent his first five seasons in Milwaukee and then bounced around a ton after that. Even though he played with seven different teams, good luck finding a card of him not with the Brewers. From what I have seen, he only has a couple of Phillies and A's cards, one Yankee card, and not a single card of him with the White Sox, Mariners, or Pirates. The lack of a Pirates card surprises me since he got 306 at-bats with them in 1997. That was the most he had in a single season since 1988.

I find it funny that Dale has 59 more strikeouts than hits as a Major Leaguer. That is funny to me because he is the hitting coach for a team that won a World Series two years ago by not striking out. How does that work?

1987 Fleer, Bob Melvin

#281 Bob Melvin

Here is the third and final card of Bob Melvin that I got signed at Spring Training in 2014. Bob and his A's were visiting the White Sox that day and I did pretty well with the A's coaches. I only got a few players to sign that day since the bigger named A's did not make the road trip. Along with Bob, I also got Chili Davis, Curt Young, Ariel Prieto, and Mike Gallego.

With this card, I have signed cards from Bob as a Giant, Oriole, and Tiger, the first three teams he played with. He also played for the Royals, Red Sox, Yankees, and Red Sox over the final three seasons of his career. Of those four teams, I don't think he has a Yankee or White Sox card and he only has a couple of Royal and Red Sox cards. When I went and saw the A's this past Spring Training, the three cards I took with me to get signed by him were all managers cards. I took one of each team he managed, the Mariners, Diamondbacks, and A's. I did not get him this year, so I still have some work to do to get a card signed for each team he was with.

Bob played for the Giants for three seasons. Over that time, he played in 265 games and hit .220 with 24 home runs and 83 RBI. His only postseason action came with the club in 1987. That fall, he got into three games of the NLCS and was 3-7.

1987 Donruss Opening Day, Mariano Duncan

#84 Mariano Duncan

Here is the second card of Mariano Duncan to be posted on here. The first one was posted in 2014 and it can be seen here. The two cards were signed at the same time, during a Cubs minor league Spring Training workout in 2014. Mariano was the hitting coach for the Daytona Cubs at the time. The Daytona Cubs are no more and Mariano has moved up to AAA to fill the same role for the Iowa Cubs.

Mariano played for the Dodgers for parts of four seasons before being dealt to the Reds for Lenny Harris and Kal Daniels. Over that time, he hit just .234 with 20 home runs and 95 RBI. More impressively, he stole 100 bases for the Dodgers, including a career high of 48 in 1986. The most bases he would steal in a season with any other organization was 23 with the Phillies in 1992.

Mariano did not do as well as Franklin Stubbs did on Opening Day in 1987. While Franklin went 3-4, Mariano went hitless in four at-bats while striking out three times.

1987 Donruss Opening Day, Franklin Stubbs

#83 Franklin Stubbs

Here is the third and final card of Franklin Stubbs that I have to post on here. The first two were posted in 2014, shortly after I got them signed at a Dodger minor league Spring Training workout. You can see his Astros card here and Brewers card here.

Franklin spent parts of six seasons with the Dodgers, his longest tenure with any club. Over that time, he would play fist base and outfield and hit .227 with 59 home runs and 178 RBI. His best season with them was in 1986 when he clubbed 23 homers and drove in 58. He was a member of the '88 World Championship team and hit .294 with two doubles and two RBI in the Series.

If you are not familiar of the '87 Donruss Opening Day set, let me tell you about it. It was only available as a set and it only featured players that started on opening day in 1987. I wish Topps Opening Day set was like that. The back of the card even tells how opening day went for the player. On the back of this card, we learn that Franklin went 3-4 with a double and a run in a 4-3 loss to the Astros.

One of my local card shops in 1987 broke up a few sets of these and sold team sets and grab bags. Because of that I have a few cards from the set, but not many. I have only posted one other card from this set and it can be seen here.

1987 Donruss, Ray Hayward

#632 Ray Hayward

Here is the first of three cards that I got signed by Ray Hayward at the College World Series in 2014. Ray is the pitching coach for Texas Tech and was nice enough, and a little surprised, to sign for me before the Red Raiders opening game of the series.

This is the only Padres card of Ray that is out there. He made three starts for San Diego in 1986 and did not fare too well. He only lasted 10 innings and went 0-2 with an ERA of 9.00. He gave up 16 hits, walked 4, struck out 6, threw 5 wild pitches, and even balked once.

Two of those three starts were really bad. But, he did have one quality start in there against the Dodgers where he pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and a walk while striking out six. The Padres were down 3-1 when he came out, but he got the no-decision when they rallied for a 7-6 victory.

Ray made four relief appearances with San Diego in 1987 and posted a 16.50 ERA in 6 innings of work.