With Christmas rolling up on us, there's not much excitement brewing for us baseball fans, unless of course you count the mania that has exploded in Boston for the new Japanese pitcher that they've signed (I've already got an autograph request out to him) and of course, the upcoming Barry Zito sweepstakes.  So, I'm getting ready for the upcoming season.

 

Thanks to the idiocy and greed of the MLB executives, most sets are unable to market minor league cards.  Major League Baseball, it seems, wants to decide (and get a fee for, of course) which card that is issued is a player's official "Rookie Card."  What this means, is that other than minor league team sets, it's going to be harder to find cards of minor league players.  The exception of course, is Bowman.  They are still allowed to put out a Draft pick and Prospect set.  I hit EBay right away and have laid in sets of the Chrome, Gold and base Draft Pick 165 card set, for about the cost of a box and a half.  If you are near A league teams (or higher, you'll see them eventually) I highly urge you to lay in the players.  Access the checklist on the Topps site.  You'll be wanting to get these cards autographed this upcoming season.

 

The Midwest League is about two-thirds done naming their coaches.  The big news, of course, is that Ryne Sandberg will be managing in Peoria.  Do I look for Ryno to be an amenable autographer?  No.  He never has been in the past.  Worst case scenerio:  His presence could make it difficult for us autographers to get the rest of the Peoria team in the crush of EBayers and dealers looking to get his signature to sell.  You people who have had access to teams where Gary Carter or Mike Schmidt have managed.  Perhaps you know better than I can imagine what we're in store for.

 

Still, there are a lot of new coaching names coming to the Midwest league that I'm excited about.  Lance Parrish will be the manager of the Great lakes Loons, a team that takes the place of Battle Creek's Southwest Michigan club.  This team, which has moved to the Saginaw, Michigan area, will mark the return of the Dodgers to the Midwest League after a long absence.  Dayton welcomes former major leaguers Darren Bragg and Doug Bair to their coaching staffs, and West Michigan boasts an entire new coaching staff of ex-major leaguers with  Tom Brookens, Bennny Distefano and Ray Burris leading the club.  Fort Wayne brings in former Cub Doug Dascenzo to manage and will have former Met Wally Whitehurst coaching their pitching staff. 

 

During a Saturday in January I'll be doing a yeoman day of autographing.  Nancy and I will be driving up to the Iowa Cub fanfest.  I've purchased autograph tickets (2 each) for Harmon Killebrew, Andre Dawson, Bruce Sutter and Tony Perez.  Hopefully I'll be adding Sutter's and Perez's signed HOF plaques to my collection, and signed 70 Topps cards of Killebrew and Perez as well.  The Iowa Cubs haven't named the players showing up to sign for free yet, but no doubt their new manager  (Buddy Bailey) and their new pitching coach (Mike Harkey) will be there.  I always bring my duplicate autographs to trade as well, and usually come home pleased with the day's results.

Most overpriced autograph?  Deion Sanders wants $55 a signature (Friday night).  I'll pass.  Killebrew's the most expensive HOFer at $30.  But then, Deion's got a gold chain collection to add to.  After the fanfest, we hope to get back to Burlington in time for their silent auction and winter dinner.  The Royals new General Manager, Drayton Moore, will be the keynote speaker.

 

I HIGHLY ADVISE YOU TO ORDER IT

Harvey Meiselman is issuing his new updated address lists in early January.  For those of you who've never used Harvey's list, I highly recommend them.  He has address lists for current and retired baseball, football, hockey and basketball players, golfers, olympians, Hall of Famers, and my favorite list of his, "Men and Women of Note."  For more information about Harvey and his lists, I suggest that you go to www.sportsaddresslists.com.

 

A BAD YEAR FOR THE BOMB-THROWING ANARCHISTS 

My fantasy football team started out with two losses.  It took me awhile to find a workable corps of wide-receivers.  I had good running backs with Clinton Portis my 1st round pick, followed by Reuben Droughans and Tatum Bell.  My quarterback was Donovan McNabb.  My receivers were Jericho Crochety, Jennings from Green Bay and Holmes from Pittsburg.  My tight end was Ben Watson.  Not a bad team for a 14 player league.  The draft got very thin, especially in wide receivers.  I had Brooks and Johnson as back up quarterbacks.

 

After the two losses I reeled of 6 straight wins.  McNabb was hot.  When he started to fizzle I plucked Tony Romo off the Waiver Wire and when Romo won the starting job I traded McNabb for Steve Smith to upgrade my receivers.  Just in time.  McNabb went down the first game he played for the guy I traded him to.  Maybe I gloated too long and the fantasy Gods figured that it was time for a payback.  Portis went down for the year.  Then both Droughans and Bell succumbed to nagging injuries or Shanahan's whims.  Turf-toe?  Can we say "wimp."  Can you imagine Jim Taylor or Jimmy Brown being grounded by "Turf toe?"  Anyway, I never won another game, and stumbled into the playoffs with a 6-6 and 1 record by virtue of being in the weaker division.  I wouldn't have qualified in the other one.  My team rolled over and played dead the first round, with even Watson going down injured.  End of season.

 

Well anyway, I've blathered on long enough.  Time to call it a letter.  Take care, and have fun with the hobby.  I sure try to  Despite a fantasy team that this year had me exercising my extensive vocabulary of expletives to the limit.