Andre Dawson 2004 Donruss Playoff Honors – Prime Signatures

This card comes from the 2004 Donruss Playoff Honors subset titled ‘Prime Signatures’.  Serial numbered 2452/2500, I have to imagine that there was a shorter print run of cards actually featuring Andre’s beautiful autograph.

 This card design is perfect and works very well with the Montreal Expos color scheme.  Donruss did a great job of using the team’s colors to add life to the card.

Something tells me that Andre’s signature in Blue Sharpie would be the perfect final touch for this one!!! 

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Did You Know…

Pitcher Randy Johnson holds the lifetime record for average number of strikeouts per nine innings with 10.8.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Armchair Reader – Grand Slam Baseball’

My take – This book was printed in 2007 so I verified that Johnson is still the leader but his average has dropped to 10.6 since the book was published.  Amazingly, second place is owned by Kerry Wood(yep, that Kerry Wood) with a 10.4 average.

1988 Score’s Salute To Reggie Jackson – The Complete Set!!

1988 Score’s Salute To Reggie Jackson – The Complete Set!!

 This is one heck of a subset and 1 that I am happy to have pieced together. 

Reggie had an amazing, incomparable baseball career and is certainly worthy of being honored by Score with this amazing tribute!!

A true baseball icon worthy of all of the praise he received during and after his playing days, Reggie Jackson will always be remembered as much for his personality as his ability to launch home runs deep into the night!!!

And then there are his 4 World Series Championship rings – that doesn’t hurt either!!

 

My Balls Look Bigger And Better As Time Goes By!!!

Obviously the person who stated that ‘Size Doesn’t Matter’ was not an autographed baseball collector!!!

My collection has grown to 15 signed baseballs now and as the quantity increases, the quality continues to soar as well.

I still have a few tricks up my sleeve in obtaining more, but for now I am very pleased with how this has turned out.  Collecting these baseballs has been a ton of fun, and I look forward to adding a few more quality pieces during this off-season.

A breakdown:

Billy Williams, Andre Dawson w/89 NL MVP inscription,  Fergie Jenkins w/HOF 91 inscription, Tim Raines w/#30, Mark Grace, Pete Rose w/#4256 inscription, Jim Palmer personalized w/1973,74,76 CY and HOF 90 inscription, Jim Abbott w/9/4/93 No Hitter! inscription, Ron Santo, Lee Smith w/478 saves inscription, Ryne Sandberg, Cameron Maybin w/#24, Jeff Conine, Tony Perez, and Dan Uggla w/#6.

If you like this, just wait.  I am hoping to add some great stuff in the coming months!!

World Series, Game 2 – Yanks Dig The Long Ball!!

Another game down, and another round of great starting pitching!!  The Yankees emerged victorious as they evened up the series 1-1 and made this championship match-up a best of 5 games series.

Both AJ Burnett and Pedro Martinez were on their game.  Continuing the trend established in Game 1, both starting pitchers looked great but this time it was a few timely hits that helped the Yankees squeak by the Phillies…

AJ Burnett pitched the best game of his post-season career as he went 7 innings, allowing just 4 hits while striking out 9 batters.  Pedro Martinez was equally effective going 6 innings and allowing 6 hits and striking out 8.  The big difference was the long ball.  2 of the 6 hits Pedro allowed were solo home runs.  Mark Teixeira connected for the first shot and then Hideki Matsui hit the go-ahead homer to give the Yankees a lead that they would not relinquish.

2 games down, and 2 classic pitching match-ups are in the books.  We’ll see what happens Saturday night when Andy Pettitte and Cole Hamels take the mound. 

Something tells me that round three may be just as good!!!

1983 Fleer Eddie Murray

1983 Fleer Eddie Murray

Ewww, ’83 Fleer!!!

But wait a minute, this card doesn’t look too bad.  In fact, it’s actually pretty nice!!!  I cannot believe that I am saying this, but I like this card.  I don’t think that the worst border color in baseball card history works well for most teams and their corresponding colors, but for this Orioles card it’s not bad at all.  The muted tone allows for the Orioles’ Orange to jump off of the card.

Eddie had a monster year in 1983.  He was an All-star, Gold Glove winner, Silver Slugger winner, and finished second in the MVP race.  During the season, he compiled a .306 batting average while collecting 178 hits.  Among his many impressive numbers are his 30 doubles, 30 home runs, 115 runs scored, 110 RBI, and just 90 strikeouts in 680 plate appearances.

1988 Score’s Salute To Reggie Jackson – Card #5

1988 Score’s Salute To Reggie Jackson – Card #5

Ah, the circle of life is completed.  The 5th and final card of this subset brings us back to where it all started and ended, Oakland.  Reggie debuted with the A’s in 1968 and finished his amazing career there in 1987.

At the age of 41, Reggie was still able to produce solid numbers as he played in 115 games during his final year.  While his batting average was a pretty low .220, he still managed to thrill fans as he smacked 15 home runs and collected 43 RBI.  And just to prove that he still had his wheels, Reggie stole 2 bases in his final season too.