1990	1991

     I'm just posting these here to document their existence.  I'm not sure how they were distributed, whether through the mail in response to fan mail, or as stadium or event giveaways.  In any case, in 1990 & 1991 the California Angels issued these series of 4"x8" black & white glossy photos, sponsored by Photomation Photo Lab in Anaheim.  Each photo features a facsimile autograph, as well as the players' uniform number, name and position.  Not sure exactly how many there were, but these are what I have seen on eBay:

1990

Scott Bailes
Pete Coachman
Mark Eichhorn
Mark Langston
Scott Lewis

1991

Jim Abbott
Chuck Finley
Gary Gaetti
Wally Joyner
Dave Parker
Lance Parrish
Jimmie Reese
Dave Winfield

Tony Armas
Stewart Cliburn
Joe Coleman
Sherman Corbett
Chili Davis
Brian Downing
Chuck Finley
Willie Fraser
Bryan Harvey
Jack Howell
Wally Joyner
Bobby Knoop
Marcel Lachmann
Kirk McCaskill
Mark McLemore
Donnie Moore
Johnny Ray

(Updates at the bottom)

     eBay saved search comes through again!  It appears that the Giants updated their Fan Fest photo card design a tad for the 2018 event, and I just picked up a lot of cards on eBay that included a previously unknown Hensley Meulens card.

     In this new design, the team logo is now in a square that fits within the edges of the name and team bars, the player name is slightly wider, and the team name and position are now italicized.

    I learned about this issue about 3 1/2 years ago when someone posted a couple of lots of these on eBay.  Unfortunately for me, there was a Bernie Williams in the lot, so I wasn't about to fight the deep pockets of a Bernie collector.  Thankfully, as often happens, if one waits long enough, and is ready with a saved search on eBay, things come back around, and now it resides in my collection!

    Presumably these were a stadium giveaway,  but none of my newspaper archive resources cover Columbus in the 1990s, so that is only speculation.  I am not entirely sure whether the signature is genuine, or just part of the photo.  In the photos on Worthpoint, several of the signatures from the original lot overlap the white part of the photo, so that would imply they are real.  The photos measure 3 1/2" x 6 7/8" and are printed on photo paper and were sponsored by local camera shop, Cord Camera & Video.  A similar set was also issued in 1993, but I don't know whether or not it contains a Meulens.

The following players were included in the original auction:

Brad Ausmus
Royal Clayton
Andy Cook
Francisco de la Rosa
Mike Draper
Mike Humphreys
Jay Knoblauh
Torey Lovullo
Ed Martel
Billy Masse
Hensley Meulens
John Ramos
Dave Rosario
Dave Sax

    In 2006, the Columbus Clippers celebrated their 30th anniversary as a team. One of the ways they chose to commemorate that occasion was through the issuance of a series of collector cards distributed with each Clippers game program over the course of the 2006 season. I think this was the third of four times they would issue cards this way, resulting in a very difficult to find set. A checklist had popped up for this set several years ago including Hensley Meulens in the set. However, when Beckett finally added the set to their system, Meulens was nowhere to be found. Instead, there were several cards listed generically as 'team card' or 'stadium card'. So did he have a card or not?

    This week, thanks to waiting on an eBay saved search for about 6 years, I finally found my answer. A seller listed several 2006 Clippers programs, including images of the cards inside, and one of the cards was this:


     The program, from May 9, 2006, (the seller included the game's line-up sheet and a ticket stub) contained the cards for 1989 (Hal Morris), 1990 (Deion Sanders), 1991 (Bernie Williams) & 1992.  One of those 'team card' entries in Beckett's listing was for Columbus' record setting eight selections to the 1992 International League All-Star team, including Hensley Meulens.

----------
UPDATE - 20 January 2017


----------
UPDATE - 31 December 2015

    Thanks to Michael over at New York Yankees baseball cards, we now have solid information for splitting these postcards into individual 1992 & 1993 sets.  The list below has been updated accordingly.

----------
UPDATE - 25 June 2015

     I'm now thinking this is actually two or three separate sets, or the set was issued continuously over two or three years.  This morning on eBay I caught an auction with previously unseen cards of Danny Tartabull in a portrait shot, another Kevin Maas with a different photo and a Roberto Kelly.  Kelly wasn't even on my radar for some reason, even though he was an All-Star for the Yankees in 1992, so I don't know why I was surprised.  Checking the same seller's completed auctions turned up another lot that included Buck Showalter, Mark Conner and new-to-me cards of Clete Boyer and Yankee Stadium.

--------
UPDATE - 15 January 2013

I saw the Maas postcard on eBay, so the set is now up to 26.  I'm going to start posting images of each postcard as I find them so collectors might have a slightly better chance of recognizing them.  I suspect the black & white cards are copies of the originals, but until I find color versions, these are all I have to work with.
-----------
UPDATE - 09 December 2011

     A couple more of these showed up on eBay recently, but they are no help in narrowing the set down to a single year as all six individuals were with the team from 1992-93.

----------
UPDATE - 04 December 2012

A much larger assortment of these has hit eBay, bring the checklist up to 25.  I finally have verification of most of the starters of the team.

---------
     The postcard arrived today, all the way from Los Angeles. It was interesting to see that as soon as I got my shipping notice, the seller immediately had a second one posted for sale. Considering he said he was given these as a gift, and he only had the Meulens, Showalter and Howe, he probably has a stack of them from an in-person signing from way back when. I have to revise my date estimate to either 1992 or 1993 as those were the only years Meulens and Howe were on the team together with Showalter at the helm. By 1994, Meulens would be playing in Japan and out of the Yankees system altogether.

Here are the front and back together:



     No joy on Googling SPORTSPRINT/ATLANTA aside from more references to that 1994 Greenville Braves set. Ditto for the photographers and what was presumably the outfit that provided the photos.

     Bernie played the better part of four seasons in Batavia, New York, with the Trojans, who were the low A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians at the time. In this first picture, we have Bernie in his first professional season, standing on the left end of the back row.  Bernie didn't have a very structured introduction to baseball in the Dominican Republic, so 1981 would have been a major adjustment for him, speaking little to no English and really only knowing how to crush a baseball against teenage pitching.  That he is even in this photo at all is something of a surprise as he only played 12 games for Batavia in 1981.

     Despite his unimpressive initial showing, Bernardo returned to Batavia for the 1982 season, this time appearing in 41 of the team's 75 games that season.  He improved a bit, showed some of that pop he was signed for with four home runs, and actually stole a base, which is impressive as he only stole 24 in his entire minor league career.  Here, Bernie is in the third row, four down from the man in the suit.  I had to adjust the exposure on the scan as a black & white photo of all of those dark jerseys didn't make for a very good photo.  In any case, looks like Mr. Brito blinked at exactly the wrong time.


     1983 saw Bernardo Brito returning for his third season in Batavia.  This time around, he appeared in 60 games, and had improved enough that he was promoted to High A Waterloo for part of the season.  He didn't stick, though, his batting average dropping 40 points with the change of scenery and he was back in Batavia for the 1984 season.  Another case of the photographer apparently not using a fill light.  Had to adjust the levels again just to make out Bernardo's face.  This time he's on the back row, third from the right.


     The sellers that listed these apparently did not have a 1984 photo of either Waterloo or Batavia, but I did land this 1985 Waterloo Indians photo.  In 1984, Brito finally started to put the pieces together in his hitting game and finished with 19 home runs and a .300 batting average.  That was enough to earn him a promotion (again) to Waterloo for the '85 season.  This time around he did not disappoint and racked up  29 home runs, to lead the Midwest League.  Accordingly, Bernie would not spend another season in A ball and would be play the 1986 season with the Indians AA affiliate Waterbury Indians.


    After five years in A ball, Bernie finally made the jump to AA, in 1986, to play with the Waterbury Indians, and it took a bit of adjustment.  I've heard it said that the jump from A to AA is almost the same difference in level of competition as the jump from AA to the majors.  His average and power numbers dropped a bit, but not an alarming amount.  He would recover all of that when the team moved to Williamsport in 1987.



    Skipping ahead to 1987, Bernardo made what at first glance appears to be a lateral move, but in fact was just him repeating a grade.  After the 1986 season, Cleveland moved their AA Eastern League affiliate from Waterbury to re-establish baseball in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (which had been without baseball since the Williamsport Tomahawks closed up shop in 1976) with the creation of the Williamsport Bills.  Bernie put up another good year at AA, batting .277 and clobbering 24 home runs, tops in the Eastern League.  1987 would be the final year for Brito in the Indians organization as he would be released the following spring, to be signed as a free agent by the Twins the following week.

     As I haven't really posted about these in while, I thought it was time to catch up with what the various MLB teams have been providing at the autograph lines at their annual fan fest events and in fan packs.  The lists here will be works in progress as I am able to find more to add.

Houston Astros

2015
     For 2015, the Astros produced a very nice, clean design for their photo cards featuring a mix of current and former players.  Some cards have uniform numbers, some don't.  The back is mostly black with a phone number to call for Astros game tickets.

     I'd been out of town all week for work and was anticipating some exciting mail when I got home.  In what has become one of my favorite online trading experiences, with RyanG of This Card Is Cool, I send him semi-random junk for his type-card collection, and he sends me stacks of pure Japanese awesomeness!  He included a brief note:


     Very eager: check!  Update want lists: check!

     It is increasingly difficult to find new cards to add to my Sir Hensley Meulens collection.  Before these new additions, my Meulens want list was down to just seven cards (of which, one may not exist).  Now it is down to five (or maybe four for existential reasons).

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners 2 Deep Impact Silver Signature #42 /100



2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners 2 Deep Impact Red Signature #42 /30


     Feels kind of awesome to own a Hensley Meulens card numbered to just 30.  If I can track down the gold signature (numbered to 50), I'll have the whole rainbow for this set.  Then it's just back to waiting for an affordable copy of his autographed card (numbered to 48) to show up to have the clean sweep of all of Sir Bam-Bam's Japanese cards.

    Ryan also sent some major additions to my Tuffy Rhodes collection, which has been a touch stagnant in the past year.  Well this is quite the revival.

2002 Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes Team Issue
     I had discovered something like a half dozen team issued cards of Tuffy with the Buffaloes, but this beauty was not one of them.  I love how these keep turning up and I super love that Ryan found one for me!  2002 is a guess on my part, but all of the 2003 cards I have seen actually say 2003 on them.  Could be 2000 or 2001, but I'm sticking with 2002 until proven wrong.


2003 DyDo Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes Team Issue w/Norihiro Nakamura
    Yet another team/sponsor issued card of which I was completely unaware.  Tuffy shares the card with fellow B's slugger Norihiro Nakamura.  It would appear this was given out during a two game series vs. Hanshin on 22-23 March 2003.


2008 Lotte Bikkuriman Pro Baseball Seals #17


    I've been trying to pick up this little foil beauty since it was issued.  Each year, Lotte issues their Bikkuriman Seals (stickers) with little chocolate wafers.  Usually they are anime-type characters, but a few times they issued baseball sets.  I think 2008 was actually the last time they issued a baseball-themed set featuring actual players. These are 2" x 2" squares.  I find it curious that while Japan, like most of the rest of the civilized world, uses the metric system, cards and stickers are still created using firmly standard measurements.

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners 2 Deep Impact Title Holder Pink TH8 #/100


     Looks more purple in the scan, but the decorative trim is actually pink.  In the typical modern parallel overkill, there are four versions of this card, an unnumbered version with ugly gold(?) trim and parallels with trim in pink (/100), green (/50) and blue (/30).  I still need the green and blue.

2015 BBM 25th Anniversary #087


     It is something of a mixed blessing to collect such a big star in Japan.  On the one hand, it means he keeps getting new cards almost every year (but in no where near the quantities of, say, Dave Winfield), but it also means a lot of his cards can be pricy and out of reach for someone as cheap as me.  BBM is very big on anniversaries, and they seem to issue a set for every single anniversary that rolls around, be it league anniversaries, team anniversaries, event anniversaries or even its own company anniversaries.  This set commemorate's BBM's 25th anniversary issuing baseball cards.  Similar to the early Stadium Club sets from Topps, each card features the players' first BBM card on the reverse.

    Now on to the two new highlights of my entire Tuffy Rhodes collection:

2008 BBM Orix Buffaloes Memorabilia #BsM4 /300


2009 BBM Touch The Game Memorabilia #M02 /200


      Yes, indeed, these are my first two actual Tuffy memorabilia cards featuring actual pieces of bat in the actual card!  No non-game used shenanigans here, I can practically smell the home runs hit with these tiny chips of wood.  It's not that Tuffy's game used cards are really all that expensive, but I can just never find a single seller on Yahoo! Auctions Japan that is selling more than one at a time.  Pile on Kuboten fees, and I'd be paying an extra $12-15 per card on top of the actual sale price.  I just can't justify $25-50 for a single card.  But thanks to Ryan, I didn't have to.   Many, many thanks, Ryan!  These cards are not just cool, these cards are awesome!

     In these days of exclusive licensing deals, the "oddball" card has become something of an endangered species.  Gone are the sets issued with food products or the small boxed sets from drug stores and discount retailers.  About all we have left in the way of oddballs are the occasional sets issued by the teams themselves.   The Washington Nationals were one such team.

     From 2009 to 2014, the Nationals issued a pair of cards bound into their Inside Pitch game programs.  For each of those six seasons, the Nationals issued twelve programs resulting in a total of 24 cards each year.  Given that 2009 is Volume 2, I would not at all be surprised to learn that cards were issued in 2008's Volume 1, but so far I have found no evidence.  Also, in 2009, it seems the cards may have been inserted randomly and not sequentially as in later years.  As a result, I am not 100% confident in the numbering below.

     Someone asked about a few of these cards over on SportsCardForum.com and, as I started researching, I was surprised to find no other blog had covered these cards.  To fix that, I'm going to post what I found here and enlist the rest of you to help fill in the gaps.   If you can help out with additions or corrections, please drop me a line in the comments.

2009

© Nats320

Number	Name	Issue*
1	Elijah Dukes	Vol. 2, #1
2	Ronnie Belliard	Vol. 2, #1
3	Willie Harris	Vol. 2, #2
4	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 2, #2
5	Anderson Hernandez	Vol. 2, #3
6	Cristian Guzman	Vol. 2, #3
7	Austin Kearns	Vol. 2, #4
8	Ronnie Belliard	Vol. 2, #4
9	Jose Flores	Vol. 2, #5
10	John Lannan	Vol. 2, #5
11	Joel Hanrahan	Vol. 2, #6
12	Saul Rivera	Vol. 2, #6
13	Adam Dunn	Vol. 2, #7
14	Tyler Clippard	Vol. 2, #7
15	Josh Willingham	Vol. 2, #8
16	Sean Burnett	Vol. 2, #8
17	Nyger Morgan	Vol. 2, #9
18	Josh Bard	Vol. 2, #9
19	Wil Nieves	Vol. 2, #10
20	Mike MacDougal	Vol. 2, #10
21		Vol. 2, #11
22		Vol. 2, #11
23		Vol. 2, #12
24		Vol. 2, #12

*I'm not entirely sure the card pairings to issue numbers were consistent in the first year.  It is entirely possible the set was released jumbled throughout the year, rather than sequentially.

2010

© Nats320

Number	Name	Issue
1	John Lannan	Vol. 3, #1
2	Ivan Rodriguez	Vol. 3, #1
3	Adam Dunn	Vol. 3, #2
4	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 3, #2
5	Tyler Clippard	Vol. 3, #3
6	Willie Harris	Vol. 3, #3
7	Livan Hernandez	Vol. 3, #4
8	Tyler Moore	Vol. 3, #4
9	Stephen Strasburg	Vol. 3, #5
10	Drew Storen	Vol. 3, #5
11	Ian Desmond	Vol. 3, #6
12	Cristian Guzman	Vol. 3, #6
13	Matt Capps	Vol. 3, #7
14	Nyjer Morgan	Vol. 3, #7
15	Roger Bernadina	Vol. 3, #8
16	Michael Morse	Vol. 3, #8
17	Wil Nieves	Vol. 3, #9
18	Miguel Batista	Vol. 3, #9
19	Drew Storen	Vol. 3, #10
20	Ian Desmond	Vol. 3, #10
21	Roger Bernadina	Vol. 3, #11
22	Stephen Strasburg	Vol. 3, #11
23	Danny Espinosa	Vol. 3, #12
24	Wilson Ramos	Vol. 3, #12

2011

Number	Name	Issue
1	Livan Hernandez	Vol. 4, #1
2	Ivan Rodriguez	Vol. 4, #1
3	Ian Desmond	Vol. 4, #2
4	Jayson Werth	Vol. 4, #2
5	Adam LaRoche	Vol. 4, #3
6	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 4, #3
7	Rick Ankiel	Vol. 4, #4
8	Drew Storen	Vol. 4, #4
9	Laynce Nix	Vol. 4, #5
10	Tom Gorzelanny	Vol. 4, #5
11	Jerry Hairston	Vol. 4, #6
12	Todd Coffey	Vol. 4, #6
13	Michael Morse	Vol. 4, #7
14	Jason Marquis	Vol. 4, #7
15	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 4, #8
16	Danny Espinosa	Vol. 4, #8
17	Wilson Ramos	Vol. 4, #9
18	Tyler Clippard	Vol. 4, #9
19	Alex Cora	Vol. 4, #10
20	John Lannan	Vol. 4, #10
21	Jesus Flores	Vol. 4, #11
22	Stephen Strasburg	Vol. 4, #11
23	Chris Marrero	Vol. 4, #12
24	Tom Milone	Vol. 4, #12

2012

Number	Name	Issue
1	Stephen Strasburg	Vol. 5, #1
2	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 5, #1
3	Brad Lidge	Vol. 5, #2
4	Adam LaRoche	Vol. 5, #2
5	Jesus Flores	Vol. 5, #3
6	Ian Desmond	Vol. 5, #3
7	Bryce Harper	Vol. 5, #4
8	Tyler Moore	Vol. 5, #4
9	Craig Stammen	Vol. 5, #5
10	Michael Morse	Vol. 5, #5
11	Ross Detwiler	Vol. 5, #6
12	Steve Lombardozzi	Vol. 5, #6
13	Gio Gonzalez	Vol. 5, #7
14	Jhonatan Solano	Vol. 5, #7
15	Sean Burnett	Vol. 5, #8
16	Roger Bernadina	Vol. 5, #8
17	Edwin Jackson	Vol. 5, #9
18	Drew Storen	Vol. 5, #9
19	Ryan Matheus	Vol. 5, #10
20	Jayson Werth	Vol. 5, #10
21	Danny Espinosa	Vol. 5, #11
22	Kurt Suzuki	Vol. 5, #11
23	Tyler Clippard	Vol. 5, #12
24	Jordan Zimmerman	Vol. 5, #12

2013

Number	Name	Issue
1	Davey Johnson	Vol. 6, #1
2	Danny Espinosa	Vol. 6, #1
3	Ian Desmond	Vol. 6, #2
4	Chad Tracy	Vol. 6, #2
5	Jayson Werth	Vol. 6, #3
6	Ross Detwiler	Vol. 6, #3
7	Stephen Strasburg	Vol. 6, #4
8	Rafael Soriano	Vol. 6, #4
9	Jordan Zimmerman	Vol. 6, #5
10	Kurt Suzuki	Vol. 6, #5
11	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 6, #6
12	Craig Stammen	Vol. 6, #6
13	Bryce Harper	Vol. 6, #7
14	Tyler Clippard	Vol. 6, #7
15	Jordan Zimmerman	Vol. 6, #8
16	Kurt Suzuki	Vol. 6, #8
17	Gio Gonzalez	Vol. 6, #9
18	Roger Bernadina	Vol. 6, #9
19	Anthony Rendon	Vol. 6, #10
20	Wilson Ramos	Vol. 6, #10
21	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 6, #11
22	Ian Krol	Vol. 6, #11
23	Dan Haren	Vol. 6, #12
24	Drew Storen	Vol. 6, #12

2014

Number	Name	Issue
1	Matt Williams	Vol. 7, #1
2	Tyler Clippard	Vol. 7, #1
3	Bryce Harper	Vol. 7, #2
4	Ross Detwiler	Vol. 7, #2
5	Adam LaRoche	Vol. 7, #3
6	Taylor Jordan	Vol. 7, #3
7	Anthony Rendon	Vol. 7, #4
8	Tanner Roark	Vol. 7, #4
9	Rafael Soriano	Vol. 7, #5
10	Drew Storen	Vol. 7, #5
11	Jordan Zimmerman	Vol. 7, #6
12	Kevin Frandsen	Vol. 7, #6
13	Jayson Werth	Vol. 7, #7
14	Danny Espinosa	Vol. 7, #7
15	Denard Span	Vol. 7, #8
16	Jose Lobaton	Vol. 7, #8
17	Ryan Zimmerman	Vol. 7, #9
18	Jerry Blevins	Vol. 7, #9
19	Stephen Strasburg	Vol. 7, #10
20	Racing Presidents	Vol. 7, #10
21	Wilson Ramos	Vol. 7, #11
22	Gio Gonzalez	Vol. 7, #11
23	Doug Fister	Vol. 7, #12
24	Ian Desmond	Vol. 7, #12