1971

With only two full seasons as a major league team under their belts the Padres still sucked. They would lose over 100 games for the third straight year. I have three copies of this card signed, one for the year by year history of the Padres, one for the cards of Padres, and one in my collection of guys named Rod. Rod was traded to the Padres after the 1970 season, so I am sure that the picture is either airbrushed or in a Mets uniform. Rod was a member of the Miracle Mets of 1969. Arnholt Smith was still the owner, Preston Gomez was the manager and Duke Snider was the lead announcer on both television and radio.

Robbie Beckett

Robbie Beckett was a first round (25th pick) of the 1990 amateur draft by the Padres. He got as far as AAA with the Padres. In March of 1996 the Padres waived him and he was picked up by the Marlins, just a month later he was picked up off waivers by the Rockies. He made his major league debut in September of 1996, and pitched in 5 games and then in 1997 he pitched in 2 games for Colorado. He had a record of 0-0 and an 11.57 ERA. He played in the minors for 8 seasons between 92-99 for the Padres, Colorado and Los Angeles reaching AAA with all three organizations, he had a 28-41 record during that time in minors. I got the card from Autographed Baseball Cards Unlimited in Gilbert, AZ

End of the Month oddidty

I have a friend who is a former Marine who is a friend of my father-in-law. Harry Moss used to be stationed in Southern California and the family lived in Fallbrook, CA and lived near Duke Snider. One of Harrys' daughter played volleyball in high school and one of her coaches was Donna Snider. Harry knew Duke was a Hall of Famer and they had become friends, so Harry asked for an autograph. He didn't want it on a baseball and wanted something different. Duke said he had signed a couple of gloves, a few bases, a lot of bat, balls and cards, but had never signed a volleyball. Besides Dukes' signature Donna Sniders' name is also on the volleyball. I can't find a good way to display this. Has anyone out there ever seen Dukes' signature on a volleyball before.

I think that on the end of the month I will do an odd autograph from my collection. Next month will be an autograph from Mike Hargrove that involves a Marvel Superhero. What is the oddest thing you have signed?

Glenn Beckert

Glenns' 1974 Topps card isn't really a Padres card, but it is a strange card. Before the '74 season C. Arnholt Smith was going to sell the team and there was a chance that a group was going to move the team to Washington so some of the team cards are titled, Washington Nat'l Lea. Plus to top it off Beckert is shown in a Cubs uniform since he was traded during the offseason.

Beckert was signed by the Red Sox as an amateur free agent before the 1962 season. Then he was drafted by the Cubs from the Bosox in the first year draft. He played ten seasons for the Cubs and then was traded to the Padres with Bobby Fenwick for Jerry Morales. He played his final game April 28, 1975 and was released by the Padres the next day.

I purchased the 1975 Topps signed card from ABC limited in Arizona.

Rod "Shooter" Beck

Rod Beck was a formidable presence on the mound bent over, arm swinging, glaring at the batter, with that big old fu manchu. He and Goose convinced me that I should grow one so I had one, back when my beard and stache were black instead of the white they are now. Rod has two spots in my collection, one in the cards of guys named Rod (that I forgot I had until just now) and in Padrographs.

Rod Beck was drafted by the A's in the 13th round of the 1986 draft. In 1988 he was traded to the Giants for Charlie Corbell, and made his major league debut in 1991 with the Giants. He pitched for 6 seasons with the Giants until they granted him Free Agency in 1997. In '98 he signed with the Cubbies and pitched a season and a half in the friendly confines before being traded to the BoSox in 1999. He was traded to Boston for Mark Guthrie and Cole Liniak. After pitching two and a half seasons at Fenway he was again granted free agency in '01. In 2002 he was signed by the Cubs after having Tommy John surgery, he pitched at their AAA affiliate and lived in a Winnebago behind the stadium. In 2003 and '04 he pitched for the Padres at one point filling in for Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman (cue either AC/DC or Padres fans crying, your choice).

I mailed several cards to Rod Beck after he played for the Padres, I don't remember where I sent this one. I told him how he was in two parts of my collection and that we shared the same first name, Rodney. I told him I was named for my grandpa and asked him who he was named for, he didn't answer that particular question but I do believe that he signed his full first name. I sent him the odd colored sharpie that he signed. I know a lot of collectors believe that cards should only be signed in blue or black, but I am strange I like a lot of colors in my collection. Rod Beck was found dead in his home in Phoenix, AZ, he was 38. He was buried in his Cubs uniform.

Kevin Beavers

Kevin Beavers played three seasons in the Padres minor league system and then retired at age 24. He played at Idaho Falls and Eugene in 2002, then at Fort Wayne and Lake Elsinore in 2003 and again at Lake Elsinore in 2004. I think this picture was taken at the Padres complex in Peoria, I know John Knott and Omar Falcon are also pictured in front of this wall on their first year cards. I got this card from ABC Limited a great card company in Gilbert, AZ. I got a lot of my initial collection from Brian, he always has a great selection of cards.

Billy Bean

This was one of the most difficult autos I have ever obtained through the mail. I had mailed requests to Mr. Bean using addresses through Smallings' and Musselmans'list. I read his book and wrote to his publisher, then I found a way to email him and emailed and explained that I was a Padres collector and was only getting the auto for myself, telling him how extensive my collection was. He emailed me and told me that he would sign it for me. I sent him the card, the sharpie and the self addressed stamped envelope and he signed it and here it is.

Billy was drafted by the Yankees in '85 in the 24th round but did not sign. He was drafted by the Tigers in the 4th round of the '86 draft. He made his major league debut the following year with the Tigers. In 1989 the Tigers traded Billy to the Dodgers for Domingo Michel and Steve Green. He played in 51 games with the Dodgers and then in '91 was drafted by the Angels in the minor league draft. He was released by the Angels in '92 and signed as a free agent by the Angels. In '92 he played for the Kinetsu Buffaloes in Japan. Later in 1992 he was signed as a free agent by the Padres and played three seasons in San Diego.

Trey Beamon

Trey Beamon was drafted in 1992 by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2nd round of the draft. He made his debut in 1996 and played in 24 games. In March of 1997 the Pirates traded him with Angelo Encarcion to the Padres for Mark Smith and Hal Garrett. He played 40 games in the outfield for the Padres batting .277. In November of '97 the Padres traded him to the Tigers with Tim Worell for Dan Miceli, Donne Wall and Ryan Balfe. After a season in Detroit Trey was released and has since played in the minors and in several independent leagues. He was a United League Baseball All Star in 2006. I got the Donruss Signature card from a dealer on ebay.

Buzzy Bavasi

Emil Joseph Bavasi was nicknamed Buzzie because as a child he was always buzzing around, so his sister began calling him Buzzie and it stuck. He was involved in 3 franchises from the 1940's to the 80's. During the 40's he was involved with Branch Rickey in integrating the minor leagues prior to Jackie Robinson breaking the color line. He was responsible for locating teams in cities where integration wouldn't be as much of a problem. He was with the Dodgers at the major league level from 1951-1968 as the General Manager. He left the Dodgers after the '68 season to become President and part owner of the 1969 expansion team the San Diego Padres. He was with the them until 1984. He passed away in May of 2008 at his home in La Jolla, CA.
The card is part of a team issued set of schedule cards that were issued in 1977, with each card containing the schedule on the back. I think I sent this to Bavasi a couple of years ago, but I could have got it off ebay.

Who, what and why? Blog Bat Around

I have been reading blogs called blog bat around that multiple bloggers have been writing about how they came to be collectors and what they collect. I thought that I would try also.

The first time I remember cards entering my thoughts was 1967 Topps. We moved every two years, because my Dad was in the US Navy, and we lived all over. That year we lived in Norfolk, Virginia, I was 10 years old and it was the first year we lived close enough to a store that my parents would let me go by myself. I remember buying comics for 10 cents each or three for a dollar, and I remember buying cards and trading a few of them and putting some in my bicycle spokes. I don't remember keeping any of them, we moved again to Los Angeles where I attended my first major league game, the Dodgers and Braves. We lived there for 2 years before moving to the middle of nowhere in Northern California, a Navy base in the middle of a 400 acre cattle ranch. I followed baseball through my uncle, who drove Bert Campaneris in the A's victory parades in the early 70's. I went to high school in Eugene, Oregon and in my sophmore year the brother of one of my classmates was drafted by the Padres. Jill Roberts was a year ahead of me when her brother Dave Roberts was drafted from the University of Oregon. That is when I started following the Padres. I attended my first Padres game while I was attending Navy boot camp in San Diego. I remember watching Willie McCovey play first base for the team. I followed baseball sparingly during the next few years and got out of the Navy in 1979. I had several jobs after I got out of the Navy, and then in 1985 I was working at Waldenbooks and we ran a promotion that if you bought a baseball book you got a pack of 1985 Topps. They were cellophane wrapped and they came in vending boxes. At the end of the promotion we had four or five of the vending boxes left. The manager let me have them I took them to the local card shop and traded them for some Padres cards. I don't remember exactly what, but at that point I decided to become a team collector. I started trying to put together team sets from all the manufacturers. Luckily since the Padres hadn't only been around that long I didn't have to chase too many expensive cards, although I never did get the Dave Hilton '73 Rookie card. First one to tell me who is on the card with him will recieve two certified Padres autograph cards. I remember dropping an entire IRS refund check on Padres cards, and getting in major trouble with my wife. In 1990 I started working in one of two major card shops in Portland, I worked there for five years and then moved to the other major shop in the town. This made it easy to get the cards, but the card companies, started with the parallel nonsense. Since there were now so many cards to get I stopped being a team collector and started being a player collector. I picked about ten players and was trying to get all the cards of those players, Joey Cora it was easy to get all his cards, Kruk and Flann were also easy, but Gwynn, Gossage, Garvey it was hard to get all the cards of them. So I went down to just two players Tony Gwynn and Tim Flannery, and they both retired so I thought I was done, but no the card companies kept making more and more cards of Tony. So I stopped trying to get all the cards of Tony and just got the cards I really liked. I worked until 1997 in the card shop and then I went back to college when I was 36, (go when you are young it's easier). I was working full time, going to school full time, and being a husband and father so cards kind of got put on the back burner. After I graduated from Portland State University I got back into collecting and had to decide what I wanted to collect. I had some autographed cards of the Padres from before college, I put them all together and decided that I was going to try and get a signed card from everyone who had been pictured on a Padres card. I started buying lots on ebay and found a reputable company in Arizona, ABC Unlimited that I bought cards from, also from Jack Smalling. I got Smallings book and Harvey Musselmans' list and started sending out autograph request. I have got to meet some of the players that I got signed, breakfast with Rick Sweet, sitting with Tony Gwynn at a card show and sharing my collection with he and his agent, Johnny Boggs. I got to meet Tim Flannery and exchange birthday presents with him, I helped him pulled a prank on the minor league team he was managing. So I guess that makes me an autographed team collector, my collection of Padre autographed cards starts with Shawn Abner and ends with Don Zimmer. I have cards from 702 different players, coaches, managers, owners and a few front office people. I wish the card companies would make more none glossy cards, and would include more different players. Some of the players in the update and highlight set already have several cards in the regular set, show us some more players, bring back Topps Total and Upper Deck 40 man. Any questions?

Jason Bay

Jason Bay has fulfilled his father's dream. He told the Boston Media that his father had bought a Bosox onsie when he was born. His bedroom had posters of Yaz and Jim Rice when he was growing up.

He was drafted by the Expos in 2000, in March of 2002 he was traded to the Mets with Jimmy Serrano for Lou Collier. Then in July of 2002 he along with one of the Bobby Jones' and Josh Reynolds were traded to the Padres for Steve Reed and Jason Middlebrook. In August of 2003 after playing in just 3 games for the Padres he was traded along with Oliver Perez and Corey Stewart to the Pirates for Brian Giles. He was named National League Rookie of the Year in 2004. During the 2008 season he was traded to the Red Sox and was a crucial part of the Bosox drive to the playoffs. He was named to the All-Star game in 2005 and 2006, although he didn't play in the 2005 game. Jason has a sister who is a professional softballer and played for Canada in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

This 2002 Topps card is one of the worst examples of airbrushing since the 1960's. I got this signed through the mail when Jason played here in Portland in 2003.

After I originally posted this someone told me about Jasons' regular card for Topps in 2002 and when I went looking I found this other wonderful examples of laziness on Topps part.

Randy Bass

This man challenged a national home run record and is now a State Senator in his native Oklahoma.

Randy Bass was drafted in 1972 by the Twins and made his Major League debut as a September call-up in 1977. He was purchased by the Royals in 1978, he was then purchased by the Expos in 1979. Then he was traded to the Padres for John D'Acquisto and cash. He played 2 and 1/2 seasons in San Diego, part way through the '82 season he was claimed off waivers by the Rangers. Then he 1983 he went to Japan where he played for 6 seasons for the Hanshin Tigers. He took the Tigers to victory in the Japan Series in 1985. In 1986 he hit .389, a record that stills stand, Ichiro came close in 1994 and 2000. In 1985 he came one home run short of breaking Sadaharu Oh's single season home record of 55. In the last game of the season Oh's pitchers intentionally walked Bass every time he came to the plate. Bass returned to his native Oklahoma and became active in community affairs, and in 2004 he was elected as a Democratic state senator. He was re-elected in 2006 and serves on prestigous committees. I got the card from ABC Unlimited.

Cliff Bartosh

Another player who never played a down, I mean never spent a second on the court, never skated or even made an appearance for the Padres. Cliff Bartosh was drafted in the 29th round of the 1998 draft by the Padres. He played in the Padres organization from 1998 to 2003 starting in the Arizona Rookie League at Peoria and ending at PGE Park in Portland in 2003. In October of 2003 the Tigers claimed Cliff off waivers from the Padres, in December of 2003 the Indians claimed him off waivers from the Tigers. In 2004 he pitched situationally for the Indians in 34 games and in 2005 he was traded to the Cubs for Ronald Bay. He appeared in 19 games for the Cubs.

I got this Upper Deck 40 Man card from a dealer on ebay. I wish the card companies would still do sets like this and Topps Total. Complete teams and a good surface to sign on.

News, Notes and Requests

A few people have asked me if I collect anything besides Padres autographs. I do, I didn't realize it until people asked because I don't put as much effort into those other categories. So let me tell you about what else I collect.

Players from Oregon; In the past I had a couple hundred autographed cards of players from Oregon. Both major and minor league players and even three women from the AAGBL, and a few umpires from the state. When I went back to college in 1996 (at age 39) I cut way back on my collecting for a few years. I also sold most of that collection to another local collector who collected the same thing. I have started picking up Oregonians again and have a few, plus I kept one autographed card for as many letters of the alphabet as I could. I think I have about 20 autographed Oregonian cards. I will scan them and show them off some day. I have met some of the Oregonians I have. I had breakfast with Rick Sweet years ago, I have met Dave Roberts at a card show, Jerry Zimmerman used to come in the card shop where I worked, (he stocked up on John Olerud rookies), and my wife sews for Artie Wilsons wife.

Which brings me to the next thing I collect, Artie Wilson cards. Artie played in the Negro Leagues for the Birmingham Black Barons alongside Pepper Davis and Willie and Cat Mays. My wife is a tailor and she had made some dresses for women at a church here in town and one of the ladies gave my wifes' name to Mrs. Wilson. She called and when my wife told me who she was sewing for I asked her to ask if her husband was Artie Wilson. He was. I have gone with my wife multiple times and sat and talked with Artie about baseball in the Negro Leagues and baseball now. He would get up from his chair and show me how Josh Gibson batted or how Satchel threw. He made fun of Phil Plantiers' stance and he helped my son with a report on Jackie Robinson, whom he had played against. He played 19 games with the New York Giants until they called up a kid named Willie Mays. Then he played all over the PCL and finally settled here in Portland. He just turned 88 last month and is in poor health.

I am getting ready to send out packages to Travis at Punk Rock Paint, Zach at Autographed Cards, Brad at Rickey Henderson Collectibles and Kevin at Orioles Card "O" the Day. So watch your mailboxes. Dayf I need your address because I have some stuff to send you also. That concludes this part of todays' blog

Bob Barton

Bob Barton hit .571 his first year in the major leagues, he went for 4 for 7 in his first year with the Giants. The Giants signed him as an amateur free agent before the 1959 season. He played for the Giants through the '69 season. After the season he was traded to the Padres with Bobby Etheridge and Ron Herbel for Frank Reberger. He played through '72 in San Diego then was traded to the Reds for Pat Corrales. He only played in 3 games for the Reds and was released. He signed in April '74 with the Padres and played in 30 games. The Padres released him after the '74 season. It looks like Bob is posed in the middle of a cattle pasture, nothing for miles but more open land. He is wearing one of the more sedate the Padres wore during the 1970's. I got the 1972 card through ABC Limited.

Michael Barrett

Michael Barrett suffered one of the freakiest injuries I have ever seen. July 2, 2008 he fouled a pitch off his face, he was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgery to repair the bones in his face. 2008 was an injury filled year for Mr. Barrett, he suffered a concussion and an elbow injury in addition to the facial injuries.

He was drafted in 1995 by the Montreal Expos, remember them, and made his debut with them in 1998. He played for them until he was traded to the A's for Bret Price on December 15, 2003 and later that day he was traded from the A's to the Cubs for Damian Miller and ca$h. Less than a week later he was granted free agency on 12/21 and on 12/21 he signed as a free agent with the Cubs. After his disagreement with pitcher Carlos Zambrano was broadcast around the nation he was traded to the Padres for Rob Bowen and Kyler Burke. After he was traded to the Padres he had a poor season filled with injuries and his lowest career numbers. I believe that I got this 2007 Topps card in the mail while Mr. Barrett was recovering from one of his many injuries.

Marty Barrett

He played 9 seasons with the Red Sox and 12 games with the Padres. He would have had a World Series ring except for Bill Buckner and Ray Knight. He was drafted in 1977 by the Angels, in 1978 by the Mets, in '78 and '79 by the Red Sox. He played from 1982-90 in Boston, playing in three league championships and the 1986 World Series. Marty was released in December of 1990, and by the Padres in January of 1991, then released in June of 1991. He only had 16 at-bats in 1991. He finished his career in May of 1991, with a .278 batting average.

I got this 91 Leaf card from ABC Limited.

Josh Banks

Josh Banks could have been a quarterback, he was offered a scholarship to be quaterback for Ohio State University. He was drafted by the Orioles in 2000 but did not sign. He attended Florida International University and was drafted in 2003 by the Toronto Blue Jays. He made it to the majors in 2007 with the Blue Jays, and they waived him in April, 2008. The Padres picked him off waivers and inserted him into the lineup, after pitching for awhile for the Portland Beavers. He pitched 22 innings before giving up a hit.

The card is from 2008 Stadium Club and I won it in an auction last and just got it today. It would be nicer if it was directly on the card, I am not a big fan of sticker autographs.

Mail Call

When I got home from work today there were three packages from purchases from ebay. I won auctions for three Padres that I didn't have. I ended up with two autographed stickers on cards and something I haven't seen before. The Luke Carlin card seems to be an autograph inserted into a card. There is a window in the card in which the signature can be seen. The three signatures are Luke Carlin, Josh Banks and Drew Miller.

Jimmy Baron

The grinning kid on this card is now a 34 year old man somewhere in the world. Jimmy Baron was the Padres pick in the fifth round of the 1992 draft. He played for 9 seasons in the minor leagues, never making it to the majors. He played 6 seasons in the Padres organization getting as far as AAA. He also played at AA and AAA for the Yanks career with the Mets at AA and AAA.

I got the card from Sports Cards Autographs, a website devoted to many aspects of autographing.

A Card I wish I had

Dave Kingman was always one of my favorite players. He is from a small town in Eastern Oregon. In 1977 Dave embarked on a tour of major league baseball. At a time when there were only four divisions in the leagues, Dave played in all four that year. He went from the Mets to the Padres to the Angels to the Yankees. He hit .238 with 11 home runs for the Padres in 56 games that year. I have never seen a Padres card of him. I have only ever seen two pictures of him as a Padre. I wish next time Topps does a fan favorite set that they would do cards of Dave in the '77 style with the Padres and Angels.

Team collectors do you have a player that you wish you had a card of? Someone that played for your favorite team but never got on a card. Who is it?

Josh Barfield

My son and I went to the final game of the 2005 Portland Beavers season. As we boarded the light rail to go home we saw two young men with their suitcases waiting to board the train to go to the airport. I thought they looked familiar so I looked at their luggage tags and they were who I thought they were. It was Josh Barfield and Brad Baker heading out of town. We asked them it they thought they would be back next season, both said they didn't know. Baker was traded to the Braves and Josh spent the 2006 season in San Diego, before he was traded to the Indians for Kevin Kouzmanoff and Andrew Brown. There was a loud outcry, because Josh had a good year and had become a fan favorite.

He was drafted by the Padres in 2001 in the 4th round. I got the 2002 Topps card signed by Josh during the 2005 season at PGE Park. One advantage of having a AAA franchise in town, especially nice that it is the AAA affiliate of your favorite team.

Josh Bard

Josh Bard was a member of the Padres because of Tim Wakefield. Josh was drafted in 1996 by the Twins in the 35th round but did not sign. He was drafted in 1999 by the Rockies in the 3rd round of the draft. In 2001 the Rockies traded him to him the Indians along with his current Padres team mate, Jody Gerut for Jacob Cruz. He played 4 seasons in Cleveland before he was traded to the Red Sox on January 27, 2006. He was traded along with Coco Crisp and David Riske for Randy Newsom, Guillermo Mota, Andy Marte and Kelly Shoppack. I have only heard of Coco Crisp out of all of those players. After seven games he and Cla Meredith were traded to San Diego so that Tim Wakefield could have Doug Mirabelli as his personal catcher. He has been the catcher for the Padres for the last two and a half years when he wasn't injured. At the end of 2008 he cleared waivers and decided to become a free agent. I received this card through the mail.

Darren Balsley

Evidently you can go home again, and do well. Darren Balsley graduated from San Diego's Mt. Carmel High, went away to college and then played six years in the minor leagues before returning to be the pitching coach for the Padres. He took the job in 2003 and took the Pads to having the league leading team ERA in 2007 in all of the major leagues.

Darren was drafted in the 3rd round by the A's in 1984. He then embarked on a tour of the west smallest towns', Idaho Falls, Modesto and Pocatello. Then in '86 the Jays took him in minor league draft and he spent a couple of years touring the deep south, pitching in Dunedin and Knoxville. He finished by going 3 for 3 in Knoxville in 1989.

Then he became an advance scout for the Blue Jays before becoming a coach at some of the places he had just played. In 2003 he was named the pitching coach for San Diego where he has coached many of the pitchers to a marked improvement and lowered the team ERA.

The card was a giveaway at the stadium in 2004 produced by Upper Deck. It included all the coaches and the complete 25 man roster. I wish the Padres would do something like this every year, I would like to have a card of Glenn Hoffman in a Padres uniform. I sent this to Darren in '05 and got it right back.

Jack Baldschun

I got this card from ebay, but I have another one somewhere that I got through the mail. Jack is a generic card with the Padres name on it. The 1970 card still shows him wearing a Reds uniform, where he played in 1969. It is card #284, which is pretty good considering that Jack didn't sign with the Padres until after the season had started.

Jack was originally signed as a amateur free agent before the 1956 season by the Washington Senators, before they left the nations' capitol (Hope you voted) again for greener pastures. Somehow he got to the Twins organization and then in 1960 the Phillies got him from the Twins in the Rule 5 Draft. He made his major league debut in 1961 and played 5 seasons for the Phillies. On December 6,1965 he was traded to the Orioles for Jackie Brandt and Darold Knowles, three days later he, Milt Pappas and Dick Simpson were traded to the Reds for Frank Robinson. He played two seasons for the Reds before being released by the Reds. He was signed by the Padres as a free agent in 1969 and pitched that year and part of the 1970 season before being released.

Chuck Baker

Chuck Baker was drafted 4 times before he signed and had a career of 93 games. He was drafted in 1971 by the Twins in the 36th round, in '73 by the Royals in the 26th round, by the Astros' in the 2nd round in 1974 and in he was drafted by the Padres in 1975 in the 2nd round. He finally signed with the Padres in 1975. He made his major league debut in 1978 playing in 44 games. Then he played in 9 games in 1980 for San Diego before being traded to the Twins for Dave Edwards. He played in 40 games for the Twinkies in 1981. And that as they say is all she wrote. I got this card off of ebay.

Brad Baker

He has played all over the United States, but hasn't made it to the show yet. He is coming off his ninth minor league season and has a career 44-40 record with a 3.98 ERA. He has been in the Red Sox, Padres, Braves and Twins organizations. He spent two years playing in Portland, having played at every level in the Padres organization and at AAA for the Braves, Sox, Twins and Padres. I remember sending this card to him when he was here in Portland.

If you want to see some really interesting cards I suggest you head over to Thorzul will Rule and see the interesting cards that won his halloween contest. These are truly awesome, wish I had a talent like that so I could make me a Dirk Hayhurst card.

1970

You learn something new every day. I thought for all the press that Hriniak got during the '80's and early '90's as a hitting guru that he must have been a long time, .300 or better hitter. Well he only played two seasons in the majors, and was a career .253 hitter. He was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1961 as an amateur free agent. He was a minor leaguer til 1968. He was severly injured in a car accident in 1964 which which resulted in the death of one of his teammates. He spent three months on the DL. He was finally called up by the Braves, who were now in Atlanta, and played in 9 games. In 1969 he played 7 games for the Braves, before being traded to the fledgling Padres with Andy Findlay and Van Kelly for Tony Gonzalez. He played 31 games with the Padres in 1969 and that was the end of his playing career. He stayed in the Padres organization for 2 more years before he was traded to the Braves for Rick Wilson. He played in the Braves system for a short time before being released and signed by the Expos as a free agent during the 1971 season. During the 1968 season he was at Shreveport where he was managed by Charlie Lau, another hitting guru. Hriniak adopted Laus' philosophy and began to teach it. He was hired in 1984 by the Red Sox as a hitting instructor and began to mentor hitters, including Hall of Famer Wade Boggs. He went to the ChiSox in 1989, where he taught the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, his philosphy. He coached until 1995 when he opened a hitting school and became a private hitting instructor. He is pictured here on a 1970 Topps card, a year he didn't even play in the majors. I got this card from ABC Unlimited.

Mailday shout out

I received a package the other day from Bailey of The Nennth Inning and it contained the signed Chris Young A&G card from this signing. It will replace the Chris Young card I have in my collection. Thanks Bailey, and I have some Giants cards for you.

Also I would like to thank a couple of websites that I use to find the information on these posts. Baseball-reference.com is a great reference for anyone who ever played baseball. It contains more information than most people would ever want. Thanks to all who have made it so complete.

Wikipedia goes beyond just the stats, in some cases, to give a more complete story. Thanks to those of you who have contributed there.