1988 Iowa Cubs Procards, Damon Berryhill

#537 Damon Berryhill

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by Damon Berryhill at Spring Training in 2014. Damon was the manager of the Dodgers AAA affiliate at the time and he was nice enough to stop and sign while moving between practice fields. I posted the first card of him later that season and it can be seen here. The second one was posted Sunday and that one can be seen here.

Damon Berryhill is a guy I remember from my younger days and I was surprised to see that he was usually a backup catcher. Backup catchers usually do not stick with me over the years. Damon could have stuck with me because of his unusual last name. But, I am willing to bet that I remember him because he played with the Cubs and so many Cubs games were on WGN when I was a kid.

Back then, I would watch a lot of Cubs games just because there was never anything good on in the middle of the afternoon. While I do not have cable or satellite TV these days, I highly doubt that the Cubs get airtime on WGN like they did in the '80s and '90s. I wouldn't even be surprised if they were not televised on that channel at all.

This is just the second card from this team set that I have got signed. Jim Wright signed one for me in 2010 and that card can be seen here. I would like to get the Mark Grace card signed for the set, but that has not happened yet.

1988 Fleer, Alan Trammell

#9 Alan Trammell

Here is the card of Alan Trammell that I got signed at Spring Training in 2014. Alan was the bench coach for the Diamondbacks at the time and he signed for fans by the Major League practice field. Alan would only sign one card per person and this is the card that he signed for me. But, he signed for quite a few people, and I was able to send my son up there to get another card signed. I posted that card three years ago and it can be seen here.

This is the third card of Alan that I have posted on here. While I only got two cards signed by him at Spring Training that year, I did get him through the mail in 2009. He was working for the Cubs then and I sent him his '81 Donruss to sign for me. That card can be seen here.

This is a fun card of Alan. These All Star cards were randomly inserted into Fleer packs back when insert wasn't even a term in the hobby. I am surprised that I even have this card because I have virtually no cards from the '88 Fleer set. Looking at what I have, I could not have bought more than four packs of Fleer that year. Why that is the case, I have no idea. I loved Fleer in '87 and I do not hate the '88 design. I just barely bought any that year.

This insert set was limited to twelve cards and it is a random assortment of "All Stars". Eight of the cards are American League players and only four are from the National League. Only four of the cards feature players that started in the '87 All Star Game and there are three cards of players that weren't even on the All Star team. I guess these are just guys that would have been on Fleer's All Star team. Still, it is a fun card to have signed.

1988 Donruss Rookies, Damon Berryhill

#31 Damon Berryhill

Here is the second of three cards that Damon Berryhill signed for me at Spring Training in 2014. Damon was the manager of the Dodgers AAA team at the time and I got him during the minor league morning practice. I posted the first card the same year I got it signed and it can be seen here.

Damon spent parts of five seasons with the Cubs. Over that time, he saw significant playing time for two seasons. And by significant, I mean that he started nearly half of the games behind the plate. That was during the 1988 and '89 seasons and he did well those years. He hit .259 in '88 and .257 in '89. Those were two of the four seasons in his ten year big league career that he hit over .250. That is not too bad for a .240 lifetime hitter.

Damon left the Dodgers system after the 2015 season and he ended up managing the Braves AAA team this summer. The Gwinnett Braves finished the season at .500, 71-71, 15 games back of the International League champion Durham Bulls. Make that the AAA champion as the Bulls beat the Memphis Redbirds tonight to take the crown.

1988 Donruss Rookies, Mark Parent

#8 Mark Parent

Here is the first of three cards that Mark Parent signed for me at a Royals game two summers ago. Mark was the bench coach for the White Sox at the time and he was nice enough to sign for me before the game started.

Mark played in the Majors for parts of thirteen seasons. Over that span, he saw time with the Padres, Rangers, Orioles, Cubs, Pirates, Tigers, and Phillies. The man got around. In fact, he even did two separate stints with the Cubs and Orioles. He was the quintessential journeyman backup catcher. The most games he ever started in a year was 71 and those games were split between two clubs.

Despite playing for seven different teams in his career, I could only find Padres cards of him and two of those were in 1988 boxed sets. He has a couple of Orioles, Cubs, Tigers, and Phillies cards, but all of them are from the mid '90s when there were a billion card sets out and I was barely collecting. That is why I only have Padre cards.

While Mark's signature is not legible, it still looks nice.

1987 Topps, Dave Leiper

#441 Dave Leiper

Two summers ago, I flew out to the west coast to meet a buddy out there and watch some baseball. When we were traveling from Seattle to San Francisco, we stopped outside of Portland to take in a Hillsboro Hops game. Prior to going on the trip, I reached out Rod, from Padrographs, about meeting up in Hillsboro. He obliged and brought a care package with him to the game. In it was a large assortment of Padrographs. There were even a few non-Padre autographs and this is one of those.

I have no idea how Rod got this card. Dave did pitch for the Padres for a few seasons, so I can see Rod's interest in Dave's signature. My best guess is that he bought this card because it came with a signed Padres cards that he needed for his collection. But, that is just a guess.

Dave pitched in the Majors for eight seasons with the A's, Padres, Expos, and Phillies. He never started a Major League game and he never pitched more than 70 innings in a season. Over his career, Dave was 12-8 with 7 saves and a 3.98 ERA. His best season was with the Padres in 1988. That season, he pitched 54 innings and was 3-0 with a save and a 2.17 ERA.

1987 Topps, Don Schulze

#297 Don Schulze

Here is the second card that Don Schulze signed for me at an Omaha Storm Chasers game two years ago. Don was the pitching coach for the Nashville Sounds at the time and he signed three cards for me while heading to the field. I posted the first card in June and that one can be seen here.

I can't believe that I was posting cards from 1985 in June. It is halfway through September and I haven't even made it through 1987 yet. If I ever get caught back up and get to posting my cards from 2008, it might take me three years to get all the way through them.

Don played for the Indians for three seasons and in each season, he pitched in 19 games. He started most of those and over his time in Cleveland, Don was 11-20 with a 5.30 ERA and 109 strikeouts.

On the last card of Don I posted, I complained about him being in the dark Indians batting practice jersey and how sigs on dark jerseys do not always work out. The sig on this card is obviously a lot easier to make out. It turns out that this is Don's only Indians card where he is not wearing the dark jersey. The other five Indians cards that he graces all have him in the warm-up jersey.

1987 Topps, John Kruk

#123 John Kruk

Here is the fifth and final card of John Kruk that I got signed at the College World Series in 2014. I posted three cards of him with the Phillies later that year and those can be seen here, here, and here. I posted one other Padres card of him last month and that one can be seen here.

John played for San Diego for three full seasons. After hitting over .300 for his first two seasons, John's average dipped to .241 in his third season. In his fourth season, he got off to a slow start and was hitting just .184 over 31 games and the Padres decided to make a change. They shipped him and Randy Ready to the Phillies in exchange for Chris James. John finished his tenure with the Padres hitting .281 with 36 home runs and 179 RBI.

John went on to play for the Phillies for five and a half seasons. Over that time, he made three All Star teams and helped the club to the 1993 Wolrd Series. After the 1994 season, John signed with the White Sox and played his final season with them that year. John finished his career a .300 hitter with 100 home runs and 593 RBI. His best season was with the Phillies in 1991 when he hit .294 and had career-highs in homers (21) and RBI (92).