I've been wearing glasses since I was in sixth grade, and my eyes keep getting worse...and my glasses keep getting thicker. But I didn't realize how bad my eyesight was until I recently went hunting for cards at COMC.
I had read somewhere that COMC was having a spring cleaning sale and that dealers were encouraged to discount all their cards. Not one to pass up a bargain or two, I went the the sight and entered a very simple search...Cubs. Then I narrowed the search to autographs. I figured I might find one or two players that I had previously missed.
I found eight! I was excited to be adding more signatures to the collection, but really disappointed in myself for missing so many cards.
My first "Last autograph" post listed 76 cards in my final list of autographs. Now, here on Last Autographs 4, my list has grown to an even 100 cards. My crummy eyes skipped 24 cards.
Now in my defense, many of these players barely had a career with the Cubs. And several of the cards are numbered to 25 or less. My flaw was using only ebay to search for cards. Many of the low numbered cards won't show up there. But between Ebay and COMC, I should have most players covered.
Here are the eight additions...
...Rocky Cherry, in this 2007 card, pitched in 12 games that season
....Matt Clement was a mainstay in the rotation for several seasons. I really didn't think there were any certified autos of him until I found this card from 2004 that is /25
...David Kelton, a real obscure one, was not the Sign of Success that the 2003 card promises. In ten games that season, he hit .167
...Augie Ojeda. Back in the early 2000s, Augie got the same kind of love that Tony Campana got the past couple years. Hard working and scrappy, sure. But productive? Not really. This card from 2000 is from his debut season with the Cubs.
...Ryan O'Malley. He made the Topps 52 set based on his MLB debut, when he pitched an 8 inning shutout against the Astros as an emergency starter in 2006. He lost his second start and never pitched in the majors again. But he does end up with a certified autograph!
As I said earlier, with these eight, I'm now up to 100 players on my checklist...and I'm sure there are still more out there that my lousy eyes haven't found yet.
| Terry Adams | Kevin Gregg | Corey Patterson |
| Moises Alou | Angel Guzman | David Patton |
| Darwin Barney | Brendan Harris | Carlos Pena |
| Francis Beltran | Kevin Hart | Billy Petrick |
| Milton Bradley | Jose Hernandez | Felix Pie |
| Roosevelt Brown | Bobby Hill | Lou Piniella |
| Scott Bullett | Rich Hill | Mark Prior |
| Freddie Bynum | Micah Hoffpauir | Aramis Ramirez |
| Marlon Byrd | Cesar Izturis | Anthony Rizzo |
| Andrew Cashner | Brett Jackson | Henry Rodriguez |
| Larry Cassian | Reed Johnson | Jeff Samardzija |
| Frank Castillo | Jacque Jones | Rey Sanchez |
| Starlin Castro | Matt Karchner | Ryne Sandberg |
| Ronny Cedeno | David Kelton | Scott Servais |
| Rocky Cherry | Brooks Kieschnick | Alfonso Soriano |
| Matt Clement | Bryan LaHair | Sammy Sosa |
| Steve Clevenger | Derrek Lee | Geovany Soto |
| Buck Coats | Cole Liniak | Steve Smyth |
| Tyler Colvin | Greg Maddux | Ryan Theriot |
| Juan Cruz | Dave Magadan | Ozzie Timmons |
| Blake DeWitt | Carlos Marmol | Steve Trachsel |
| Rafael Dolis | Sean Marshall | Jermaine Van Buren |
| Scott Downs | Scott Moore | Todd Walker |
| Jason Dubuois | Matt Murton | Todd Wellemeyer |
| Kyle Farnsworth | Rod Myers | Randy Wells |
| Mike Fontenot | Roberto Novoa | Turk Wendell |
| Kevin Foster | Will Ohman | Michael Weurtz |
| Kosuke Fukudome | Augie Ojeda | Jerome Williams |
| Sam Fuld | Ryan O'Malley | Kerry Wood |
| Sean Gallagher | Kevin Orie | Travis Wood |
| Nomar Garciaparra | Angel Pagan | Michael Wuertz |
| Matt Garza | Bob Patterson | Carlos Zambrano |
| Leo Gomez | Eric Patterson | Julio Zuleta |
| Tom Gorzelanny |
You're spot on with your assessment of the love that Augie received during his Cubs career.
ReplyDeleteThat Clement auto is really sweet!
I've never browsed COMC, but you may have swayed me.