Denis Metlyuk Autograph Card

Denis Metlyuk was a Russian hockey player who was active from the early 1990s until the mid-oughts. He was drafted in the second round (31st overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1992 and thus came to North America to try his luck, suiting up for 81 games over two seasons with the AHL's Hershey Bears.

Which is where this signed insert card from Classic's 1993-94 4 Sport set, showing him wearing the Bears' classic burgundy uniform, albeit with the team's logo airbrushed out and a HERSHEY wordmark taking its place:

It's signed in blue sharpie and numbered 2087/2960, an incredibly specific run.

Metlyuk spent most of his career in the Russian Superliga playing for Tolyatti Lada HC, a team so poor the KHL expelled it because its arena wasn't up to league standards.

Brian Barnes: Two Autographed Cards

Brian Barnes was a standout playing baseball at Clemson University (and eventually even made it to their Hall of Fame), the first true steps of a career that saw him play for five seasons in the majors - four of them with the Montréal Expos - and six more in minor-league ball after that.

He completed a game in each of his first two seasons in Montréal, leading the team to believe he had it in him to become a #2 or #3 pitcher in the rotation at some point; indeed, he went 1-1 with a 2.89 ERA with a veteran group in 1990 - his first game coming on my birthday, September 14th - then went 5-8 with a 4.22 GAA in 1991 as the team went through a rebuilding phase centered around Delino DeShields, Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker.

He became a reliever and an injury-replacement pitcher in the rotation for 1992 and 1993, then couldn't find a permanent spot in stints with the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers in 1994.

He helps me check off two different boxes in my Expos Numbers Project, starting with #47 on card #73 from Topps' 1992 Topps set:

He also wore #41 in his final year in Montréal, which is where card #289 from Pinnacle Brands' 1994 Score set comes in:

He signed both cards in thin blue sharpie in 2000, when he was playing for the Calgary Cannons, the AAA affiliate of the Florida Marlins.

Mark DeSantis Autograph Card

Mark DeSantis was a career minor-leaguer who was never drafted and spent the bulk of his playing time in the South, in such leagues as the original IHL (San Diego Gulls, San Antonio Dragons, Grand Rapids Griffins), ECHL (Greensboro Monarchs, Jacksonville Lizard Kings, Louisiana IceGators, Augusta Lynx (get it?), Toledo Storm), AHL (Baltimore Bandits, Providence Bruins), the short-lived (1996-2001) WPHL (New Mexico Scorpions), CHL (San Antonio Iguanas, Amarillo Gorillas, Rapid City Rush), the recent-times (2007-10) IHL (Port Huron IceHawks) and the British Elite League (Basingstoke Bison).

With the Gorillas (2002-04), he was a player-coach, which prepared him for his later career behind the bench, first as an assistant with the Rush (2009-10), then head coach with the SPHL's Fayetteville FireAntz and CHL's Brampton Beast (2013-14), before returning with the Rush in their ECHL iteration, first as associate coach (2014-16), and as head coach this past season (2016-17).

He also played roller-hockey with the Anaheim Bullfrogs in the defunct 1996 league.

He must love to travel.

Here he is in the signed insert version of card #150 from Classic's 1993-94 4-Sport set, numbered 2562/3000:

On it, he's wearing the San Diego Gulls' "classic" white (home) uniform.

The Gulls, of course, were revived in last year's AHL realignment as the Anaheim Ducks' main affiliate. I'll probably dive deeper into the city's hockey-related history later this summer.

Dustin Hermanson Autographed Card

When the San Diego Padres drafted Dustin Hermanson, the thought was that his fastball would make him an ideal reliever, perhaps even a closer if he developed well enough. He sure had the facial hair to warrant playing as a closer...

Leave it to the Montréal Expos to try to convert him into a starter, leaving him with a 43-47 record over four seasons with the team.

After shuffling around with the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants, he landed with the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and 2006; they made him their closer and won the 2005 World Series, albeit with rookie Bobby Jenks filling in when Hermanson had back problems, which forced him into early retirement after a filed attempt at cracking the Cincinnati Reds roster in 2007.

Here he is on card #87 from Topps' 1994 Stadium Club Draft Picks set, the first and only set of its kind released by the brand, which he signed in blue sharpie, likely when playing for the Giants, perhaps in August 2003:

Mike Thurman: 2 Autographed Cards

Originally a first-round draft pick (1994, 31st overall) by the Montréal Expos, Mike Thurman was a starter with the team from 1997 until 2001 and a reliever with the New York Yankees in 2002.

At first, he wore #51 in Montréal, then #35 - and #53 with the Yankees. He signed a couple of identical cards in blue sharpie for me around 2000, and here's a closer look at card #81 from Topps' 1994 Stadium Club:

Nowadays, he's a scout for the Yankees and serves on the Board of Directors (as treasurer) for the Pacific Northwest Professional Baseball Scouts Association.

John Wetteland Autographed Card

I'm a bit of a traditionalist - or at least someone who respects the past enough to require a new thing to clearly surpass the older model to proclaim it as better, with respect to whoever came first in case of a tie. So, as a kid, Tim Burke was my favourite Montréal Expos closer, an 1989 All-Star Game participant.

Until John Wetteland came along and re-wrote the team's history books, closing 105 games for saves in just 232.3 innings over three seasons, the strikeout king who followed the team's best-ever set-up man, Mel Rojas, who would take over the closer's role when Wetteland was traded to the New York Yankees in 1995.

Yankees fans remember him as well, as he was a huge part of their 1996 World Series win, when he was voted the World Series MVP for his efforts against the Atlanta Braves', the Expos' former arch-nemesis team.

Ironically, the Yanks also let him go to promote their set-up man in his place - in their case, it was Mariano Rivera, one of the all-time greats, leaving Wetteland free to sign his final MLB contract, with the Texas Rangers.

He hit the 43-save mark three times - once with each team - and the time he did it with the Yankees, in 1996, he led the Majors.

Still, he'll always be an Expo in my book, the best representative of #57 in My Expos Numbers Project, on card #293 from Leaf's 1994 Donruss set:

He signed it in blue sharpie - back in the day when I didn't know of "erasing" the coating off of cards, obviously - adding a Bible quote to it, from Psalms 9:10:

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Mike Dunham Autograph Card

Mike Dunham was a winner for pretty much his entire life.

Sharing goaltending duties with Garth Snow for the University of Maine Black Bears, Dunham went 6-0-0 in his second season in 1991-92, and an incredible 21-1-1 the next as the team won the NCAA championship, justifying the New Jersey Devils selecting him 53rd overall at the 1990 draft, the same year they chose Martin Brodeur with the 20th pick; the pair would share the William Jennings Trophy as the tandem with the league's lowest goals-against average in 1996-97.

As the 1993-94 came to a close, he suited up for the Devils' AHL farm team, the Albany River Rats, following a Team USA eighth-place finish at the 1994 Winter Games in which he shared the net with Snow again.

He won the 1995 Calder Cup with the River Rats and sharing the Playoff MVP award (the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy) with Corey Schwabb, forcing the parent team to give him a legitimate shot at making the NHL. He was left unprotected at the 1998 Expansion Draft, however, and the Nashville Predators made him one of the five (!!!) goalies they selected, along with Frédéric Chabot (Los Angeles Kings), Mike Richter (New York Rangers, although he was on the verge of becoming a free agent and chose to re-sign with NY), Tomas Vokoun (Montréal Canadiens) and Mikhail Shtalenkov (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim).

He would share the net with All-Star Vokoun for four solid seasons before an injury to Richter forced the Rangers to acquire his services in exchange for third-line forward Rem Murray.

Snow, who had just been named the New York Islanders' GM, signed Dunham to his final NHL contract, a one-year pact with the Isles for the 2006-07 season, to help guide (and in case of injuries to) Rick DiPietro.

Internationally, Dunham won silver with the American team at the 2002 Olympics and bronze at the 1992 World Juniors and the 2004 World Championships.

Here he is with the River Rats, on a card from Classic's 1993-94 4 Sport set, signed in thin blue sharpie, that is numbered #1449/2960:

Yes, he should have used Brian's gear instead of the brand's second-tier Heaton equipment, but he enjoyed a decent career regardless.

He has been the Isles' goaltending coach since 2008-09, adding the same duties to their AHL counterpart Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the past two seasons as well.

Tim Scott Autographed Card

After a full day of Spring Cleaning, what better way to dream of the summer than by thinking back to the 1994 Montréal Expos... and checking #54 from my Expos Numbers Project with this card that relief pitcher Tim Scott signed in disappearing blue sharpie:

 It's card #265 from Leaf's 1994 Donruss set.

Scott spent parts of 1993 and 1996 and the entire 1994 and 1995 seasons with the Expos. His 1993 and 1994 stats with the team were similar in most categories:

1993: 32 appearances, 5 wins, 2 losses, 1 save, 19 walks, 35 strikeouts, 3.71 ERA
1994: 40 appearances, 5 wins, 2 losses, 1 save, 18 walks, 37 strikeouts, 2.70 ERA

Notice the discrepancy in the ERA and you have one of the reasons why the Expos had the best record in the Majors when the players went on strike. One that led to the team losing a bunch of money, and its first official fire sale, with the likes of Larry Walker, John Wetteland, Marquis Grissom and Delino DeShields leaving a team who could no longer afford to keep them.

Scott himself was traded to the San Francisco Giants with whom he was unable to replicate his Montréal numbers; and it was more of the same in 1997 with the San Diego Padres (7.85 ERA in 14 games) and Colorado Rockies (10.13 ERA in 3 games), forcing him out of the MLB altogether at that point.

He played in the minors until 2001.

Maybe it's the humidity, maybe it's the water, maybe it's the ladies and the strip clubs or the fact that alcohol flows freely in La Belle Province - but there was something about baseball in Montréal that made players perform better here than they had been able to elsewhere, where the team may very well have given the Oakland Athletics a run for their money in the yield-for-spending department, year in and year out, before either fizzling out elsewhere or becoming recognized as the very best in their profession (Wetteland and Pedro Martinez come to mind).

That 1994 team stays alive in my heart and mind, but with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera now retired, I now know a grand total of zero ball players currently playing. I cannot for the life of me root for the Toronto Blue Jays, and while every year I feel it'd be natural for either the New York Yankees or the A's to win, I never even bother to try to find out.

And, for the record, no, I do not think having a baseball team play in Montréal is viable in this day and age. We have the Montréal Impact in the MLS and the Montréal Alouettes in the CFL struggling to survive on their own terms, and the NHL's Montréal Canadiens filling the sports landscape all year round, even when they fail to make the playoffs - which may be the case this season.

The only other league that could probably make money here would be the NFL, but Montréal now being a second-rate city, if Toronto doesn't get one, we sure as hell never will.

Cory Stillman Autograph Card

I last featured Cory Stillman months before he retired to become a member of the Carolina Hurricanes' player development staff, in 2011. He still holds that position to this day.

This card, though, featuring him wearing the St. John Flames' red (away) uniform - at the time the Calgary Flames' AHL affiliate - is from Classic's 1993-94 4 Sport set, signed in thin blue sharpie, and is numbered #322/3000:

The fact that it's a side-angle picture and shows no reference to the team he plays for is, indeed, a deliberate attempt to trick collectors into thinking this is an NHL card, but the back clearly shows it only has AHL clearance. Which is fine by me. The re-pack box I got it from just specified I was guaranteed an autograph, not what level the player was from; I'm glad I got an actual pro, and getting a guy who played 1025 regular-season NHL games, scored 278 goals for 727 points, and went 19-32-51 in 82 playoff games to go with his two Stanley Cups was a definite win in my books.

His two best seasons were, in fact, his two Cup seasons, as he scored 25 goals and gathered 80 points in 81 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04 and, following the season-long lock-out, got 76 points in 72 for the Hurricanes. He also scored 27 goals twice for the Flames, and was a consistent 50-point producer.

Jeff O'Neill Autograph Card

Jeff O'Neill played for 11 seasons in the NHL, starting off with the Hartford Whalers (who had chosen him 5th overall in the 1994 draft) in 1995-96, moving along with the team as they became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997-98, and ending with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2006-07 under his long-time head coach Paul Maurice, who has coached him in all three uniforms.

All told, he played 821 regular-season games (237 goals, 496 points) and 34 playoff games (9 goals, 17 points), never hitting the point-per-game mark, but with three straight terrific goal-scoring seasons in 2000-01 (41), 2001-02 (31) and 2002-03 (30).

He had had an exceptional junior career with the Guelph Storm, going from 79 points in 65 games in 1992-93 to 126 (in 66 games) the next year and 124 points in only 57 games in 1994-95, which led to his being chosen for All-Star games, such as the one pictured here, pitting the OHL All-Stars versus those of the Québec league (LHJMQ):

Both teams are wearing uniforms inspired by those of the New Jersey Devils. The card is from Classic's 1993-94 4 Sport set, signed in blue sharpie, and numbered #1716/3000.

Curtis Pride Autographed Card

Many Montrealers had a soft spot for Curtis Pride, as he became the first deaf person to play in the Major Leagues in nearly 50 years when he appeared in 10 games (9 at-bats) for the Montréal Expos in 1993. He got 4 hits (good for a .444 average) in this 9 plate appearances, which were a double, a triple, a homer, and a single; had he hit them in the same game, he'd have completed what is known as a carousel - each of the four possible types of hits.

He didn't play in the majors in 1994 (the Expos were just too good), but made the team in 1995, logging 69 at-bats in 48 games. He was a substitute for his entire career, never reaching the 100-game mark, and only once registering more than 200 at-bats - 267, in 1996, with the Detroit Tigers. That same year, he won the Tony Conigliaro Award, MLB's trophy for ''players who best overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage''.

He came back with the Expos in 2001, which is probably when I would have had him sign this card in blue sharpie:

It's from Upper Deck's 1994 Upper Deck set (card #250) and is usually regarded as his official rookie card.

Garth Snow Autograph Card

It had been a while since I twin-posted with Sal's Hockey Autographs page, but since he posted (yet another) card I also own, I figured now was as good a time as any...

And for the occasion, none other than the New York Islanders' current General Manager, Garth Snow:

Sal has card #1811/3050, I have #2030, signed in thin blue sharpie. It's from Classic's 1993-94 4 Sport set.

Snow was drafted 114th overall (6th round) in 1987 by the Québec Nordiques, and he opted to go through the U.S. College route after that, spending 4 seasons with the University Of Maine Black Bears before reporting to the Nordiques' AHL affiliate Cornwall Aces, of which he is seen here sporting the blue (away) uniform. He only played 7 games with the Nordiques before they sent him packing to the Philadelphia Flyers, starting him on a journey that would lead him to playing 368 games with 5 NHL teams (plus 3 AHL teams and a 16-game stint in Russia during the 2004-05 lockout) over 13 seasons.

Snow will be remembered for two things: the first will be his playing days, where his over-sized equipment inspired rule change after rule change - first with his shoulder pads, which took nearly twice the room they should have:

then with his leg pads, which he would add a piece of plastic to at the skate end to cover more space there, then for adding four inches in length at the top, helping cover his 5-hole when he went down butterfly style (see how they cover half the Isles' logo in the picture below):

He'll also be remembered for what happened off the ice: In 2006, the Isles hired Neil Smith as GM and were in the process of rebuilding their image, making room for past legends in the front office and getting involved in the community again... which lasted all of 41 days. As team owner Charles Wang was talking to Snow - then the team's backup goalie, slated to play 20-some games - about his plans for the team, he was impressed by Snow's knowledge of even the most obscure NHL players, as well as the CBA, and promptly offered him the GM job, which he took, announcing his retirement the next day.

And he's been the best GM they've had in 25 years, bringing such players as Marc-André Bergeron, Ryan Smyth, Evgeni Nabokov, Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, Doug Weight and Mark Streit into the fold.