1988 Donruss Cory Snyder

Who is this? former Cleveland Indians outfielder Cory Snyder
What is this? An autographed card from the 1988 Donruss set
Where'd I get it? I wrote to Snyder after Thanksgiving and asked him to sign it. I got it back in Friday's mail.
How much did it cost? Postage, basically.

Why is this so special? Cory Snyder played in over 1,000 major league games during a nine-season career. He had a powerful throwing arm - in 1987, he had 16 assists in right field and made 9 errors.

Snyder also struck out a lot. He led the National League in Ks in 1993, and would have led the American League in 1987 except for a couple of guys named Rob Deer and Pete Incaviglia. But that made Snyder fun to watch - you never knew quite what was going to happen, but there was a decent chance that it would be exciting.

Before he turned pro, Snyder played for the U.S. Olympic team in 1984.

Here's the other card Snyder signed for me - it's a little easier to make out his autograph on this 1993 Leaf card.

1991 Leaf Jimmy Key

Who is this? former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jimmy Key
What is this? An autographed card from the 1991 Leaf set
Where'd I get it? I wrote to Key late last year and asked him to sign it
How much did it cost? Not much... I bought a wax box of 1991 Leaf cards for less than $10 a few years ago.  


Why is this so special? Key won 186 games in his 15-year big league career. He spent 9 seasons in Toronto, but around here people remember him as a Yankee. Key has two World Series rings - one with each team - and four All-Star appearances.

Doesn't he have a great looking autograph?

1994 Leaf Jim Eisenreich

Who is this? former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Jim Eisenreich
What is this? An autographed card from the 1994 Leaf set
Where'd I get it? Nick from Baseball Happenings got it signed for me last year.


Why is this so special? Eisenreich broke into Major League Baseball in 1982 with the Minnesota Twins. He played a handful of games over three seasons in Minnesota, but retired from baseball for two seasons while undergoing treatment for Tourette Syndrome.

In 1987, Eisenreich returned to baseball with the Kansas City Royals. He became a solid contributor during his six seasons in Kansas City. After the 1992 season, he became a free agent and signed with the Phillies.
He hit .318 with an Adjusted OPS+ of 117 for the National League pennant winners that year.

Eisenreich would later win a World Series ring with the Florida Marlins near the end of his career in 1997. The next year, he was traded to Los Angeles in the deal that brought Mike Piazza to the Florida Marlins for a week. He retired for good at the end of the 1998 season.

I don't exactly blame him due to the length of his name, but Eisenreich leaves out a lot of letters when signing autographs.

1991 Leaf Bobby Witt

Who is this? former Texas Rangers pitcher Bobby Witt
What is this? An autographed card from the 1991 Leaf set
Where'd I get it? I wrote to Witt last month and asked him to sign it; I got it back yesterday.
How much did it cost? Postage, basically


Why is this so special? Unless the mailman has something for me today, Bobby Witt's autograph will be the last one I add to my collection in 2010. I didn't keep a detailed count of the ones I got in person, through trades or purchases. However, my stats on SportsCollectors.Net tell me that I sent out 98 letters this year and got 62 responses, good for a 63% response rate. I'll probably see a few more trickle in after New Years, if history is any indication.

Witt has my vote as the most frustrating pitcher of all time. He had great stuff - especially early in his career. In his first five seasons, Witt struck out between 148 and 221 batters per season. The problem: he led the American League in walks in three of those five seasons and had the most wild pitches in two of them. Needless to say, he didn't pitch many fast games... but it was still fun to watch him rack up the strikeouts.

Though Witt spent the majority of his career with the Texas Rangers, he also pitched for six other teams during his 16 years in the big leagues. He won a World Series ring with the Diamondbacks in 2001, his final year in baseball. Witt retired with a 142-157 lifetime record, as well as 1955 strikeouts and 1375 walks.

His autograph is legible, which is more than I can say for many players today. Here's an Oakland card that he signed for me as well:

Happy New Year everyone! May you add lots of signatures to your collections in 2011.

1991 Leaf Lonnie Smith

Who is this? Lonnie Smith, a former major league outfielder

What is this? An autographed card from the 1991 Leaf set

Where'd I get it? I wrote to Smith earlier this month and asked him to it

How much did it cost? Just postage, really. The card came out of a cheap wax box I bought a few years ago.

Why is this so special? I wrote about Smith's early career yesterday, when I showed you the 1982 Fleer card Smith signed. After wearing out his welcome in Kansas City, Smith signed a contract with the Atlanta Braves for the 1988 season.

Smith continued to struggle in his first year in Atlanta, but he rebounded in 1989 to win the National League Comeback Player of the Year award. He hit .315 with 21 home runs and 79 RBI and led the National League with a .415 on base percentage. Smith continued to be a starter for the Braves in 1990 and 1991, when they began their string of playoff appearances.

Smith settled back into a part-time role in his final year in Atlanta in 1992. He moved to Pittsburgh in 1993 and finished his career with Baltimore in 1994.

The 1991 Leaf set isn't one of the most exciting designs of the 90s, but this card looks great signed.

1991 Leaf Mike Macfarlane

Who is this? Mike Macfarlane, a former catcher for the Kansas City Royals, Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics

What is this? An autograph card from the 1991 Leaf set

Where'd I get it? Zach from Autographed Cards got it signed for me at the Kansas City Royals fanfest earlier this month

How much did it cost? I bought a wax box of 1991 Leaf cards for $8 a few years ago. I still have a ton of them.

Why is this so special? Mike Macfarlane had a solid major league career. He played for 13 seasons, and has caught the most games in Royals history. He retired with a .252 lifetime average, 129 home runs and 514 RBI.

Mike Macfarlane does not have the neatest autograph in the world, but with my penmanship I shouldn't really complain. :)

1991 Leaf Joe Boever

Who is this? Joe Boever, a former relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates

What is this? An autographed card from the 1991 Leaf set

Where'd I get it? I wrote to Joe Boever after Christmas last year and asked him to sign it. I got it back Monday along with the one I had previously posted.

How much did it cost? The card came out of a $10 wax box a few years ago, so really just postage.

Why is this so special? Out of the multitude of teams Boever played for, I really only have memories of him as a Brave and a Phillie... and he was better as a Brave.

I like the 1991 Leaf cards; even though they are junk wax, I couldn't really afford them when they were new. So I never had the chance to get sick of them like most of the other cards from that year. And Boever's card has a nice photo. It looks great signed.