2010 Newark Bears Daryle Ward Pocket Schedule

Who is this? Newark Bears first baseman Daryle Ward
What is this? An autographed pocket schedule
Where'd I get it? Ward signed if for me before a Bears game last week.
How much did it cost? It was free.


Why is this so special? For the second year in a row, the Newark Bears didn't produce a baseball card set due to lack of a sponsor. This pocket schedule is as close as we're going to get to an officially-sanctioned card of a Newark Bears player this year.

Ward is .283 with 14 home runs and 74 RBI in 102 games for the Bears this season. He leads the team in homers and RBI.

In an 11-year major league career, Ward played for six different teams. He spent the most time with the Houston Astros. He has a lifetime .263 average with 90 home runs and 373 RBI in 948 games.

Daryle Ward may have the nicest autograph of any active player that I've asked this season.

2007 Newark Bears Jeriome Robertson

Who is this? Former Houston Astros pitcher Jeriome Robertson
 
What is this? An autographed card from the 2007 Newark Bears team set
 
Where'd I get it? I got it signed during a Newark Bears game in August 2007
 
How much did it cost? The team set cost around $5.
 
Why is this so special? Robertson won 15 games for the Houston Astros in his rookie season in 2003.

He died in a motorcycle accident over the weekend. He was only 33, much too young.

Robertson signed the card on an angle, so he didn't have to squish his signature too much to make it fit. It's not really the easiest signature to read, but you can tell that it is an autograph and not just a bunch of squiggles.

2005 Topps D'Angelo Jimenez

Who is this? Former Newark Bears middle infielder D'Angelo Jimenez.

What is this? An autograph card from the 2005 Topps set.

Where'd I get it? In person before a Bears game last season.

How much did it cost? The card cost around 50 cents.

Why is this so special? D'Angelo played 8 years in the major leagues, starting with the Yankees in 1999. Throughout his career, he played for 7 different big league teams; the Yankees, Padres, White Sox, Reds, Rangers, A's, and Nationals. He had a career batting average of .263, with 568 hits, 228 RBIs, and 36 home runs.

Last season was his first season in the Atlantic League. He played in 38 games for Newark, batting .326 while collecting 47 hits.

D'Angelo's signature used to be longer and more detailed, but it is understandable that he shortened it. He has probably signed thousands of autographs in his career. He has an interesting way of signing the D in his first name, but I like his signature because it's short and recognizable.

2008 Newark Bears Al Levine

Who is this? Al Levine, a former pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Anaheim Angels, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants

What is this? An autographed card from the 2008 Newark Bears team set

Where'd I get it? I wrote to Al Levine and asked him to sign it back in October; I got it back as an early present on Christmas Eve.

How much did it cost? The card was a gift and the autograph was free.

Why is this so special? Al Levine started the 2008 season as the Newark Bears' closer, but he retired just before the card sets came out last year.

I mailed him the card from my team set, hoping that he would sign it. But I guess no one from the team bothered to send him any copies of his card; he kept it and swapped me a signed regular issue card from earlier in his career. I mentioned this to an acquaintance at a Bears game this year. The next time I saw him, he brought me a copy of the card to try again.

Thanks to that kind gesture, I have one more signed card for my Newark Bears team set. Levine has a tiny signature with a lot of loops, but it looks kinda cool.

I don't remember seeing Levine pitch, except for the Bears last year. But over ten seasons, he appeared in 416 games. He has a lifetime record of 24-33, with an ERA of 3.96