2008 Tristar Projections, Matt Antonelli

#124 Matt Antonelli

Here is a card that I purchased when making a COMC order in 2012. For the longest time, I always felt like I needed to buy an autograph whenever I made a purchase on there. Because of that, I bought a lot of Bowman and Topps Pro Debut autos that I really didn't need. So, I have discontinued that practice. But, I will occasionally buy an auto with my purchase. Those, though, tend to be of guys I collect in some way, shape, or form. On the bright side, this card only set me back 95 cents. It's listed as $2.43 right now.

Matt had the privilege of playing 23 Major League games with the Padres in 2008. During that time, he hit just .193 with a homer and 3 RBI. His one dinger was a two-run shot off of Jason Hirsch at Coors Field.

Despite never making it back to the Major Leagues, Matt continued to play ball up into the 2013 season.

This card features Matt with the San Antonio Missions, who were the Padres AA team at the time. The Missions are still around and they got bumped up to AAA this season, though they still play in an AA ballpark. The Missions are now the Brewers top affiliate.

For some reason, Tristar did not list a position on cards for this set.

2008 Razor, Tanner Scheppers

#148 Tanner Scheppers

Here is a card that I bought off of COMC for a whopping $1.25. The only reason why I bought this card is because I had the pleasure of watching Tanner pitch in the American Association before he went to the Majors. While a couple of Wingnut players are currently playing in the Majors, I do not remember seeing them play in Wichita. But, I do remember Tanner pitching.

In 2008, Tanner was drafted in the second round by the Pirates. He and the Pirates could not agree to a contract before the deadline and Tanner re-entered the draft the following year. In order to stay fresh before the draft, Tanner signed with the St. Paul Saints. He pitched in four games with the Saints before getting drafted by the Rangers at the end of the first round. He signed that time around and his time in the American Association came to a close.

Tanner pitched in the Majors for parts of six seasons with the Rangers. During that time, he was 12-7 with 3 saves and a 4.23 ERA. His best season came in 2013 when he logged a career high 76.2 innings and responded with a 6-2 record with a save and a 1.99 ERA. That was his only Major League season with an ERA under 4.00.

Tanner pitched in Japan last year and it looks like is not playing right now. He could be injured or he might not have a team to play for. I do not know. I bet that the Saints would take him back, though.

Even though it does not mention a team anywhere on this card, I am chalking this up as a Pirate card because they drafted him in 2008.

2008 Donruss Elite, Byron Wiley

#CP-23 Byron Wiley

This is my last card from 2008 Donruss Elite. Unlike all the other cards from the set that I have posted, I did not get this card signed in-person or pull it from a pack. I actually bought this card from COMC. Being a K-State grad, I just could not pass this beautiful card up. Even if it wasn't signed, I still might have bought it. Now, since the Cats got spanked today in the opening round of the tournament, there will be no more talk about them.

Byron was drafted by the Reds in the 22nd round of the 2008 draft. He lasted just three seasons in affiliated ball. Over that time, he never made it out of A ball and he hit .275 with 23 homers and 119 RBI in 191 contests. Those aren't horrible numbers. But, they are a bit skewed as he hit .328 in his first season of rookie ball and then hit 12 home runs and drove in 64 in his second pro season. In 2010, he played in just 42 games before missing all of 2011.

By the time he came back in 2012, he was playing independent ball. He played a season in the Frontier League before joining the American Association for three seasons. Coincidentally, I ran across him at a Wingnuts game once and was able to add a couple more autographs to the collection from him. But, this one is still by far my favorite. You just cannot beat a signed card with a Powercat on it.

2005 Bowman Heritage, J.P. Howell

#SG-JH J.P. Howell

Here is a card that I picked up for cheap from COMC last year. This one set me back all of $1.50. I picked it up just because it showed JP as a Royal.

JP pitched more games for the Royals than I realized. He started fifteen games with them in 2005 and was 3-5 with a 6.19 ERA. He was then traded to the Devil Rays in 2006 for Joey Gathright. He started 18 games for the Rays in '06 and '07 before moving to the pen in '08 and establishing himself as a reliable reliever.

Over the course of his career, JP was 36-30 with 22 saves and a 3.83 ERA. His best season was with the Rays in 2008 when he went 6-1 with 3 saves, a 2.22 ERA and a career-high 92 strikeouts. He pitched for the Rays through the 2012 season before moving on to the Dodgers for four years. He spent last year, which looks like his final year, with the Blue Jays.

This is an odd card. I love Heritage cards and you cannot beat an on-card autograph. But, it just seems extremely odd that the players were told to sign the cards on the "No Pepper Games" sign.

I have no clue what is going on with JP's signature. Does he just sign Howell? Or is he trying to make his J and his P look like an H? Your guess is as good as mine.

2007 Upper Deck Elements, Marcus Giles

#CCE-MG Marcus Giles

This is a card that I bought off of Check Out My Cards three years ago. I bought this card because I needed a signed card of Marcus Giles. The reason why I needed this card is because I once got an autograph from Marcus at a game. I am pretty sure I got it at a Rockies game in 2002 or '03. The one problem was that I got that autograph on a ball. So, I needed a signed card to rectify that problem and this was the cheapest one I could find at that time. This card set me back $2.74. Right now it is going for $8.24, but there are a few signed Giles cards on there going for less than two bucks.

When I was prepping for this post, I was a little surprised how short of a career Marcus had. He only played in the Majors for seven seasons. For some reason, I just figured that he was up there for a little longer than that.

Marcus played for the Braves for six of his seven seasons. He was their main second baseman for four seasons and he hit .285 for them with 72 home runs and 294 RBI. He then signed with the Padres for the 2007 season to play with his brother Brian and things just went south there. He hit a career-worst .229 with only 4 dingers and 39 RBI. The Padres released him after the season and, though he played in Spring Training games for two more years, he never played another Major or minor league game.

Marcus' best season was 2003 when he made the National League All Star team. That year, he had career highs in average (.316), home runs (21), doubles (49), and RBI (69).

While this is a neat card and I am glad that I got it cheap, it is a nasty-looking sticker autograph. If you look real closely, you can see some slight bubbling in the signature. And, of course, the sig disappears off of the sticker in a couple of spots.

2008 Topps, Jose Molina

#HA-JM Jose Molina

Here is a card of Jose Molina that I bought from COMC for $2.49. Every time I make a purchase from the site, I always try to throw in an autograph or two just to obtain an autograph. This is one of those. I bought it for no other reason than because of that and that it was cheap.

Jose, the middle brother in the Molina trio, played in the Major Leagues for fifteen seasons with the Cubs, Angels, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Rays. He was mainly a back-up catcher throughout his career, playing in 100+ games only twice. He even spent the first part of his career backing up his older brother, Bengie.

For his career, Jose hit .233 with 39 home runs and 223 RBI. Some of his better seasons came later in his career when he started more games withe the Blue Jays and Rays. In 2011, with Toronto, he hit a career high .281. The following season, with Tampa Bay, he had career highs in home runs(8) and RBI(32).

This is the second Molina brother I have shown on here. I posted a card of Bengie last February. Now, if I could just get my hands on an autograph from Yadier, I would be set.

The three Molina brothers are the only three brothers in MLB history to all win World Series rings. All of them have won two except for Bengie.

Another fun Jose Molina fact is that he hit the last home run at old Yankee Stadium.

2007 Goudey, Alberto Callaspo

#GG-AC Alberto Callaspo

Mike Jacobs was looking lonely in my binder as the only 2007 Goudey card that I had signed. So, to make him feel a little better, and to add another signed card from this great looking set, I picked up this signed Alberto Callaspo card from COMC for about two bucks. An on-card autograph from this iconic looking set cannot be beat, especially for two dollars.

This is the fourth card of Alberto Callaspo that I have posted on here. The first three were all obtained in 2009 while Alberto was with the Royals. I posted the first two of those in 2010 and then it was a couple of years before I got around to the third one.

Since leaving the Royals, Alberto has played for the Angels, A's, Braves, and Dodgers. He spent three and a half seasons with the Halos before being dealt to the A's at the trade deadline in 2013. He played in Oakland through last season and then signed on with the Braves during the offseason. He played there for a couple of months before being dealt to the Dodgers in May. His stay in LA was barely longer than his tenure in Atlanta as the Dodgers released him three weeks ago.

It will be interesting to see if Alberto can catch on with another team next season. He will be thirty-three then and his offensive numbers have been on the decline since he maxed out as a Royal in 2009. That year, he hit .300 with 11 home runs and 73 RBI.

If he does call it a career, he will finish as a .265 hitter with 52 home runs and 369 RBI.

2006 Bowman Heritage, Justin Huber

#SG-JH Justin Huber

This is a card that I picked up from COMC for $1.95. Whenever I make a purchase from the site, I usually try to snag a cheap autograph to top off the sale. This was a nice one as it was on-card and of a Royal who never signed a card for me.

Justin is an Australian who played in the Majors for parts of five seasons with the Royals, Padres, and Twins. He never got any significant playing time as the most games he played in any season was 33 with the Padres in 2008. That just happened to be his best season as he had career highs in average (.246), home runs (2), and RBI (8). Those two home runs were the only two he ever hit and he got them off of two very good pitchers- Cliff Lee and Randy Johnson.

Justin finished his career a .224 hitter with those 2 home runs and 15 RBI.

I saw Justin play with the Royals seven times. At one game I was at, I even met his dad. He was fun to talk to. He said that he made the trip over about once a year to watch his son play. We talked about baseball in Australia and he told me it did not have much of a following, that it was basically a club sport. When I think of a club sport here in the States, I tend to think of rugby. And I have a hard time picturing a American club-playing rugby player making it to the highest level of rugby in the world. So maybe it is a little more advanced than that. After all, they now have their own winter league. Justin finished up his career there in 2013.

Justin is listed as a first baseman on this card, which is the position he played for the Royals in 2005. But his base card in the set lists him as a catcher, a position he never played in the Majors. He did catch in the minors, but it is strange that the two cards list different positions.

2000 Just, Chris George

#BA14 Chris George

Here is another COMC pick up. This one features the Chris George that played for the Royals, not the one that played for the Brewers. This card set me back $1.09.

Chris pitched for the Royals for parts of four seasons. The former first round draft pick got his first call up in 2000 when he was just twenty-two years old. He made 13 starts and went 4-8 with a 5.59 ERA. That would be the lowest ERA he would post as a Major Leaguer. He made just six starts for Kansas City the following season and was 0-4.

In 2003, Chris made the Royals rotation out of Spring Training and got off to a splendid start. He won his first two games while allowing only 3 earned runs over twelve innings. The wheels started to fall off, though, in his third start when he gave up eight earned runs to the White Sox in under five innings. His season flamed out of control after that and he was sent down to Omaha in July. Even though he was leading the team in wins at the time, his ERA had ballooned to 7.11. It didn't help that he had walked 44 batters and given up 22 home runs in 93.2 innings.

Chris got a shot with the Royals in 2004, but continued to pitch poorly. In just 42.1 innings, he had a 7.23 ERA and a strikeout to walk ratio of 3:5.

Chris never pitched in the Major Leagues after that stint, but he continued to pitch at the AAA level through the 2012 season. He finished his career with 1244.1 AAA innings pitched with a 68-74 record and a 4.98 ERA. That was slightly better than his big league numbers, 14-20 and a 6.48 ERA.

This is a funky looking card that Just put out. I am not sure if they were trying to be artsy, or what, but I am not a big fan of this blocked-out look. Chris does have a good looking signature, though.

2000 SPx, Rob Ramsay

#100 Rob Ramsay

Here is a card that I picked up in a grab bag from a card show in 2013. The first card shop in Kansas, Rock's Dugout in Wichita, holds a card show every other month at the bowling alley where the shop is located. There are always dealers there that have a decent amount of singles from the '50s and '60s and I have gone through a few of those boxes looking for some TTM bait. I usually end up at a show in the winter when there are no new packs out, so one time I bought two grab bags that were guaranteed to contain one auto in each bag. I let my kid pick out the one he wanted and he ended up with an '08 Topps Jason Nix. I got this cool SPx card of Rob Ramsay.

I will admit that I had never heard of Rob when I got this card. But, it turns out that he had a decent Major League season with the Mariners in 2000. That year, he got into 37 games and held opponents to a 3.40 ERA while posting a 1-1 record. That is pretty good considering that he walked more people than he struck out (40 to 32). While his WHIP wasn't very good, he and the other M's relievers were able to keep most of his base runners from scoring.

He then spent all of 2001 in the minors before missing the 2002 season. He played in the Padres organization in 2003, but made just two appearances above A-ball.

For his career, Rob was 1-3 with a 4.19 ERA over parts of two seasons with Seattle.

I have no idea how SP and SPx differ. I am just saying.

1999 Topps Gallery, Eric Chavez

#GA3 Eric Chavez

Here is a card of Eric Chavez that I bought from COMC just to add an autograph to my purchase. This one was a little more than the Leaf Signature Series cards that I usually buy for about a buck. But, for only $2.99, I was not going to complain. The complaining came three months later when I got Eric to sign a couple of cards for me at Spring Training.

I am not really familiar with Topps Gallery, but I do like the look of this card. It has a nice framed look to it with ample white space for the on-card autograph.

Now on to other things. Here was the prize from Christmas haul.

My loving wife bought me this beauty. I had been asking for his '38 Goudey for a couple of years now, but those are a little pricey. This one is going to work just fine. Now I need to unslab this thing and get it out in the mail! I'm a little nervous. Actually, I am very nervous.

1999 Just Minors, Eric Byrnes

NN Eric Byrnes

Here is a card that I picked up of Eric Byrnes for cheap from COMC. This one set me back a whopping sixty-nine cents. You cannot beat that.

Eric played in the Majors for parts of eleven seasons with the A's, Orioles, Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Mariners. He hit .258 for his career with 109 home runs and 396 RBI. He was only an everyday player for four seasons, two with Oakland and two with Phoenix, and he put up some good numbers during three of those seasons (20+ home runs, 70+ RBI). He even started to steal some bases when he got out of Oakland and topped out with 50 with the D-Backs in 2007.

That was probably his best season. Besides the career highs in stolen bases, he also had highs in average (.286) and RBI (83). Things took a turn for the worse the following season, though, when Eric was limited to just 52 games. He landed on the disabled list that season for the first time in his career and ended up hitting just .209 for the season. He rebounded to the tune of .226 the next season, but was limited to 84 games. He was released by the D-Backs after the season and hooked on with the Mariners the following year. His tenure lasted 15 games before getting released and he called it a career.

Since retiring, Eric has had various broadcasting duties with multiple networks. I believe he currently works for the MLB Network.

I really like the signature on this card. It looks much better than the one on the 2005 card on his Baseball Almanac page.

1998 Best, Russ Ortiz

NN Russ Ortiz

Check out this early Russ Ortiz signature card. It is so early in his career, in fact, that he was still going by his given name of Russell. That may be why I was able buy this card for a mere seventy-five cents. At least that is what I thought until I got it and noticed it had a small wrinkle in it. But, for the price, I don't really care.

Russ pitched in the Majors for parts of twelve seasons with the Giants, Braves, Diamondbacks, Orioles, Astros, and Dodgers. He was mostly a starter and spent half of his big league seasons with the Giants. He was a 20 game winner once and made his lone All Star team that season. For his career, Russ was 113-89 with a 4.51 ERA and 1,192 strikeouts.

Russ pitched in one World Series for the 2002 Giants. After a solid start in the NLDS, where he was 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA, Russ started to have some issues in the second round. In the NLCS, he was 0-0 in one start with a 7.71 ERA. He got two more starts in the World Series and again had no decisions and a 10.13 ERA.

His poor postseason performance might have been the main reason why the Giants shipped him off to Atlanta during the off-season for Damian Moss and Merkin Valdez. The Braves got the better end of that deal as Russ had his All Star season in Atlanta in 2003. His postseason struggles continued, though, as he was 1-1 with a 7.24 ERA in three starts over two Division Series.

The Braves let him walk after the 2004 season and Russ's career as a journeyman began.

1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended, Matt Mantei

#120 Matt Mantei

Here is the final card that I have to post from this set. Like most of them, I bought this card to make up for a ball that I got signed at a game. Matt signed my ball at a Royals game in 2003 while he was with the Diamondbacks. That ball probably cost me $16. This card cost me $0.75.

I like to say that signing autographs is good karma for a player. More often than not, it seems like a player that signs for me before a game tends to have a good game. That was the case for Matt that game. Though he was a little a shaky (three walks in two innings), he and the D-Backs prevailed and Matt got the W.

Matt pitched in the Majors for ten seasons with the Marlins, Diamondbacks, and Red Sox. He pitched exclusively out of the 'pen and compiled a 14-18 record with 93 saves and a 4.07 ERA. His best season was with the D-Backs in 2003 when he had a career-high 29 saves with a 2.62 ERA.

For some reason, I picture Matt as a dominant closer from his era. But, he never made an All Star team and never recorded a 30 save season. I don't know what I was thinking.

Here is the ball that Matt signed for me that day.

I like Matt's signature. You cannot read it, but it is stylish.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended, Jason Christiansen

#28 Jason Christiansen

Here is a card of Jason Christiansen that I picked up from COMC for ninety-nine cents. I bought this card because I got Jason's signature at a Cardinals game in 2000. Since it was 2000, the autograph was on a ball and not on a card.

That was quite the road trip. I can't remember what prompted my buddy and I to make the trek to St. Louis. I actually don't remember a whole lot about the trip. The only thing that I vividly remember is staying in the most ghetto motel that I have ever been in.

The place looked pretty normal from the front, so we went in and got a room. Then we drove around to the back where the actual rooms were and we were like "WTF did we get ourselves in for". There were two or three rooms where people were sitting outside on lawn chairs drinking forties. We quickly found our room and hurried inside. Inside was not much better. The furniture looked like it was picked up from yard sales as nothing matched. On top of that, the chain lock was hanging from the door and not attached to the wall like the door had been kicked in at some point. Then we checked out the bathroom and discovered that the toilet from the room above ours was leaking and dripping straight into our toilet. Needless to say, neither of us dropped a deuce that night. We didn't sleep that well either.

Jason pitched in the Majors for eleven seasons with the Pirates, Cardinals, Giants, and Angels. He pitched exclusively out of the bullpen and posted a 27-26 record with 16 saves and a 4.30 ERA. His best season came with the Pirates in 1998 when he appeared in a career-high 60 games and had a 2.51 ERA, 6 saves, and 71 strikeouts.

Here is a picture of the ball that Jason signed. It is a cheap souvenir ball and the Sharpie signature has bled a bit. Mike Timlin also signed the ball. I need to get a card signed by him as well. He also has one in this set, but right now it costs twice as much as this card did.

1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended, Mike Aldrete

#2 Mike Aldrete

On yesterday's post of Joe Vitiello, I mentioned that I bought the card for no other reason than the fact that he was a former Royal. Well, here is a card I bought for no reason at all. I bought it just to get an autograph along with cards I was buying from COMC. Mike never played for the Royals and I never got him to sign a non-card item at a game. But, I now have this sweet card of him and it set me back only ninety-seven cents.

Mike played in the Majors for ten seasons with the Giants, Expos, Padres, Indians, A's, Angels, and Yankees. He got some decent playing time with the Giants in the late '80s, appearing in 100+ games twice. He played first and the corner outfield spots. In 1987, he had his best season. He hit a career-high .325 with 9 home runs and 51 RBI.

After the Giants traded him to Montreal, Mike got relegated to back-up duty. He would stay in that role for the rest of his career.

As noted on this card, Mike got traded to the Yankees. In his short tenure with them, he had a couple of firsts. He made his Major League pitching debut that season. He came into a game in the eighth inning in Milwaukee with one runner on. The Yanks were down by eleven and he escaped with just one hit and the inherited runner scoring. So, he has a career 0.00 ERA.

The second first he accomplished in pinstripes was playing in a World Series. He was a defensive replacement in game one, who was then pinch hit for in the ninth. He did get an at-bat, though, in game four. He pinch hit for the pitcher and grounded out to short. That was the extent of his World Series action.

I like the photo on this card. Minus the batting cage and the missing facade at Yankee Stadium, it is reminiscent of some older Topps cards.

It is kind of funny that Mike signed above his name on here. Every other card I have from this set has the signature below the name.

1996 Leaf Signature Series, Joe Vitiello

#232 Joe Vitiello

This card set me back all of ninety-five cents. Like the Sal Fasano and Ricky Bottalico cards I also posted from this set, I got this one just because Joe is a former Royal. The only difference, though, is that I never saw Joe play.

Joe was drafted by the Royals in the first round of the 1991 draft out of Alabama. He signed quickly and was assigned to Eugene in the Northwest League. He tore up that circuit over the 19 games he played there (.328 avg, 6 HR, and 21 RBI). He was then bumped up to AA where he struggled. He hit just .219 there over 36 games.

The next season was spent entirely in the Florida State League before spending all of 1993 in the Southern Association (AA). In 1994, he was moved up to AAA Omaha and that became Joe's home for the next six seasons. Over that time, he was called up to Kansas City yearly from 1995-99. But, he could never stick with the Big League club.

As a Kansas City Royal, Joe played in 205 games and hit .235 with 21 home runs and 83 RBI. With the Omaha Royals, though, Joe played in 431 games and hit .304 with 80 homers and 312 RBI. Joe Vitiello was essentially a AAAA player.

After his time with the Royals, Joe played five more seasons, mostly at AAA. He did spend one season in Japan and did have a couple of call-ups with San Diego and Montreal. He did real well with the Expos, too, hitting .342 over 76 at-bats. But, it was back to the minors the next season which ended up being his last.

For his career, Joe was a .248 hitter with 26 home runs and 104 RBI.

1996 Leaf Signature Series, Jason Giambi

#77 Jason Giambi

Like yesterday's post, here is a card I bought to make up for not having a card to get signed at a ballgame. This one was more expensive than the ones that I usually pick up from this set. But, I still got it for under $4 and that is not bad for Jason Giambi.

Back in 2000, I started going to a bunch of Royals game. I was in Manhattan, attending Kansas State, and Kansas City was less than two hours away. I probably averaged at least a dozen games a year during my four years there. That first year, I tried getting autographs at every game I went to. I would try to get balls signed at that time, and that proved to be an expensive endeavor that netted very few big name players. In other words, it was a waste of a ball.

That season, I went to most of the games with a girlfriend. I would try to 'graph the Royals and I would send her over to 'graph the visitors. She had no clue what she was doing, and didn't want to do it in the first place, but she did so anyways (kind of like my wife does now). To make it simple, I told her to just go over there and wait for someone to start signing and then get in on the action.

One day, the A's were in town and there must not have been many 'graphers at the ballpark. Because of that, she was standing all alone with her ball. Jason Giambi walked by and asked her if she wanted him to sign it. Yes, you read that part right. Jason Giambi asked her if she wanted his autograph. To this day, I am still amazed by how that worked and am a big Giambi fan because of it. I have been to hundreds of games since then and still have not seen anything like that take place. Did I mention that he was in the middle of an MVP season, too?

I know that Giambi had taken a lot of flack for his PED use and I understand that. And, I wasn't too high on him when he was with the Yankees. But, nevertheless, this is still one of the best autograph stories I have ever witnessed. Because of that, I had to acquire a signed card of him to share it on here.

Never mind the fact that I got three cards signed by him at The K about six months later.

Here is the ball he signed for me almost fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, I was not using blue pens then and the ink has faded a bit.

1996 Leaf Signature Series, Marvin Freeman

#73 Marvin Freeman

Here is another COMC addition that cost less than a dollar. I bought this card because I got Marvin's autograph at a Rockies game in 1996 and all I had to get signed was a Rockies program. I was barely collecting cards at the time and didn't even realize I would be heading to a Rockies game when we went to Colorado to play some baseball games. So this card is to make up for not getting a card signed at the game. There will be a few more like this coming up with this set.

Marvin played in the Majors for ten seasons with the Phillies, Braves, Rockies, and White Sox. He was both a reliever and a starter while getting most of his starts at the end of his career. Marvin's career record is 35-28 with 5 saves and a 4.64 ERA.

Marvin's best season came with the Rockies in 1994. That season, he was 10-2 with a 2.80 ERA over 18 starts and a relief appearance. Those are pretty good numbers for a pre-humidor Rockies pitcher. Unfortunately, he could not reproduce those numbers the following seasons in Denver as his ERA jumped to 5.89 the next season and 6.04 the season after that.

This apparently is the first Rockies card I have posted in over two years.

1996 Leaf Signature Series, Sal Fasano

#65 Sal Fasano

The next COMC pick-up is this card of Sal Fasano. Like most of the cards that I buy from this set, this one cost me one dollar.

There wasn't any real reason why I bought this card. Sal used to play for the Royals, which is a plus, but that is about the only thing that ties me to him. I guess I just really like his mustache. Unfortunately, Sal wasn't wearing his trade mark Fu Manchu when this card came out. Here is a better look at it.

I like to call this style of mustache the "Ft. Polk Special". When I was in the Army, I had to go to Ft. Polk for a week of training. While I was there, it seemed like every civilian working on the post had a mustache like this.

Sal played in the Majors for parts of eleven seasons with the Royals, A's, Rockies, Angels, Orioles, Phillies, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Indians. The journeyman catcher was mainly a third-stringer who only got called up when one of the first two catchers got hurt. His best season came with the O's in 2005 when he hit .250 with a career high of 11 home runs.

For his career, Sal was a .221 hitter with 47 dingers.

Sal is currently the Blue Jays catching coordinator.