1994 D.J. Boston

Who is this? Former Toronto Blue Jays prospect D.J. Boston  

What is this? An autographed card from the 1994 Signature Rookies set
 
Where'd I get it? Out of the dollar box at my local card shop
 
How much did it cost? $1
 
Why is this so special? I'm continuing the Signature Rookies theme that I started on my own blog today. Signature Rookies helped launch the trend of prospect autographs by producing a set of minor league players and including an autographed card in every (expensive) pack.

They came along right around the time I was finishing up high school, so fortunately I didn't have the money to really collect them. Now, it's fun to pick up cheap autographs of players I remember.

D.J. likely made it into the Signature Rookies set because he won the South Atlantic League MVP award in 1993. He never made it past AAA, unfortunately. I remember D.J. from the Atlantic League, where he was a star for the now-defunct Nashua Pride and the Bridgeport Bluefish.

After he retired in 2006, D.J. went into coaching. He got his start with the Atlantic League's Road Warriors in 2007, and move back into affiliated ball with the Greenville Astros in 2008. Last year, he was the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Astros.

D.J.'s 1994 signature is a little nicer than I remember the ones I got during his Atlantic League days.