Brewers Autographs: A Follow Up

My post yesterday was okay. Not great in my mind, but okay. What was wrong with it?

A few things. You see, I put together my list looking both at statistics and through going with my gut or my heart. Sometimes, when you do that, it gets disjointed. What I mean is this: the advanced statistics like WAR put the four starters I had (Ted Higuera, Ben Sheets, Yovani Gallardo, and Mike Caldwell) higher than a guy who should have been on this list.

The guy that should have been on the list was Jim Slaton. Slaton is still the team's leader in career wins with 117. He's only one appearance behind Dan Plesac for career pitching appearances with the team. Plesac, though, was a reliever for all but 14 of his career 365 games with the team and only threw 524-1/3 innings. Slaton threw nearly four times as many innings -- 2025-1/3, which is still tops in team history. He is #4 in strikeouts, first in shutouts, and first in batters faced by exactly 2000 over Mike Caldwell.

He's also the only player with whom I have a photo as a kid:

My only defense is the disconnect of thinking of him as a starter, I suppose. From 1971 (as a 21-year-old rookie) through his trade to Detroit after the 1977 season and then his return as a free agent in 1979 and his shoulder injury three starts into the 1980 season, Slaton made 255 appearances as a Brewer. Of these, just 15 were relief appearances. Even in 1981, he made 21 starts in 24 appearances. But in 1982 and 1983 -- the seasons most ingrained in my brain -- Jim started only 7 times and actually had more saves (11) than starts. 

Still, I should have included him somehow -- not only for his place in Brewers history, but also because he was one of the most consistently nice guys and good signers on the team. And, also because he indulged me with an hour of his time in January of 2017 thanks to Ray Peters introducing me through telephone calls and the like to Jim. Slaton returned to Milwaukee after the 1978 season as a free agent because he loved the people and the club and the players on the team, so the least I could do is thank him for all of that.

So, Jim, thank you once again for being one of the good guys -- the patient one with obnoxious Wisconsin kids like me who dressed terribly and were loud and always wanted autographs and, maybe forgot to thank you every time. Thank you.

=======================================

The other thing I should have done but didn't was to look outside of my autographed baseball cards for autographs. In looking through old programs and yearbooks, I surprise myself with the number of random autographs I have found. 

I would often find the yearbook reasonably early in the year on the newstand at the local grocery store and talk my mom into springing for the $2.50 to buy the thing. Then, I'd take the yearbook to one game and end up with random autographs in it or on the cover. For example, Ted Simmons was drawn jumping into Rollie Fingers's arms on the cover of the 1982 Brewers Yearbook. 

If you look closely at Simmons's large hindquarters, you might see some handwriting:

Apparently, 10-year-old Tony thought it was a good idea to have Charlie Moore autograph Ted Simmons's drawing.

On the bottom right, you'll see former pitching coach Pat Dobson's autograph. Dobson was a Buffalo guy who played in the majors for the Tigers, Yankees, Padres, Orioles, Braves, and Indians and, most notably, was one of the four members of the 1971 Baltimore starting rotation to win 20 games (Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer and Dobson all won 20, and Dave McNally won 21) on a team that was put together by then Orioles General Manager Harry Dalton. Dobson passed away in 2006 in San Diego from leukemia one day after being diagnosed with the disease.

Inside the yearbook, there are two player autographs and one broadcaster autograph. It is not a surprise to see that one of the player autographs is that man again:

The other two autographs are from Ned Yost and broadcaster and former first baseman Mike Hegan.

A similar story is told from other yearbooks and programs from that era. 

• My 1983 Official Yearbook is signed by Paul Molitor, Charlie Moore, and Pete Ladd. 

• Two 1982 World Series Programs: one is autographed by Charlie Moore and the other is signed by Paul Molitor, Pete Ladd, and Mark Brouhard.

• My 1982 ALCS program is signed by Pat Dobson, Jerry Augustine, Sal Bando, Tommy John, Mike Hegan, Bowie Kuhn, and Jim Slaton. 

• My 1981 Team Yearbook is signed by Paul Molitor, Jim Gantner, and Jim Slaton.

• Even my 1984 Yearbook is signed by manager Rene Lachemann. 

By 1984, I was focused on getting cards signed, so that ended my chasing with the yearbooks. I wish in many respects that I had focused on filling up the 1982 Yearbook with autographs on every player photo in the book. That would have been a very cool keepsake.

One more item from 1982 saddens me more than anything thanks to the deterioration of its condition. At a signing in 1982, I won a free Brewer-logo baseball. Jim Gantner was the first to sign it. Thereafter, I added tons of autographs to it, including: Ned Yost, Robin Yount, Marshall Edwards, Bud Selig, Buck Rodgers, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers, Don Sutton, Mark Brouhard, Bob Uecker, Dwayne Mosley (radio guy), Steve Shannon (TV guy), Mike Hegan, Sal Bando, Pete Ladd, Don Money, Mike Caldwell, Bob McClure, Bob Gibson (the white guy again), Charlie Moore, Roy Howell, and even Ted Simmons:

You can see, though, the problem. The autographs written in blue pen have nearly completely disappeared from the ball's surface. I mean, you have to squint to be able to see Bob Uecker's autograph across that MB logo. I will even admit to trying to trace over some of the autographs in sharpie in a vain attempt to resurrect those autographs. 

It was my pride and joy as a 10-year-old, but 36 years later, it's just something I wish I had done a little differently by using a sharpie with all the autographs. 

As a final postscript, I purchased a program from the 2002 All-Star Game on eBay several years ago because Robin Yount is on the cover. I don't recall seeing any mention of this in the sales description for the program, but inside, there were several autographs:

Thanks to the holograms and other exemplars in my collection, I know that the top autograph is Gorman Thomas. Under that is Dennis Martinez, Don Money, and Sweet Lou Johnson. Martinez was the only one who did not play for a Milwaukee team, as Johnson played in 61 games for the 1962 Milwaukee Braves. 

I then turned the page, and in the middle of an adidas advertisement, there was one more autograph:

Cubs and Rangers great and baseball Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins!

So, if I go back to my original autograph post, how about giving me a starting rotation of Warren Spahn, Fergie Jenkins, Bert Blyleven, and Don Sutton and maybe Blue Jays great Dave Stieb as my fifth starter? 

I'd take that. 

Thanks for stopping by, and perhaps sometime soon I'll go through some cards that some of my trading friends have been nice enough to send my way.

COMC Black Friday Buys #1: Jim Slaton & Bill Wegman

The first year I got back into card collecting in 2014, I did not even think to go shopping anywhere online for cards on Black Friday. That was mainly because I was going into a period of major uncertainty in my career -- one which has since been resolved to a large extent -- but also it was because I almost always am traveling back to Georgia from Wisconsin on that day after Thanksgiving. 

That was the case in 2015 as well -- getting back into Atlanta from Milwaukee, driving the 40 minutes home from the airport, and getting unpacked took up most of the day and almost all of my thoughts. 

This past year, though, was slightly different. First off, my wife did not go with me to Milwaukee for a couple of reasons too lengthy to get into here. So, I traveled by myself. That gave me plenty of time to read Twitter and the card blogs while traveling, and that gave me the reminder to check out the deals on COMC. 

As a result, I end up spending a decent amount of money loading up on cards. It wasn't so much the free shipping as it was the deals themselves that helped convince me to buy a number of the cards I got. I ended up buying about 250 or 300 cards that day, and then I got to wait for about a month to get them. 

So, today, let's start looking at the cards I got. We'll start with two right-handed pitchers who mostly started for Milwaukee in the years they spent with the team: Jim Slaton and Bill Wegman.

Jim Slaton

I only found two Jim Slaton cards that I needed -- his 1984 Topps Sticker (shared with Mike Heath) and his 1977 Hostess card. 

So, for those of you who barely recall (or don't at all recall) Jim Slaton, here's a quick rundown of his career. The Seattle Pilots selected Slaton as their 15th round pick in the 1969 June draft. In that draft, the Pilots selected Gorman Thomas with their 1st round pick. That made the 1969 draft a far more productive draft than 1968 was (literally only three players who made the major leagues being selected with an overall WAR of 0.6 among all three).

Slaton moved up quickly in the Brewers system and made his major league debut (as Brewer #53) on April 14, 1971, throwing 6 shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox and picking up the win thanks to a Tommy Harper run scoring single off Tommy John in the top of the 7th inning.

That was the first win of a still-team-record 117 wins as a Brewer for Slaton. He pitched in four other seasons outside Milwaukee for California (near where he grew up) and Detroit, totaling another 34 wins. He was traded to Detroit after the 1977 season in which he was an All-Star. Don Money had been selected as the Brewers representative for the 1977 game, but he came up injured. Slaton did not appear in that game, however, because he was scheduled to pitch against the Yankees on the first game after the break.

I was fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to speak to Mr. Slaton last weekend. He lives in the Phoenix area now. A lot of former Brewers seem to live in and around Phoenix -- perhaps because the Brewers have held spring training in Arizona for as long as they have been a franchise, I suppose. The good thing about that for those guys is that it is relatively easy for them to stay in touch with one another, to get together for charity golf tournaments, etc. 

My thanks go out to Jim Slaton for taking the time -- close to 45 minutes -- last Sunday to talk to me even as the Packers and Cowboys were playing. Both of us were watching the game too.

These two cards bring my Jim Slaton collection up to 57 cards/photos/autographs.

Bill Wegman



I was able to pick up 10 different Bill Wegman cards from COMC, all of which were quite reasonably priced because, well, it's Bill Wegman. 

The Brewers selected Wegman in the Fifth Round of the 1981 June Draft. I always enjoy looking at what other players the team could have selected, so here are a couple of notables that were selected after Wegman: John Franco (by the Dodgers with the very next pick), Devon White (8 picks later in the sixth round), Alvin Davis (in the sixth round by Oakland; he did not sign), Fred McGriff (9th round by the Yankees), and a right-handed high school pitcher named Mark McGwire, who was selected with the 199th pick overall in the 8th round by the Montreal Expos. Of course, he did not sign then.

Despite those "what could have beens," the Brewers did okay with Wegman. He stands 7th overall in team history with 81 wins (and second overall in losses with 90, 31 behind...Jim Slaton) and fourth in innings pitched behind Slaton, Mike Caldwell, and Moose Haas. He spent his entire 11-year career with the Brewers. He retired after the 1995 season at the age of 32 when, by his own words, he wasn't enjoying the game as much and was tired of the travel.

As this story from 2001 mentions, though, Wegman's life changed in the late 1980s. He became a born-again Christian and stopped drinking. He then returned to his hometown of Cincinnati and became a pastor at Faith Fellowship Church. He has since moved on to become an elder with the Grace Covenant Church and, now, he is also a grandfather. 

These 10 cards brought my Bill Wegman collection up to around 110 cards; I've added a couple of more since this package came in, so I'm now at 114 Bill Wegmans, which might be more than Wegman himself has.

Thanks for stopping by today and reading -- and there will be more catching up on trade packages coming soon.

Congratulations to the Junior Junkie!

I think anyone who knows of T.J. -- the Junior Junkie -- knows that he and his wife recently had a child. 

Brand new #Griffey fan! #walletcard @UpperDeckSports pic.twitter.com/gMzLjjogRM

— The Junior Junkie (@Teejnola) March 23, 2016

To celebrate and in recognition of the fact that time will not be easy to find over the next few months, T.J. sent out a bunch of packages around the blogosphere -- including one to me. Now, I'm a little disappointed that I did not receive one of his badass personal blogger cards on the 1987 Topps design. You know, this one:

For a while in the 1980s, I thought about trying to collect the entire 1987 Topps set in autographed form -- mainly because I like the woodgrain a lot.  I know many disagree, but tough luck -- it's what I liked. 

You know, like this O-Pee-Chee version of Robin Yount that T.J. sent my way.

I have since thought better of that, mainly because there are way too many cards to try to get signed.  So, I would have loved to have gotten one of these. Maybe next time.

Still, it was pretty awesome to get one of those packages from T.J. So, let me help him out a little bit with some ideas for making his child a true Griffey fan.

1.  Nike Air Griffey Max 1 Preschool Shoes from Kids Foot Locker

Sweet looking kicks that keep your child looking stylish and, at the same time, giving props to the first Seattle Mariner in the Hall of Fame.



To go with those badass Nikes, let's go with some Bowman Chrome parallels. We have a Green Axford, a Blue Khrush Davis, and a straight refractor of Johnny Hellweg. None of these guys are with the Brewers any more, as Axford and Davis both are now members of the Oakland Athletics and Hellweg -- who came to Milwaukee as part of the Greinke trade to the Angels -- was released last fall and signed with the Padres.

2. The Requisite Seattle Mariners Onesie

Every baby needs onesies. They are low maintenance, generally, and they are much easier for parents than regular clothes when it comes to changing diapers and getting the little one dressed. Now, I don't have any children, but I was 11 years old when my younger brother was born. So, I have changed my share of diapers and helped little ones get dressed -- and onesies are so much easier than anything else around for the "up to age 2" crowd.





I view these cards as a collecting equivalent of the onesie. They look good in the card sheets, though they don't blow anyone away as being the height of fashion. But a Brewers collector has to have them, just as any parent really has to have the onesie for their kids.

3. Griffey Money?



No, really. A "Junior" dollar that you can buy on Amazon from "Kev's Toys" in Florida for the low price of $11.99 plus $4.49 shipping. I mean, sure, your overall transaction has you paying $16.48 for $1 of value, but you can use the Griffey money to teach kids how to save money. 

"See, son, this is what we call 'a money grab'."



Topps is guilty of engaging in conduct that can charitably be called a money grab. Whether it is endless parallels in every dadgum product that gets put out these days -- like these two Gypsy Queen parallels of Yovani Gallardo from last year -- or their affixing foil stamps to old cards, all of this really does feel like a money grab.

But, yes, I need them and yes, I'll take them and yes, actually, I appreciate these greatly -- especially the silver mini parallel numbered to 199!

4. Moby MLB Edition Wrap Baby Carrier

T.J. will be missing a great opportunity to have his wife represent the Mariners if he doesn't buy this awesome Seattle Mariners teal baby carrier from Bed Bath & Beyond. Only $50!



Every one of these cards is sort of like that baby carrier to me. You won't know you need them till someone points them out to you. Granted, I feel like that baby carrier might be a bit overpriced at $50, so that's why the Prince Fielder Topps Tribute card shows up here -- I have yet to feel like the high-end sets are anything but overpriced hype. 

Sure, some like Tribute, Triple Threads, and Museum Collection -- the ones with base cards included -- tend to be pretty nice cards generally. But, in those products, the base cards always seem like letdowns or afterthoughts to someone trying to buy cards for "value" rather than for "collecting."

5.  Salvino's Baby Bammers Griffey Bear

Another item available from Amazon, but this one is available for just $10.95 with free shipping if you have Amazon Prime! It even comes with an Edgar Martinez bear!

Now, this is something for the real hardcore Mariners fan. It's from 17 years ago, and even then it was really only a knockoff of the real Beanie Babies. I'm not even sure what a Baby Bammer is. I always thought that that term would describe this:

Anyway, the best card to put with this hardcore item for a Mariners fan is to have an item only a hardcore Brewer fan could really appreciate.

An autographed 1974 Topps card of Brewers all-time wins leader, Jim Slaton. As I have mentioned in the past, the Brewers' history with pitchers is not exactly a good one. Slaton has the most wins in franchise history with 117, and he is the only pitcher in club history to throw more than 2000 innings in a Brewers' uniform with 2025-1/3 innings. 

If Slaton had pitched only for Milwaukee, that total would be good enough to put him 427th all-time in innings pitched, 1/3 of an inning behind Johan Santana and Vern Kennedy. Slaton pitched another 658-1/3 innings with other teams, so he's actually 197th all time. That should tell you that the Brewers either don't keep pitchers around generally, or they don't keep the ones they do keep around healthy (see Ted Higuera, for example, or Ben Sheets).

Still, to add a clearly authentic autograph of a guy who is a player collection for me is just awesome.

Thanks, T.J., for the cards and congratulations again on the addition to your family!

A Plug and Cool Surprise from Angus

I spend a lot of my free time -- in between posting here, working, reading blogs, and trying to be a good husband -- on Twitter. Often, it's the first thing I read in the morning (usually to catch up on what is new in the world of European soccer) and many times it's the last thing I actively read before playing a mindless game of "Civilization Revolutions" on my iPad and nodding off to sleep.

A few weeks ago, I got a new follower on Twitter called @CardMavin. Card Mavin is a completely free website that gives people a realistic view on what their cards are worth based on real time eBay sales and listings. Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, the site may include aggregation of information on sales -- or at least asking prices -- from COMC, Sportlots, Just Commons, etc.  That probably will take some intellectual property rights agreements with those sites, I'd suppose.

That said, the folks behind Card Mavin reached out to me and told me how much they enjoyed my writing. After I asked if they had the right "Tony" from the blog world, and after I asked if they had actually read my blog -- oddly, the answer was yes on both counts -- I was sufficiently flattered enough to be receptive to their approach for me to write a guest blog. 

After a couple of weeks where work conspired to keep me both busy and lacking in inspiration, finally I sat down and hacked out my post: "Advice for Getting Back into Card Collecting." Thanks to trying to be brief -- which, as many of you know, is more of a challenge for me than trying to extend a post to a particular length -- I set forth a list of three pieces of advice for folks considering whether they should get into collecting or back into collecting. 

Please take a read of my thoughts there and provide some advice of your own. And, while you're there, check out how CardMavin works and give feedback on Twitter to @CardMavin.

Okay, now that I have plugged one of the first appearances of my writing that does not involve writing about construction law (I am, in fact, general editor of a book published 15 years ago and I am a general editor as well of a book that is in the works now about trial practice in construction cases...seriously), I need to give full props to the blogosphere's Canadian Cleveland Browns fan, Angus of Dawg Day Cards.

First, he has watched as his team has actually improved its QB situation with RGIII, a QB who caused his own offensive line to hate him in DC -- to the point where they hardly helped him up after sacks and whose seeming refusal to take any blame for mistakes rubbed everyone the wrong way. I mean, after Johnny Manziel, perhaps everyone who is a sentient being is an upgrade at QB, but when people from around the league come out and say that you are a "jerk" who "didn't stay humble", you know you have some problems.

Still, as a Browns fan as Angus is, he found the bright side of things and noted that having a guy like RGIII for the here and now while the team tries to build isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Is there a comparable situation in all of the Big 4 sports to being a Browns fan? I mean, at least in baseball, most every team has gotten to the postseason in the last 15 years.

I really feel for Angus on that level. It is close to the situation in Milwaukee from 1993 through 2006, when the team just sucked and sucked and sucked and it didn't look like there was any plan in place under the Seligs other than, "Let's suck as bad as possible so that we can prove our point that small market teams can't compete."

Amongst all this, Angus still finds time to sprinkle sunshine around to all of us bloggers. 

I've seen two others of these now around the blog world, and I'm happy that Angus sent one my way. The nine discs on the Milwaukee Brewers "Triple Play Funmeal" include Robin Yount, Sal Bando, BIll Travers, Sixto Lezcano, Von Joshua, Charlie Moore, Jim Slaton, Jerry Augustine, and the cleft-chinned Eduardo Rodriguez. 

Even without seeing the 1977 copyright date, I could have dated this item to that very year for a couple of reasons. First, if this had been issued in 1976, Hank Aaron would have been included. Second, Sal Bando would not have been included in 1976 because he signed as a free agent from Oakland after 1976. Finally, it could not be from the 1978 season because the Brewers simply cut Von Joshua after spring training in 1978 and they traded Jim Slaton after the 1977 season to Detroit for Ben Oglivie. Slaton then re-signed with the Brewers after the 1978 season.

Angus, many thanks once again for the fantastic surprise you sent my way.

Cards from a 23-time All-Star Blogger?

No one has ever appeared or been on the roster for 23 different All-Star games. One man -- Hank Aaron -- appeared in 25 different All-Star games in 21 seasons on All-Star rosters and two men -- Willie Mays and Stan Musial -- appeared in 24.  But no one hit 23.

No one, that is, except for the four players for whom Jim at GCRL has named his blog. Steve Garvey was named to 10 All-Star games, Ron Cey went to 6, Bill Russell made it to 3, and Davey Lopes went to 4.  Total that up and you have 23 All-Star appearances. Oddly, no more than three of the quartet ever made it to a single All-Star game at the same time -- 1979 saw Garvey, Cey, and Lopes named to the NL squad, and in 1980 it was Garvey, Russell, and Lopes, but three was the high water mark.

The package of cards that Jim sent to me had far more "high water marks" than that, certainly.  With cards spanning from 1981 through 2015, it contained a diverse array of cards that I needed for my player collections in particular and for my team collections as well.

Let's just go in chronological order:

1981

It's a 1981 Topps Sticker that I don't think I had even for my sticker album.  Some guy in auto-tint glasses alongside Ben Oglivie!

1984

Three excellent Donruss 1984 cards to get closer to finishing off that team set. I'd guess that Slaton and Moore had their photos taken in spring training in Arizona while Cooper looks to me to be hitting in Fenway Park. I always loved as a kid when the Brewers went to Fenway. The team hit very well there, and the games were exciting with Rice, Yaz, and Evans on the other side.  I never hated the Red Sox like I hated the Yankees, though.

1994

The lone Brewers card in the 1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes set -- almost certainly because Robin Yount didn't announce his retirement until early February in 1994 -- belonged to Cecil Cooper. That set was one of the first major company releases featuring retired players in a new design.  

Here's a question to those collecting for the duration: what changed in around 1999 such that card companies decided to start issuing tons of retired-player sets and, then, sets of active and retired players together? Was it just a sudden surge in interest in the older players? 

I mean, I'd have collected the "old-timers" myself if there were readily available mainstream sets in the candy store in the 1980s, but it just seems curious that there was a sudden explosion in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

1999

I did a double take when I saw these two cards. I totally thought I had gotten two of the same card. Then I realized that it was just Upper Deck being lazy and getting photos from the same angle of Geoff Jenkins and Dave Nilsson and saying, "yup, that'll do. Hell, no one cares about them anyway."

The Jeromy Burnitz Collection

Jim helped cross off a ton of the cards I needed for my Jeromy Burnitz player collection. Seeing all of these Burnitz cards from the early 2000s, you can see that the Brewers really haven't changed their look all that much in the past 15 years.  

I think it's time for an update on the jerseys again.  Let's go back to those great 1970 uniforms -- you know, the ones that had "brewers" sewn in over "pilots" in the all-lowercase look that Jim favors with his blogging.


2001

I am totally in favor of going back to team cards that look like this. Even better, going back to the mid-1970s Chicago Cubs team-card look.  

Topps apparently had to do this perhaps because the Cubs couldn't agree on a date to take the team photo.  That, or maybe no one wanted to be in the same photo with a guy like Dave Kingman or Jose Cardenal's afro blocked too many faces... 

Anyway, bring those back. That way we don't get the weird artificial wall to block the clubhouse manager and the batboys out of the photo.

2011

Topps Attax may have been one of the more ill-conceived attempts at breaking into the "collect-a-game" card sets. I'm guessing that the "games" would be pretty dry affairs.  Did anyone actually play this game?

The Gallardo from the 2011 Lineage set -- a set name which makes no sense -- is oddly the first regular Gallardo I have from that set. I have two or three of the chrome version, but this is the first "base" version.  What I don't get is what "Lineage" means here. I mean, it's not like Gallardo's family tree is on the back, and the card looks like nothing that Topps ever put out before that or since.  So, what's the story, morning glory?

2015

In a strange twist, Jim gave me my first opportunity to look at and hold in my hands cards from the 2015 Archives set. I have to admit -- I am REALLY sick of that inset photo of Gomez.  This is now the SIXTH time that Topps has used this photo. I brought this up when I got the Topps 1952 oversized cards that Topps had used the same photo there, on the 2014 Fan Fest All-Star game cards, on his 2014 Archives card, and on his 2014 Allen & Ginter card.  But, I missed one then -- because this same photo is also on the back of his 2014 Stadium Club card too:

There is no good explanation for this. None whatsoever. I defy anyone from Topps to try to give me a justification for this blatantly lazy, cheap, and frankly disrespectful-to-collectors use of this same photo over and over again. 



That said, the package of cards from Jim was altogether excellent! While I get annoyed with Topps for its laziness, I am eternally grateful to everyone who sends me cards.  Thank you very much, Jim!