Howard Johnson

On Monday I showed off one of my newer ATCRCS cards, Mick Kelleher and noted that I liked how he added #20, his jersey number that he only wore while with the Cubs.

Yesterday, I put up some cards of miscellaneous Mariners that I obtained with a little help from justgreg over on SCN.

Today, I am tying those both together (completely randomly) with a post about the Tacoma Rainiers hitting coach, Howard Johnson. He is currently the Assistant Hitting Coach for the Seattle Mariners which I think is just temporary since the Triple-A season is over.

To tie Ho-Jo to Kelleher, you'll note that Johnson also added his jersey number 20 to his autograph. The difference though is that Johnson wore #20, at least part of the time, with all four of the teams from his playing days (Tigers, Mets, Rockies & Cubs). He even wears #20 with the Rainiers. Unfortunately for him, Nick Franklin wears the number for the Mariners so he is currently sporting #10.

And the cards above and below were both obtained with help from justgreg. I even sent in a few extras of the ATCRCS card after Greg mentioned that Ho-Jo really liked them.



As a big Ryne Sandberg fan, I couldn't pass on the opportunity to get this card signed as well by co-super star, Johnson. The signature is a little more abbreviated on this one which is understandable due to getting only half the card. This goes into a ridiculously sized pile of stuff that I eventually would like to get signed by Ryno.

For a little more cheesy fun that I noticed while writing this post, what's 20x20? 400, you say? Well, this also happens to be my 400th post. Not exactly a milestone number, but everybody likes a nice round number, right?

Also, since it is Sandberg's birthday today, I thought it appropriate he makes a cameo in today's post!

Miscellaneous Mariners

In an effort to avoid ATCRCS overload for you readers, I'm going to change things up a bit here and show off a few things I didn't think I'd add to my collection.

I've been working with a great member from over on SCN, justgreg, getting some of my various Cubs customs signed. He was full of positive feedback and always passes along any comments from the players themselves, which I enjoy. It keeps me motivated, especially when I get into a creative slump.

Since he lives outside of Seattle and pretty regularly gets autographs from the Seattle Mariners and their Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers, I decided to send him a couple cards for those teams. I sent him a few extras to give to the players, just in case too.

These first two, Bobby LaFromboise and Brandon Bantz started the year in Tacoma and made their Major League debuts later in the season. I thought these would be good to start with since at any given time they could be in Tacoma or Seattle so he would have a pretty good chance to get them signed. And I don't think either of them have any cards aside from Minor League team sets. No Bowman or Pro Debut or Heritage Minors that I know of anyway. You may recognize the template as my 2012 Cubs team set, with a few tweaks to make it more Mariners friendly.

I also made a Michael Morse because at the time it was one of the first Mariners images that showed up in a Google search that met the size and layout requirements I need in a photo for this custom template. It didn't hurt that he was one of my son's favorites during his time with the Nationals.



And finally, I have one of the newest Seattle Mariners with Taijuan Walker. He recently started 3 games for the Mariners before being shut down for the season. In his MLB debut, he pitched 5 innings of 2-hit baseball. Not too shabby. At the time I made these, he hadn't made his debut yet so I didn't have a horizontal photo to use for the design above. With a Spring Training Photo Day picture I found, I put together one of my PASS customs. It didn't quite get signed in the right spot but that's ok. Maybe he didn't want to sign over the Mariners logo.



As I mentioned, when I made these, the intention wasn't for me to get any signed for myself. I was just trying to extend a courtesy to a fellow collector who has helped me out a lot. Once I got a couple of positive reviews from the players themselves, I became more interested in getting one to keep for myself as a souvenir. I mean, hey, if they're a fan of my work, I can be a fan of theirs too, right? If there are any Seahawks fans out there, be on the lookout for a couple of football cards to show up in a post in the future.

I made a few football customs last year but only printed out a couple and I don't think I ever sent out any TTM like I had planned. I have very few non-Cubs items left in my collection but I think a new binder is about to be started...

Mick Kelleher

More than a year ago, I had a little help getting a couple of Topps cards signed by Mick Kelleher. He played for the Cubs from 1976-1980 but is currently the first base coach for the New York Yankees. I had sent an ATCRCS card with the Topps cards but it wasn't able to be signed. I wasn't sure if it was an unlicensed card or if maybe three was too many.

I guess I have my answer because this time around, it came back signed. Like last time, I really like that he signed it with the #20, his number with the Cubs. He didn't wear that number during his stints with other teams as a player and currently wears #50 with the Yankees. Always a nice touch.

I have recently crossed the 100 mark on my ATCRCS collection although this is only #76 that I've shown off. I will be making a serious TTM push in October to meet my resolution from the beginning of the year to hit 200. I believe I have enough of the cards made in Photoshop, I just have to actually print them out, assemble them, write the letters and get them in the mail. That's all, huh?

Where Are They Now? 2010 Pro Debut Part 5

This is part five (of eight planned) of this running series where I take a look back at the future Cubs represented in the 2010 Pro Debut. You can view previous posts here:

Part One - Ryan Flaherty and Brett Jackson 

Part Two - DJ LeMahieu and Brooks Raley

Part Three - Chris Archer and Hak-Ju Lee

Part Four - Rebel Ridling and Trey McNutt

Looking back at who I've shown off so far and ahead to those yet to come, I'd have to say that Welington Castillo has been the most successful so far. It helps that he's been with the Cubs organization since 2006 and on the card he is shown on the Iowa Cubs, the Cubs Triple-A affiliate. That kind of gave him a head-start over some of the other guys featured.

In fact, shortly after this card was released, Castillo made his MLB debut. A third catcher behind Geovany Soto and Koyie Hill, Castillo played in 7 games in 2010 and 4 in 2011. But with the release of Hill after 2011 and the trade of Soto to the Rangers in 2012, Castillo saw his playing time increase and has been the starting catcher for most of the past season and a half.

This season, his .271 batting average and .350 on base percentage (unfortunately) leads the team.

Also shown with the Iowa Cubs is pitcher Jay Jackson. Even though he'd been with the Cubs organization since 2008 and with the Iowa Cubs from 2009-2012, he never got the call to the bigs. He performed well in the low levels but struggle in Triple-A. A Top 100 prospect just a few years ago, the Cubs released him prior to Opening Day this year.

The Miami Marlins signed him shortly after and he's spent time with both their Double-A (Jacksonville Suns) and Triple-A (New Orleans Zephyrs) affiliates. 

Both of these cards were signed with a little help from an SCN member with access to the Iowa Cubs a couple of years ago.

One Game Wonders - Jay Loviglio

Jay Loviglio was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1977. He climbed through the minor league ranks to make his MLB debut in 1980. Even though he only played in 16 games, Topps gave him a Future Stars card in 1981.

Using cause and effect here, the White Sox traded for him for the 1981 season and Topps granted him another Future Stars card in his new uniform. (Although, I'm going out on a pretty big limb here and saying airbrushed.)

He played 29 games over the 1981 and 1982 seasons for the South Siders before the Cubs purchased his contract in the offseason. He split the 1983 season between the Double-A Midland Cubs and Triple-A Iowa Cubs (real original with the minor league team names back then, eh?) but did sneak into one game with the big league Cubs on July 26, 1983.

Pinch hitting for pitcher Warren Brusstar, Loviglio struck out against Fernando Valenzuela in the 7th inning. Valenzuela would strike out 8 other Cubs that day on route to a complete gameout 5-2 victory over the Cubs.

Loviglio stuck with the Cubs organization, managing for various teams in their minor league system from 1986-1991.

First Pitch Friday - Andre Dawson

Short post today but in my best wrestler impersonation voice...

FINALLY. The HAWK. has come BACK. to WRIIIIGLEY!

Yes, I'm sure that Andre Dawson probably comes back to Wrigley Field quite often but I couldn't resist. After all, Kerry Wood just fished him out of the ivy just last year, right?

Even though Dawson works in the front offices with the Florida Miami Marlins, he still donned a Cubs jersey and threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field on September 2, 2013. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the Cubs fell to the Marlins 4-3 that day.

The Official SignaChip Sportstar Jigsaw Puzzles

Sometime in the early 1990's, a company put out puzzles of several All-Star baseball players. The puzzles were 250 pieces and measured 15 1/2" wide by 18" tall. They featured a large player photo with a smaller inset photo in one of the corners.

One of the pieces was roughly the size of a standard baseball card and served as the exclusive "SignaChip" piece and was meant to be autographed by the player featured. Kind of a neat collectible. I had the Ryne Sandberg puzzle as a kid and last year, when Ryno was still with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, I sent the piece to someone from SCN who offered some help.

I put together and took apart this puzzle probably a couple dozen times when it was new to me so when I came across it again, it looked a little dog-eared. You can see some wear around the edges in the photo above and the line in the middle top prong is actually a bend.

Despite its condition, I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I was curious to see if I could find an upgrade at a reasonable price. It seems to me, this is the kind of item you could find at a flea market for a quarter and/or could be the kind of oddball that rarely shows up on eBay thereby going for double digits plus crazy shipping.

Searching for "Sandberg puzzle" didn't necessarily help because apparently there is a wooden toy company called Sandberg that made puzzle. So after typing in varitions of "SignaChip" and" Sportstar" I found a decent selection. Anybody who was anybody 20-25 years ago had one. Ryne Sandberg. Bo Jackson. Brett. Canseco. Strawberry. Gooden. Ozzie Smith. Clemens. Griffey Jr. I believe I also saw some hockey and wrestling puzzles too.

I watched a few for a while, never pulling the trigger because with shipping they always ended being around $20-30. Unsold. Then one day a seller showed up with a Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace and Andre Dawson all listed separately. Starting bid was, I think, $5.99 for each of them plus $7-8 shipping. Reasonable, but still a little too pricey. All were unopened but the Grace had puncture holes in the box and the Dawson had a side that was shredded.

After they didn't sell, I sent a note to the seller asking if he'd do $20 shipped for all three. Depending on his combined shipping rate, he was probably looking at $30-35 if they all sold originally. I expected a counter offer of maybe $25-30 but he accepted, said he'd list a $20 Buy It Now with free shipping on just the Sandberg (so nobody else would bid on it) but throw in the Grace and Sandberg. Nice!

As I mentioned, the Grace and Dawson were damaged but I intend to open them up and try to get the pieces signed anyway. The hole is small enough on the Grace that no pieces should have fallen out. And the Dawson is pretty worn on the right side but no holes.

But the Sandberg was darn near perfect! Now I have to decide whether to open it or keep this one intact to sit on the shelf display and frame up the older one.

Either way, I think these three will look pretty snazzy/cheesy signed and all framed up in the man-cave. Dawson and Grace have pretty nice signatures but Sandberg's has deteriorated over the years. Might have to pay for a nice sit-down, public signing signature rather than settle for a rushed in-person hustle and bustle autograph.