1990 CMC, Tony Perezchica

#547 Tony Perezchica

Here is one of my most recent additions to my collection. Tony is the third base coach for the Diamondbacks and they finished off their regular season in Kansas City this year. I was able to make it up to two of those games and I got him to sign for me outside of the ballpark on the final day of the season. He made it be known to me that he was in a hurry for a meeting, but he still stopped and signed both of the cards I had of him.

Even though Tony only played in the bigs for four seasons and 69 games, he still had seven base cards printed of him between 1989 and 1992. I looked in my collection for every single one of those cards and I only had one. Luckily, I had this card of him and was able to get two cards signed.

Tony made his Major League debut with the Giants in 1988. He played in 34 games with them over three seasons and he hit .220 with no homers and 4 RBI.

Back in the day before the Diamondbacks came around, Phoenix hosted the Giants AAA team, the Firebirds.

1990 CMC, Neil Allen

#148 Neil Allen

Here is the third and final card that Neil Allen signed for me in Kansas City this past season. Neil was the pitching coach for the Twins and he signed for me after stepping off the team bus outside of The K. You can see the first card I posted of him here and the second one here.

Even though the Twins captured the second Wild Card spot after finishing the year 85-77, Neil was let go by the club after the season was finished. He was replaced by Garvin Alston. That means that I will not be getting Neil to sign his '81 Donurss card next year when the Twins come to town. That is, if I actually had that card ('81D want list posted underneath blog header, hint, hint).

By the time this card came out, Neil's Major League career was over. He appeared in just three games with the Indians in 1989 and was 0-1 with an ERA of 15.00. With Nashville in 1990, he pitched in twelve games before calling it a career.

For his career, he was 58-70 with 75 saves and a 3.88 ERA.

1990 CMC, Bruce Fields

#591 Bruce Fields

Here is the second card that Bruce signed for me at a Royals game in 2012. Bruce was the Indians hitting coach at the time and he signed the two cards while his club was taking batting practice. The first card can be seen here.

By the time this card came out, Bruce's Major League career was over. He was originally drafted by the Tigers in 1978 and made his minor league debut that season. He spent his first six seasons playing A-ball or lower before finally getting the bump up to AA in 1984. He spent two seasons at the AA level before moving on to AAA in 1986. That season coincided with his first Major League call up with the Tigers where he got into 16 games and hit .279.

It was then back to AAA where he spent most of the remainder of his career. He did catch a couple of breaks with the Mariners in 1988 and '89, but that accounted for 42 games over those two seasons. He wrapped up his career after the 1991 season after failing to get called up by the Braves or the Blue Jays. He was thirty years old when he retired.

Bruce played in just 58 Major League games, but he got into 1381 games in the minors. He saw time with five organizations and he hit .295 with 41 home runs and 235 stolen bases.

Bruce is pictured with the Tacoma Tigers on this card. The Tacoma Tigers had no affiliation with the Detroit Tigers. They were the AAA team for the A's, hence the green and gold uniforms. There is still a team in Tacoma and they are called the Rainiers. They are affiliated with the nearby Mariners.

Bruce has an interesting signature. There is a lot going on with it.

1990 CMC, Ed Sprague

#345 Ed Sprague

Here is the second Ed Sprague card that I got signed at a Kansas State baseball game two seasons ago. Ed is the head coach of the Pacific Tigers and he was nice enough to sign three cards for me after the game. The first card, which I posted two years ago, can be seen here.

Ed played in the Majors for eleven seasons, playing with the Blue Jays, A's, Padres, Pirates, Red Sox, and Mariners. He spent his first seven and a half seasons with Toronto before bouncing around ever year for the final four seasons. He was primarily used as a third baseman and, for his career, he hit .247 with 152 home runs and 558 RBI.

In the 1992 World Series, Ed, who had played in only 22 games during the regular season, hit a pinch hit two-run home run in game two against the Braves. The dinger came in the top of the ninth and put Toronto in the lead. They won the game to tie the Series before winning it in six games.

1990 CMC, Bill Pecota

#191 Bill Pecota

Here is another Bill Pecota card from this years Fanfest. There are still a couple more cards of Bill to come, but this is the last one that has him as a Royal.

I have eighteen cards signed from this CMC set and this is the first one of an Omaha Royal. Omaha has been the Royals AAA team since the teams inception in 1969. They remained true to the Royals moniker until they changed their names to the Golden Spikes in 1999. The Spikes name lasted all of three years before they returned to the O-Royals in 2002. They stayed as the Royals through the 2010 season. In 2011, they moved out of Rosenblatt Stadium to a brand new Werner Park in Sarpy County. With the new park came a new name as they are now the Omaha Storm Chasers. This time, the new name has stuck. They are still affiliated with the Royals and they have won the last two Pacific Coast League Championships and last seasons AAA Championship.

I was a little surprised when the club changed their name, but I guess I should not have been. Very few AAA teams carry their parent clubs nickname anymore. This year, their are only three teams still doing it- the Cubs, Red Sox, and Braves. It makes sense to have a different name. It is nice to have the chance to brand your own product and even name the team after something that pertains to the city or region. But, the better reason is that teams change affiliation so often now, it is beneficial to not have to change your nickname every four or five years.

1990 CMC, Leo Garcia

#140 Leo Garcia

Here is a card that I got signed at Spring Training this year. This one features the former Red, Leo Garcia.

On the day I got this signed, I was 'graphing the Dodger minor league side of Camelback Ranch. The Dodgers were already off for Australia at the time, so I figured that would be a good time to hit up their minor league complex. I was going to a White Sox game afterwards and, since I 'graphed the White Sox minor leaguers last year, I figured I would give the Dodgers a shot this year. Plus, with the big league club half a world away, I figured that there would be less people there.

When I got to the Dodger camp, I was disappointed to find out that their minor leaguers do not have names on the back of their jerseys. With so many literal "no-names" out there, it makes it really tough for someone like me who knows none of the guys. Luckily, I found another 'grapher from Nashville who found a website with many of the guys numbers. That helped out, though I didn't get too many cards signed from the minor league players. It didn't help that two of the main ones I was wanting made the trip to Australia- Zach Lee and Joc Pederson.

But, I did do okay with the minor league coaches. That is how I got this card signed by Leo Garcia. He is the hitting coach for the Dodgers Rookie team in Ogden, Utah. He was nice enough to sign two cards for me after practice that day.

The highlight of the day, though, was meeting Tommy Lasorda. I did not expect him to be there since I figured he would have made the trip down under. Because of that, I did not take any cards of him. Fortunately, though, I had a ball on me that I have been carrying around to games for three years. So, I busted that out of the wrapper and finally put it to use. I would have preferred an '81 Donruss signed by him. But, since I don't even own that card, the ball will do just fine. That is just another example of why I need to complete the '81 Donruss set. One of these days....

1990 CMC, Tommy Shields

#21 Tommy Shields

This is a card that I got signed at Spring Training last year. Tommy is the manager of the Royals Rookie team in Burlington, North Carolina and I was able to get this card signed after the minor leaguers worked out the day I was there.

Since this was the only card I could find of Tommy, I assumed that he never made it to the Majors. Turned out that I was wrong. He played in two games with the Orioles in 1992 and then played in twenty games with the Cubs the following year.

In his two games with the O's, he was only used as a pinch runner. He never played the field or stepped into the batters box. Both times he pinch ran, he was running for Sam Horn. Sam pinch hit on both of those occasions and walked both times. Brady Anderson made the third out of each of those innings, preventing Tommy from scoring and recording an actual stat. Luckily, Tommy made the Cubs roster out of Spring Training the following season. It would have been sad to have played in two games and only been used as a pinch runner.

With the Cubs, Tommy hit .176 with 4 runs and an RBI. He played one more season for the Cubs AAA affiliate before retiring and moving on to coaching. He got his first managerial job in 1996 when he managed the Orioles Gulf Coast League team.

1990 CMC, Terry Clark

#605 Terry Clark

Here is the second of three cards that Terry signed for me at a Omaha Storm Chasers game this summer. The first one can be seen by scrolling down a bit.

In the first Terry Clark post, I mentioned that he pitched over 1800 innings in the minors. So, it is only appropriate that I got him to sign a minor league card, too.

Thank goodness for the plethora of minor league cards that came out in the late '80s and early '90s. Most of them are about worthless now as the pre-rookie concept never really caught on. But, without all of those minor league sets, my autograph collection would be a little thinner since a minor league card is sometimes the only card available to get autographed.

In my last post about Doug Linton, I said that I was able to find two minor league cards of him and then not a single Major League card. I was a little more lucky with Terry. With him, I also quickly found two minor league cards of him. Then I started to look for a Major League card and I quickly found his '89 Donruss card that I posted previously. It turns out that that card is a double print. So, if I had continued to go through my '89 Donruss collection, I probably could have found seven more of the same card. Why couldn't Doug Linton have had a card doubled printed?

Terry is playing for the Tucson Toros in this card. They were the Astros AAA team at the time. The Toros (and Tucson Sidewinders) quit playing in the Pacific Coast League after the 1997 season. But, thanks to the banishment of baseball in Portland, Oregon, Tucson has a new AAA team- the Tucson Padres. Tucson is only supposed to be a temporary home for the Padres AAA team, so it will be interesting to see how long they stay there.

1990 CMC, Doug Linton

#331 Doug Linton

Here is a card that I got signed in Colorado Springs over the summer. Doug is the pitching coach for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox and I was able to get this card signed just before the game started (and right after I got the previous post to sign).

Doug pitched in the Majors for parts of seven seasons, but I was unable to find a single Major League card of him. I bought a bunch of cards to get signed on that trip, but I did not bother to buy any cards of Doug. I had dug up two minor league cards of him and I thought for sure that I would be able to find a Major League card in my collection. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Doug's Major League career only lasted seven seasons, but those seven seasons spanned over twelve years. He made his debut with the Jays in 1992 and he pitched a few games with them in '93 before being claimed by the Angels early on that season. He then pitched for the Mets in '94 before playing for the Royals in '95 and '96. After that, he disappeared to the minors for a few years before appearing for the Orioles in '99 and then the Jays again in 2003.

For his career, Doug was 17-20 with zero saves and a 5.78 ERA.

I really like Doug's signature. His last name isn't exactly readable, but it sure looks cool.

1988 CMC, Jim Eppard

#498 Jim Eppard

Here is a card that I was able to get signed last month at a Colorado Springs Sky Sox game. Jim was the hitting coach for the visiting Salt Lake Bees and I was able to get this card signed after the game.

That game, I decided to 'graph the home team side and I had my buddy 'graph the visiting team side. My friend doesn't collect cards or autographs, so I basically just threw him to the fire. He had a little bit of practice the night before at an American Association game, but that is nothing like 'graphing a AAA game where seventy-five percent of the players have cards made of them. But, my buddy did a surprisingly good job and I think that he got more autographs at the game than I did. And, even though he doesn't collect cards, he has started a small autograph collection for his son with some of the doubles that he got signed for me on that trip. His son, who is only four, absolutely loved the autographs. Hopefully I have created a new autograph collector.

Unfortunately, my buddy missed all of the Bees coaches. Since none of them had much for Major League cards, I was lucky enough to find some minor league cards of them on checkoutmycards.com. I've noticed that there has been much more minor league cards on there recently and most of them cost less than a dollar. So, I picked some up on there and I was not leaving that park without a few of them signed. Even though the Bees lost in ten innings, I was still able to get cards signed by two of their three coaches. The manager was the only one that wasn't willing to sign.

Jim is playing for the Edmonton Trappers in this card. At that time, they were the Angels AAA team. Since then, though, the Trappers have moved to Texas where they are now known as the Round Rock Express. Pro ball is still being played in Edmonton, though, but it is in the form of the North American League's Edmonton Capitals.

This is the first card from this set that I have got signed.

1990 CMC, Mike Benjamin

#549 Mike Benjamin

Here is a card that I got signed last Friday in Omaha. Mike is a first year assistant coach for Arizona State and I was able to get this card signed after they practiced at Rosenblatt that day.

After each team's practice session, they all sit down on the concourse and sign autographs for a half hour or so. I was hoping to get Mike's autograph then, but he was nowhere to be seen. I looked around in the stands to see if he might have been watching Clemson practice, but I didn't find him. I went back to the autograph line and found a team trainer and asked him if he knew where Mike was. He told me that Mike was in the dugout watching Clemson practice. So, I went down there and I still couldn't find him. I looked around a bit more before I headed back to the autograph line. When I got there, I found Mike grabbing his stuff to head to the bus. That is when I got him to sign.

While I was trying to find Mike, I found a kid that had already got some cards signed by him. He told me to just look for the guy in the ASU uniform with some nice-looking pork-chop sideburns. You can't miss him, he said. Sure enough, that was how I found him. He was probably the only guy in town sporting them that weekend. Even the head coach mentioned the 'chops while he was signing my two cards, but I will save that story for the next one.

The two cards that Mike signed for me were the only two cards that I got signed over the weekend.

1990 CMC, Jim Wright

#249 Jim Wright

Here is the second and final card that I got signed by Jim Wright prior to the '85 Classic. You can see the first card here.

Like I said in the first post, I got the cards signed by the players entrance as they were arriving for the game. After Jim signed my cards, I went over to where my buddy was having a beer and he asked me if I got Jim Wright's autograph. I was amazed that he knew who Jim was since he isn't much of a baseball fan. I asked him how he knew who it was and he said his name was embroidered on his luggage. I wasn't as amazed after that.

This card is the third Red Barons card that I have signed from this set. The cards feature the manager, the pitching coach, and a player at the end of his career that would eventually be a coach. All three cards have the close-up mug shot with the player/coach wearing his navy warm-up jacket. I just went through the rest of the Red Baron cards that I have from the set and they are all similar. These cards are the worst to get signed since most guys don't sign across their face and the dark colored jacket makes it hard to see the signature. But, when it is the only card you have of a player, it is either that or nothing.

1990 CMC, Bill Dancy

#244 Bill Dancy

Here is another card that I got signed at the Rickwood Classic. This one was signed by the visiting dugout since Bill is the manager of the Tennessee Smokies. I tried to get him to sign earlier that day as he was coming onto the field from the clubhouse, but he either didn't hear me or he ignored me. But I was able to get him to sign a little bit later as he was standing by the dugout and chatting with his players. He must not see too many baseball cards of himself because the players that were sitting on the dugout next to him made sure to take a good look at the cards he was signing. So, I guess it is his players that don't see too many cards of him.

I always find it strange when I get a card like this signed. The thing I find strange is that Bill was a AAA manager in 1990. Twenty years later, he is managing at the AA level. I would think that if he was a AAA manager, he would be a canadate for a Major League slot. But instead, he is Ryne Sandberg's replacement in AA. I guess that some guys are just better at developping the younger players than others.

1990 CMC, Orlando Mercado

#372 Orlando Mercado

Here is a card that I got signed in Kansas City last month. The Angels were in town and Orlando is their bullpen coach. I only got one card signed by him because this is the only one that I have. I thought that I would have had his '87 Topps card, and I did, but I didn't want to break a set to get it.

Orlando was pretty much a third catcher for his career. If a catcher got hurt on the big league club, he was the first one to get called up. He played in the Majors for parts of eight seasons with eight different teams (Mariners, Rangers, Tigers, Dodgers, A's, Twins, Mets, and Expos) and three seasons were actually with the same team (Mariners). He only got into 253 games in is Major League career, but I'm sure he enjoyed every minute of it.

His first Major League home run was a grand slam.

1990 CMC, Jeff Datz

#507 Jeff Datz

Here is an autograph from the Indians bench coach, Jeff Datz. I got this card signed the day before Astros Fanfest while the Tribe was taking batting practice. Jeff signed this card and the '09 Topps Heritage coaches card for me. Those are the only two cards that I had of him since he only played in seven Major League games. The only card of him as a Major Leaguer can be seen here (if you have the time, read about his short time in the big leagues; it's interesting). If you want to see another cool minor league card of him, click on his name at the top.

1990 was the final year in Jeff's playing career and he only got into 28 games with the Yankees AAA affiliate, the Columbus Clippers.

As for the Clippers, they are still around today and even got a new ballpark. But, their longtime affiliation with the Yankees ended a couple of years ago and they are now with the Indians organization after a two year stint with the Nationals.

1990 CMC, John Gibbons

#236 John Gibbons

First off, I want to say that I meant to have two posts up but now. But, there was this freak storm that hit a couple of hours ago that knocked out the electricity. Rather than sit around while it got hot and dark in the house, I went to the bar to pass some time. So, there is only going to be this post tonight and it is the second post of this guy since I finished up with the 1993 cards. I would say that I would make it up to you tomorrow, but I wouldn't want to lie on here.

Anyways, here is the second John Gibbons card. I usually don't link to a player's stats after I have posted them once. But, I did this time and I did it a little different as well. I normally use Baseball Almanac for my stats link and they only show the Major League stats. Tonight, I used the Baseball Cube since they show all of their minor league stats also. I thought that since I was showing a minor league card that was made three years after his last Major League card, some minor league stats might be appropiate.

Like I said, this is the second card of John Gibbons on here. Here is the first. I got this card signed at the first regular season game I went to this year as John was coming off of the field after batting practice (he's the Royals bench coach). He signed a third card, too. But it is from when he was the Blue Jays manager, so it will be some time before I get to that one.

As for the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Red Barons, they are no longer the Red Barons. Instead, they are the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees. I think that the SWB Red Barons may have been the longest name in professional sports until the Long Beach Armada of the Golden Baseball League officially changed their name to the Long Beach Armada of Los Angeles of California of the United States of North America Including Barrow, Alaska, in 2007.

1990 CMC 5

#365 Tim Bogar

I got this card signed this past summer at a Royals game. Tim was the Quality Assurance coach for the Tampa Bay Rays. In his playing days, he was mostly a utility player for the Mets, but he did get some decent playing time in his two years with the Astros. This is the first of three cards that he signed for me. At the game, he was the last player/coach off of the the field. He signed for quite a few people (though most people probably didn't know who he was).

This is the last card from the CMC set. I know very little about these cards. They are nice looking and are pretty glossy for 1990 standards. The backs are colorful and include a head shot taken from the card front. I have no idea what CMC stands for and I haven't seen another set made by them. Interestingly, these cards came in packs that also included Procards. CMC made the AAA cards while Procards was AA and A.

This card shows Tim as a Tidewater Tide. The team is now called the Norfolk Tides. They ended a nearly 40 year affiliation with the Mets a few years back and are now with the Orioles. The card before this one showcased a Syracuse Chief card. That team is still the Syracuse Chiefs, but they spent about ten years as the Sky Chiefs to lose the Native American moniker. Now they are the Chiefs again, but their logo is a train. Their long affiliation with the Blue Jays just ended. The two cards before that featured Richmond Braves. The Braves are in the process of leaving Richmond and are going to be playing in the Atlanta suburb of Gwinnett County next season. And, the first card of this set had an Indianapolis Indian. That team hasn't changed much since then besides their logo and affiliation.

1990 CMC 4

#350 Mark Whiten

I got this card signed through the mail in 1993 when Mark was playing for the Cardinals. In September of that year, Mark had a four home run, twelve RBI game (both record tying). The game was game two of a doubleheader. In the first game, he had one RBI. So, for the day, he had thirteen RBI which tied the National League mark for RBI in a doubleheader. I probably sent this card to him the very next day.

On a side note, a got a random package in the mail today. Matt, from Heartbreaking Cards, sent me a package with three autographed cards in it. They are fairly new cards, so it will be a little while before I get to them on here. But, I wanted to give a shout out to Matt and tell him thanks.

1990 CMC 3

#297 John Mizerock

This is the second of three Mizerock autographs I got this past season at The K while he was smokin' and jokin' in the bullpen prior to a game. Last year, Mizerock was the Royal's bullpen coach. The Royals reshuffled their coaches this off-season and Mizerock will be their bullpen coach next year. I was kind of surprised by this. For one the Royals re-assigned their third base coach to a roving instructor. Mizerock has been a Major League third base coach for the Royals before. But, they decided to move the bench coach to third base coach. So, now there is an opening at the bench coach position. Mizerock has never held that job before, but he has been the manager for every minor league team in the Royal's system and was even an interim manager for the Royals. But, they hire John Gibbons (who has actual Major League managerial experience) as the bench coach. So John Mizerock will be coming back next year as the bullpen coach. Maybe he'll be the next Dave Duncan- a former catcher turned pitching coach. Who knows?

1990 CMC 2

#296 Tommy Greene

I got this autograph through the mail, probably in 1991 after Tommy threw his no-hitter. He was with the Phillies at the time and threw it against the Expos. He walked seven batters in the game, but a no-hitter is a no-hitter.

Tommy's first name is actually Ira (sorry, I had to throw that in there).

Also, I got a package today to complete a trade that I made with Dayf, of Cardboard Junkie, last week. I don't have a scanner, so I'll just list some of the highlights. The featured card of the trade was the Mike Aviles '08 Topps U&H. He also threw in four Leaf Carlos Beltrans, a Sweet Spot Zack Grienke, and some older Royals cards (Brian McRae, Mark Gubicza, and Jeff Montgomery), just to name a few. But the best part about this trade is that we both got the card we were looking for out of the Topps U&H. Now, we no longer have to waste money on this product. Thanks Dayf!