2007 Topps, Jason Wood

#UH109 Jason Wood

Here is a card that I got signed at a Round Rock Express game in 2008. Jason was playing for the Albuquerque Isotopes at the time and he was nice enough to stop on the way to the field to sign this card for me. I mentioned in the last post how bad of luck I had with the '07 Topps Update and Highlights set and this one is a key example. Even Jason was not pleased with the results. He signed it and told me "that didn't take very well". Oh well; you live and you learn.

Jason was originally drafted by the A's in 1991. He advanced up the organizational ladder quickly before stalling out in AAA. He finally made his Major League debut with the A's in 1998 before being traded to the Tigers mid-season. He played in 40 games with the A's and Tigers in '98 and '99 and hit .220 as a utility infielder. After 1999, it was back to AAA.

Jason spent the next six seasons in AAA before finally getting a September call-up by the Marlins in 2006. He must have impressed the brass enough with that call-up, and the following Spring Training, as he made the Marlins Opening Day roster in 2007. He was used mostly as a pinch hitter that year, but did start a handful of games at first. He only hit .239 with 3 home runs and 26 RBI season, but it was the first time in sixteen seasons of pro ball that he did not spend one day in the minor leagues.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! I will see you sometime in 2016.

2007 Topps, Esteban German

#UH77 Esteban German

I cannot believe that I have not posted a card on here for over three weeks. But, it has been a busy month with work and I have a baby on the way. Add in the fact that I lost my "baseball room" to the baby and it is easy to understand the lack of posts. Luckily, I mostly have the baby's room in order and I finally have my computer set back up. So I hope to get back to my sporadic posting. I get some time off when the baby arrives and I hope to get back to posting daily for a few weeks. I haven't done that in over three years.

Anyway, here is a card of Esteban German that I got signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008. The signature did not turn out too great, but that was back before I knew about prepping cards. A majority of my 2007 Topps cards that I have were unprepped and some came out better than others. The funny thing is that I had worse luck with the Update set than I did for the first two series. If you scroll down a bit and look at the other cards on this page, only the Erstad and Yost cards were prepped. The rest were not and they came out looking just fine. But, for the most part, that was not the case with Update and Highlights.

This one has some slight bubbling, but is generally okay. I got this same card signed a month earlier and it did not come out looking as good. Here is a photo of the original one.

Unfortunately, this was the norm for me with the Update series.

No, this card is not super mis-cut. My scanner lopped off the left edge and I did not feel like re-scanning it.

If anyone needs or wants the original card that I got signed, let me know and it is yours.

2007 Topps, Darin Erstad

#UH72 Darin Erstad

Here is the fourth signature from Darin Erstad that I have posted on here. The first three all showed him as an Angel or Angels draft pick. Here is one from his time with the White Sox.

Darin's tenure in Chicago lasted all of one season. That year, 2007, he got into 87 games and he hit .248 with 4 home runs and 32 RBI. After that, he was off to the Astros where he would finish his career.

I got this card signed at a Kansas State baseball game in 2011 while Darin was a coach for Nebraska. The following season, he got promoted to the head coach position. In his four seasons as the head coach, he has finished as the conference tournament runner-up twice and has made the national tournament once. Last season, he lead the team to a 34-23 record, but failed to make the tournament.

The Huskers will be heading to Manhattan this next season for a single game against the Cats. It would be nice to make it up there for the game, but that is still a long ways away.

2007 Topps, Alex Gordon

#634 Alex Gordon

Back-to-back superstars? That does not happen very often on this blog.

Here is a card of World Series Champion, and current free agent, Alex Gordon. This is just the second card of Alex that I have posted one here. The first one was posted back in May when I was just starting out my 2007 cards. I obviously have not made it very far since then.

Alex hit just .222 in the World Series, but he hit a clutch home run in game one. With the Royals down 4-3 with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Alex hit a solo shot to center off of Mets closer Juerys Familia to tie the game and send it to extra innings. The game ended up going fourteen frames before the Royals could muster the walk-off run. Alex would only get three more hits in the Series, but that game one homer really helped to swing the momentum to the Royals favor.

Alex missed out on a fifth straight Gold Glove this year when he missed about two months of the season to a groin strain. I really did not expect him to win the award because of the time missed, but I was glad to see that he was a finalist. Then, when I saw that Yeonis Cespedes won it, I was a little pissed considering that Cespedes spent the last two months in the National League. Plus, Cespedes' lack-luster play led to the first inside the park home run in the World Series since 1929. That does not seem that an American League Gold Glove player to me.

Like I said, Alex is currently a free agent. I have not heard very much talk about him to this point. I've seen some rumblings about the Cubs and Orioles and that has been it. Hopefully, he will end up staying in Kansas City.

I got this card signed by the Royals parking lot in 2008. Mike Aviles pulled up while Alex was signing and Alex quipped "hey, there's Mike Aviles!". Alex has always seemed like a straight-forward, no nonsense type of guy. All I could think after he said that was "is Alex Gordon being funny?". It kind of caught me off guard.

2007 Topps, Josh Hamilton

#625 Josh Hamilton

Here is the second card that Josh Hamilton signed for me at a Rangers game in 2008. I posted the first card over five years ago and that one can be seen here.

The first card I posted of Josh showed him with the team that drafted him, Tampa Bay. Here he is with the Reds, the team that he made his Major League debut with. After being out of baseball for three seasons because of his drug addiction, Josh came back in 2006 and played in 15 games in the New York Penn League. He hit .260 with 3 doubles and 5 RBI. He must have shown signs that he was ready to break out because the Cubs picked him up in the Rule V Draft and promptly sold him to the Reds.

His time in Cincinnati lasted just one season. That year, he got into 90 games and hit .292 with 19 home runs and 47 RBI. That is really good considering that the highest level of baseball before that was 23 games of AA ball six years prior. After that season, the Reds shipped him to the Rangers for Edinson Volquez and another pitcher. Josh went off in the home run derby that next season and has pretty much been a household name ever since.

I got to see Josh play one time with the Reds. It was at Wrigley Field and Josh pinch hit in the eighth inning of a tied game. He hit a two run home run to propel the Reds to a win. It was pretty awesome. I have seen him play nine more times since then and have seen two more home runs. But, that first one, as a Red, was the most memorable.

2007 Topps, Ned Yost

#617 Ned Yost

Here is a quick pre-Thanksgiving post of the manager of the 2015 World Series Champions, Kansas City Royals. This is the first card of a member of the team that I have posted since they won it all last month. My wife got this card signed by Ned prior to a Spring Training game in 2013. I have only been to two Royals Spring Training games, but Ned signed for a ton of fans at both games.

I believe that this is the fifth card of Ned that I have posted on here. I posted three cards of him as a player and then posted a manager card of him this past spring. When I posted that card, I commented that I did not realize at the time that I was getting that card signed by the manager of the next American League champs. I am still floored that they won the Series this year. Ned has always baffled me with the way he has used his bullpen, but he finally figured out the HDH scenario last year, Herrera to Davis to Holland. That formula faltered this year when Holland struggled and eventually needed Tommy John surgery. But Ned pieced it together and, while it wasn't as steadfast as HDH, he was able to make it work. It helped a bunch that he had Wade Davis in his pen kill any potential rallies.

On the last card of Ned I posted, I talked about his managerial career in Milwaukee. Even though he is still a Brewer on this card, I am going to talk about his tenure with the Royals. And all I have to say about that is that Ned is the club's winningest manager. His 468 wins tops Whitey Herzog by 58. I still cannot believe that fact. I know Ned has a couple of seasons on Whitey and a losing record (which should not be that way after next year), but I still have a hard time coming to grips with him being the franchise leader. That could be because I have been a Royals fan since 2000 and they have pretty much sucked that entire time until lately. Success has been for me to adjust to, apparently.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

2007 Topps, Sam Perlozzo

#608 Sam Perlozzo

Here is the second of two cards that Sam Perlozzo signed for me outside of Kauffman Stadium in 2008. Sam was the third base coach for the Mariners at the time and he signed for me after arriving at the ballpark with three other members of the coaching staff. I posted the first card that he signed in 2012 and that one can be seen here.

Sam managed the O's for parts of three seasons. He got the job in 2005 after replacing Lee Mazzilli. Sam lead the club to a 23-32 record down the stretch and they finished 74-88. 2006 was his only full season as a Major League manager and the team went 70-92 that season, finishing fourth in the AL East. In 2007, the Orioles started out 29-40 before Sam got the ax. He was replaced by Dave Trembley who went 40-53 over the remainder of the season.

Sam was the Mariners third base coach for just the 2008 season. He moved on to the Phillies in 2009 and worked as a base coach for them before being dismissed after the 2012 season.

I think it is strange that the manager cards from 2007 Topps lack that facsimile signature that all of the rest of the cards from the set have. Topps did the same thing in 2008, as well. I have no idea why that it the case, but they sure do work better for autographs without it on there. Luckily, Topps has not done that since the 2008 set.