Frank and Tim

Frank Beall Reberger pitched in 67 games for the Padres after being chosen from the Cubs in the expansion draft.  He was traded to the Giants for three players and played three years in the city by the Bay.  He has been a coach and manager since he retired, in 2008 he signed as the pitching coach for the Uni President 7-Eleven Lions in Korea. I got the card signed through the mail a few years ago.   Timothy James Redding pitched 9 games for the 2005 Padres, after being acquired from the Astros for Humberto Quintero.  After those 9 games he was traded to the Yankees, and then pitched in MLB through 2009, he pitched last year for the Samsung Lions in Korea.  I got the card signed through the mail.

Eric and Randy

 Eric Ralph Rasmussen legally changed his name from Harold to Eric during his major league career.  He played three years for the Padres from 1978-1980.  He then played a year for the Royals.  He pitched a couple of years for the Senior League, and since 1991 he has been a pitching coach and manager in the Twins organization.  He has been the pitching coach for some of the good pitchers for the Twins.  I got this signed through the mail several years ago.  Randy Max Ready was a incredibly great signer during the two years that he was the manager of the former Portland Beavers (Mayor Sam Adams will not ever get my vote again).   Randy was a Padre from 1986-1989, he came over from the Brewers and then moved on to Oakland.  I got this signed through the mail back in the late '80s.

Joe and Dennis

Joseph Gregory Salvatore Randa was a member of the Eugene Ems in 1991 when I first saw him play, during a game I wrote about earlier.  Joe played 58 games for the Padres in 2005, coming over from the Reds and then finishing his career the next year with the Pirates.  I think I got this signed through the mail.  Dennis Lee Rasmussen was lucky to be a major leaguer, on Labor Day 1973, at age 14, he was riding his bike when he was struck by a car and his foot only had the achilles connecting it to his leg.  A surgeon who had operated on Vietnam casualties thought he could fix it and did.  I remember talking to Dennis when he was charting pitches for the Las Vegas Stars against the Beavers in 1991 and got him to sign this card.  He was a very nice man and spent some time talking with us.

Cesar and Peeter

Cesar Ramos made a few starts in San Diego in the last two years, although he spent most of his time in Portland.  I got to see him pitch several times in the last couple of years and would probably have gotten to see him next year, except the city council here has their collective thumbs up their collective a**** so the Beavers have left town.  Ramos was drafted by the Padres in 2005 and made his major league debut in 2009.  I got this signed through the mail a few years ago.  Peeter Ramos in the Padres organization from 2002-2005, the Phillies system in 2006-2007 and a farmhand for the Mets in 2008.   He played in an independent league last year.  He signed this card through the mail.

Doug and Mario

Douglas Lee Rader was known as the Red Rooster for the way his red hair protuded from under his cap.  He was known for his defense, winning 5 straight Gold Gloves from 1970-1974.  He played 9 seasons with the Astros and then was traded to the Padres and played there for a season and a half and ended his career with a half season in Toronto.  He has managed the Angels, White Sox and and Rangers.  I got this card from a dealer.  Mario Ramirez Torres was taken from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft after making a few appearances for them.  He played in San Diego from 1981-1985, playing just a few games in 1981-1982 and then from 1983-1985 he was Garry Templetons' primary backup.  I got the card through a dealer who specializes in getting signatures of Latin American players.  

Tim and Humberto

 Timothy Matthew Pyznarski had a cup of coffee with the Padres in 1986, playing in 15 games.  He had been drafted by the A's in 1981, and then was traded to the Padres for Joe Lansford, (Carneys' Brother).  He played at Las Vegas in '85 and '86 and was named the Sporting News and Topps Minor League Player of the Year in 1986.  He was then traded to the Brewers for Randy Ready and then the Brewers traded him to the Orioles for Smith and Rice.  His entire major league career consisted of those 15 games in San Diego.  He returned to his high school in Chicago where he is an assistant coach. I think I got this signed through the mail.  Humberto Quintero always makes me think of the guy in that book by Nabokov.  He was one of 8 catchers used by the Padres in 2003-2004, he caught in 35 games over those two seasons before being traded to Houston for Tim Redding and some greenbacks.  He is now the starting catcher for the Astros.  I got him to sign the card through the mail. 

Jim and Mark

James Arthur Presley played a whopping 20 games for the Padres in 1991 after signing with them as a free agent.  He only played in that many games because the Padres released him in June, he signed with the Rangers, but never made it back to the majors as a player.  He had played 6 seasons in Seattle, where he was an All-Star in 1986, he also played one season in Atlanta.  He was the Marlins hitting coach from 2005-2010, he has signed to be the hitting coach for the Orioles in 2011.  I think I got this signed through the mail, but I am not positive.  Those records were lost in the earthquake of 2017.  Mark William Prior was enough of a star for the card companies to make cards of him as a Padre based on his reputation with the Cubs.  Prior and Kerry Wood were destined to be superstars after there first year or two in Chicago, but then Prior went down with injury after injury.  He signed a free agent contract with the Padres in 2008 but never made it to the team due to more injuries.  In 2009 he signed a minor league contract with the Padres hoping to make it back, but didn't ever make it back.  He pitched four good years for the Cubs from 2002-2006, and now the Rangers are hoping that he can help them next year.  I got this signed card through the mail, but I know it is not the card I sent Mark, because I prepare all the cards I send out so this doesn't happen.

Phil and Johnny

Phillip Alan Plantier is baseballs' Lon Chaney.  If Chaney was The Man of a Thousand Faces, Plantier is The Man of a Thousand Stances.  Take a look at some of the stances he used and you just may bust a gut laughing.  I remember watching a game with the late Artie Wilson, when he was laughing and getting up out of his chair to try and imitate Plantiers stance.  Phil was drafted by the Red Sox and had a good rookie season, but when he couldn't duplicate that success he was traded to the Padres, he played from '92-'95 in San Diego.  In 1995 he was part of the 11 player trade that brought Cammy to San Diego and sent him to Houston.  He returned to San Diego in 1997, before moving on to St. Louis.  He is currently coaching in the Mariners organization.  I don't remember how I obtained this card.   John Joseph Podres was signed as a Free Agent by the first year San Diego Padres on March 21, 1969.  I can hear the public address announcer, now pitching for the Padres, Johnny Podres.  I think his name may have had something to do with the signing.  Johnny had been out of baseball for a year after two years with the Tigers.  He is best known and always will be known as a Dodger, one of the Boys of Summer.  He played for the Dodgers from 1953-1966 winning the World Series MVP award in 1955, the first WSMVP award ever given.  Johnny was 5-6 in 17 in San Diego in 1969.  Johnny was the pitching coach for a bunch of teams from 1973-1996 including the Padres, Twins, BoSox and Phillies.  I believe that got this card on eBay. 

Rob and Shoes

Robert Michael Picciolo was the longest tenured coach in the Padres organization coaching continuously from 1990-2005.  He played for 9 seasons and only had 25 walks versus 254 strikeouts.  I got this Upper Deck team issued card signed through the mail.  Joseph Wayne Pittman played for three teams in 3 seasons, playing in a total of 139 games, 67 with the Astros in 1981-1982, 55 with San Diego in 1982 and 17 with the Giants in 1984.  I couldn't any reference to explain the shoes reference in the signature.  I got this card signed through the mail also.

Mark and Tom

Mark Steven Phillips was drafted by the Padres in 2000 and he was traded to the Yankees with Bubba Trammell for Rondell White in 2003.  He was injured in 2004 and did not play again until he played in an independent league in 2007.  I got this card on eBay.
Thomas Harold Phoebus reminds me of my friend Richard Smouse, I think it is the unibrow.  Because Richard never threw a no-hitter like Phoebus did.  He was the Rookie of the Year in '67 with the Orioles and in '68 pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox.  He was part of a trade that sent Pat Dobson and Tom Dukes to the Orioles, just before the 1971 season.   Topps did a wonderful job airbrushing Toms' Orioles cap in this picture taken at Yankee Stadium.  I got the card on eBay.

Jake and Gary

 Jacob Edward Peavy played 8 and a half years with the Padres and has been with the White Sox for 1 and a half years.  He has not pitched much with the ChiSox due to injury, he was traded in July of 2009 and pitched in 3 games the remainder of the season.  In 2010 he pitched in 17 games before suffering a detached latissimus dorsi muscle in his back.  At this point it looks like the Padres got the better part of the deal, but I guess only time will tell.  Jake signed this for me through the mail.  Gary George Pettis made his major league in 1982 with the Angels and ended in 1992 with the Padres and Tigers.  I remember him mostly with the Angels.  He only played for the Padres for thirty games.  I got this card on eBay.

A double dose of Bad News for Portland, part II

Maurice Lucas was the enforcer of the World Championship Portland Trailblazers.  He was close friends with teammate Bill Walton, so close that Luke Walton is named for Maurice.  Nate McMillan said that part of the reason he took the job as Blazers head coach was the opportunity to work with Maurice.  Between 1995-1998 I worked at Portland Sportscards and Fleer sponsored an event with Maurice.  We got to have dinner with Maurice and some people from Fleer at Old Country Kitchen.  Then we got to get things signed, I got a basketball, an 8x10 and a polaroid of us together.  He was a very nice guy.  He has been battling bladder cancer for the last year and passed away on Sunday at age 58.  I did not realize until Sunday that Maurice was only 5 years older than me. 
Artie Wilson was watching baseball on TV with me, when Phil Plantier came to bat.  Artie began to laugh and said there was no way Phil was going to get a hit with a stance like that.  Plantier didn't get a hit, but as we watched the game Artie would tell me where the ball was going to be hit to and he was usually right.

 Bear with me no matter how far this seems from baseball I will bring it back around to baseball.  My wife is a tailor who specializes in quilts, wedding dresses and my Hawaiian shirts.  She can make anything, I have seen her take a picture out of a magazine, pin it on her bulletin board and a year later make it without making a pattern.  Somehow she was contacted by a group of women to make them matching dresses for their job as ushers at their church.  After that she got a call from another woman asking her if she could do some work for her, her name was Dorothy Wilson.  I knew where Artie lived, thanks to Jack Smalling, and asked Ruth Ann to ask if Artie was her husband.  He was and invited me to come over when Ruth Ann did.  I went over and talked to Artie and he started telling me stories about his first baseball uniform.  He wanted the uniform even before he was on a team, so he went out and started shining shoes until he had enough money to buy the uniform.  We talked of him playing alongside Piper Davis, Cat Mays, Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige.  He insisted that as good a ballplayer as Willie Mays was his Dad, Cat was a better ball player.  He talked with my son David about Jackie Robinson, when David was doing a report on Jackie for school.  He told him about a Negro League All Star game when in the rain, most of the players just wanted to get five innings in so they could get paid and Jackie was stealing bases in the mud.  He told me about losing part of his thumb because they worked in the steel mills in Birmingham when they weren't playing.  He squeezed a golf ball during the entire off season to strengthen his thumb so that he could make the double play throw.  He told me about touring with Satchels' All Stars.  One thing was obvious, Artie loved baseball.  He was one of the nicest guys I ever met and it was great to be able to sit and talk with him about his life, which was history to me.  I will miss being able to go over and talk with him.  Artie had been suffering from Alzheimers for the past year or so.  He also passed away on Sunday, he had just turned 90 on October 28.

Danny and Jay

 Daniel A. Payne was drafted by the Padres in 2007, he has played all the outfield positions as he works his up through the system.  He has worked up to high A with Lake Elsinore.  I think I picked this card up off of eBay.  Jason Lee "Jay" Payton was signed as a free agent by the Padres prior to the 2004 season and he played in about 140 games for the them.  After the season he, Ramon Vasquez, David Pauley and some cash were traded to the Red Sox for Dave Roberts.  I picked this card up off the bay also. 

A double dose of bad news in Portland

Artie Wilson and Maurice Lucas both passed away yesterday.  I have met both of them and spent a little bit of time with Artie.  Artie Wilson was 90 and Maurice Lucas was 58.  I will write more about them this evening.

Chan Ho and David

 Chan Ho Park surprised me, I didn't realize he was still pitching in the majors.  He is one of only 5 pitchers to have started a game against all 30 major league teams.  He was the first South Korean born pitcher to play in MLB when he played for the Dodgers.  He suffered from unknown intestinal bleeding during his time with the Padres, which limited his availability.  He was ultimately diagnosed with a congential defect and repaired.  He has continued to pitch, working for the Yankees and Pirates this year.  I got this Upper Deck team issue card signed through the mail.  David Wayne Pauley was recently featured over at autographedcards by Zach.  I will let him tell the story, because it mirrors mine.  The cards were signed through the mail although at different times, you can see that David signed with two different sharpies.