Merry Cardmass

 I got a few boxes and packs for Christmas today.  I still have a few more coming in the mail.  I have a question for you all.  Should I rip them all at once or parcel them out over the year.   I will leave it up to you.  That box on the front right corner of the table is a box of 2018 Gallery.  There are packs I have never heard of and packs that I am looking forward to opening.  

Padrographs #1114 & #1115

I have been searching for cut autos of deceased Padres I need and then combining them with custom cards that I have made.  John Sipin from 1969 was the first one I did this with and recently I picked up a couple of more 1969 Padres.

#1114, Joe Niekro pitched in thirty seven games for the Padres in 1969.  He came to the Padres in a trade from the Cubs in April of 1969.  He spent the majority of the season with San Diego and after the season he was traded to the Tigers.  I bought a business card which Joe had signed and sandwiched it between a custom front and back that I made. 

#1115, Sonny Ruberto appeared at catcher in nineteen games for the Padres in 1969.  He had come to the Padres with John Sipin in a trade for Jerry DaVanon in May of 1969.  He hit .143 which must be while he spent 1970 in the Padres minor leagues before being traded to the Reds at the end of 1970.

New Padrographs

 Francisco Mejia, #1112.  Francisco Mejia came to the Padres in a trade involving Brad Hand.  He is the Padres catcher of the future and one of the top prospects in the game.
Alexei Ramirez, #988.  I have had this for awhile but I had never featured the card on the blog.  This is a custom card from a few years ago that I mailed him, he signed it and sent it back.
John Sipin, #1113.  Sipin played in 68 games for the Padres in 1969 and eventually played nine seasons in Japan.  I have sent him multiple copies of the card and he has never responded.  I found a signed index card on ebay and made this card.  I learned a lesson that I need to glue around the hole also, along with the edges.

Bip 1of 1 of 3

Recently Fuji scored three Bip Roberts signed index cards and asked Gavin over at BaseballcardBreakdown to make them into 1 of 1's.   This is the third of the trio.  Thanks Fuji and Gavin.  I really like this Bip card..

updated and new Padrograph

 Ralph Garcia is Padrograph #285 and previously was represented by a 1973 Topps multi player rookie card.  I found a photo of him online and made a 1974 style card and sent it to him.  I got it back in eight days. 









Adam Cimber, Padrograph #1111.  This is not the first custom of Adam I made, back in 2013 I made a card of him with the Eugene Emeralds, the Padres Rookie League team at the time.  I sent this to him in April during Spring Training and got it back after 210 days from his home in Seattle.  He pitched in 42 games for the Padres before he and Brad Hand got traded to Cleveland.  He pitched in 28 games for the Indians. 

Padrograph #1110

Joey Lucchesi, was the first pitcher from the 2016 major league draft to make his major league debut and just the second player from that draft to debut.  Joey was drafted by the Padres out of Southeast Missouri State.  He made his major league debut March 20, 2018 against the Brewers.  He started 26 games and pitched 130 innings going 8-9 with a 4.08 ERA.
I made a card and sent it to him, but I ended up picking this  up on eBay.  Joey is Padrograph #1110.

Padrograph #1109

Robert Stock, #1109, is a intelligent pitcher.  He enrolled at the University of Southern California at age 16.  He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2009 draft as a catcher.  In 2011 he was transitioned to pitcher. He was signed as a free agent by both the Astros and Pirates in 2015. In 2016 he played in a independent league and in 2017 he played in the Cincinnati Reds organization.  The Padres signed him in November 2017 and he made his major league debut June 24, 2018 against the San Francisco Giants.  This is a custom that I made and sent to him, it took ninety nine days to come back. 

Padrographs 1106, 1107 and 1108

Larry Colton,#1106  played for the 1967 and 1968 Padres when they were a AAA affiliate of the Phillies.  He pitched 2 innings for the Phillies in 1968 and then got injured.  He pitched for the Portland Mavericks (The Battered Bastards of Baseball) in 1975.  He taught English in High School and has written several books on a variety of subjects.  According to Keith Olbermann he is the only major leaguer to  be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  He founded a book festival in Portland called Wordstock which ran for about 10 years.  Over the years we have become friends.  I made this custom from a 1968 team photo and had him sign it for me.

Kyle McGrath, #1107 was drafted by the Padres in 2014 and made his major league debut in 2017 and pitched in 4 games this year.  I picked this up on eBay last week. 









Brett Kennedy, #1108 was drafted by the Padres in 2015.  He made his major league debut in 2018. I made this card and sent it to him it took him  54 days to sign it and send it back. 

49 Padres

The Padres called up 4 players from AAA El Paso.  Three of them had played at San Diego previously this season.  The 49th Padre of the season is pitcher Brad Wieck.

Padrograph #1105

Dave Stegman never actually played for the Padres.  He played for the Tigers from 1978-1980.  After the 1980 season he was traded to the Padres for pitcher Dennis Kinney.  He started the 1981 season at AAA Hawaii, but just after 14 games he was traded to the Yankees for Byron Ballard.  He played 2 games for the Yankees in 1982 before being granted free agency and signing with the Chicago White Sox.  He finshed his career with the White Sox in 1983 and 1984.  I found this picture and liked it so I made a card and sent it to him. 

The 48th Padre

Tonight the Padres are expected to call up their newest prospect.  They obtained Francisco Meija for Brad Hand.  The already have AJ Ellis and Austin Hedges at catcher.  He has played all over the outfield and at third in the minors.  So who know where he will play when he  makes his first Padres appearance.

The 47th Padre

The Padres placed Kirby Yates on the Bereavement List and called up Rowan Wick.  He was selected off the Cardinals waiver wire back in February and started this season at San Antonio.  He started as a catcher in the Cardinals system but was transitioned to pitcher after a poor season with the bat.  He is the 47th player to appear with the Padres this year. 

Padrograph #1104

Eddy Rodriguez defected from Cuba with his family when he was just eight years old.  His father was a fisherman and they left on the boat, which nearly capsized.  They ran out of food and resorted to eating coffee beans.  He played college ball at the University of Miami and played a season of independent ball before signing a minor league contract with the Padres in 2011.  He was promoted to the Padres when the starting catcher was injured.  He played in just two games for San Diego in 2012.

the 46th Padre is MLB's #22 Prospect

The Padres today called up their 46th player, SS Luis Urias.  He will play mainly second base for the rest of this season.    He is currently ranked #22 in the Top 100 Major League Prospects and the #4 prospect for the Padres.  He is 21 years old and has been playing in the Padres system since 2014. 

45th Padre for the win

Last night the Padres called up their 45th player of the year, Jacob Nix.  He pitched six scoreless innings and picked up the win in his major league debut.  In the best farm system in the majors he was the number 14 prospect for the Padres.  He was drafted by the Padres in the 3rd round in 2015.