Bob Shirley

Bob Shirley was responsible for Don Mattingly going on the disabled list in 1987.  Evidently they were roughhousing and Donny Ballgame got injured.  Bob played for the Padres from 1977-1980 before playing with several other teams. I got this card signed through the mail. 

Craig Shipley

Craig Shipley is no Dick Cheney or Joe Lieberman but he is a senior vice president.  He is the senior vice president of international scouting for the Red Sox.  Shipley came from down under to play our national pastime and did for eleven years.  The Dodgers signed him as an amateur free agent in 1984,in 1986 he was traded to the Mets and then in 1988 the Padres drafted him in the minor league draft.  He played for the Padres from 1991-1994 until he was traded to the Astros as part of a multi player deal.  He then came back to the Padres after one year in Houston, played two more years in San Diego and finshed his career with the Angels.  I got this signed through the mail. 

Andy Shibilo

Andy Shibilo played professional baseball up until 2009.  He seems to have obtained by the Cards in 1998, he played in their system in '98 & '99.  He played in an independent league in 2000, and in 2001 played at Lake Elsinore for the Padres, in 2002 he was traded to the Red Sox.  After that he played in the A's organization and also was a farmhand for the Cubs, Mariners and Braves.  He also played in Mexico and in various independent leagues.  I don't remember how I obtained this signature.

Norm Sherry

Norm Sherry never played for the Padres, he just coached them.  He had worked with Dick Williams in the Angels system and even took over the Angels for two years after Williams was fired.  He worked with Williams again for the Expos and then was the pitching coach for the Padres while Dick Williams managed them from 1982-1986.  I got Mr. Sherry to sign this through the mail.

Darrell Sherman

Darrell Sherman played in 37 games for the Padres in 1993, after being drafted in 1989.  He played all his games in April and May.  The Orioles took him in the 1992 rule V draft, but then returned him.  Then the Rockies took him in the 1993 expansion draft.  He played through 1995 in the minor leagues, disappeared until 2000, when he played in Mexico until 2003, he didn't seem to play in 2004 and played in Mexico again in 2005 and 2006.  I think I got Darrell to sign this during his time in the minor leagues. 

Gary Sheffield

Gary Sheffield wants to play in 2011 even though he hasn't played since 2009.  He has over 500 homeruns but I don't know if he will ever be seriously considered for the Hall of Fame, because of his relationship with the media and some of the things that he has said about the game.  He played for 4 years in Milwaukee before being traded to the Padres for 3 guys you have never heard of, after a season and a half in San Diego, during which he won a batting title, the only one of nine by a Padre that wasn't won by Tony Gwynn.  During the Padres 1993 he was traded to the Marlins for future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman.  He then went on to play for the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Tigers and Mets.  I got this cool looking signed Score Select card on eBay. 

Andy Sheets

Andy Sheets was drafted by the Mariners in 1992 and made his debut with them in 1996.  He played on the Mariners 1997 pennant winning team and then he was drafted by the Rays in the expansion draft.  The same day he was traded to the Padres, he played on the Padres 1998 pennant winning team.  During Spring Training of 1999 he was traded to the Angels (1999), he also played with Boston (2000) and Tampa Bay (2001-2002).  He played in Japan from 2003-2007 with Hiroshima and Hanshin. I got this signed through the mail. 

Al Severinsen

Al Severinsen was signed by the Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1963 then was chosen by the Orioles in 1965 in the minor league draft.  He pitched for the Orioles in 1969 and after the 1970 season he was traded to the Padres.  He pitched in 79 games going 2-6 saving 9 games for the Padres in 1971-1972.  He was traded after the 1972 season to the Mets.  I got this signed through the mail. 

Win this book!

Not Here, Here.  Anyone who will encourage reading especially about a subject as important as this will get help from me. 

Wascar Serrano

Wascar Serrano will always be a major league with a .500 record.  He pitched in 20 games for the Padres in 2001 and was 3-3 in those games.  He was then traded to the Mariners at the end of 2001 with Alex Arias and Ben Davis for Brett Tomko, Tom Lampkin and Ramon Vasquez.  He pitched for the Kansas City T-Bones in 2003 and then for a year or two in Mexico.  I got this off of eBay. 

Frank Seminara

Frank Seminara was drafted by the Yankees in 1988 and then was drafted by the Padres in the Rule 5 draft in 1990.  He pitched for the Padres in 1992-1993 and then was traded to the Mets where he pitched in 1994.  He then pitched for the Mets in the minors in 1995.  What do you when you when your first career is over at age 28.  I wonder what he has been doing for the last 15 years.  At age 28 I was newly married and working at Waldenbooks, since then much has changed, it has been a fun ride.  I think I picked this up on eBay. 

Dick Selma

Dick Selma pitched a total of 4 games for the Padres, going 2-2.  He was drafted by the Mets in 1963, and pitched for them from 1965-1968.  Then he was drafted by the Padres in the expansion draft, pitched those four games and was traded in April to the Cubs for Frankie Libran, Joe Niekro and Gary Ross.  He then pitched for the Phillies, Angels, Cardinals and Brewers.  I got this 1969 Topps card signed through the mail. 

Now for something completely different

This is not about a Padre but about two of my favorite things baseball and watching other people dance.   I found this great websiteKickstarter.com. and was looking for projects that I might help fund.  I settled on a book that I will tell you a little bit more about in a moment, first let the people at Kickstarter tell you a little bit about the website.  

Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.

We believe that:

• A good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide.

• A large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.

Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands.

“Plie Ball! Baseball and Dance in America” is an expansion of a lengthy paper that was presented in June 2009 at the 21st Annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, which took place at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The book is contracted by McFarland & Co., the great publisher of books about baseball and dance. It will be a book that covers just about every point of connection between these two magnificent disciplines (and, believe me, there are many!).

In the spirit of full disclosure I am a backer of Plie Ball, I have chosen to contribute and help get this book funded.  Two of my favorite things are baseball and watching other people dance (cause I have absolutely no ability in that arena).  I think that this will be a very interesting book and there are some perks to being a backer.  Click on the title of the book to find out what those perks are.

Rudy Seanez

This card is from the second year of Topps Total, the easy way to tell is, it is a two player card. The first year all the cards were single players.  I remember that there were many complaints among autograph collector about two player cards.  Rudy Seanez pitched for the Padres 4 different times.  He pitched for the Padres in 1993, 2001, 2005 and 2006.  He was 8-5 over those 4 years and 94 games, which means he probably pitched in middle relief most of the time. 

Tim Scott

In 1992 I was working at the local card store and learning that peoples' perception was often their reality.  People would ask us, for example, who wore 7 for the Yankees.  We would tell them it was Mickey Mantle and they would insist that it was someone else.  I would encounter this over and over in the seven years that I worked at card shops. 
Tim Scott was one of the harder autographs I got.  I chased him through multiple addresses using Smalling and Harveys' address list.  He was drafted by the Dodgers in 1984 and made his major league debut in 1991 with the Padres.  He pitched for the Padres from 1991 to 1993 before being traded to the Expos.  He then played for the Giants and Reds before returning to the Padres in 1997.  He also spent part of 1997 with the Rockies.