I got mail from a celebrity!

I'm attending training for work this week. That means I'm going to work first thing in the morning rather than in the early afternoon. I miss getting the mail right when it comes. Night before last Mrs. Spiff told me when I got home there was a bubble mailer waiting for me. Cards?

Yes, it was cards. From the famous Night Owl over at Night Owl Cards. He sent me 20 random Rangers and a couple of Senators. Score! Any package with Senators is an automatic winner. Any random package that has six cards I need for team sets is a real winner. One of the cards I needed was this 2012 Topps Heritage card of former Ranger Koji Uehara, number 370 in the set.

Also included in the package was a short note from the Owl himself! He thanked me for some Dodgers I dumped on him and said he hoped the cards he sent would work. They did for sure. Most impressive was that the note started off with my name. Night Owl knows my name! I'm in the big time now. The Owl is perhaps the most famous card blogger out there. Even former Major Leaguers read and comment on his blog. He's got millions of readers. Well, many more than I ever hope to have anyway. Night Owl Cards is the gold standard for card blogs and Night Owl is the blogging equivalent of Clayton Kershaw. He's even got a Dodger autograph made out to "Night Owl". Now he sends me a personalized note. Way, way cool.

Thanks for the cards Mr. Owl. I really appreciate them. Look forward to sending you some more Dodgers sometime when I've got the extra funds.

1978 Topps - Jim Sundberg.

Card 492 of the 1978 Topps set is one of my favorite Jim Sundberg cards. Sunny is one of those players best shown on defense. Love the old-school catcher's gear and the look he is giving the pitcher. Maybe it's not the pitcher, maybe he just threw out a runner at third.

1977 was Sundberg's finest offensive year. It wasn't too shabby on defense either as he won his second straight Gold Glove. He was looking for an encore in 1978.

Sunny saw a slight drop-off offensively in 1978. In 592 plate appearances he posted a .278 batting average and a .358 on-base percentage. He struck out 70 times (seven less than the previous season) and worked 64 walks (nine more than in 1977). He also hit 23 doubles, six triples, and six home runs. Amazingly enough, he led the team in triples. Not too shabby for a backstop.

Sunny's defensive star continued to shine. He played in 149 games for Texas, 148 of them at catcher. That made him second in the league for games played behind the plate. Over the course of 1294.2 innings Jim committed just three errors. That gave him a league-leading .997 fielding percentage. Well above the league average .983. He also led the league in putouts (769), assists (91), double plays turned as catcher (14), and caught stealing (70). Those runners he caught gave him a 48.3% caught stealing rate - second in the league. While his caught stealing percentage had dipped, teams would still be well served to be cautious trying to steal in Texas.

In recognition of Sundberg's defensive dominance, he won his third straight Gold Glove. He also made a second trip to the All-Star Game and got some MVP consideration as well.

Obviously Jim Sundberg had the Rangers starting catcher's job well in hand. If he could up his offense it would be nice. However, unless the bottom really fell out of his bat, he probably wouldn't lose his job. The Rangers had areas of weakness in 1978. Catcher wasn't one of them.

Minor League Monday - Paco Burgos, 1990 ProCards Tulsa Drillers.

The Rangers signed Franciso Enrique Burgos as an amateur free agent on October 27, 1984. Burgos, seen here on car 1160 of the 1990 ProCards Tulsa Drillers set, started his pro career the next season with the Rookie ball Gulf Coast Rangers.

In 1986 Paco played for the Single A Daytona Beach Admirals. For some reason he spent 1978 with the unaffiliated single A San Jose Bees. 1988 found him back in the Rangers system but still at single A with the Gastonia Rangers. He moved to the Port Charlotte Rangers midway through the 1988 season and stayed with them for the 1989 campaign as well.

Burgos finally broke out of Single A in 1990 and found himself playing for the Tulsa Drillers in double A. He played second base in 35 games but managed to appear in 83 games at third as he nailed down the starting position there. He posted a .944 fielding percentage at third in 1990.

Paco made 503 trips to the plate for the Drillers in 1990. He put together a .257 batting average and a .284 on-base percentage. He demonstrated some power with five home runs, seven triples, and 17 doubles. Unfortunately he also struck out 48 times while working just 18 times.

Burgos got the word during the off-season. He would stay at Double A Tulsa to begin the 1991 season. If he wanted to move up he was going to have to step up his game. If he wanted to make it to Arlington he would really need to get going. Steve Buechele was still manning third for Texas while Dean Palmer and Scott Coolbaugh prepared to attempt to unseat him. Those were a lot of hurdles for Francisco Burgos to jump on his way to Arlington Stadium.

Random Rangers auto.

Well, the holidays are officially over for the Spiff household. For work reasons my side of the extended family normally gets together after the first of the year. This year was no different. We all had a good time and the last of the family took off for home on Tuesday. Now it's time for the task of getting back into the every day groove. Hope to start getting some free card packages sent out soon.

In spite of all the family activity, there hasn't been much going on for the Rangers. The FanFest is rapidly approaching and Spiff Jr and I have our tickets. Other than that it's been pretty quiet.

Since I don't have much specific to write about I'm going to post a random Ranger autograph. Today we have this 1996 Leaf Authentic Signatures card of Mark McLemore. I like this set. Nice clean design and on card signatures.

1996 Leaf Authentic Signatures - McLemore

1996 Leaf Authentic Signatures - McLemore

1978 Topps - Gaylord Perry.

By the time Gaylord Perry appeared on card 686 of the 1978 Topps set, he was no longer a Texas Ranger.

Apparently concerned over Perry's age, the Rangers traded him to the San Diego Padres on January 25, 1978. In return Texas got Dave Tomlin and $125,000. On March 28, 1978 the Rangers sold Tomlin's contract to the Cincinnati Reds. All Texas had to show for Perry's departure was the loss of a future Hall-of-Famer and some cash in the bank. The Padres got a Cy Young winner in 1978 and an all-star in 1979.

Gaylord went on to pitch for six more seasons before he retired and began his wait for Cooperstown to call. He wasn't done in Arlington though. On February 15, 1980 the Rangers traded first baseman Willie Montanez to the Padres for Joe Carroll, Tucker Ashford, and Gaylord Perry.

Perry's second stint in Texas would prove to be a bit rougher than his first. He pitched in 24 games and tossed 155 innings. The same old durable Gaylord. He was serviceable on the mound but not the ace he had been. His ERA tallied to 3.43 and his WHIP to 1.323. He did strike out 107 opposing batsmen while issuing just 46 free passes. He ended up with a 6-9 record for a struggling team.

On August 14, 1980 the Rangers traded Gaylord Perry to the New York Yankees for Ken Clay and Marv Thompson. Neither made any waves in Texas. Seemed the Rangers just couldn't get anything in return for Perry when they put him on the trade block.

Minor League Monday - Greg Iavarone, 1990 ProCards Tulsa Drillers.

Gregory Iavarone has to have the best middle name ever for a catcher, Speedy. As far as I can tell, that's his real middle name. Can't make this stuff up.

The Rangers signed Iavarone, shown on card 1159 of the 1990 ProCards Tulsa Drillers set, as a free agent in January of 1990. Like the rest of his career, the signing is something of a puzzle. I cannot figure out what the Rangers purpose was in signing him.

Greg was drafted by the New York Yankees in 1984 and did not sign. They drafted him again the next year and he signed. In 1985 and 1986 he played in the Yankees farm system. I suspect an injury because he only played in two games in 1986. Apparently the Yankees let him go because he played in the Cubs farm system in 1987, climbing to Double A. Then he's gone. Two seasons, 1988 and 1989, out of professional baseball. He resurfaces when the Rangers sign him at the age of 24.

Texas put Iavarone back at Double A for the 1990 season. He served as a back-up to Bill Haselman and appeared in 32 games. Greg caught in all 32 games he played and saw 172 chances behind the plate. He committed five errors for a fielding percentage of .971. He also allowed seven passed balls.

Greg got 106 trips to the plate for the Drillers in 1990. He posted a .267 batting average and a .365 on-base percentage. His only extra-base hits were his five doubles. He did steal two bases without being caught but that does not seem to encourage calling him by his middle name.

The Rangers left Iavarone at Double A for the 1991 season. He would again function as a backup before hanging up the spikes for the final time at the end of that season.

Senators Saturday - Bob Humphreys, 1968.

Bob Humphreys, shown here on card 268 of the 1968 Topps set, was entering his third season as a member of the Senators bullpen in 1968. The club was hoping to see more of the 1966 version of Humphreys (2.82 ERA) rather than the 1967 version (4.17 ERA).

Reprising his role as middle relief, Bob came out of the bullpen for all of the 56 games he appeared in (second only to Dennis Higgins) for Washington. He finished 29 games but scored just two saves and five wins. That's the kind of team he had behind him.

Humphreys pitched 92.2 innings for Washington in 1968 and managed to lower his ERA to 3.69. That was about average for the bullpen but his 1.165 WHIP was the lowest among anyone who took the mound for Washington regularly. Bob whiffed 56 opposing batters but also issued 30 free passes. He had a weakness for the gopher ball as he coughed up 13 of them.

Bob Humphreys turned in a decent, but unspectacular year for the Senators in 1968. He managed to improve both his ERA and WHIP from the previous season. If he could push them down a bit further in 1969 he could really lock in a spot on the relief corps and might even be getting back to the form he had with the 1964 Cardinals.