Dilferules's 1988-present Oakland A's autograph thread

[Dilferules]

A couple more in this weekend:

Randy Keisler - Pitched a mediocre 11 games in relief for the 2006 A's. According to his baseball-reference page he was selected in the draft every single year from 1995 to 1998, he must have felt very wanted. After all of that he pitched 55 MLB games with a 6.63 ERA.

Jordan Weems - Was drafted by the Red Sox in the third round in 2011 as a catcher and converted to pitcher in 2016. Made 14 relief appearances for the A's 2020-21 then was waived when they needed room on the roster. Currently in the Diamondbacks minor league system.

Now at 575/691. Inching towards double digit needs.

 

[Dilferules]

The awesome @RNCoyote was nice enough to grab an upgrade for me:

Kevin Kouzmanoff - I had some Padres autos but nothing with the A's. Kouz was one of the guys that filled in at third base between the Eric Chavez years and the Josh Donaldson years. He's one of four players to hit a grand slam in their first at-bat, and played on the 2010 A's with one of the others to do so, Jeremy Hermida. He was a bit of a fan favorite and is coaching in the A's minor league system currently.

He also sent along a bonus card:

Bobby Crosby - I have many Crosby autos but this may be my new favorite, the signature looks great on this 2006 Allen and Ginter card.

Thanks, Raymond!

 

[Dilferules]

Got a couple of TTM returns:

Scott Service - Was not good in 20 relief appearances for the 2000 A's. He does have a 2000 A's team-issued card so it's possible to upgrade this someday, but that card is a bit tough to find.

Roger Smithberg - Pitched 15 games for the A's 1993-94 and that was his full MLB career. Seems to have done well after baseball and is currently a "wealth advisor", which I wish I needed.

That puts me at 577/691.

 

[Dilferules]

One more via TTM today:

Jeff Tam - Appeared in 70+ games for the A's in both 2000 and 2001, and pitched very well. Fell off a bit in 2002 and pitched the following year for Toronto, his last. I have fond memories of him since he was on the team when my collecting interests were moving more from football to the A's.

Now at 578/691.

 

[Dilferules]

One more TTM return today:

Mike Raczka - Gave up 6 earned runs in 6.1 MLB innings, all in 1992 with the A's. Continued in the minors through 1995 but never made it back to the bigs.

Currently at 579/691.

 

[Dilferules]

Got five in the mail today:

Scott Baker - This card is beat up but I'm thrilled to get it, based on my early searches I thought this would be one of the ten toughest autos to track down. He pitched a single MLB game, for the 1995 A's.

Jeff Gray - His only A's card is from 2009 Bowman Draft, and he unfortunately always seems to sign it right over the facsimile auto so it kind of looks like it's traced. I hate that!

Mitch Moreland - Aggressively mediocre for the A's this year.

Kevin Thompson - Picked up on waivers from the Yankees and hit .071 in 9 games for the 2007 A's. Never made it back to the bigs.

Andy Tomberlin - Backup outfielder on the 1995 team only hit .212 and was shipped to the Mets for literally nothing.

That puts me at 584/691, I've got several incoming so I should have my needs below 100 shortly.

 

[Dilferules]

Four relievers added today:

Dan Giese - Pitched the final 7 games of a 35-game career for the 2009 A's.

John Johnstone - Began 1997 pitching 10 games for the Giants, then was selected off waivers by the A's and pitched 5 games for them before being released and re-signed by the Giants, where he pitched 3 more games. Then he pitched 179 games for the Giants over the next three seasons.

Matt Roney - Game up 2 runs in 4 innings for the 2006 A's.

Evan Scribner - Scribbles appeared in 115 games for the A's 2012-15. He was okay and had a fun name.

Now at 588/691.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Four relievers added today:

View attachment 311580Dan Giese - Pitched the final 7 games of a 35-game career for the 2009 A's.

View attachment 311581John Johnstone - Began 1997 pitching 10 games for the Giants, then was selected off waivers by the A's and pitched 5 games for them before being released and re-signed by the Giants, where he pitched 3 more games. Then he pitched 179 games for the Giants over the next three seasons.

View attachment 311582Matt Roney - Game up 2 runs in 4 innings for the 2006 A's.

View attachment 311583Evan Scribner - Scribbles appeared in 115 games for the A's 2012-15. He was okay and had a fun name.

Now at 588/691.

Scribner has a cool looking signature too.

 

[Dilferules]

Yan Gomes - Hasn't been so hot since he was picked up from the Nats a month ago, but I won't blame him for the A's complete recent collapse.

Bruce Walton - Relieved 27 career games for the A's, Expos, and Rockies with an 8.21 ERA. All-star mustache, though.

Now at 590/691.

 

[Dilferules]

One more today:

Damon Mashore - Did okay in parts of two seasons with the A's but was let go and spent a season with the Angels and that was it for his MLB career. Currently a minor league coach for the Dodgers. Trivia: Damon and his dad Clyde used to hold the record for career HR's by a father and son who both hit the same number of homers: 8 a piece. Sadly Cecil and Prince Fielder slightly broke that record by each finishing with 319 home runs.

And that gets me to 591/691, exactly 100 left to go.

 

[Dazed]

One more today:

View attachment 311693Damon Mashore - Did okay in parts of two seasons with the A's but was let go and spent a season with the Angels and that was it for his MLB career. Currently a minor league coach for the Dodgers. Trivia: Damon and his dad Clyde used to hold the record for career HR's by a father and son who both hit the same number of homers: 8 a piece. Sadly Cecil and Prince Fielder slightly broke that record by each finishing with 319 home runs.

And that gets me to 591/691, exactly 100 left to go.

Congrats on getting your needs list down to 100.

Any guess who will be your last or hardest of the current 100?

 

[Dilferules]

Congrats on getting your needs list down to 100.

Any guess who will be your last or hardest of the current 100?

Hmm that's tough. Cory Lidle died young, but he also died very famously and was a willing signer when he was alive so the autos that are out there are more likely to be listed, they'll just cost a bit. Based on my searches so far these will probably be the hardest:

Larry Arndt (2 MLB games in 1989, didn't sign TTM, died in 2014)
Ramon Fermin (1 MLB game in 1995, from the Dominican Republic so who knows how to get a signature)
Marcus Jones (1 MLB game in 2000, no MLB cards)
Francisco Matos (14 MLB games in 1994, from Dominican Republic)
Steve Phoenix (3 MLB games 1994-95, only MLB card is a 4-player one)
Jeff Shaver (1 MLB game in 1988, no MLB cards)

Luckily I don't know of anybody who is completely impossible and costs a ton, but I can't remember seeing any autos of those guys recently.

 

[Dilferules]

Here are the two that get my wantlist below 100:

FP Santangelo - Finished up his career by hitting .197 in 32 games for the 2001 A's. And if you ever wondered, it stands for Frank-Paul.

Ed Sprague - Only played 27 games for the A's in 1998 but he does have a couple of cards showing him in an A's uniform. Would be nice to upgrade to one of those some day as he went on to work in the A's front office and is the current Director of Player Development. According to Wikipedia he is the only player ever to win a college World Series, MLB World Series, and Olympic gold medal.

That puts me at 593/691. The A's did call up 2 players for the meager September roster expansion that's allowed nowadays, but they were prior A's Khris Davis and Austin Allen so no movement in my needs list.

 

[Dilferules]

Four more today:

Wes Bankston - Just when I thought Royal Rookies was the worst auto set, 2002 Just says "hold my beer." Bankston played 17 games for the 2008 A's and hit .203. That was his whole MLB career, but he did hit 25 homers in Mexico in 2013.

Tilson Brito - Only played 92 MLB games 1996-97, 17 of those for the 1997 A's. But he played pro ball all the way through 2008. In his career he played on teams located in 5 countries: US, Canada, Mexico, Korea, and China.

Josh Harrison - Playing well for the A's after being picked up at the trade deadline.

Olmedo Saenz - Good hitter, had an .800 OPS over 4 seasons with the A's 1999-2002. Later went to the Dodgers for four years and did pretty much the same thing. Doesn't seem like he could field at all, though.

Brings me up to 597/691. Who will be number 600?

 

[Dilferules]

One TTM return today:

Brad Kilby - Pitched 25 innings for the 2009-10 A's with a 1.07 ERA and over a strikeout per inning, but he never pitched after 2010 due to shoulder injuries. Interesting fact, according to Wikipedia he is the only pitcher in MLB history to allow zero hits in his only MLB start.....he was generally a reliever and the start was 2 innings.

I'm at 598/691.

 

[Dilferules]

After nothing for a week, three in today:

Felix Jose - Always liked him because he had the same name as our family cat. Felix the cat was with my family for 20 years, but Felix the ballplayer was only with the A's for three seasons before they traded him to the Cardinals for one month of Willie McGee.

Patrick Lennon - This was a TTM success, I actually didn't even realize he had an A's card until this year. He hit decently in 56 games for the 1997 A's.

Richie Lewis - 9.82 ERA in 14 games for the 1997 team. Pretty nice signature.

That gets me past 600! 601/691 now.

 

[mrmopar]

You are slamming that list down. I'm sure it will slow as you get closer, like most lists like this do. I am back up to 7 Dodger needs, all from this season except Mookie!

 

[Dilferules]

It'll start slowing down a little soon, I'm still picking up autos that are generally under $10 right now but there may be only another 20 or so of those (plus another 10-20 I've got at or coming from COMC). Once my needs list gets below 40 or 50 I'll have to actually start paying up or sit and wait for stuff to pop up.

Four cheap ones in today:

Steve Connelly - His entire MLB career was 4 2/3 innings for the 1998 A's, where he had a sparkling 1.93 ERA...but gave up 10 hits and 4 walks. He's been a coach in the A's system since 2014 and is currently the Midland Rockhounds pitching coach. He doesn't have any MLB cards or else I would have asked RNCoyote for help with this one...I settled for this signed 4x6 photo taken in the AFL. At least it's got A's colors.

Jake Diekman - A's reliever for the last two and a half seasons started 2021 as the closer after a great 2020, but lost the job. He has come back to put up okay numbers for the full season. He does have a certified auto in 2014 Topps but I haven't been able to find it for a good price, snagged this one for a couple of bucks.

Jordan Norberto - Pitched three MLB seasons 2010-12, the last two with the A's. Had a good 2012 season but got injured and never made it back to the bigs.

Eric O'Flaherty - Pitched a year and a half for the A's 2014-15 before being traded to the Mets for a guy that never made the majors. He was absolutely terrible for the Mets so nobody won that deal.

Brings me up to 605/691.

 

[mrmopar]

Norberto has a great modern signature. Reminded me a bit like Adrian Beltre

 

[Dilferules]

Five more in recently:

Fausto Cruz - Middle infielder played 25 games for the A's 1994-95 but didn't hit much. Only MLB player ever named Fausto, since Fausto Carmona switched to Roberto Hernandez.

Joe Klink - Always liked him because of his name. Pitched a couple of years for the A's and was very good in one, mediocre in the other. Managed to get 10 wins in relief in 1991.

Bip Roberts - Finished his career with 61 games for the 1998 A's. My ultimate goal is to get his one A's card signed, but since that's $20 through PastPros I'll settle on this cheap Royals card for now.

Rob Ryan - Struck out 5 times in 7 at-bats for the 2001 A's.

Brian Schlitter - Another great name. Was good in 6 games for the 2019 A's but hasn't pitched in the bigs since. Currently in AAA with the Mariners.

And there was one debut for the A's yesterday, reliever Michael Feliz. I've already got one on the way for him. So I'm currently 610/692.