1989-90 Pacific Senior League, Willie Aikens

#147 Willie Aikens

Here is the second card that I got back from Willie Mays Aikens. It obviously turned out much better looking than the last one and he added a cool inscription. I think that this is the first card that I have gotten back that says "best of luck". Why he added an inscription to this one and not the other, I do not know. But, I am happy with the results nonetheless.

I'm going to keep this one short for now and try to get a 2002 Bowman up later tonight. The card does all the talking in this post.

1981 Donruss, Willie Aikens

#220 Willie Aikens

I know that I was supposed to start my 2002 cards today, but I had another SASE stuffed into my mailbox today. So, here is Willie Mays Aikens.

Aikens had a an eight year Major League career and he played for the Angels, Royals, and Blue Jays. He hit over 20 home runs three times and had a career high of 98 RBI in 1980, his first season in Kansas City. His claim to fame is being the first player to have two two-homer games in a World Series when he accomplished the feat during the 1980 Series. He was the only person to ever do that until Chase Utley duplicated the feat last year. I guess that having two multi-homer games in the World Series is a good way to lose since both the 1980 Royals and 2009 Phillies lost.

Unfortunately, Willie is probably more famous for his off the field issues than what he did on the field. In 1983, he was one of four Royals that were suspended (and then un-suspended) for attempting to purchase cocaine. Then, in 1994, he was sentenced to prison for over 20 years for selling an undercover police officer 50 grams of crack. He got released in the spring of 2008.

Shortly after his release, I saw Willie at a Royals game. The Rockies were in town and this guy came over by the dugout where I was getting cards signed. He was talking to Jamie Quirk and Clint Hurdle, both former Royals. I had no idea who he was until that fall when the Kansas City Star ran an article on him. Luckily, they had a picture of him or else I would never had known who I had seen.

It seems like the Royals and the community have taken Willie back. He was even on the field for Opening Day in Kansas City. I hope that continues and that Willie can get his life back on track.

I sent Willie two cards and he signed them both for me. This card would probably look better with a black Sharpie, but beggars can't be choosers. Unfortunately, both cards came back with creasing starting in the middle of the bottom edge extending more than half way up the left edge.

I'll post the second Aikens card tomorrow and I might start my 2002s tomorrow night, as well. Also, like Bill Virdon, Willie added his return address to the envelope.

It took ten days to get the cards back.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 59/100

1963 Topps, Bill Virdon

#55 Bill Virdon

Here is the second card that I got in the mail from Bill Virdon. The '81 Donruss card of him was the only one I had of him, so I picked this one up from checkoutmycards.com for about a dollar. This is the only signed '63 Topps card that I have so far.

Bill played in the Majors for parts of twelve seasons with the Cardinals and Pirates. He was the Rookie of the Year in 1955 with the Cardinals and that looks like the best season that he had. He had 17 home runs that season and 68 RBI, both career highs. He finished his career in 1968 with 1,596 hits, 91 home runs, 502 RBI, and a .267 average.

If you look at his stats, you'll notice a two year gap from 1966-'67. Baseabll Almanac says he got released after the '65 season and then signed with the Pirates in the middle of the '68 seasons. He played in six games and went 1-3 with 2 RBI before getting released about a month later. Does anyone know the story behind that?

Speaking of Baseball Almanac, they lists Bill's nicknames as Quail and The Milkshake Man.

1981 Donruss, Bill Virdon

#384 Bill Virdon

I was ready to post the first card from 2002 on here today, but I got this card in the mail yesterday. So, I figured that I would post this one before I got started on the '02s.

Bill seems like he was a hot commodity as a manager in the '70s and early '80s. He managed four clubs from 1972 to 1984 and everytime he got fired (except for the last time), he had a Major League managerial job waiting for him the next season.

He began his managing in '72 with the Pirates. In his first season, he lead the Bucs to the NL East title where they lost the NLCS to the Reds. After 136 games into 1973, he was replaced. He managed the Yankees in '74 and lead them to a second place finish. After 104 games the next year, he was replaced. He then took over the Astros for the last 35 games of the 1975 season.

With the Astros, he had his longest tenure as a manager. He lasted there until 1982, when he got replaced after 111 games. During that time, he lead the team to two playoff appearances in 1980 and 1981. He lost to the Phillies in the '80 NLCS and the Dodgers in the '81 playoffs. 1981 was the strike-shortened season and the Astros were the second half winners.

In 1983, Bill took over for the Expos and guided them to an 82-80 record. But, after going 64-67 in 1984, he was replaced. According to Wikipedia, he got replaced by the manager that he replaced twice- Danny Murtaugh in Pittsburgh and Jim Fanning in Montreal.

It took 18 days to get this card back. He actually placed his return address on the SASE, as well. It's not too often that you get a TTM back and know with 100% accuracy who it is from.

I have one more Bill Virdon card that I will post tomorrow and then I should start the 2002s on Monday.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 58/100

1981 Donruss, Paul Splittorff

#342 Paul Splittorff

Here is the second and last card that I got signed at the game yesterday. I got this card signed right before the game started inside Kauffman Stadium's sports bar, Rivals. Paul is doing the pre and postgame show for Fox Sports Kansas City this year and I was able to get this card signed after the pregame show that is filmed in the bar.

In the past, Paul has always been the color man on the TV broadcasts. But last year, Paul came down with a serious throat infection that left him unable to broadcast for the year. He finally came back in September and helped out with the pregame show. It looks like that is going to be his role this year as well.

Amazingly, this is only the second signed card by Paul that I have. He usually performs the color man role for Big 12 basketball games, so he doesn't make it to Fanfest or any of the caravan tours. The last time I got a signature from him was in 2006 at Tropicana Field. That signature was on a ball. Here is the other card that I have signed and I got it at the Turkey Bowl in 2003. That was posted in the first few weeks of this blog.

For an older player, it is hard to read Paul's signature. It seems that most of the guys from that era have legible signatures (Tom Brookens excluded).

'81 Donruss Tracker: 57/100

1981 Donruss, Tom Brookens

#6 Tom Brookens

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday. I had to work a double and when I got home, I spent a few hours going through cards for today. Today, I went to my first Royals game of the year and that is where I got this card signed. I believe that this is the first card I have posted on my blog that I got signed in-person on the same day. So, I guess it worked out good that I skipped yesterday. Otherwise, I would be posting a 2002 Bowman card rather than this '81 Donruss.

I was surprised to see that the Tigers took batting practice today. It was a day game on a getaway day and usually only pitchers will work out on those. Tom is the Tigers first base coach and this is the only autograph that I got out of them today. Magglio was signing baseballs across the dugout. He was signing in Sharpie, so I didn't bother with him. Fu-Te Ni signed a few balls as well, but I wasn't ready to use my only ball on him. Austin Jackson signed a couple on the opposite end of the dugout, but I do not have any cards of him. I asked Gene Lamont to sign, but he just walked on by. Tom was the last batting practice pitcher of the day and he was the last man off of the field. I asked him to sign and he came over and signed quite a few autographs. I normally will take more than one card with me for all of the players and coaches. But, when it comes to '81 Donruss, I usually just take that card. I do that just in case they only sign one card. That way, I get the card I want signed. I'm glad I did that today because Tom was only signing one item per person.

It was funny when Tom started signing. Kids started coming out of the woodwork to get some stuff signed by someone they have probably never heard of.

I got one other '81D signed at the game and I will post that tomorrow. As for the game, it was like every other Royals game this year. It was a good game until the starter exited the game. On a positive note, I finally got some sun this year.

Tom has an interesting autograph. His "T" looks more like a "D". Based on how this card is signed, it looks like he signs his "T" with a downward stroke and then crosses the top from right to left. His "B" is pretty interesting as well, as is the rest of his last name.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 56/100

1981 Donruss, Phil Niekro

#328 Phil Niekro

I was going to post the first card from 2002 today. But, I had this card waiting for me in the mailbox when I got off of work and I figured that there wasn't any better time to post it. So here is an '81 Donruss Phil Niekro.

One thing that caught me by surprise when I was looking at Phil's stats is how long he played for Atlanta. When I started collecting cards in the mid-eighties, it seems like Phil was with a different team every year. I guess that I always figured that he bounced around like that his whole career. I had no idea that he pitched for Atlanta from 1964 to 1983. That is a pretty good tenure. I guess I should have known better considering that there is a statue of Knucksie in front of Turner Field. They don't just make those things for anybody.

Phil won 318 Major League games, was a three-time 20 game winner, five-time Gold Glover, and made five All Star teams. He only played in two of the All Star games, but he recorded a save in his first one in 1969.

I sent this card to Phil on the 22nd, so it took fifteen days to get back to me. I included a ten dollar check with the request. I figured that if I could spend ten bucks on Andre Dawson, I could spen ten bucks on Phil Niekro as well. I think that a ten dollar check may make its way to Rollie Fingers before long.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 55/100