1999 Topps Gallery, Eric Chavez

#GA3 Eric Chavez

Here is a card of Eric Chavez that I bought from COMC just to add an autograph to my purchase. This one was a little more than the Leaf Signature Series cards that I usually buy for about a buck. But, for only $2.99, I was not going to complain. The complaining came three months later when I got Eric to sign a couple of cards for me at Spring Training.

I am not really familiar with Topps Gallery, but I do like the look of this card. It has a nice framed look to it with ample white space for the on-card autograph.

Now on to other things. Here was the prize from Christmas haul.

My loving wife bought me this beauty. I had been asking for his '38 Goudey for a couple of years now, but those are a little pricey. This one is going to work just fine. Now I need to unslab this thing and get it out in the mail! I'm a little nervous. Actually, I am very nervous.

1999 Just Minors, Eric Byrnes

NN Eric Byrnes

Here is a card that I picked up of Eric Byrnes for cheap from COMC. This one set me back a whopping sixty-nine cents. You cannot beat that.

Eric played in the Majors for parts of eleven seasons with the A's, Orioles, Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Mariners. He hit .258 for his career with 109 home runs and 396 RBI. He was only an everyday player for four seasons, two with Oakland and two with Phoenix, and he put up some good numbers during three of those seasons (20+ home runs, 70+ RBI). He even started to steal some bases when he got out of Oakland and topped out with 50 with the D-Backs in 2007.

That was probably his best season. Besides the career highs in stolen bases, he also had highs in average (.286) and RBI (83). Things took a turn for the worse the following season, though, when Eric was limited to just 52 games. He landed on the disabled list that season for the first time in his career and ended up hitting just .209 for the season. He rebounded to the tune of .226 the next season, but was limited to 84 games. He was released by the D-Backs after the season and hooked on with the Mariners the following year. His tenure lasted 15 games before getting released and he called it a career.

Since retiring, Eric has had various broadcasting duties with multiple networks. I believe he currently works for the MLB Network.

I really like the signature on this card. It looks much better than the one on the 2005 card on his Baseball Almanac page.

1998 Upper Deck, Ariel Prieto

#182 Ariel Prieto

Here is a card that I got signed at Spring Training this year. Ariel was a member of the A's coaching staff and I almost didn't get this card signed by him. He was one of the first guys out of the clubhouse that day and I had no clue who he was. He eventually started signing before he made it to the dugout. Lucky for me, an A's fan made it over by me and he had an A's yearbook with him. We looked up the coaches and were able to figure out that it was Ariel signing. So, I made my way over there and got my one card signed. This was the only card of him that I was able to find in my collection.

Ariel was a Cuban defector that made a mistake. He defected to the US. Had he defected to any other country, he would have been a free agent and been able to sign for any team at an amount to his liking. But, since he came here first, he had to enter the draft as a 26 year old.

He was selected fifth by the A's and made his Major League debut a couple of weeks later without playing in the minors. He debuted as a reliever and pitched two innings against the Angels while not allowing any runs on just one hit. He was moved to the rotation after that and had a pair of back-to-back starts where he nearly pitched complete games in both. The one game he did go the distance, the A's lost 1-0. Ariel eventually made his way back to the bullpen that season and finished his rookie season 2-6 with a 4.97 ERA.

Ariel was a starter for the next two seasons. He won 6 games both years and had ERAs around 5. In 1998, he made just two starts before being shut down and missing the rest of the season and all of 1999. He came back in 2000 and made 8 appearances, 6 starts, and was 1-2 with a 5.12 ERA. He was released by the A's after that season.

He was picked up by Tampa Bay, but pitched in just three minor league games and three Major League games in 2001. Those three games with the Devil Rays were the last he would pitch in the Majors. He continued to pitch in the minors through 2005, but never made it back up again.

Ariel is not listed as a member of the A's coaching staff now. I saw somewhere that he was Yeonis Cespedes' interpreter, so that may be why he is no longer with Oakland. Maybe he will end up in Detroit this year with Cespedes.

1998 Pacific Paramount, Brian McRae

#207 Brian McRae

Many months ago, I posted some minor league cards that I got Brian McRae to sign for me at Royals Fanfest earlier this year. Here is the final card that he signed for me that day. I bought this card of Brian because I did not have any Mets cards signed by him. I had Royals cards and Cubs cards, but no Mets cards. That is not an issue any more.

Brian played for the Mets for about two seasons. He was traded there towards the end of the 1997 campaign and played with the team before being shipped off to Colorado nearly two years later. In his one full season in New York, he hit .264 with a career high 21 home runs and 79 RBI.

Brian was hitting just .221 when he was dealt to the Rockies. His tenure in Colorado lasted all of seven games before his was sent to Toronto. He finished the season there and then called it a career.

As far as I can tell, there is not a Rockies card of Brian. There is a Blue Jays card, but it is from the 2000 MLB Showdown game. I may have to try to track one of those down for Fanfest this year. I am sure Brian will be there. Maybe he can bring his dad with him.

1998 Pacific Online, Doug Henry

#324 Doug Henry

Here is the last Doug Henry card that I will post for some time. I have a few that I haven't posted, but those are from some more recent minor league sets. With the rate that I am going, I might post one of those cards sometime in 2023.

Doug is the Royals bullpen coach and he is fairly reliable for signing out of the bullpen at Kauffman Stadium. He is kind of my go to guy if I am having a bad day 'graphing. When everyone else fails me, I go to Doug. That is how I got this card signed. I was at the last regular season game for the Royals this year and was not having much luck. So, I went over to the pen and got a few cards signed by Doug.

It worked out as I bought the cards before the season started just to get them signed by him. Before then, all I had signed were Brewers cards and a couple of Omaha Storm Chaser cards. But, that day, I added a Mets card and this Astros card. Now, all I need to do is find his Topps Total Royals card and I will be set.

Doug pitched for the Astros for two and a half seasons. He compiled an 11-8 record with 5 saves and a 3.88 ERA while in Houston.

For some unknown reason, I like this quirky set. The links do not work and they are badly placed on the card, but they help make the set what it is. Though I never bought any packs of this, I now have five cards signed from the set.

Speaking of badly placed links, look how much better these cards would have been if they were left off of the front.

1998 Pacific Online, Joe Randa

#281 Joe Randa

A couple of posts ago, I talked about how easy it is to have too many cards signed by one player. While it is not a problem for collecting, it can be a problem for blogging as it is easy to run out of things to say about a player, especially one that is retired and not making any news. That was the case for Jeff Montgomery. That should be the case for Joe Randa, too, since this is probably the eighth card that I have posted on here of him. But, luckily for me, this card does fill a specific niche for me. This is the only card that I have of him as a Detroit Tiger.

Joe spent one season in the Motor City. He ended up there from the Diamondbacks after they flipped him for Matt Fryman shortly after selecting him in the expansion draft from Pittsburgh. He had a bit of a down season with the Tigers as he hit just .254 with 9 home runs and 50 RBI. After that season, he was traded to the Mets before being dealt back to the Royals four days later.

I got this card signed at Royals Fanfest in 2013. For some reason, I wore my Omaha Storm Chasers shirt that day. Joe noticed it and must have assumed I was from Omaha because he kept going on about how nice of a city it is.

1998 Bowman, Dan Reichert

#427 Dan Reichert

Here is the first of three cards that Dan Reichert signed for me before a Wichita Wingnuts game in 2013. Dan is the pitching coach for the Lincoln Saltdogs and he was nice enough to sign the three cards and an 8x10 before the start of the game.

Dan was drafted by the Royals in the first round of the 1997 draft after a standout career at Pacific University. He finished his junior season as the Big West Pitcher of the Year and All-American after going 13-4 with a 2.30 ERA with 169 strikeouts in 133.1 innings. After being taken seventh overall, Dan was assigned to Low-A Spokane. He finished up his season there 3-4 in nine starts with a 2.84 ERA.

Dan racked up some travel miles in '98 as he had stops in the Midwest League, Carolina League, Texas League, and Pacific Coast League. He got the most work in at the AA level and finished up the season 5-6 with a 5.77 ERA.

He spent most of the next season in AAA and was 9-2 with a 3.71 ERA and more than a strikeout an inning. In the middle of that solid season, he got called up to Kansas City for a handful of starts. He made his Major League debut in Milwaukee in July. He got the start in the second game of a doubleheader and did not do so well. He lasted just 1.2 innings while giving up 7 earned runs on 5 hits, 4 walks, and a hit batter. All seven runs scored in the second inning. Somehow, the Royals ended up coming back and winning that one.

Dan finished the season 2-2 with a 9.08 ERA over 8 starts. His biggest issue that season was his control. He walked 32 batters in 36.2 innings while striking out just 20.