2009 BBM Edgardo Alfonzo

Who is this? former Yomiuri Giants infielder Edgardo Alfonzo
What is this? An autographed card from the 2009 BBM set
Where'd I get it? Alfonzo signed it for me before a Newark Bears game earlier this year.
How much did it cost? The card cost around $5.

Why is this so special? Edgardo Alfonzo is arguably one of the best players in Mets history, and he was always one of my favorites. He has over 1,500 major league hits to his credit and was an All-Star in 2000.

After Alfonzo's major league career ended in 2006, he tried to make a comeback by playing in the Atlantic League. He played in for games for the Bridgeport Bluefish before the Mets signed him to a minor league contract to finish the season in Norfolk.

In 2007 and 2008, Alfonzo suited up for the Long Island Ducks. He also spent part of the 2008 season in Mexico. Last year, Alfonzo signed a contract with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan. He played in 21 games and had just 6 hits in 41 at-bats. I'm not sure if he spent the rest of the season on the Giants' minor league club or if he was hurt. This year, Alfonzo played in 26 games for the Newark Bears.

Edgardo's autograph hasn't changed much over the years, but I've never been able to figure out the end of it.

2005 BBM 1st Version Luis Lopez

Who is this? Bridgeport Bluefish third baseman Luis Lopez

What is this? An autographed card from the 2005 BBM 1st Version set

Where'd I get it? Lopez signed it for me before a game between the Bluefish and Bears in Newark earlier this year.

How much did it cost? Around $3.

Why is this so special? Luis Lopez had a brief major league career, playing 41 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2001 and 11 games for the Montreal Expos in 2004. For the past three seasons, he's played for the Bridgeport Bluefish, which is where I've seen him play.

Lopez also played in Mexico and spent the 2005 season playing for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in the Japanese Pacific League. The Golden Eagles joined the league to fill the void left when the Orix Blue Wave and Kintetsu Buffaloes merged after the 2004 season.

I'd love to tell you how Lopez did for the Golden Eagles in 2005, but Baseball Reference doesn't have them and the stats pages at JapaneseBaseball.com have been undergoing renovation forever.

Yesterday, I posted my 2nd Version Luis Lopez card. I'm not quite sure why I'm posting them backwards, but then again I'm a bit confused by the whole 1st and 2nd version concept. I'm used to players only getting a second card in a later series if they were traded early during the year (or late during the offseason).

Lopez's autograph didn't come out quite as nicely on this card, but it's still better looking than some I've gotten this year.

2005 BBM 2nd Version Luis Lopez

Who is this? Bridgeport Bluefish third baseman Luis Lopez

What is this? An autographed card from the 2005 BBM 2nd Version set

Where'd I get it? Lopez signed it for me before a game between the Bluefish and Bears in Newark earlier this year.

How much did it cost? Around $3.

Why is this so special? Luis Lopez had a brief major league career, playing 41 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2001 and 11 games for the Montreal Expos in 2004. For the past three seasons, he's played for the Bridgeport Bluefish, which is where I've seen him play.

Lopez also played in Mexico and spent the 2005 season playing for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in the Japanese Pacific League. The Golden Eagles joined the league to fill the void left when the Orix Blue Wave and Kintetsu Buffaloes merged after the 2004 season.

This spring, I spent a little time looking for interesting items for some of the Atlantic League veterans to add to my collection, so I bought a pair of Lopez's Japanese baseball cards with the idea that I could get them autographed. Lopez, ever the gentleman, signed both of them for me earlier this year.

A few minutes later, he came back over and asked where I had gotten them. He never received copies of his cards - I'm not sure if he'd even gotten to see those particular cards before. I promised that I'd try locate them for him -- if he'd said something before signing the cards, I would have given him the ones I had.

Fortunately, the eBay seller I had purchased them from had a couple more. I bought them, and gave them to Lopez last week when the Bluefish were back in Newark. In appreciation, he gave me an autographed bat.

Lopez has a fairly stylized autograph, but it's one of the nicer ones I've gotten recently.

2000 BBM Willie Banks

Who is this? Newark Bears pitcher Willie Banks
 
What is this? An autographed card from the 2000 BBM set
 
Where'd I get it? Banks signed it for me at a Newark Bears game earlier this year.
 
How much did it cost? $2.75 from an eBay seller
 
Why is this so special? Jersey City native Willie Banks was the third overall pick in the 1987 draft. He spent nine seasons in the major leagues, both as a starter and a reliever.

Banks spent a short time with the Orix BlueWave in the Japanese Pacific League. The BlueWave is best known to American fans as Ichiro Suzuki's former team. They no longer exist; after the 2004 season, they merged with the Kintetsu Buffalos and the resulting team is now known as the Orix Buffaloes.

Now 41, Banks is still pitching professionally for the Newark Bears. He also serves as the team's unofficial pitching coach.

His autograph is a bit tough to make out, but I think I can spot the "W" and the "B"

2006 BBM "Cool & Tough" Fernando Seguignol

Who is this? Newark Bears DH Fernando Seguignol

What is this? An autographed card from the "Cool &Tough" sub-series of the 2006 BBM Japanese baseball card set

Where'd I get it? I got the card signed before a game between the Newark Bears and Long Island Ducks last weekend

How much did it cost? The card cost around $5 (including shipping) on eBay

Why is this so special? After a brief and somewhat successful major league career, Fernando Seguignol went overseas to play in Japan. From 2004-2007, he played for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

Seguignol was twice given the Best Nine Award, and still holds the NPB single season home run record for a switch-hitter (44) and for homering from both sides of the plate in the same game (8 times.)

Seguignol is hitting .337 with 3 home runs and 16 RBI through 28 games with the Newark Bears this year and is reportedly being considered by the Orix Buffaloes as a replacement for injured players Alex Cabrera and Greg LaRocca.

I can't read Seguignol's autograph, though it does seem elaborate. I wonder if it would be any clearer on a larger item.

2009 BBM Jason Botts

Who is this? Jason Botts, currently the first baseman for the Camden Riversharks 


What is this? An autographed card from the 2009 BBM Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters set


Where'd I get it? I bought the card on eBay and got it signed last night at the game between the Camden Riversharks and Newark Bears.

How much did it cost? $2.75

Why is this so special? Jason Botts spent some time with the Texas Rangers (and I'll talk about that when I get to posting the other card he signed for me last night.)

But I never really took notice of him until I started seeing the YouTube videos of the cheer songs that the Fighters fans came up with for him.






When he signed with the Camden Riversharks, I decided to try to track down a Fighters card to get signed.

Botts was nice enough to sign the two cards for me before going out to warm up last night, but he wasn't especially talkative. In his first at-bat with Camden, he hit a home run.

His signature bubbled a little bit on this card, but it's not especially noticeable if you're not looking for it.

2009 BBM Second Version Ryota Igarashi

Who is this? Ryota Igarashi, a relief pitcher for the New York Mets

What is this? An autographed card from the 2009 BBM Second Version Japanese baseball card set

Where'd I get it? I've been buying up Ryota Igarashi's cards on eBay since the Mets signed him. I mailed a couple doubles to the Mets' spring training camp to see if Igarashi would sign them, and I got them back yesterday.

How much did it cost? I'd guess around $2 for the card and postage.

Why is this so special? Ryota Igarashi had a solid career in Japan, pitching for the Yakult Swallows for ten seasons. He won 45 games while losing 26 and saving 54 in 466 appearances.

Igarashi decided that he wanted to see how he could do in the majors and he signed a two-year contract with the Mets this off-season. Thanks to some stories on Yakyu Baka, an English-language Japanese baseball blog, I became a fan before I ever got to see Igarashi pitch. (YouTube video clips don't really count.)

Igarashi reportedly wanted to sing "God Bless America" during his introductory press conference. Unfortunately, the Mets spoiled the fun there -- they only set up a conference call.

And he seems like a real character. Adam Rubin of the Daily News discovered that Igarashi would put on a lucha libre-style mask to take on the character "Swallows Man" when played in Japan.

I really hope that he is able to adjust to pitching in Major League Baseball... I think Igarashi will be a lot of fun to watch if he's successful.

I'm not sure if Igarashi has come up with an American version of his autograph yet, but I'm happy I got the Japanese version. I may not be able to read it, but I'm sure that someone could. That's a big improvement from the illegible signatures of many current players.