Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Crime Dog and Joe

Frederick Stanley McGriff was in 1990 was part of one of the Padres annual WTF trades.  The Padres traded the very popular Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter for Fred and Tony Fernandez.  Alomar and Carter helped Toronto to back to back World Series Titles.  McGriff and Fernandez were part of underperforming Padres teams.  After 2 1/2 seasons and 84 home runs in San Diego, Fred went on to play with Tampa Bay, the Cubs, the Braves and Dodgers.  He retired with 493 home runs tied with Lou Gehrig.  I think I got this signed through the mail.  Joseph Anthony McIntosh was drafted by the Padres in 1973, made his debut in 1974, pitched for the Padres in 1975 and was traded to the Astros for Doug Rader in 1975 and retired.  Hello and Goodbye. He pitched both as a started and reliever for the Padres in his short career.

Monday, August 30, 2010

McCullers and McDavid

Lance Graye McCullers was drafted in 1982 by the Phillies and later sent to San Diego in a multiplayer deal.  He made his major league debut in August of 1985, and according to Wikipedia was known as Baby Goose, because of his resemblance to Rich Gossage.  I think I may have seen Lance play with Las Vegas against the Beavers in early '85, that year and summer are kind of a blur, because that was the year I got married.  Lance played 4 years in San Diego before going to the Yankees, Detroit and Texas.  He signed with the Dodgers in 1992 but never played with them before retiring.  I think I got this signed through the mail.  Ray Darnell McDavid was drafted by the Padres in 1989 and worked his way from Rookie League up to the majors, making his debut in 1994.  He played 9 games in 1994 and 11 in 1995 with the Padres, before being selected off the wavier wire by the Expos in December of 1995.  He played at three levels in the Expos organization in 1996, working his way from Rookie League to AAA, but not making it back to the majors.  I am not sure how I obtained this signature.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Stretch and I

On June 24, 1975 a young man just twelve days out of high school boarded a plane in Portland, Oregon that would take him to a world unlike anything he had ever experience before.  Like his father before him he had decided to enlist in the US Navy, he had dutifully followed his father where ever Uncle Sam had sent them.  From the time he was born until shortly before his 15th birthday he had gone all over the United States.  Now after being in Eugene for three years, he had decided to go wherever he was told.  He looked back over the 10 schools in 4 states on two coasts that he had gone to in the last 12 years. The three years at South Eugene were the longest he had gone to one school.  He remember friends some well, some only fleetingly, some just barely and more than a few who were barely a flicker of memory.  He thought he was doing what he wanted but looking back at it now, 35 years later, he realizes he was again and still trying to please his father, but that is a whole other story.

The plane touched down in San Diego, the home of the Padres, but baseball was a long way from his mind as people began to yell at him and all those with him.  Go here, go there, do this, take that off, put this on, you want to keep that hair, too bad, line up, shut up, speak up, eat it and beat it, shove it and love it.  That kept up for three weeks and then they asked another stupid question, they knew the answer to, how tall are you?  6 foot, you're in drill division on the marching flag team.  Yes, parades and who knows what else.  Who knows how to type?, they asked.  I said I did, good thing Dad made me take a typing class my freshman year in high school, though I got all D's, I could type.  That got me all kinds of privileges, going to meals whenever I wanted, a barracks removed from the rest of the base (turns out it was the same barracks Dad was in 24 years earlier) and a trip to Jack Murphy stadium.

Now you see how it starting to tie together.  At this point I had been a Padres fan for 3 years, ever since I found out that one of my high school classmates had a older brother who had been drafted by the Padres and was already playing in the major leagues.  So I was pretty pumped to be going to a Padres game.  I only remember 3 things from that game, one; the young lady who walked past us showing off her assets in a mesh top, getting to see my classmates brother play and seeing Big Mc play.

They were trying to sell him as Big Mac, now that he was playing for the MacDonalds' owner, but I knew him as Stretch.  No matter where I had lived over the years I had followed baseball and who didn't know of Willie Lee McCovey.  He broke into the majors when I was two years old and I followed the California teams no matter where we lived, I am a 3rd generation Californian.  I knew about the all star Willie McCovey, it was awesome to get to see him play.  He had been in San Diego for 2 years after playing for the Giants for 15 years.  He hit 52 of his career 521 career home runs while playing for San Diego, he left San Diego when the A's purchased his contract in 1976.  He was granted free agency after the '76 seasons and resigned with the Giants, playing 4 more seasons before retiring in 1980. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.

Even though the few years that Willie McCovey played in San Diego are but a footnote in a great career, I believe that day in the summer of 1975 is the day that I became a die-hard Padre fan.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Julius and Bill

Julius Matos played professional baseball from 1994 to 2006 but only played in 104 major league games in two seasons.  He was drafted by the Indians in '94 and made his major league debut with the Padres in 2002.  After the season he was granted free agency and signed with the Royals, where he played in 2003.  He was again granted free agency and bounced from organization to organization for the next three years.  I got the card off of eBay.  William John McCool pitched for the Reds for 5 years before being chosen by the Padres in the expansion draft. He only pitched part of one season for the Padres before being traded to the Cardinals, where he finished out his career in 1970.  I got the card from a dealer on eBay.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Paul and Al

Paul Michael McAnulty was a player that was a fan favorite here in Portland.  He was drafted by the Padres in 2002 and caught the eye of Kevin Towers when he hit .344 for the Beavers in 2005.  He made his major league debut in June of 2005 and played at least of each season through 2008, in 2009 he played at Colorado Springs and Pawtucket.  This year he is playing at Salt Lake City in the Angels organization.  I got this signed along with a few others through the mail.  Alvin O'Neal McBean  played for the Pirates from 1961-1968 before being drafted by the Padres in the expansion draft.  He pitched 1 game for the Padres before being traded to the Dodgers, he played part of 1969 and 1970 with the Dodgers before finishing his career with the Pirates in 1970.  I bought the card off of eBay.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Mauser May

Timothy Edward Mauser was one of the more difficult TTM signatures to get.  I sent cards to him at several different addresses.  I finally got a good address from one of Harveys' address list.  Mauser pitched for the Phillies and Padres in his four year career.  Darrell Kevin May signed the card from one of my favorite sets, Topps Total.  Total and Upper Deck 40 Man were great sets for those of us who collect autographs.  Darrell played for the Braves, Royals, Angels, Yankees Pirates and Padres.  I got this signed through the mail.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Sarge, Jr. and Mike

Gary Nathaniel Matthews, Jr.  was drafted by the Padres in 1993 and made his major league debut in 23 games in 1999 with the Padres.  He then played with the Cubs, Pirates, Orioles and Mets before returning to the Padres in 2003 for 103 games.  He played with the Angels and Rangers and played 36 games with the Mets this year before being granted free agency.  I got this card off of ebay.  Michael Scott Matthews played for 5 seasons in the majors, 1 with the Padres in 2003, he also played with the Cardinals, Mets, Reds and Brewers.  I got this card signed through the mail.

Monday, August 23, 2010

A couple of pictures of pitchers

Pedro Martinez Aquino was an effective reliever for the Padres during the 1993-1994 season. After the 1994 season he was part of an eleven player deal between the Padres and Astros.  After the Padres he played for the Astros, Mets and Reds.  I am unclear as to where I got the card signed.  Roger Leroy Mason made a side trip to San Diego between stays in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  He pitched in 34 games for San Diego, I am guessing as a middle reliever, because of his record.  I got the card signed through the mail.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Carmelo and Al (no this is not the NBA)

Albert Lee Martin passed through San Diego during the 2000 season. He was traded to the Padres after 8 seasons with the Pirates.  He played only 93 games  with the Padres before being traded to the Mariners.  I can not remember how I obtained this card.  Carmelo (Salgado) Martinez was part of the Padres 1984 World Series team.  He came to the Padres after a season with the Cubs, he played more with the Padres than he did with any other team.  He played six years with the Padres.  I think I got this card signed through the mail.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The tale of two Davids

DDavid Joseph Magadan is the cousin and Godson of future Hall of Fame Manager Lou Pinella.  Dave finished his playing career and began his coaching career with the Padres.  He played 1999-2001 with the Padres, playing shortstop and 2nd base for the only time in his career.  He retired after the 2001 season and was the Padres hitting coach from 2002-2006.  He has been the Red Sox hitting coach since 2007.  I believe I got this card signed through the mail.  David Lewis Marshall played 490 games in his 7 year career, only 39 of them were with the Padres.  He played 3 years with the Giants and 3 with the Mets before coming to San Diego for the 1973 season.  The lovely airbrushed 1973 Topps card was signed through the mail. 

Friday, August 20, 2010

Hey, I am back

I have been busy with stuff around the house and work and all kinds of stuff.  I have been slightly burnt out on cards cause there has been anything new since A&G.  I have been working on my Bip Roberts cards and will be scanning them for a new page on the blog.  I have been blown away by the awesome customs that some of you guys are doing.  Most of the customs that I have seen are nicer and more appealing by leaps and bounds over what the card companies are doing.  I would rather cards with some originality than the same cards year after year.  But if you can make such nice cards as a side endeavor to what you are doing for a job, why can't the guys that are getting paid to design cards so stuff as nice.

Why is that Topps is taking so long between products?  They are the only game in town when it comes to baseball.  I guess they figure that people will buy their stuff since they are the only game in town, and don't seem to care about customer service.  I have given up on visiting their website, the last item listed for baseball is Topps series one and the site says there are no forthcoming products. 

Thank you listening to my rant.  We will return shortly with more Padrographs.  And don't ask me about Merritt Paulson, The Timbers and the Beavers or it will be a page long rant.