5 TO 9 DAYS

     

           In 5 days I will be expecting my company from my friend Greg from The Collective Mind blog for his every other year visit to Michigan for card shows & card shopping at the National Sports Card Convention which is in 9 days from now hence the title 5 to 9 days & I can't wait for his visit. I have some great new places that I hope we have time to visit but more than likely it will be just 1 new shop since I still haven't heard if my vacation time is acceptable I blame my store manager having me being bitter about it. I rarely don't understand why I have to do this when it was approved back in January as most of you know. My Co-workers said they understand my frustration & have mentioned that I deserve the time off. 

           When I worked on Saturday I had checked to see if anything happened after I went in to request for the time off it was still pending as I type this post up.  I'm not trying to cause any issues about it but I'm just upset that others can get time off for their vacation & I pick up their slot & some of them are willing to pick up my slot if I can get my vacation off.  
               

          During my downtime of late I have been reworking on a set that I made a long time ago & haven't been able to complete plus I am not been able to find the binder that I had them in so I had to start from scratch in making this set what set am I talking about the one & only 1990 CMC Pre-Rookie Card Minor League Set. There's 880 cards in the set back in 1992 when I first started to make this set it was the largest set I took the honor in making (Later on I took on & achieved completion thanks to Greg getting me Micah Bowie the 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man set which has 1180 cards in the set.) I also later & still struggling in finding the autographs still of the players as well a few of the Post-Season cards of the 2008 Upper Deck Documentary Set.  You can find those listed on my lists if you like to help me out on them I would be so humbled to complete it. Anyways the player you see atop of the page has a significant history with me for you see Bruce Fields was a career batter in the Minors he had some stints with the Tigers after being drafted out of Lansing Everett High School in the 1978 Draft in the 7th Round the same draft that Kirk Gibson was the Tigers 1st Pick that summer & a lesser known Pitcher/ 3rd baseman from Harve-de-Grace, Maryland was taken in the 2nd round by his hometown Baltimore Orioles by the name of Calvin Ripken Jr.  Bruce attended the same High School as me & our paths would cross when he would come home to watch his Alma Mater play his second sport he loved to play which was basketball since he was a member of the 1977 Michigan Class 'A' High School Championship Basketball Team with some guy that would be a Benchwarmer for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980's Showtime Teams named Earvin Something of sorts. 

                              Bruce is the guy wearing #14 in that picture for some reason he was overshadowed by the guy in the middle holding the ball I don't think he will make it big his name was Earvin something.The High School wouldn't win another State title until 2004 somewhere in 1993 a crazy kid would graduate  never seeing a State title in a sport where he was a manager for 4 years from 1989-1993.

                  Bruce would make his MLB Debut on my Mother's 38th Birthday on September 3rd 1986 against the Seattle Mariners. His RC is in the 1987 Donruss Set as a Rated Rookie card #47 but its not Bruce in the picture that's Darnell Coles instead Bruce will sign the card for you but will mention that on the card so be warned if you want a tiny inscription on the card.  Later Bruce was traded to the Seattle Mariners for Stan Clarke(Never played a single game with the Tigers) in 1987 then played for the M's from 1988 to 1989 only to be released so a son of a Major League Player who was a Teenager could get more playing time by the name of George K. Griffey Jr. in Bruce's last game it came in 1989 Against his old Team The Detroit Tigers. 

                  If you wondered why Topps was late in jumping on the Griffey Jr. bandwagon while Donruss had him as a Rated Rookie,Fleer had his card as well Upper Deck Made him the #1 to lead off their set even though DeWayne Buice had the luxury of being a promo type #1 at the National Sports Card Convention in Anaheim that summer the reason is well.....Don't hate Bruce but he was featured in the regular set as card #556 & not Junior the reason Topps thought they would correct a wrong that Donruss made in 1987 by featuring Bruce's real face, Pushing Griffey to be featured in the Traded set so people would buy the Traded set over the other companies. Upper Deck would do the same as well #238 but then again they had Griffey in the base set already.
               Bruce like I said made a mark in the minors by being a great batting champion in some of the Minor League stops he had while trying to make it in the Majors. He later became a Minor League coach for some teams including the Tigers & managed the Toledo Mud Hens a couple years his son Daniel was a Prospect that never hung on with the Tigers appearing in 1 game back in 2015 with the big league club.  
Like I mentioned its 5 to 9 Days at the begining of my post I am typing this at 3am est I need to end this post so I can be ready for my long day at Dollar General my 9 to 5 job at the moment lol. Anyways I am reminded by the Great Rogers Hornsby who once mentioned about autographs "Any ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."