1999 Just Minors Sean Burroughs

Who is this? Padres prospect Sean Burroughs.

What is this? An autograph card from 1999 Just Minors, serial numbered #77/200.

Where'd I get it? Atlanta Sports Cards.

How much did it cost? A buck.

Why is this so special? I was surprised to see that Sean was out of the league while looking up his stats. A few years ago he was a solid third base prospect for San Diego, but got injured and fell out of favor due to his lack of power. I thought he would at least be playing somewhere, but I don't see any stats for him for 2008. He's the son of unlikely MVP candidate Jeff Burroughs and Sean was born in Atlanta while Jeff was a member of the Braves. The card is ok looking, typical Just Minors. The signature is clear, on card and on a nice white background. Just got that part right at least. This must be some sort of parallel as it is die cut with round corners and hand numbered 77 out of 200. He's out of the majors but he's still got memories of the Little League World Series and his interview with Letterman.

2007 Bowman Heritage Sean Kazmar

Who is this? Padres shortstop Sean Kazmar.

What is this? An autograph card from 2007 Bowman Heritage, card number SG-SK.

Where'd I get it? Out of a blaster.

How much did it cost? Twenty bucks for the box , or $2.50 for the pack if you want to get technical about it.

Why is this so special? I pulled this auto out of a blaster of Bowman Heritage. It took me a while to decide on the Bowman or another box of TriStar, and the Bowman won out. I was rewarded with another hit. I was originally planning to buy another hobby box of Bowman Heritage, but it was so easy to pull a hit out of the blasters I ended up getting them instead. I still have my eye on a hobby box once I get my fill of 2008 products. I don't know much about Sean and it took me a while to stop thinking "Scott Kazmir" when I look at the card. Now I think of a Clash song, which isn't so bad I suppose. I still don't know much about Scott, I mean Sean, other than he's a AA middle infielder. The autograph is nice though, and I really dig the bat on his bat. I'm going to miss Bowman Heritage.

2001 Royal Rookies Jake Peavy

Who is this? Padres pitcher Jake Peavy.

What is this? An autograph card from 2001 Royal Rookies High Yield, card HY-05. The card is serial numbered 123/3995.

Where'd I get it? In a large autograph lot bought in an auction a few years back.

How much did it cost? The price for the lot was under a dollar a card.

Why is this so special? This is one of the cards that inspired this blog. Jake won the Cy Young award last year and I was surprised to find I had one of his autograph cards. I got this in a Yahoo auction lot a few years ago, in 2002 or 2003 probably. Somebody was blowing out a lot of autographs cheap and I picked up a lot of over 75 for about 50 bucks. There was a lot of junk in there, but also some gems like this. Sometimes you just get lucky. The card isn't that great looking and it's really hard to see the autograph on top of the dark shirt. It's an auto of a Cy Young winner though and it's serial numbered to boot so I didn't do too badly at all.

2005 Bowman Heritage Matt Bush

Who is this? Padres shortstop prospect Matt Bush.

What is this? An autograph card from 2005 Bowman Heritage, card SG-MB.

Where'd I get it? This was the auto hit from a box of Bowman Heritage.

How much did it cost? Threeish dollars.

Why is this so special? Matt was the number one overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft. Matt was taken by the Padres over such players as Justin Verlander, Stephen Drew, Jared Weaver, Huston Street, Yovani Gallardo and Dustin Pedroia. Matt went to Mission Bay High School in San Diego, and was chosen for his local ties and for the fact he would not demand as high a signing bonus as other picks. Right after signing, Matt was suspended by the Padres for fighting outside a nightclub. Matt never developed offensively, but was converted into a pitcher in 2007 and hit 95 on the radar gun. Before the year was out he had an appointment for Tommy John surgery. Bush is not the first number one overall pick to have major problems early in his career. Matt is still young and will likely be back in the minors pitching by 2009. The 2005 Bowman Heritage autograph design is one of my favorites, and Matt's signature is pretty good looking even if the Bush goes sort of weird toward the end. I am also a fan of the huge Charlie Brown hat Matt chose to wear for the picture.