1996 Ultra, Scott Livingstone

#560 Scott Livingstone

I started out my 1996s with a Padrograph and I am going to end it with one as well.

This one features Scott Livingstone. Scott had a eight-year Major League career with the Tigers, Padres, Cardinals, and Expos. He was originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the sixth round in 1984, but he decided to go to Texas A&M instead. The Yankees drafted him in the twenty-sixth round two years later, but he still didn't sign. The A's took their chance in the third round the following year without any luck. Finally, in 1988, the Tigers drafted him in the second round and signed him.

Scott hit .281 as a big-leaguer, but his power numbers weren't there. Luckily, I got to see him play one time in a game that I will never forget.

The game was in 1996 in Denver Colorado while Scott was still a Padre. San Diego jumped to a quick lead early in the game and had a nice 9-2 lead after the top of the seventh. Then the skies opened up and it poured for a good thirty to fourty minutes. The field was drenched and I didn't think that there was any way that they were going to finish the game. Luckily, the game was at the year and a half old Coors Field which had a very good drainage system.

When the game restarted, many people had left. So we moved up from the Rock Pile to the left field bleachers to watch the remainder of the game. I wish I would have had a camera then because we were sitting pretty close to Ricky Henderson.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Rockies managed to put 11 runs on the board off of five different Padre relievers. The best part about it was how they did it. The first batter of the inning grounded out. Then, it went HBP, single, single, single, walk, single, double, intentional walk. By this point, the Rockies have scored five runs to make the score 9-7 San Diego. Plus, they have the bases loaded. Vinny Castilla is up and he is the only batter to make an out that inning so far. Vinny hits the first pitch he sees for a grand slam and gives the Rockies an 11-9 lead. They tack on two more in the inning for a 13-9 lead. But, what does this have to do with Scott Livingstone?

Well, Scott ended up pinch hitting in the top of the ninth. He had two on with one out and was down in the count 1-2 when he hit a home run to make it a one-run ballgame. Rickey got a single after him, but the next batter hit into a game-ending double play. Final score was 13-12 Colorado. That was only the second Major League ballgame that I had been to and it is one that I will never forget.

To this day, Scott and Jeff Blauser are the only two players that I have seen for only one at-bat and have hit a home run.

1996 Topps, Chris Hoiles

#191 Chris Hoiles

This is the final card that I got signed at the Orioles alumni signing at Camden Yards in September. Joe Orsulak and Ken Dixon were the other two alums that signed that day. Just like those two, this card was provided to me by Ryan of the Great Orioles Autograph Project. He had a few Hoiles cards to choose from and I picked this one because I didn't think I had a card from this set signed. I guess that I forgot about the Eisenreich card I posted yesterday.

Chris had a pretty good ten-year career, all with the O's. He was a career .262 hitter that slugged 151 home runs including a career high of 29 in 1993. According to Wikipedia, Chris is the only player to ever hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, a 3-2 count, and down by three. That is pretty cool. He even had a two grand slam game a couple of years later. He finished with eight grand slams for his career.

Chris managed the York Revolution for two and a half years. He stepped down during this past season. Paul, from Paul's Random Stuff, was going to try to get a card signed for me, but Chris left the team before that could come about. So, I was pretty happy that Chris was present at the alumni signing.

This is an interesting looking Topps set. It could have been a little better if a different picture was used by the name. Just cropping a picture of the face on the main picture doesn't quite do it for me. I'm glad that they didn't do that on their '83 or '84 set.

1996 Topps, Jim Eisenrreich

#66 Jim Eisenriech

This is the third and final Jim Eisenreich card that I got signed at last years Royals Fanfest. You can see the first one here and the second one here. The first two were Royals cards. So, I had to mix it up a bit with a Phillies card.

Prior to that Fanfest, I had two Eisenreich autographs and neither one was on a card. Here is the first one that I got.



This is a roster from a Dodger-Cardinal game that I attended in 1998. I realize that it is upside down, but that is the way that it is signed. Jim's signature is on the right. I'm not positively sure who signed the other side, but my guess is Wilton Guerrero. You can see that Jim's signature changed slightly since 1998.

Here is the other autograph that I had from him.



This is a picture that I took of Jim signing autographs at the Dodger-Cardinal game. I got this 8x10 signed at the Turkey Bowl in 2003. Jim told the other players around him that this was one of the rare photos of him as a Dodger since he didn't play too much with them. The signature is kind of hard to make out over the jersey, but that is the way it goes sometimes. It is still a neat piece of memorabilia.

1996 Signature Rookies Autobilia, Johnny Damon

#B4 Johnny Damon

First off, I don't know too much about this card. It is a preview card for a set that never came out. I can't even remember which set I got it out of. It might have been from the Autobilia football cards that Signature Rookies defaulted on. I can't even find this card on Beckett.com. There were a few more preview cards, but the only other one I remember is A-Rod. But, I think that it is a good looking card. If nothing else, it is original.

I got this card signed at a Royals Caravan appearance at the mall when I was in high school. Johnny was there with Micheal Tucker. That was probably the best caravan I attended until 2008. They usually had some rookies signing prior to that, but it was more like Kevin Koslofski than anyone that would be around for awhile.

I wish that I would have had him sign another card for me. But, this was the only card I took. I bought a pennent there and had him and Tucker sign that. I still have that. I may have a signed Royals-issued photo, too. I'm not sure if I grabbed one of those or not.

I first became a Royals fan in college when I realized I only had to drive an hour and forty-five minutes to get to the ballpark. That was in 2000 and the Royals had the best offense in team history. Unfortunately, their pitching was horrible. The outfield consisted of Damon, Carlos Beltran, and Jermaine Dye while Joe Randa and Mike Sweeney were the main guys in the infield. That was a fun ballclub. You could pretty much expect a 9-7 game every night.

Here is a picture of Johnny from photo day that year.

1996 Score, Marc Kroon

#498 Marc Kroon

This is the third Padrograph of the week and the second Marc. If you have never heard of Marc Kroon, don't feel bad. He never had much Major League success.

He pitched in 16 games for the Padres between 1995 and 1998. In limited work, he had an ERA of 6.46. The Padres traded him to Cincinnati during the '98 season and in 5.33 innings with them, he gave up 8 earned runs. He wouldn't appear in the Majors again until the Rockies gave him a chance in 2004. It was more of the same with them.

For some reason, I cannot find any stats for him between the 2000 and 2004. He was signed by Anaheim during the 2003 season, but he has no stats. Either he was hurt for an extended period of time or maybe he pitched in Korea. I have no idea.

Anyway, after his failed endeavor with the Rockies, he headed over to Japan and has been a dominant closer over there. In 2008, with the Yomiuri Giants, he led the Central league in saves with 41. He even has his own website. Unfortunately, it is partly in Japanese. But, if you have some spare time, make sure to listen to his rap about himself during the intro. It's classic! Also, he makes a big deal about pitching 161 kph. I am assuming that is fast, but I'm too lazy to figure it out on Thanksgiving.

"K, to the R, to the O-O-N"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

1996 Score, Derek Jeter

#384 Derek Jeter

Here is another great through the mail success that I had in the mid-90s. By this point in my life, I was over half-way through high school and hardly bought any cards, let alone sent them off. But every now and then, that little kid in me would send off a few TTMs. This is one that I am glad that I sent off. I just wish that I would have sent a card without starry night on it.

For most of my childhood, the Yankees were bad. They weren't Evil Empire bad, they were just bad at being competitive. So I had no reason to dislike the Yankees. What is the point in not liking a bad team? But, strangely, prior to getting back into autographs in 2008, I only had three signed Yankee cards from my school days. There is this one, J.T. Snow (that was probably signed when he was an Angel), and a Sam Militello Jr. minor league card. I had many more signed Royals cards (in-person and TTM) and I could not stand them growing up. But, I guess the reason for this is because the Yankees were pretty awful there for a few years. Besides Don Mattingly (who didn't sign TTM), they didn't have a whole lot of players I felt like writing to.

Enter Derek Jeter.

Obviously, the Yankees have been a different team the last decade and a half than they were the prior decade. Much of that revolves around Derek Jeter, the future Hall of Famer and 3,000 hit club member (he's only 253 hits away). While I can't stand the Yankees, and am in no way, shape, or form a Jeter fan, I certainly appreciate what he brings to the table and the professionalism with which he does it. The guy truly seems like a class-act.

This just goes to show you why it pays to write to the younger players. They get less fan mail than the established players and are more likely to sign. While you may get a bunch of autographs from guys that never make a name for themselves, every once in a while you may get a future ten-time All Star. You just never know.

1996 Score, Andy Ashby

#216 Andy Ashby

Here is another Padrograph from Rod. This one features the two-time All Star, Andy Ashby.

Andy pitched for 14 seasons with five teams- the Phillies, Rockies, Padres, Braves, and Dodgers. I don't remember much about him. In fact, when I started this post, I had it titled as "Andy Benes". In 1998, he was 17-9 with the Padres and he had a 3.34 ERA and struck out a career high 151. He made his first All-Star appearance that year and he also helped take the Padres to the World Series. He made another All Star appearance the following year. Then, the Padres decided to sell high and they traded Andy to the Phillies.

For Philly, Andy went 4-7 with a 5.68 ERA in 16 starts. The Phils then flipped him to the Braves prior to the trading deadline and he went 8-6 with a 4.13 ERA down the stretch. He made two relief appearances during the NLDS that year. That would he his final post-season experience.

He then signed a three year/ 20+ million dollar contract with the Dodgers and made two starts in the first year of the deal (and no relief appearances). He made 30 starts the next year and went 9-13 with a 3.91 ERA. His finished his Dodger tenure the next year with 21 appearances (12 starts) and a 5.18 ERA. He signed with the Padres after the season and made two relief appearances for them before shutting it down. He made two minor league starts the following year before deciding to call it a career.

Andy has an interesting signature. It is hard to make out on this card. But, if you click on his name at the top of the post, you can see the one that the Baseball Almanac has.