Kevin Hickey

Who: Pitcher Kevin Hickey

Team: Baltimore Orioles

Card: 1990 Donruss

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Actually, this is the last card I am posting from Soxfest. Nothing like ending a crescendo on a '90 Donruss note.

Darrin Jackson

Who: Outfielder Darrin Jackson

Team: San Diego Padres

Card: 1990 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Alright, this is the LAST card I am posting from a pretty loaded Soxfest haul. Darrin Jackson is currently works on White Sox radio along-side Ed Farmer. Before his radio days, Darrin was the color-man on White Sox broadcasts.

John Danks

Who: Pitcher John Danks

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 2009 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Coming...

Greg Walker

Who: First Baseman Greg Walker

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1987 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Greg Walker is currently the batting coach for the Chicago White Sox. I got lucky with this autograph. My buddy spotted Greg walking through one of the hallways outside the ballroom at Soxfest. He stopped and signed a few autographs, and I managed to snag one.

How about that late-80s White Sox uniform. Those jerseys are now becoming classics - so many folks at Soxfest were rockin' that style.

Kevin Hickey

Who: Pitcher Kevin Hickey

Team: Baltimore Orioles

Card: 1990 Fleer

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Shoot! I didn't know this before Soxfest: Kevin played an Indians pitcher in the film Major League II. Awesome!

Juan Nieves

Who: Pitcher Juan Nieves

Team: Milwaukee Brewers

Card: 1987 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: The best part of getting this autograph was what happened before it. At the Comcast autograph booth, Juan and someone else (Kevin Hickey, maybe?) was scheduled to sign and I was there right on time. There was one guy in line and as I snaked through, I saw this guy (pretty tall dude, too) jokingly giving the other former Sox player some grief from the front of the line. As I walk up, he's says "there's someone in line! great!" or something like that, which was kinda odd. So, I smile and walk up behind the first guy in line and he turns around rally fast, sticks out his right hand and says, "Hi! I'm Juan Nieves" with this huge smile. I was like "OHHHHHH!" Haha. Since I'm not the biggest White Sox fan, I didn't recognize him. It was pretty funny. After that, Juan sat down and signed my '87 Topps for me. Couldn't have been any nicer.

Juan's major league career was cut pretty short by an arm injury, but in that time he managed to toss a no-hitter on April 15, 1987. He's currently the bullen coach for the White Sox.

J J. Putz

Who: Pitcher J J. Putz

Team: Seattle Mariners

Card: 2008 Goudey

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Ah yes, another Goudey to add to the collection. New White Sox member J.J. Putz signed this bad-boy for me at Soxfest 2010. While signing, he joked with me and one of the White Sox staffers about how odd the illustration of him looked on the card. It made him "look like a real ginger." Ha, pretty good stuff.

This is the first card featuring a Mariner that I've had signed. Nice! Wonder how many other baseball teams I don't have at least one card from? Probably quite a few.

Ozzie Guillen

Who: Shortstop Ozzie Guillen

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1987 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Going into Soxfest, Ozzie's autograph was the one I was most excited to get. Not only is he the charismatic manager of the White Sox, but I remember him playing when I was a kid, and even saw him play once at Comiskey park during the last season it was standing. Plus, tack on the fact that he has an '87 Topps, and we're cookin'!

Gary Peters

Who: Pitcher Gary Peters

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1969 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Yep, still rollin' on the Soxfest autographs. Still have a few more to post. Hang tight.

Gary Peters was a pretty darn good pitcher for the White Sox, winning the 1963 AL Rookie of the Year award. During that season, he had a string of 11 straight wins - impressive. Equally as impressive, during the 1967 All-Star game, retired 9 consecutive batters over three innings, including striking out three future Hall of Famers - Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, and Ferguson Jenkins. Wow.

Pretty nicely signed card, eh? Gary laid down a nice signature on this '69 Topps - the second from that set that I had signed at Soxfest. The other was from Joe Horlen.

Ron Kittle

Who: Designated Hitter Ron Kittle

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1990 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Coming...

Ed Farmer

Who: Pitcher Ed Farmer

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1981 Donruss

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: This post goes out to Zach over at Autographed Cards - he loves these dang '81 Donruss cards. I gotta say, I like this one too. The card comes with a decent story too.

At Soxfest, one of the last autograph sessions I got to was for Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson. I was set with cards for Darrin, but didn't have anything for Ed to sign. Even after seeing the one card dealer at the Soxfest dealer area, I still had nothing. I figured I would get in line and ask around to see if someone would be willing to trade. Luckily, there were three guys in front of me who had tons of cards and one offered a few up to me. Of the three he had, I choose this the '81 D-Russ and the rest is history. Just goes to show there are plenty of nice folks out there.

Check out the uni Ed's sportin' on this card. Those collars were insane. Too bad he's not rockin' the shorts.

Moose Skowron

Who: First Baseman Moose Skowron

Team: New York Yankees

Card: 1958 Topps All-Star

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Another vintage card I was able to get signed at Soxfest this year. Moose signed this beat-up, but great looking All-Star card of his, making a nice addition to the vintage end of my autographed card collection.

Juan Pierre

Who: Outfielder Juan Pierre

Team: Los Angeles Dodgers

Card: 2009 Topps 206

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: This is the second card that Juan signed for me at Soxfest. The White Sox were pretty strict on "one per person" (I don't mind at all) so I was able to get this autograph on a different day than the first. Upon seeing this card, Juan mentioned that he hadn't see this one before. Kinda cool, I guess.

This is the first 2009 Topps 206 that I've had signed. They handle themselves pretty well for autographs.

Bill Melton

Who: Third Baseman Bill Melton

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1972 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Coming...

Freddy Garcia

Who: Pitcher Freddy Garcia

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 2006 Fleer

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: I can't say that I was too familar with Freddy Garcia's body of work before Soxfest. My boys were excited to get his autograph the first night, so I figured I might as well be excited too. Freddy was nice and corgial and the whole thing was good. I really didn't think that Freddy would have all all that big of an impact on my memory of that weekend, then we witnessed this in the hotel lobby on that Saturday night. HAHAHAAHAHA. We even got our picture with Freddy about 5 minutes before all this happened. It was the only photo I got with a Sox player that weekend... and you know exactly why. LOL

Ron Kittle

Who: Designated Hitter Ron Kittle

Team: Cleveland Indians

Card: 1989 Score

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: After getting a pair of signed cards from Mr. Kittle last year, I was able to actually meet the man himself and get an autograph in person. How about this '89 Score? So cheap, so generic, but actually a pretty nice looking card.

Bill Melton

Who: Third Baseman Bill Melton

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1972 Topps In Action

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Beltin' Bill Melton signed this and his other '72 Topps card for me at the bar of the Palmer House Hilton during Soxfest. Since I don't have the ability to recognize most retired White Sox players, my buddy pointed him out for me when we were walking through the bar. Being prepared with your cards in tow is always a good idea.

Between a sweet horizontal In Action card and Melton's smooth sig, this card came out pretty well.

Minnie Miñoso

Who: Outfielder Minnie Miñoso

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1957 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Ah, this was one card I was really looking forward to getting signed. White Sox great Minnie Minoso, the first black player to where their uniform, has made a habit out of getting into uniform well past his prime in the 1950s. He is the only baseball player to play professionally in seven different decades. More about he professional appearances here.

Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso Arrieta, aka, Minnie Minoso has been a part of baseball history for quite a long time.

When I met Mr. Minoso, he autographed my card in a very interesting way. He took a piece of paper or note card and lined it up diagonally across my card and used it as a guide as he put his signature on it. That's how he was able to get the extremely straight autograph you see above. I've never seen that before! He did it for everyone too. I'm sure if you've gotten his autograph you have a similar story.

Mark Salas

Who: Catcher

Team: New York Yankees

Card: 1987 Topps Traded

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest

Comments: Hey! Let's do some back-to-back Salas! I normally like to space apart multiple cards from the same fella, but I'm feelin' saucy today.

Here's the second of two cards that Mr. Salas signed for me at Soxfest, this one being of the "Traded" variety.

Pretty sweet that Mark has a palindrome as his last name - SALAS or SALAS... AH!!!!! Crazy.

Mark Salas

Who: Catcher Mark Salas

Team: Minnesota Twins

Card: 1987 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest

Comments: Sox bullpen catcher and coach Mark Salas signed two '87 Topps cards for me at Soxfest - this one and his card from the Traded series. He did a number of signing sessions at Soxfest, so I got them at two different time. One was this card and another later when I realized I also had the Traded card for his as well. That was a nice surprise to myself... haha.

A.J. Pierzynski

Who: Catcher A.J. Pierzynski

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 2008 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Not sure what my problem is, but I always have the worst cards for A.J. to sign. This one that he signed for me TTM last year was not the greatest to get signed either. No matter though, it was cool to say hi to A.J. and add another card of his to the collection.

After reading the last A.J. autograph post, it's cool that the friend that I talked about visiting to watch the Reds and White Sox play is the same friend I hit Soxfest with. Good times, all of them.

Ken Harrelson

Who: Ken Harrelson

Team: Kansas City Athletics

Card: 1966 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: In juxtaposition to the Steve Stone Experience™, there was Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, who was great with the fans in line and put down this fantastic autograph on a 1966 Topps. Alongside Steve Stone, Ken is a broadcaster for the White Sox.

When looking into Ken's career, that great little nugget that popped out was his popularization of the batting glove during the '60s. Though he can't be credited with the invention of it - some point out examples of its use as early as 1901 - he is the man that brought it back to stay in baseball. I wonder how much of it has to do with his love of golf? Where they using gloves in golf back then as well?

Jake Peavy

Who: Pitcher Jake Peavy

Team: San Diego Padres

Card: 2009 Goudey

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Wow, what a score here. I was pretty jacked to get Jake's autograph at Soxfest. He couldn't have been any nicer with the fans too. It was the first autograph line of the day for us on that Saturday - a great way to start out.

Before Soxfest I was pretty torn on what card to get signed by Jake. I really did getting the '08 Goudey set signed, and Jake has a card in there. But, that card has him with a big glove right on the "sweet spot" for a signature. This card was utterly perfect for an autograph, so it won out. Jake has a pretty unique signature - glad to have it in the collection.

Floyd Bannister

Who: Pitcher Floyd Bannister

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1987 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: I'm tellin' you, I put a nice little dent in the '87 Topps autograph search at Soxfest. I think I was able to to get six in all? Very nice. More to come.

Floyd pitched for the Sox from 1983-'87. Though he had his lone all-star appearance in 1982 with the Mariners, overall he pitched better with with Sox right after that.

Bobby Jenks

Who: Pitcher Bobby Jenks

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 2008 Allen & Ginter

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Bobby did not sign this card, his goat-tee did. It was amazing.

This Allen & Ginter card of Sox closer extraordinaire is pretty boss. Love the horizontal layout with that photo illustration. Great for a signature.

Joe Horlen

Who: Pitcher Joe Horlen

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1969 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Joe pitched a no hitter for the White Sox back in 1967. He also help beat my Cincinnati Reds in the '72 World Series when he played with the Oakland Athletics. Drat!

How about that powerder blue Chi Sox uni? On wool, that color looks fantastic. I'm sure those uniforms will still hot as hell in the summer.

Juan Pierre

Who: Outfielder Juan Pierre

Team: Los Angeles Dodgers

Card: 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: Juan is just one of those guys that I never though I would get an autograph from. Not that I was broken up about it, but since he played for the Dodgers for so long, I didn't really give it much thought. So, I ended up with two Juan Pierre signatures from Soxfest. This is the first one I obtained during the first night of Soxfest. These Allen and Ginter cards look really nice signed.

Juan was traded by the Dodgers to the White Sox in December for a pair of minor leaguers. Between Manny and a couple of up and coming kids in the Dodgers system, Juan was the odd man out in Los Angeles. I like the way he rocks his socks high and pants baggy, so I hope he does well with the Sox. Yep, just for that reason. Go Juan!

Steve Stone

Who: Pitcher Steve Stone

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 1974 Topps

Acquired: In Person, Soxfest 2010

Comments: I've got a ton of stuff coming up for the blog over the next few weeks, including a load of autographs from my trip to Soxfest. Had a great time and got a lot of cards signed.

So let's kick off my string of Soxfest autographs with the one I'm disappointed in the most - this 1974 Topps Steve Stone. This is the only card I've ever had signed at a fanfest in ballpoint pen. Seriously, what the heck? When I went though Steve's line at Soxfest, I noticed that he was signing things with ballpoint pen. My buddy in front of me handed him a Sharpie to sign his card, and Steve did. But, when I asked if he wouldn't mind signing my card with my Sharpie, Steve took my card and absolutely obliterated it with his pen. He mentioned something about him knowing that I "Won't sell this on eBay" and that "It's perfectly fine." All with a smile, of course. Really, the pen was literally scraaaaaaaped across the card. The ink is flaking up and you can feel the pen indentation on the back of the card.

Ugh.

You go to these things and there is an understanding on both sides (player and fan) that guys sign baseball cards with a marker and baseballs with a pen. I've received dozens of autographs from many players - stars, hall of famers, journeymen, etc. at fanfests. They all used a Sharpie on my baseball card.

You know, it's really not that big of a deal. I'm actually not too upset about it. I guess if it were a Reds player that I had really admired as a kid I would probably be a little crushed. But, this good ol' Steve Stone autoscrape will live happily in my binder as a funny reminder to what was a really fun weekend.

I've got some nice looking autographs coming up soon. Stay tuned.

Brian Anderson

Who: Outfielder Brian Anderson

Team: Chicago White Sox

Card: 2006 Bowman

Acquired: Via friend at 2009 Soxfest

Comments: This is the other autograph that my homie from Chicago hooked me up with at the 2009 Soxfest. The other card was a 1987 Buddy Bell. I don't know much about Brian, but I'll be keeping an eye on him now. Thanks again, Rob!

Buddy Bell

Who: Third Baseman Buddy Bell

Team: Cincinnati Reds

Card: 1987 Topps

Acquired: Via friend at 2009 SoxFest

Comments: I was a little worried about getting this autograph. Buddy left his position as the Royals manager in September 2006 due to medical problems that ended up being diagnosed as tonsil cancer. He announced that he would not be returning to manage the Royals in 2007 citing intentions to spend more time with his family. Since that time, I really didn't know what he had been up to other than chillin' with the fam and probably going through medical treatment.

So, I happened to run across an autograph list for 2009 Soxfest - which at one time I had contemplated going up to Chicago for - and noticed the Mr. Bell was signing! Now, my good friend from College, Rob, is a huge Sox fan and was heading to the annual convention, as he does every year. I ended up overnighting him the '87 Topps card that I needed signed for my set and Rob told me he would do his best.

As you can see, Rob came through big time and helped me get another '87 Topps Red checked off the list.

Back to Mr. Bell - what's his connection to the White Sox? Well, he's currently the Director of Minor League Instruction for the Sox. Great for him. I hope that he's doing well after the diagnosis and is still able to spend a good deal of time with his family.

Oh, and how about that autograph? Mr. Bell signed it Mario Soto style - up the side.