I realized that Fernandez had 1984 Donruss #44 RC and 1990 Leaf #66 cards that I did not have in-hand - I needed to hold off sending out to him until I was able to get the two particular cards.
I ended up picking up the cards online and once received, sent them off along with an oddball Dodgers issue I pulled apart from a perforated sheet and a 1991 Upper Deck #242 - it looked like the responses from 'El Sid' were quick and I got my cards back signed in a week.
Wilson was once a top pitching prospect for the New York Mets in the mid 1990s [Generation K, along with Bill Pulsipher and Jason Isringhausen] - I'm not sure if I remember having any of Wilson's cards and/or really being aware of the hype as part of the next big thing in Major League Baseball, but I know he was pictured in at least a couple baseball boxes [1996 Bowman and 1996 Fleer Update].
I tried picking up a 1990 Leaf McReynolds several years ago, but I ended up being shipped a miscut copy, so that was a waste of time - I had found an early 1980s minor league team issue in a card show dollar boxes of doom, but wasn't going to send the card out [McReynolds charges a $5 fee to sign] without the two priorities.
At the end of 2022, I just made it a mission where I picked up the two set cards I needed, put a request together with the cool minor league card and finally sent off a request - even though I might have other loose McReynolds cards [from the junk wax era], I figure I have the cards I really want signed out of the way.
Though not entirely a mystery, whenever I see any SASE returns, it is kind of a blind box deal - I take the time to open them up and good results reaffirms the order of being able to put in the work to send requests out and anticipating a surprise.
I doubt I'll ever pay any sort of premium to get any particular card from the sets signed, but I'd like to see my progress after a couple of years - there is something 'classy' about the sets that appeal to me, even 30-40 years after the fact.
All I need to finish off my card is Tim Leary, who might have done his share of former LA Dodgers appearances in So. Cal over the past 10-15 years - he's never been someone I've been compelled to be interested in, but now I have to see where someone might do a signing with him.
For what it's worth, I remember sending to him 20 years ago when he was still an active player [I think the cards were a 1991 Topps Traded and 1997 Fleer] - but presumably, I got those back within that time frame.
Bonilla had a productive career, though he’s mostly immortalized for Bobby Bonilla Day - my mother is the accountant in the family, but maybe how the deal works is if even if you end up paying a guy more over time, maybe the yearly amount almost ends up being spare change found in cushions [considering what the New York Mets were supposed to be making], rather than one lump sum being paid out.
I think it might be neat to build up micro-mini collection of these one-time stars and treat the cards like they were still hot commodities - putting them in top loaders and/or semi-rigids and hoarding them as snapshots of a re-imagined collect past for me.
Despite not knowing much about the player at all, Youngblood has been the inspiration for one of my personal offbeat terms [Youngblooding] - I use to describe sort of a long 'dual duty' day of any nature with the idea that not every day is straightforward and relatively speaking, sometimes I'm going to be stretched out to do a number of things.
The wallet card idea seems ancient history now but I might just put my Youngblood in a top loader of sorts, bag it in a team set bag and keep it - where I can grab it out of my pocket most of the time.
The card pictures Juan LeBron, who was the Kansas City Royals' first round pick [19th overall] in 1995, but failed to reach the major leagues - Beltran, who was the Royals’ second round pick [49th overall] from the same draft class is pictured on LeBron’s card, though the card listed with Beltran’s name / bio should still be the one that commands any interest [regardless of the goof].
After a player retires like Beltran did in 2017, there maybe an extended period of time where you are just out of sight, out of mind - though as a borderline Hall of Fame player, Beltran may gain support for his eventual induction in Cooperstown.
Stumbling upon Milner on the internets, I learned he testified about his drug use in the Pittsburgh drug trials of the mid 1980s - Milner also threw some shade at icon Willie Mays for having amphetamines ["red juice'] at his disposal.
I didn't know much about Milner, but after everything was said and done, maybe Milner was more of a sympathetic figure who just got up in the times - but I had to add his card to my rather dubious mini-collections.
However, pro athletes are my ‘celebrities’ to 'gossip about' and this mini-collection was probably inspired by Jim Rome’s radio show [from the early 1990s through early 2000s] - when he’d mock all sorts of pro athletes [he loved to ridicule and pick apart the black eyes] who messed up.
With Twitter and other social media, everyone has to insert themselves into someone’s controversy / drama and it’s kind of depressing reading all the instantaneous hot takes - it’s all overkill and it’s not shocking anymore when professional athletes are arrested, sharing pizza in a hotel room, caught for a DUI, shoplifting, blackballed for a number of things, et al.
Cards of presumed offenders will still be added, but there is the caveat that it’s all negative and while I don’t want to sugarcoat things - having a card for ‘ha, ha’ value doesn’t really put my collection in a positive light or make it particularly better [even if it’s all kind of superficial at best].
I guess I knew of him as a rank-and-file guy who pitched through the junk wax era - so he was someone whose cards seemed to always kind of 'just there' through the masses of random baseball cards produced from 1986-1992.
I was able to get a few of my cards signed by Puello at spring training this past year when he was at Texas Rangers camp - the 26-year old outfielder was a one-time prospect with the New York Mets until a 50-game suspension and injuries derailed his pro career.
I kind of remember Schourek as a young pitcher with the New York Mets, then won 18 games with the Cincinnati Reds in 1995 - Schourek had an 11 year playing career, but never did replicate that one breakout season for the Reds.
Marte has put in time with the Angels this year, has some pop in his bat and is only 25 - at this point however, Marte is nothing to get too excited about since he's an unproven guy playing on a dead end team.
While a nomad after he left the organization - Orosco was a 2-time All-Star in his eight seasons with the New York Mets and closed out Game 7 of 1986 World Series.
Maybe a lifetime ban would be easier to swallow if Mejia had been a long time veteran who did stick around too long - but the now former New York Met is still in his late 20s and while I care about the idea of having clean players, I feel like maybe Mejia is sick like the way fans want some of their fallen pro athletes to be, rather than simply be malicious in breaking the apparent law of their leagues.
I hope there is a loophole to allow him Mejia to pitch again because for his apparent mistakes - I don't want to see a guy in his prime losing means to make a better life for himself.
Presumably Daniel Murphy's bat is going to cool off - so the Mets need to lean on other players like Yoenis Cespedes [if playing], Curtis Granderson, David Wright, Travis D'Arnaud and maybe another guy [like a Michael Conforto or Wilmer Flores].
It would be nice to see the Mets win because of an individuals like manager Terry Collins and Wright - Collins has been a baseball lifer, so if he can lead the Mets to a World Series championship, he deserves all the credit he is going to get as the team's skipper.
Wright has been the face of the franchise for the last 11 years - he's represented the Mets well otherwise and while he was injured for much of the 2015 season, he finally gets an opportunity to play for a championship.
Utley hit .202 in 141 at-bats for the Dodgers after being acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies - but his unforgiving slide Saturday night is where the intangibles from a longtime veteran who has done it all come into play.
Suspending Utley for two games was the right thing to do and at some point, the New York Mets should back up their fallen player - but more power to the Los Angeles Dodgers if Utley's slide is the turning point in this series and they get past the Mets.
One of the cards I got signed was a 1989 Sportflics card - because of the lenticular surface, I used to think it was harder for someone to sign them and/or sign them in a way where the autograph won't smear into the card.
However, for anyone who still have these random cards in hand and can get them signed either in-person or through the mail - the cards can actually be inked up and can hold an autograph in a presentable way, just like other trading cards from the last 25-30 years.