Baseball card show and tell: Oakland Athletics cards

$0.50 - Topps Allen & Ginter baby!

I've cobbled together a 'healthy' stack of Oakland Athletics cards - including these cards I just picked up from a local card show. The Angels are my 'home team,' but the A's are great signers in spring training and during the season when they visit Anaheim several times.

Scott Hairston - I've gotten more than my share of Hairston cards autographed [maybe 10-11] over the last two years and I've only seen him several times in-person. He is a pretty good signer, so I have a card for him to sign when I see him again. He has pretty good pop in his bat, though for whatever reason, doesn't seem like a guy who is going to get a full season of at-bats.

Clayton Mortensen - I've never met him in-person, though I picked up a certified autograph card [2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition] of him two years ago, because I thought he was going to come up fast through the St. Louis Cardinals system. Was traded with uber [as in uber fat] hitting prospect Brett Wallace to the A's for Matt Holliday.

Brett Anderson - the A's star rookie pitcher signed the same card for me already in spring training, but I found the card in the '6 for $1' box, instead of being individually priced at $0.50-$1.

Cliff Pennington - I got him to sign for me in-person at spring training two or three years ago. I don't think he is the player the A's thought they were getting when they drafted him, but the organization is still trying to find a way to make him a useful part of their Major League team.

Adrian Cardenas - he should be a September call-up by the A's after enjoying success between AA and AAA.