1981 Donruss, Gary Thomasson

#531 Gary Thomasson

Here is the Gary Thomasson card that I got signed through the mail in February. It took one month for this one to make it back home.

Gary played in the big leagues for nine seasons and saw time with the Giants, A's, Yankees, and Dodgers. He played all three outfield positions, as well as first base, during his career. He was a .249 hitter with 61 home runs and 294 RBI.

His best season came with the Giants in 1977. He hit .259 that year with career highs in runs (63), doubles (24), homers (17), RBI (71), and stolen bases (16).

When I first saw this card, I assumed that Gary was a catcher based on his flapless batting helmet. Whenever I see one of those, I always think of catchers.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 162/100

19814 Donruss, Sal Butera

#530 Sal Butera

Next up is the Sal Butera card that was signed through the mail. I sent this card to Sal in January and I had it back thirteen days later.

Sal played in the Majors for parts of nine seasons with the Twins, Tigers, Expos, Reds, and Blue Jays. He was mainly a back-up catcher who never played in more than 67 games in any season. His best season was probably with the Twins in the strike-shortened 1981 season. He saw the most at-bats that year and he hit .240 with career highs in hits (40), doubles (7), RBI (18), and walks (22).

For his career, Sal was a .227 hitter with 8 home runs and 76 RBI. Though he made his Major League debut in 1980, he would not hit his first Major League home run until 1985. He went on to hit three of his eight that season.

Sal had the privilege of pitching in two games during his career. He racked up two scoreless innings with no hits, a walk, and a strikeout. The one strikeout belonged to the Cubbies Chico Walker.

Sal's son, Drew, saw a few games with the Dodgers this past season.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 161/100

1981 Donruss, John Goryl

#527 John Goryl

Here is the John Goryl autograph that I was able to get through the mail. I sent this card to John at the end of November and I had it back about eight days later.

John only got one chance to manage in the Major Leagues and it wasn't much of one. He was promoted to manage the Twins at the end of the 1980 season. He took the helm with only 36 games left and he lead the club to a 23-13 record down the stretch. He was brought back to manage the '81 club, but was fired 37 games into the season when the team started off 11-25.

That was the end of John's tenure as a Major League manager. He managed 73 games over parts of two seasons and went 34-38.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 160/100

1981 Donruss, Carlos Lezcano

#521 Carlos Lezcano

I've got about a month and a half to go on this set, but this one is the last of its kind. This is the final card that I got signed in-person. All of the rest of the '81 Donruss cards should be through the mail returns.

I was lucky enough to get this card signed at a Wichita Wingnut game this year. Carlos started the season as the hitting coach for the El Paso Diablos. By the time they made it to Wichita, Carlos was the manager for the Diablos, even though I did not know it at the time. Tim Johnson was the original manager, but he left the club because of an undisclosed medical issue. The Diablos were pretty hush-hush about the whole deal as I never saw anything about it on their website. Eventually I noticed that they removed Johnson from the website and some Google searching informed me of why he was not with the club. I was a little bummed out that he was not in Wichita as I had a '75 Topps mini that I wanted him to sign for me. I had met him the previous year and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I hope he is doing OK.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 159/100

1981 Donruss, Willie Norwood

#516 Willie Norwood

I had been on a bit of a spree this month with my posting, but that all came to an end last weekend. I had hoped to make up for that this weekend when I was supposed to have a five-day weekend. But, I had to fire someone at work and now it is only a two-day weekend, which is the first one of those in two months. And, those two days off are going to be spent at Kauffman Stadium where I get to see my Royals try to gain some ground against the Rangers. My dad and I have been going to the last Royals home game just about every year since 2000, so we are definitely looking forward to one that actually matters.

Anyways, here is the Willie Norwood card that I got signed through the mail in January after a week-long wait.

Willie played in the Majors for four seasons with the Twins. He was a career .242 hitter with 18 home runs. His best season was in 1978 when he got the bulk of his playing time (half of his career at-bats). That year, he had career highs in average (.255), home runs (8), doubles (22), and RBI (46).

Willie was traded to the Mariners in December of 1980. Unfortunately, he was released by Seattle during Spring Training and never appeared in a game for them. He went on to play a couple of years in Mexico, but never made it back up to the Majors.

Is that a Nike swoosh under Willie's last name?

'81 Donruss Tracker: 158/100

1981 Donruss, Kiko Garcia

#514 Kiko Garcia

Here is the card of Kiko Garcia that I got signed through the mail last year. I sent this card to him at the beginning of November and I had it back nine days later.

Kiko played in the majors for parts of ten seasons with the Orioles, Astros, and Phillies. He was a part-time guy for most of his his career, though he was the O's regular shortstop for a couple of seasons. He was a .239 hitter who finished his career with 12 home runs and 112 RBI.

Kiko's best season came with the O's in 1979. He played in 126 games that season and hit .247 with career-highs in doubles (15) and home runs (5). He even started five games of the World Series that fall and he hit .400 with 2 doubles, a triple, 4 runs, and 6 RBI. Most of that damage was done in game three when he went 4-4, drove in 4 runs, and was a home run away from the cycle.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 157/100

1981 Donruss, Dave Rader

#512 Dave Rader

Here is the second card of Dave Rader that I sent out this past November. The first one was posted about nine months ago and it can be seen here.

There really isn't much to say about Dave that wasn't said in the first post about him. I will say, though, that Dave's tenure in Boston lasted just one season and he made the most of it. He only got into 50 games with the Sox, but he hit a robust .328 which is 70 points higher than his career average. Plus, over a quarter of his hits were for extra bases and he walked a few more times than he struck out. He finished the year with a .802 OPS, which was about 200 points higher than his career total. That just happened to be the final season that he played in the Majors. Had Billy Beane been a GM back then, he surely would have gotten another look with the A's.

Anyone notice that the Royals are still in the hunt with just two and a half weeks to go?

LET'S GO ROYALS!!!!!!

'81 Donruss Tracker: 156/100