College World Series Contest, Phase 2

In case you haven't noticed, I've been running a little contest here for the past two weeks that revolves around the College World Series. Twenty-five people have already entered and have a tiny head start. But, it is not too late to get in on the action. There are plenty more points to be earned and no one is even close to locking this thing up yet. So here is all you have to do- fill out a College World Series bracket.

Keep in mind that this bracket is nothing like filling out a March Madness bracket. The reason for that is because of the loser's bracket. But, I am going to try to make this as simple as I can. Here is my homemade bracket. Click on it to hopefully see a bigger view.

Here is a how the bracket breaks down. There are two groups in the bracket- A and B. Each group has six games in it. All you have to do is guess who is going to win each of the games as they advance towards the championship round.

For instance, group A has UC Irvine and Texas squaring off in game 1 and Vanderbilt and Louisville going in game 2. Pick who is going to win each of those games and then those two teams will square off in game 3. The losers of games 1 and 2 will then square off in game 4. Then, the loser in game 3 plays the winner of game 4 in game 5.

At that point, there will be one team left in the group that is 2-0 (winner of game 3) and one that is 2-1 (winner of game 5). Those two teams play in game 6, which is an elimination game. If the 2-0 team loses, they play a game 7 and the winner advances to the championship. If the 2-0 team wins game 6, they go straight to the championship without game 7. BUT, for the sake of this bracket, I am going to count it as one game. Just pick who you think is going to advance. It doesn't matter how they do it. I am going to call it game 6/7.

After that, you should have a team advancing out of group A. Do the same for group B. Those two teams are your final teams. In the CWS, they play a best of three series for the championship. Pick who you think will win it all and if they will win it in two games or three. Then, for a tie breaker, guess how many runs will be scored in the championship series (the final two or three games).

It might be easier for you to fill it out on paper first. But to enter the contest, leave a comment looking something similar to this.

A1: Texas
A2: Vandy
A3: Texas
A4: Louisville
A5: Vandy
A6/7: Vandy

B1: TCU
B2: Ole Miss
B3: TCU
B4: Texas Tech
B5: Ole Miss
B6/7: TCU

Vandy over TCU in two game, 16 runs scored

For the sake of the tie breaker, DO NOT pick a number already chosen by someone else. Even if your teams do not make it to the finals, the tiebreaker will still apply to you in the event of a tie.

If you guess every game right, including how many games will be played in the finals, you can come out with 22 points. As for the prizes, I haven't figured that out yet. It will probably mostly consist of stuff brought home from Omaha.

The CWS begins at 3:00 PM, eastern, on Saturday, June 14. So, all entries must be in by that point. If you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at zman40 at hotmail dot com. Or, just ask in the comments.

Here are the standings through Phase 1
SuperDuperman: 0
Lost Collector: 4
Greg Z: 1
Spankee: 0
Padrographs: 0
Deal: 1
Oriole Magic: 4
Writers Journey: 2
Brandon: 1
Play at the Plate: 4
Caitlin: 2
Brady U: 2
Tony L: 2
John H: 6
Matt S: 4
View From Skybox: 3
Jeff: 2
Wilson: 3
Capt Canuck: 2
Mark H: 3
defgav: 0
Alex M: 2
Keith G: 3
Joey D: 0
Need More Cardboard: 3

This thing is anybody's to win. Good luck!

If you think I might have made an error in the scoring, just let me know. I will be happy to look into it.

1991 Donruss, Mike Gallego

#158 Mike Gallego

Here is the second card that Mike Gallego signed for me this past Spring Training. Mike is the third base coach for the A's and he stopped and signed three cards for me before a game at Camelback Ranch against the White Sox. The first card I posted can be seen here.

Mike spent eight of his thirteen Major League seasons with Oakland and that is always the team that I associate him with. He was pretty much an everyday player for them when they made their World Series run from 1988-90. But, for whatever reason, he was not any everyday player for them during the Series. He did start all four games during the 1990 Series. But, in the prior two, he got into just three games and started none of those.

In 1988, he played in all four ALCS games, starting in three, but hit just .083. That might explain why he didn't play much in the World Series. Then, in 1989, he played in four of the five ALCS games and started all four of them. He hit .273 that time around, but it netted him just one at-bat in the Fall Classic. He went on to hit .400 in the 1990 ALCS and that must have been good enough to get him some starts in the '90 Classic. Unfortunately, he would only hit .091 in those four games.

I guess what I am trying to say that I was a little surprised by Mike's lack of playing time in the Fall Classic. He went there three strait seasons and has just twelve at-bats to show for it. I was expecting to see some stats from eleven to twelve games of work. That was not the case.

On the college baseball front, there were four Super Regional games today. Texas beat Houston. Louisville beat Kennesaw State. Vanderbilt beat Stanford. And UC Irvine is beating Oklahoma State 8-1 in the eighth inning.

1991 Classic, Brian McRae

#T49 Brian McRae

Here is the umpteenth Brian McRae card that I have posted on here. By my count, I now have ten cards signed by him. I should have more, but I always try to get cards of him signed for other people. Otherwise, I would have a couple dozen cards signed by him.

When I saw he was going to be at Royals Fanfest again this year, I looked for some specific cards of him. My first priority was to get a Mets card of him signed. For some reason, I hadn't done that yet. Then, I had to get a couple of his minor league cards, that had been in my collection for over twenty years, signed. Then, I looked for some oddball cards and that is why I took this one. As of right now, this is the only Major League Classic card that I have signed.

I do not remember much about about the Major League Classic cards. I do know that they were not available in packs, which is why I hardly have any. I think that they were sold as a parts of a board game, but that might not be entirely correct. So, if anyone has any fond memories of Classic cards, feel free to chime in in the comments.

I will say that I love the blue border with the blue jersey and hat, though.

College World Series Contest Update

Here are the matchups for the Super Regionals, which are two out of three.

1. Oklahoma St vs 3. UC Irvine
2. Texas vs 2. Houston
1. Louisville vs 3. Kennesaw St
1. Vanderbilt vs 3. Stanford
4. College of Charleston vs 2. Texas Tech
1. TCU vs 3. Pepperdine
1. Louisiana-Lafayette vs 1. Ole Miss
1. Virginia vs 2. Maryland

Here is a breakdown of which teams each contestant still has alive in the tournament. Remember, each team still has to win their Super Regional to net you some points.

Superduperman99
No teams

Lost Collector
1. Louisville
1. Vanderbilt
1. TCU
1. Ole Miss

Greg Z
1. TCU

Spankee
1. Oklahoma St
3. Stanford

Padrographs
No teams

Deal
2. Houston
1. Louisville
2. Maryland

Oriole Magic
1. TCU
1. Ole Miss
1. Virginia

Writers Journey
1. Louisville
1. Ole Miss

Brandon
1. Louisiana Lafayette
1. Virginia

Play at the Plate
2. Texas
1. TCU
1. Louisiana Lafayette

Caitlin
1. TCU
2. Ole Miss

Brady U
1. Ole Miss

Tony L
1. Oklahoma St
1. Vanderbilt

John H
3. UC Irvine
2. Texas
1. Ole Miss

Matt S
2. Texas
1. Louisville
1. Ole Miss

View from the Skybox
1. TCU
1. Ole Miss
2. Maryland

Jeff
2. Texas

Wilson
1. Oklahoma St
2. Texas

Capt Canuck
2. Texas
3. Stanford
3. Pepperdine

Mark H
1. Vanderbilt
1. TCU
1. Ole Miss

defgav
3. Pepperdine

Alex M
1. Louisville
1. Virginia

Keith G
1. Oklahoma St
2. Texas

Joey D
no teams

Need More Cardboard
2. Texas
1. Ole Miss

This is still unofficial, but if I omitted one of your teams that is still in, please let me know. Good luck this weekend!

1990 Upper Deck, Gary Pettis

#385 Gary Pettis

This is one of the strangest signatures that I have ever seen. It looks fairly normal, though crooked, when looking at it. But the strangeness lies in the way it was signed.

I got this card signed before a Royals game last year. The Rangers were in town and I was 'graphing the parking lot early on a Sunday morning. Gary showed up with a couple of other Ranger coaches and he was nice enough to sign one of the three cards I had of him. I handed him my autograph book and he signed this card in what appeared to be a normal way. But, when I saw the signature on the card, I knew that was not the case.

The signature on this card is at an angle, which is not that uncommon. But, if you look at the extreme slant in it, it would appear that Gary was holding the card upside down when he signed it. That was not the case. Gary signed his name upside down. AND, as if that were not enough, he signed it backwards. That's right. Gary held this card as you see it now and then signed it left to right, upside down and backwards.

Has anyone else noticed this strange habit from Gary or anyone else?

Gary played in the Majors for eleven seasons with the Angels, Rangers, Tigers, and Padres. He was a speedy light-hitting outfielder with a good glove. He hit .236 for his career with 21 home runs, 259 RBI, 568 runs, and 354 stolen bases. His speed never got him to an All Star Game, but he did bring home five Gold Gloves for his defensive mastery of center field.

Last night, the UC Irvine Anteaters knocked off the number one team in the nation, Oregon State, to advance to the Super Regionals. The Super Regional field is set and I will post an update later today.

1990 Topps, John Wathan

#789 John Wathan

Here is another John Wathan autograph from the collection. This one was obtained at Royals Fanfest this last winter. By my count, that is the eleventh different card of John that I have posted on here. It is a classic managerial shot of him standing by the cage during batting picture. Unfortunately, he is not wearing his batting helmet.

John managed the Royals for parts of five seasons. His club finished with two winning seasons and even went 92-70 in 1989. 92 wins would have nabbed them the AL East. But, instead, they finished seven games back of the A's in the West. The team slipped to 75-86 the following year and John was released from his duties after a 15-22 start in 1991. John was later an interim manager for the Angels in 1992 when Buck Rodgers had to take a leave of absence.

Today, John scouts for the Royals and can be seen in the stands at Kauffman Stadium from time to time.

It has been a crazy weekend for the college baseball regionals. There have been many upsets and a few up-and-coming programs advancing out of the first round. There is one final game still going on. But, the other fifteen teams are known and here are how the Super Regionals are looking. The Super Regionals are a two out of three series that starts Friday. The first number is the seed and the number in parentheses is how many contestants picked that team.

1. Oklahoma St(4) vs 1. Oregon St(13) OR 3. UC Irvine(1)
2. Texas(8) vs 2. Houston(1)
1. Louisville(5) vs 3. Kennesaw St(0)
1. Vanderbilt(3) vs 3. Stanford(2)
4. College of Charleston(0) vs 2. Texas Tech(0)
1. TCU(7) vs 3. Pepperdine(2)
1. Louisiana-Lafayette(2) vs 1. Ole Miss(10)
1. Virginia(3) vs 2. Maryland(2)

Looks like no one is getting any points out of slot five.

Oregon State is up 1-0 in the fourth.

1990 Topps, Jeff Russell

#395 Jeff Russell

Jeff Russell is the new pitching coach for the American Association's Grand Prairie AirHogs and he was nice enough to sign three cards for me on Opening Day in Wichita last month.

I was pretty excited when I saw that the 'Hogs picked up Russell as their coach. You don't see too many managers/coaches in the American Association that were Major Leaguers, let alone All Stars. Frank White is the first base coach with the Kansas City T-Bones, but he doesn't always travel with the team. For the most part, the coaches are guys that never even played in the big leagues. So, when a former player joins an Am-Ass coaching staff, it is an exciting day for me.

I had actually picked up a Jeff Russell autograph a couple months prior to getting my cards signed at the game. I acquired some extra autographs from Royals Fanfest for set collector Tom of The Angels, In Order. He was nice enough to give me a list of dupes he had sitting around and he let me pick a few. One I picked was Jeff's 1984 Topps card. Had I known that he was coming to the American Association, I might have chose differently.

Jeff was an All Star for the Rangers in 1988 and 1989. He lead the American League in saves in 1989 with 38.

On the college baseball front, there have been quite a few teams eliminated so far. As of right now, that list includes Bryant, Indiana St, Youngstown St, Liberty, Bucknell (1), Campbell (1), Old Dominion (4), Columbia (1), Bethune-Cookman (1), North Dakota St, Dallas Baptist (2), Florida (9), George Mason, San Diego St (6), Kent St, Kansas (1), Clemson (3), Xavier, Jacksonville St, Arizona St (8), Binghamton, Nebraska (3), Florida St (13), and Georgia Southern (1). The number in parentheses is how many people picked them to go on to Omaha.