3 Infielders Autos, Quest For Rays Autos, My First TTM!

I have begun my Rays autograph quest. I am not quite ready to start listing overall percentages, but I now have 20% of this years 40 man roster, a few original Rays and a few autographed cards from the 2008 American League Champs. I am gonna start with some infielders. One is an in-person signing, one is a TTM and one was a gift from Zach from the Autographed Cards blog.

Akinori was hitting .310 before an injury sidelined him 44 games into the season. He is working out and will probably rejoin the Rays next month. Ben Zobrist has done a great job keeping his position warm for him, but will probably move back 50 feet into right field when Aki is right and ready. I was a little nervous about talking to him with the language barrier, but Aki was cordial and knew just enough to chat with the handful of fans that approached him at the ballpark. He signed two cards for me, this Allen and Ginter from last years set and a 2009 Topps Heritage.

The next card is a gift from Zach, he sent a note saying Elliot only played 7 games for the Rays, but he was a Ray nonetheless. I am pretty confident that he will play a lot more games. Johnson is a very similar player to Ben Zobrist. He’s a middle infielder who can play 1^st, 3^rd and the outfield, hit for power and drive in runs. He is a 25 year old switch hitter who has been in the Rays system since they signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2002. The card he signed is a 2008 Bowman.

The last infielder I got is Reid Brignac. He is a big (6’3”) shortstop with power from the left side of the plate. He has had a few stints with the Rays, most recently filling in for Jason Bartlett for a few weeks earlier this season. He hit .271 in 21 games for the Rays. The Rays nabbed Reid in the 2^nd round of the 2004 draft out of St. Armant High in Louisiana. Reid started the AAA All Star game and definitely shows big league skills. Playing behind Bartlett and Zobrist, the Rays are taking it slow with the 23-year-old power hitting infielder. Like Johnson, this kid is going to see a lot more at-bats at the big league level. He had more than 40 homeruns between ’07 and ’08 and plays big league defense at short. This card is my first (of many?) TTM Rays ‘graph, signed care of the Durham Bulls.Thanks again to Zach for all his help so far! I will keep you all posted on my progress. I will say, I have nearly enough cards to put together a team. My big lacking is a first baseman. Anybody got a Pena autograph in a Rays uni? I also really need some unsigned cards, too. Michelle Hernandez, Gabe Kapler, Brian Shouse, JP Howell, Randy Choate, Greg Zaun and Dale Thayer are topping the list right now. Trade me some Rays cards! Anyone? Everything I have posted on this blog (other than todays post) is up for trade. I am gonna try and get together lists soon of what I have available. I also deciding on what to collect next. With Heritage nearing a close, I am contemplating 2009 A & G, 1978 Topps, 1961 Topps, 2008 Goudey, 2005 Heritage, 1974 Topps, 2009 O Pee Chee or 1968 Topps. I have a pretty good chunk of 1978s, but everything else I good use a good jump start...Cheers! troll out, for real...