3 On Card Autos: Baseball Outside of Anaheim

It started over at Dinged Corners and has since spread like wildfire through the card blogging world. The question they posed, "What are your 3 favorite on card autographs?". I was intrigued immediately, but realized right away, I'd never be able to narrow to just 3. So, being the rule breaker that I am, I decided to break mine into categories. My 4 categories: Angels autos, Baseball outside of Anaheim, Football and non-sports.

Today: Baseball Outside of Anaheim

I know it's hard to believe, but they do play baseball outside of Anaheim and over the years I've liked and respected a number of players who never donned the Halo.

1. Kirby Puckett

This card is one of my favorites for a number of reasons. The 1985 Topps Puckett was one of the first big rookie cards I ever got my hands on in my early days of collecting. It's almost impossible for a young kid to not be won over by a chubby guy named Kirby and when he ends up being an extremely exciting player at bat and in the field, you've got a perfect combination. This actual card is of course a reprint from the 2001 Topps Archives release and features a huge autograph from Kirby. This autograph couldn't be a better match to the man. Large, bold and rounded.

2. Bip Roberts

Readers of this gutty, little blog are well aware of my infatuation with Leon "Bip" Roberts. This card was sent to me by Rob of Padrographs and instantly became one of my favorites. Before Rod, I was Bipless in the autograph department, but thanks to his generosity I now have 2. Bold signature - Check. Hat placed lazily atop head - Check. The grin of a young man who knows he's destined for greatness - Check. What's not to love?

3. Ken Griffey Jr.

This card will get a more proper treatment in the near future, but I couldn't just ignore this card when it comes to favorite on card autographs. As you might be able to tell by the monolithic encasement, this card is my holy grail. At the age of 12 my father took me to my first baseball card show in Anaheim and the headliners doing the signing were Ken Griffey Jr. and his father. I had no interest in Sr., sorry to the old-timers, but he wasn't even on my radar. For me it was all about The Kid. This card went from Ken's hand, to mine and within minutes into this monstrosity of a case. Ever since that moment I've been paralyzed by fear every time I've even considered removing it. Because of the case, the scan is horrible, but trust me, this card is as good as it gets.


And so ends my on card autograph journey. Thanks to the ladies of Dinged Corners for making this all a reality with their fabulous idea.

Go Halos!

Halos From a Friar

With only a couple of days to go until I head off for a family vacation, I’ve got to kick the lazy habit for at least a few days and get some writing done. What better to inspire me than the kindness of other bloggers. Over the last few days I have been the very fortunate recipient of some great cards.

Today’s cards come from Rod of Padrographs. This is the second package that Rod has sent me and as always the card choices are well thought out. Rod is extremely generous and his packages are always filled with fun. This one included a postcard that scared the crap out of my daughter and a book survey/questionnaire/autograph holder that I completely misread and thus flubbed. My students would be thrilled. So here’s a small sampling of what the man sent along.

First up from the faithful Friar fan, a few 2009 Upper Deck cards. I chose these two to show off, because they both deserve a little love.

Mike Napoli


Naps is having a great offensive season, splitting time as the DH and catcher. You gotta love Napoli because he rarely has his jersey buttoned above the first three buttons and just looks like an 80s power hitter. Love his offense, wish some of it would rub off on Jeff Mathis, he of the better defense, but toothpick bat.

Kendry Morales


Much of the Haloverse was up in arms when Mark Teixeira bolted for the cash. I had a feeling from day one that he would be headed to the highest bidder, so even last August I was thinking about our future replacements. I’m a big Kendry Morales fan. Kendry hasn’t hit for a great average this year, although he’s hovering around .280. What’s been nice is that his power is definitely coming around and he’s on pace to hit somewhere in the high 20s. Not bad for a guy getting his first real run in the majors. And while few if any first baggers pick it like Tex, he’s been pretty steady in the field.

Next up, a current Halo, making his way back from injury.
Vladdy.


Vlad’s struggles the last couple of years can be frustrating, but when he’s on, there’s very few players that are easier to root for. When Vlad finally busted out of a slump last week, hitting his second home run of the season, he entered the dugout to no fanfare. Instead, every player and coach was sitting quietly on the bench. Vlad proceeded to head right down the aisle towards the clubhouse, cracking all of his teammates up as they chased after him. He returned to smiles, backslaps and camaraderie. Gotta love baseball.

From the current right field sensation, to the old right field sensation.
Timmy Salmon.


I never get tired of receiving Salmon cards in trades, etc. Salmon became the biggest of Angel stars during a time when I had quit collecting, so I’m seriously deficient in the cardboard of Mr. Salmon. For Angel fans, Salmon could do no wrong and it’s just enjoyable to have a player in your team’s history who never played for anyone else and never brought any kind of shame or shadiness to the team.

Going back a little further, just an 18-time all-star, no biggie.
Rod Carew.


1. This photo is just perfect for the card.
2. All of Rod’s career stats are on the back. Love it.

Now, it’s not a package from Rod if it doesn’t include some Padres, but they do serve a purpose.

Mike Scioscia


When looking at Scioscia’s career, it’s easy to remember his days as a gritty catcher with the Dodgers, or as the World Series winning manager of the Angels, but it’s about time Mike gets some love for his time with the Pads. Well, maybe not. The photo on this card is one of the few featuring Mike during his Padre days, as he tore his rotator cuff in spring training and never played with the Pads.

And of course, the highlight of any Rod package for me are the Bips!

Shiny Bip.


What’s shinier than this card? Only the infamous Bip smile. You gotta love this guy.

Tiny Bip.


On the right, regular sized Bip. On the left, tiny 1991 Cracker Jack Bip. This card is ridiculously small and is without a doubt in my top 5 favorite Bip cards of all-time.

Autographed Bip.


Just freaking sweet. Any cardboard featuring Bip is awesome, but a piece signed and touched by the man himself…LOVE IT!

Thanks a ton Rod. This package came out of nowhere and I’m thrilled to add all the cards to my collection. While I’m somewhat hard on the Pads, I do appreciate their shutting down the Rangers twice this weekend and helping my Halos get back into first. I guess the Pads do have a few redeeming aspects.

Go Halos!

Fun With 95 SP: The Conclusion

What better place to start the conclusion of "Fun With 95 SP" than with the Cardboard God, Bip Roberts.

Once again, Bip shows off what makes him a legend. SUre, he could have mailed it in with just the million dollar smile, but he took it to another level by pulling off the ball balancing on a bat act.

But did Bip's presence end there? Of course not.

Bip showed up on a regular season card sliding back into first...


And from a spring training game trying to break up the double play. Props to Vinny Castilla on the athleticism.

If you think seeing Vinny Castilla jumping in the air seems a little out of place, this will make your jaw drop

Jim Thome looking like a skinny second baseman levitating in the middle of the Oakland infield. Definitely worth a double take.

Hairstyles also played a prominent role in 95 SP, we've already seen Will Clark and his combover, but we also have the stylings of Sammy.

Apparently Mr. Sosa had swimmer's ear, or maybe a tick that needed to be checked out. Digging the racing stripe down the side.


Mark Portugal showing off the mid 90s mullet.


Not to be outdone by the famous ginger mullet of some guy who seems to have disappeared from baseball all together. You gotta wonder if Will Clark was more interested in getting some juice to prolong his career or some hair styling tips.

Finally, the winner for Best Mullet in a 1995 baseball card set goes to...well let's him come on out and show it off to you.

As Juan prances in from the outfield, he lets us all know the source of his strength. It's nothing from the locker of Mr. Canseco, instead it's all about the locks.

If we're going to give Juan an award for that hair, how about an award for the most awkward card of 95 SP.

Director's chair on baseball field...check.
Pasty white skin accented by sleeveless shirt...check.
Odd expression from Mr. Nevin...check.
Officially awkward.


It's not often that you get a good run down captured on cardboard, however I'm more interested in the fact that the catcher has made his way out to the infield, displaying just how intense of a run down this was.

Random Oddities:

Ray Lankford, #1 Fave 4 Cardinal and aspiring gymnast.


The awful gray hats of the Baltimore Orioles. You will only find evidence of these caps on a few cards out there.


1st oddity, a time when Pedro Martinez needed the J. to help in identifying himself.
2nd oddity, Pedro is taking a vicious hack.


No one loves their fat guys quite like I do, but I really don't think Kirby should have been throwing himself around like this in a spring training game.

Finally, we take a look at the rookies of 95 SP. A chance for me to realize just how old I've become.


Yup, there was a time when Edgardo Alfonzo was a bright young rookie making his way onto the scene and not a washed up hitter barely holding on.


Nomo-mania!


I just figures Grudz began his career as a 6 year veteran.


Seriously, this guy was young once.


Even as a rookie Tony Clark looked like he was 40.

And thus ends our look back at the wackiness that was 95 SP. Feel free to look here, here and here for more of the fun. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

Go Halos!

Fave 4: Cincinnati Reds

There's something about the Reds that I just like. I wouldn't consider myself a Reds fan in the traditional sense. I don't live and die with their wins and losses and I don't fret about the moves the club makes, but I just really seem to enjoy the team. For a lot of clubs, I'll have a year or two sprinkled in where I follow them a little bit closer or come across a player that I really enjoy watching, but the Reds are somewhat different.

Since as far back as I can remember, I've enjoyed the Reds a great deal. Maybe it's the cool logo of a ball man with a mustache, the bright Red unis, or just the procession of players that have put on the red leggings. Either way, I'm as close to a Reds fan as one can be without actually being a real fan. If that makes any sense.

1. Barry Larkin

I'll never be able to do justice to Barry Larkin in the way that this man can. But I'll give it a shot. Barry was one of the smoothest shortstops that I ever saw play the game. He was a 30-30 shortstop without the aid of steroids, at a time when that seemed virtually impossible. Look at the man's wrists for god's sake.

Yup, he's got his own face on his sweatbands. It gets no more gangsta than that. In 1990, no one was giving the Reds a chance against the dominant A's in the World Series, but thanks to Barry and some other fellas, the Reds not only won, but swept the World Series.

The man was special. Plus I had a sweet barry Larkin model baseball glove. Take that.

2. Brandon Phillips

Barry larkin is a clear number one for me, but Brandon Phillips is threatening. I love the way this kid plays baseball. His 2007 season was severely underrated, mainly because it was unseen by most of us. He fell of a little last year and this year's start hasn't been too great, but the man has swagger. Hopefully he can step it up and show that my man crush is well-founded. How many other second baseman have won a gold glove with their hats tipped sideways? Get this man some wristbands with his face on them.


3. Eric Davis

If you've ever played wiffle ball then you know the magic of Eric Davis. Everyone of us wiffle ball players has gone into the Eric Davis stance, dipped the bat down and then unleashed fury. Eric Davis was probably the first baseball player I was truly in awe of. The man hit 37 home runs in one season and stole 80 bases in another. He was just a physical freak who unfortunately couldn't stay off the DL. The 1990 World Series in the perfect snapshot of Eric's career, a home run in his first at bat and a lacerated lung diving for a ball.


4. Billy Hatcher

A .750 average in the World Series. .750!! Next highest, Babe freaking Ruth. I first started to like Billy Hatcher when he was with the Astros and he was a fairly unknown player. That's what made his performance in the 1990 World Series so much more special to me. I felt like here was a guy I knew about and no one else did and he was absolutely killing it. The only thing that kept him from an MVP award for the series was a certain pitcher on the honorable mentions list.

Honorable Mentions:

Jose Rijo

In his only World Series, Rijo was flatout dominant against his former team. I was convinced he was the greatest pitcher alive during that series. Even now when I look back at his career statistics I'm always underwhelmed. He was good throughout his career, but never as dominant as he was during that series.

Chris Sabo

If you collected baseball cards during 1988, you were obsessed with Spuds. One of the first real baseball card phenoms from my youth. His career never lived up to the hype, but how could you hate on a guy wearing Rec Specs?

Rob Dibble

of all the Nasty Boys, Dibble was the one who really intrigued me. The man's temper was legendary and I loved that it seemed like he was going to throttle someone every time he gave up a hit.

Aaron Harang

He's a San Diego State Aztec. What more needs to be said. Well, he's a horse. He dominated for my fantasy team a couple of years back and he got absolutely screwed in the NL Cy Young voting in 2006.

Bip Roberts

Bip is my man, that goes without saying. I made the decision to put him on the Padres list, so unfortunately he had to be left off the Reds list. Needless to say, the man is a legend and deserves to be number one on the list of every team he played for.


Baseball needs the Reds to be succesful. I need the Reds to be succesful. There's just something that makes baseball better when the Reds are in contention. Unfortunately, that may be years away.

Go Halos!

Fave 4: San Diego Padres

The Padres seem destined to be a team known more for the talent they produced and lost than the talent out on the field. When trying to come up with my favorites for the Pads it became clear that I don't identify that many players as being purely Padres. This is true for almost every team, as free agency has made every team a mish-mash of parts, but the Padres take it to another level. So missing from this list are guys like Roberto Alomar, Fred McGriff, John Kruk, Joe Carter, Tony Fernandez, and Sandy Alomar Jr.

A couple of my first little league teams in Texas were named the Padres, so from an early age, I've always followed the boys from San Diego. In an odd twist of fate or maybe just a coincidence, I ended up attending college in San Diego and still find myself living in the area today. SO the Padres, despite my misgivings, have become a bit of a home team to me. Although I rarely root for them, I do find that I see about as many padre games as I do any team other than the Angels. So this is my look at the guys who've become a part of my favorite Padres, no matter how hard I might have tried to avoid it.

1. Bip Roberts

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you may be aware that I have a bit of an obsession with Mr. Leon Roberts aka Bip. So you would think he would be a no-brainer as my number 1 Padre, but I struggled with just where to put him. In the end, the Padres edged out the Reds because San Diego is where I first witnessed the greatness of Bip and of course there's the card below. That pretty much cemented it.
For more on the genius of Bip, click here, here or here.


2. Tony Gwynn

Mr. Padre. I'm sure that on 99 out of 100 Padres fan's lists he'd be #1, but for this guy he's a run away #2. Gwynn was one of the great singles hitters of all-time and I remember spending many hours reading Tony Gwynn's Total Baseball Player. A serious bonus to Tony for being my alma mater's best baseball player of all-time, one of the best basketball players of all-time and the current head coach of the team.

3. Benito Santiago

If you grew up during Benito's formative years in the majors, you had to be obsessed with the way that Benito would throw out runners from his knees. My friends and I would spend half the afternoon just trying to throw each out by doing this. Inevitably the majority of our throws sailed into center field or bounced in front of the pitching mound, but that only made the arm of Benito even more awesome!

4. Jake Peavy

One of the main reason to watch a Padre game these days is the opportunity to see Peavy on the hill. He is one of the best pitchers today and is certainly not getting the exposure he deserves because he's on the West Coast in San Diego. I was really hoping Peavy would be traded to the Angels this off-season and maybe with any luck it'll still happen as we near the All-Star break. Of course the Pads will need to start losing a few more games.

Honorable Mentions:

Adrian Gonzalez

If Peavy is the reason to watch the Padres on defense, Gonzalez is the reason to watch them on offense. It makes no sense for a team to give him any pitches to hit, but he makes the most of his opportunities and continues to rake, even in Petco.

Carmelo Martinez

From one Latin first basemen to another. I can't even tell you why I'm a Carmelo fan, but I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the name Carmelo and my love of Caramello candy bars.

Andy Benes

Benes looked huge out on the mound. As the first overall pick in the 1988 draft, Benes was one of the first "prospects" that I was infatuated with as a young kid.

Josh Barfield

I really thought this guy was going to be a solid second baseman for a decade with the Pads. He's never been able to live up to his promise and hype, but I still look back fondly on his rookie campaign.

Quilvio Veras

Another guy that I can't quite put my finger on why I like him so much. He was a key, although minor, part in the 1998 NL championship squad. He always seemed to be diving for a ball up the middle or in the hole, and often making the play.

So after much delay, the Fave 4 Padres have finally made their appearance. I probably should have just traded this list away to another blogger for a few other quality posts, but chances are in true Padres spirit I would have received something promising that I would have bungled or traded away a few weeks from now.

Go Halos!