1989 Procards, Don Schulze

#753 Don Schulze

Here is the third and final card that I got signed by Don Schulze in 2015. Don was the pitching coach for the Nashville Sounds at the time and he signed for me prior to an Omaha Storm Chasers game. The first card of him that I posted can be seen here and the second one here.

Don pitched for four different teams in the big leagues- the Cubs, Indians, Mets, and Yankees. Of those four teams, he has a few Indians cards and one Mets card. I did not have the Mets card in my collection, but I was lucky enough to find this card from the 1989 Procards set.

This was the first minor league cards set that I ever found in packs and I could only find them at one spot. It wasn't at one of the local cards shops or at a big card show. I found these packs at a local gas station. Granted, it was a gas station with a really nice selection of cards, including a case with singles. But it was still a gas station, nonetheless. I only got a few packs from this set and about the only cards worth noting were of Jay Bell and Mark McGwire. I never understood why McGwire was in the set since he last played minor league ball in 1986, but I still thought it was a cool card. I ended up getting the Jay Bell card signed through the mail in the early '90s.

This is the fifth card of the Columbus Clippers that I have posted on here. I am not going to check, but that has got to be the most posts that I done for a single minor league team.

1991 Sport Pro Butte Copper Kings, Doug Sisson

#27 Doug Sisson

Here is a card that I got signed at the Royals last home game of the season on Wednesday. Doug is the Royals first base coach and I was able to get this card signed before batting practice started.

If you have never heard of Doug, don't feel bad. I was the same way when the Royals announced his addition to the coaching staff. I promptly looked at checkoutmycards.com to see what cards he had and was disappointed to see that he didn't have one on there. But, thanks to a seller on there by the name of "minorleaguemania", some Doug Sisson cards eventually became available and I picked a couple up and finally got them signed at the last home game.

Amazingly, Doug has never played pro ball. Wikipedia says that he was signed by the Twins, but I can't find any stats of his on Baseball Reference. In fact, when I typed his name in there, it took me directly to his minor league managing page. I didn't even know such a page existed.

But, let me tell you what Doug has done this year for the Royals. He is not only their first base coach, but he is also the outfielders coach. And under his watch, the Royals have quietly put together one of the best outfields in baseball. This year, the Royals became the first team in the history of the game to have three outfielders with forty or more doubles. Now, that probably has more to do with hitting coach Kevin Seitzer than it does with the outfielders coach. But, the Royals outfielder's play in the field has been pretty good, too. For instance, the Royals outfield leads the Majors in assists. Plus, Alex Gordon leads the Majors in outfield assists this year with twenty (a new Royals record) while Jeff Francouer is second with four less. Did I mention that Alex Gordon was a third baseman until a season and a half ago?

Doug is also the base running coach and the Royals somehow lead the American League in stolen bases right now. Francouer has somehow swiped twenty-two bases and that broke his previous career high of eight. As Mel Allen would have said- "How about that?"

Doug is pictured with the Butte Copper Kings on this card. The Copper Kings are no longer playing in Butte, though, as they relocated to Casper, Wyoming in 2001. The Copper Kings played in the Pioneer League and were affiliated with the Texas Rangers when this card came out.