When it comes to PEDs and suspicions

I'm more inclined to listen to the kooks and the guys who speak out about it in an unadulterated way - Jack Clark may have been talking out his ass and promtly got canned for it, but because he's been out of professional baseball and maybe bitter about his circumstance, he's not afraid to piss people off.

Does that mean what he is saying is true [?] - I have to sift through the details he is relaying for each player he sort of puts out there on the firing line to see if it's BS.

Clark probably went off on Justin Verlander's numbers taking a dip after getting his big contract - since Verlander is on his fantasy team and is wondering what happened to the ace pitcher of a couple of years ago hitting just about 100 MPH late into games.

I don't see as much harm into what Clark said about Verlander - however, Clark's story about a trainer building up a good but hardly well known amateur into this beast of a prospect through chemical engineering is more than a little compelling, especially when Albert Pujols turned out to be the best player of his generation.

My only question is why bring it up now [?] - I see where Pujols isn't always painted as the most accomodating or gracious but he seems like a different beast than the A-Roids or Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens of the world.

Maybe long after it all matters, Pujols is found to be on PEDs he was using for a prolonged period of time for parts of his baseball career - however, I'm tempted to say Clark must have some ulterior motive to out Pujols in a way that smears what he has been able to accomplish on and off the field.

As for Clark's innuendo about Shawn Green's apparent bacne due to possible PED use - it maybe one of those things that you can look at as far as Green's numbers [looked like a good player coming up, had some fine power numbers in his prime and then his power numbers just dipped] are concerned, but then after the fact, it is what it is.

Featured autograph - Shawn Green

Former Major Leaguer Shawn Green was another guy whose autographs I got at the 2010 All-Star Fan Fest in Anaheim - he made two appearances at the Fox sports West booth, but while I'm sure I brought particular set cards the first day he made an appearance, my visit to the All-Star Fan Fest was 'cut short' and must have put the cards somewhere to be forgotten.

On the second day Green was signing - I was rummaging through my stuff to see if I had the various setters I had brought the other day, but the cards were nowhere to be found.

I decided I wanted to get Green's autograph on something anyway - just so I could say I got him and add to my totals for the day, even though it wasn't on the setters I had intended on getting signed.

Collectors and autograph hounds are very particular on the things they want autograph - maybe the worst are the guys [like myself I guess] who need to get particular cards signed, because the process over getting a little piece of cardboard signed becomes an obsession.

I need a card or two from the Allen and Ginter's sets signed or from the 2004 Upper Deck USA 25th Anniversary set -as I try to get as many base cards from a particular set signed, I can't just have any old card signed.

There is also a premium to getting set cards signed by retired players - since a number of them disappear from the spotlight after their playing careers are over.

I hurriedly ran to the baseball card dealer booth [where I got the Frank Thomas cards from the previous post] and was bent on looking for Green's cards - one of the guys at the booth was like, "hey what are you looking for? You look like [you are on a mission to find something] - ah, Shawn Green."

I ended up buying a couple of cards that were really glossy for $3 - I took a risk, but the cards were nice looking and I was hoping they would come out clean after much prepping 'on the fly.'

2004 Leaf Certified Cuts Stars #S-32 / serial #'d 278/599 - I actually had to pay $2 for this, since it was marked as such on the penny sleeve.

2006 Topps Heritage Chrome #34 / serial #'d 1333/1957

Green 2/2 - after giving my name to be put on a list and waiting in line, I finally had a chance to approach him and he scribbled on both of my cards. It looks like they turned out fine with no streaking, no bubbling, etc.

Unlike the Thomas signing, this was an organized signing and there was a MLB authenticator to put a sticker on the back of my cards after they were signed - after the sticker is placed, the authenticator marks on a sheet, what type of item signed the stickers went on.