Featured autographs - Cal State Fullerton alumni baseball game

2017 Bowman J.D. Davis #BP 81

2017 Topps Heritage High Numbers Chris Devenski #608

2015 Panini Contenders Thomas Eshelman #90

2017 Bowman Draft Chrome Scott Hurst #BDC-126 - refractor

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Brett Pill #192

2017 Bowman Draft Chrome Connor Seabold #BDC-77 - refractor

Featured autograph - Thomas Eshelman

After being drafted in the second round by Houston Astros, who knows if Eshelman will turn out to be a good pro - but ever since he stepped on the mound for Cal State Fullerton three years ago, the guy has pitched like an ace and will look to lead the Titans at the College World Series.

This past season, I made it out to one CSUF baseball game and finally got Eshelman's autograph [though I had one more card I forgot at home] - I also didn't get teammate Justin Garza [drafted in the eighth round by the Cleveland Indians] on his cards I had because I'm not sure if he'd sign on a day he was scheduled to pitch and I didn't stick around after that game.

It turned out to be the same day Garza made his last start - before he had to leave the game early and was done for the year with a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

Featured autograph - Michael Lorenzen

When I went to see Darin Erstad last weekend, I also was able to get Cal State Fullerton star Michael Lorenzen on the cards I've picked up over the last couple of years - I thought this 2010 Bowman Sterling Team USA triple jersey card came out nice as Lorenzen asked me where I wanted him to sign the card.

Featured autographs - Darin Erstad

I saw Nebraska was scheduled to visit Cal State Fullerton this year, so I was already thinking I could get Angels fan favorite and Nebraska baseball head coach Darin Erstad to sign at least a couple of cards - I got him to sign three cards in 2011, but was looking to get him to sign at least a couple of more cards from the 'bunch' I have in my A-Z archives.

As much as I don't want to admit it, I just can't ever say I'm done with a getting any particular player's autograph – it just depends on what I have at the moment and whether I can cobble up more items, especially for a guy who maybe worth getting.

Since I'm kind of hard up for any baseball in-person autographs opportunities that get me out of the house - I had to go sniff things out and was planning to make the most of my afternoon, after paying $10 to watch a Nebraska-CSUF doubleheader at Goodwin Field this past Saturday.

I made my way towards the visitor's side and kind of scoped things out and saw there were maybe five or six random people looking to get Erstad - I didn't see Erstad anywhere, though I was hoping he'd sign sooner than later, instead of making collectors wait until the end.

Erstad finally popped out of the visitor's dugout about 20 minutes before the game and walked by the railing - to sign for the people waiting for him.

Erstad 2/4 - I pointed out the 1997 Pinnacle Certified because it's my 'shiniest' card [there was a label I had to peel off] and if it wasn't going to be signed and put away, it was just going to get scratched up even more.

To be honest, the scan looks better than the actual signed card - the autographs is kind of obscured since the background was dark to begin with.

The other card I pointed out to Erstad was a 1998 Fleer Ultra - I like the action shot of Erstad sliding headfirst into a base.

Featured autograph - Gary Brown

Giants minor leaguer Gary Brown has been featured here before - this autograph card was actually signed at the Cal State Fullerton alumni game in January.

Featured autograph - Josh Fellhauer

Bakersfield Blaze outfielder Josh Fellhauer doesn't actually appear on this 2010 Topps Heritage Cincinnati Reds team card - but he does currently play for the California League affiliate of the Reds, so I got him to sign the card earlier in the year.

As much as I'd like to have actual player cards for guys I'm getting autographs of - sometimes stocking up on team cards or something fairly generic [but not something 'blank' because professional baseball players don't like to sign those] is something I need to do, so I can something signed when I couldn't find and/or pick up a card of a particular player in time.

Autograph request through the mail received: Augie Garrido

Augie Garrido c/o University of Texas Athletics - the longtime collegiate baseball coaching great signed my card in black ink in about two months or so.

Featured autograph - Chad Cordero

Chad Cordero was once a relief ace who piled up 127 of his 128 career saves in his four full MLB seasons with the Montreal Expos / Washington Nationals - despite enjoying much early success, he has struggled to make it back to the Major Leagues and make a significant impact with stints in the Seattle Mariners and New York Mets organizations.

It was kind of a shock to read about what he and his family had gone through during the off-season - now just learning about his tragedy of losing a daughter who was only 11 weeks into her life just blows me away.

Featured autographs - Peter Tago and Gary Brown

I picked these 2010 Bowman Sterling cards up for about $4 each plus s/h on eBay - Tago was the No. 47 overall pick in 2010 by the Colorado Rockies and Brown was the No. 24 overall pick by the San Francisco Giants.

Tago doesn't have the best autograph, though perhaps being a teenager just out of high school can explain that just a little bit - while Brown, drafted as a college player from Cal State Fullerton has a little better looking autograph.

It is going to be interesting to see how these guys' pro careers will develop and where these guys are going to be playing in a couple of years - Tago supposedly has electric stuff and Brown is supposed to be a good leadoff prospect who perhaps is comparable to Eric Byrnes perhaps, though with less pop.

2008 Upper Deck Timeline pull

2008 Upper Deck Timeline - when my boxes arrived, I tore through the first nine packs from the bottom pack to the top on the left hand row.

We'll jump to pack eight - which was actually the second pack from the top
#23 Matt Kemp
#86 Jay Bruce - rookie card subset
#112 Emmanuel Burriss - 1992 Upper Deck Minors
#81 Matt Tolbert - base rookie gold parallel
Signs of History - some kind of a filler card with scratch off feature
#126 Reed Johnson - 1992 Upper Deck Minors auto; after dreading pulling a possible Brandon Boggs auto [I would step on that mine with this box], I end up pulling an auto of this veteran fourth outfielder? He is pretty good for what he is and he went to my alma mater, Cal State Fullerton, but I've gotten his autograph [in-person] several times and he isn't exactly the latest or the greatest.
#170 Ryan Howard - 1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes
#198 Josh Hamilton - 2005 SP Top Prospects die-cut
#237 Joey Votto - 2004 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes; like the image used which is of Votto wearing a camo jersey.

I bought two boxes for $31.95 each at Blowout Cards during a sale at the end of 2008 - which came with free holiday shipping.

Edit: I registered on the Upper Deck Web site and redeemed the card on 1/12/09.