1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Dave LaRoche

#97 Dave LaRoche

Here is the most recent card from this set that I have got signed. I got this card signed this summer when Dave was the pitching coach for the Kansas Stars. This was the first card from this set that I have got signed in two years.

When I went to my first Stars game in 2016, I did not expect Dave to be there. I should have known better since Andy and Adam were both there, but I was not prepared. So, I came ready this year with the only two cards of him that I owned and one from the '74 set that I picked up beforehand. I was unable to get Dave prior to the game, but I stuck around and was able to get him afterwards. He signed all three for me.

At the games I went too both years, there was a fourth LaRoche there, Jeff. I am assuming that he is the eldest brother, but there is not a lot of info on him.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Dennis Leonard

#84 Dennis Leonard

To my surprise, this is only the eighth card of Dennis Leonard that I have posted on here. Dennis is such a huge part of the Royals family, it seems like he is always signing autographs at events, whether it is Fanfest, alumni autograph Sundays, or the old winter caravan. This signature was obtained at one of the autograph Sundays at The K in 2015.

This was the first time that I got a senior league card signed at a signing. All the rest were either by the dugouts at games or through the mail. Since this was the only card I got signed by Dennis, I asked him his thoughts on the short-lived league. He told me that it was a lot of fun, but they could not get much fan support and that is what did the league in.

Personally, I would think that the senior league would be an autograph hunter's go-to place in Florida in the years before Major League ball. They played longer than Spring Training clubs did and most of the guys were former established Major League players, which would be better than 'graphing the Florida State League. But, it was a different time then, so who knows what it was really like.

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Leon Roberts

#30 Leon Roberts

This is the third card of Leon that I have posted on here. The first one was a TTM success from 2012. You can see that card here. The second one was his '85 Topps card that my best friend, Dustin, got signed for me while we were at a Sacremento River Cats game in 2015. That card can be seen here. This card was also signed by Leon that day.

Even though Leon played in the Majors for eleven seasons, I have very few cards of him. In fact, all four cards I own are now signed. Leon coached in the Royals system last year, and when I went to Surprise for Spring Training, I had nothing of Leon to get signed. That is too bad because he has some really good-looking cards from the '70s. It is just that I didn't start collecting cards until Leon's playing career came to a close. That is why half of the cards I have of him are from after he retired.

I have four signed cards of Super Sox from this set. All four of them feature less than spectacular action shots. The three batter shots look identical to this, with the one pitcher shot looking a little better. Every other team has nothing but posed shots, with the exception of the Tropics, which has a mixture. Again, I am only going off of the cards that I have signed, so it is a small sample size. But, it seems strange that all of the shots in the set are posed except the Super Sox and a few random others (Willie Aikens being one of those).

1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Roy Howell

#12 Roy Howell

Here is the second of two cards that Roy Howell signed for me through the mail in 2014. I posted the first card, his '81 Donruss, back in April and that one can be seen here.

Most times, when I send out an '81D in the mail, I will only send that card. But, after that set, this one might be my second favorite one to get signed. So, I will throw in this card with the '81D occasionally. In fact, I did that this morning when I sent cards to Doug Corbett to get signed.

I have about thirty cards from this set signed. I do not really send them out to get signed unless I send them with another card. But, I am seriously thinking about changing that strategy. I might start concentrating on this set more and send them out by themselves to guys that were not in the '81D set. That may be my new focus for 2018.

1990 Leaf, Don Slaught

#354 Don Slaught

Here is a card that I won in a Twitter contest a couple of years ago. This card, and a couple of others, were being given away by Autograph Rob and I was fortunate enough to win. I believe this is the only contest Rob ever held and his Twitter account has been dormant for the last eight months. To date, this is the only thing I have ever won on Twitter.

With the Milt Thompson 1990 Leaf and this one, I now have four whole cards signed from this set. Dan left a comment on the Thompson card and he hit it on the head- these cards were expensive in 1990. Because of that, I do not have a ton of cards from this set. Back then, I could buy one pack each of Topps, Donruss, Fleer, and Score, or I could buy one pack of Leaf. When I was eleven years old and on a budget, that was an easy decision to make.

I always thought it was odd that they just called this set Leaf. For all of the '80s, Leaf was to Donruss what O-Pee-Chee was to Topps. They were just a Canadian clone. You would have thought Leaf would have came up with a better name, something flashy that justified the price increase.

Don played in the Majors for sixteen seasons with the Royals, Rangers, Yankees, Pirates, Angels, White Sox, and Padres. Over that time, he was a .283 hitter with 77 home runs and 476 RBI. His best season was with the Pirates in 1993. That year, he hit .300 with career highs of 10 home runs and 55 RBI.

1990 Leaf, Milt Thompson

#308 Milt Thompson

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by Milt Thompson at Spring Training earlier this year. Milt was the hitting coordinator for the Reds and I was able to get him to sign while switching fields at the Reds minor league workout. At first, he told me he couldn't sign because he was working. But, once he realized I was by myself, he motioned for me to come over and he signed all three cards for me. You can see the first card I posted here and the second one here.

That first card had Milt with the Braves and the second one had him with the Phillies. Here he is with his third team, the Cardinals. He played with them from 1989-'92 and had some productive years there, hitting .274 with 20 home runs and 149 RBI with the club. His best offensive season was with them in 1989 when he hit .290 with 8 homers and had career highs in doubles, 28, and RBI, 68.

After the Cardinals, he went back to the Phillies for a couple of years before finishing up with the Astros, Dodgers, and Rockies. Unfortunately, I do not think there are any mainstream cards of him playing for those last three teams.

1990 Fleer, Ozzie Canseco

#U-117 Ozzie Canseco

Here is the second of three cards that Ozzie Canseco signed for me at a Wingnuts game in 2015. He was the hitting coach for the Sioux Falls Canaries at the time, but has since been replaced. I posted the first card of Ozzie a few weeks back and that one can be seen here.

About seven or eight years ago, I got a Christmas gift from my best friend. It was a pre-packaged baseball card stocking that he bought at Ace Hardware. In it was some junk wax packs, a minor league team set, and a boxed update or traded set. The boxed set was the highlight of the stocking and I went to Ace the next day and bought four more of them. Out of them all, I ended up with '85 Fleer Update, '86 Topps Traded, '88 Donruss Rookies, '91 Score Traded, and this set. The Topps set was missing the main top rookies, but all the rest were complete sets.

Out of all of those sets, I have at least four cards from each one signed. They are still in their boxes and they are small, so they are really easy to look through to find a card to get signed. But, this Canseco card is the only one from the '90 Fleer Update set that I have signed. I am not sure why that is exactly. I know I have taken a few cards out to get signed and had no luck, so it is not because I overlook the set. It must be because I don't really like 1990 Fleer. There is just too much white on them.

That is probably why '91 Fleer is blinding yellow. They got too much grief for this set being boring, so the spiced things up the next year.