Henry Mateo Autographed Card

Henry Mateo is mostly known as a baseball player. He played for the Montréal Expos/Washington Nationals for parts of six seasons, then tried to get back in the Majors via stints with the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays, to no avail.

While toiling in the minors leagues, he became a wanted man for "criminal conversation in North Carolina", a civil charge that is, essentially, adultery. He has not returned to the United States since, having instead opted to play in Mexico twice, with a stint in China Taiwan in between.

He wasn't much of a threat at bat, with one career home run in 280 plate appearances, and the year he saw the most games was 100 (for a total of 169 plate appearances) in 2003, in which he batted for .240; he batted .273 the following summer, but barely stepped up to the plate 46 times in 40 games, as Jose Vidro was the team's main second baseman... and Jamey Carroll was his principal replacement, although I don't remember him at all.

A noted base stealer in the minors, Mateo only accomplished the feat 15 times in the National League.

Here he is fielding in the pre-season, wearing the Expos' Grapefruit League blue shirt and sporting #62, which slots him nicely in my Expos Numbers Project:

That's card #261 from Topps' 2002 Topps Total set, packs of which I purchased at dollar stores the following winter, which means I likely got the card signed - in blue sharpie - in 2004, the Expos' final season in Montréal, which they split evenly between the Olympic Stadium on the East end of the island and Estadio Hiram Bithorn in Puerto Rico.

Marshall Faulk Jersey Card

Did you know the Los Angeles Rams haven't scored a point since 1994? Indeed, after spending 21 seasons in St. Louis, they were shut out 28-0 last week against the lowly San Francisco 49ers.

The Los Angeles Kings have won two Stanley Cups in the Rams' absence; heck, the St. Louis Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999, despite Offensive Player Of The Year Marshall Faulk being contained in the final.

Still, upon retiring, the Hall Of Famer was the only player to ever rush for 12,000 yards and catch for 6,000 more; as a matter of fact, only two can claim the combo of 10,000 and 5,000... Add that to 7 Pro Bowls (one Pro Bowl MVP title), 6 All-Pro nominations, 15 different trophies won, having his jersey number retired by the St. Louis Rams and ending his career as the tenth-leading rusher of all time and you have some idea of how exceptional he was.

Here he is on the beautiful card #JA-MF RIPPED card from Skybox's 2002 Fleer set and AuthenTix sub-set, featuring a game-worn jersey swatch:

I really like the concept of incorporating a fake ticket into the card to go with the swatch, and to have RIPPED (I may have cropped too much of that "rip" at the right of the scan) and REGULAR versions is just another hint that they put a lot of thought into it.

Scott Stewart Autographed Card

Well, it finally looks like summer's here, which is the perfect time to induct the first of at least two more representatives of uniform #51 in my Expos Numbers Project, Scott Stewart:

That's card #U222 from Fleer/Skybox's 2002 Fleer Tradition Update set, which he signed in blue sharpie.

Stewart was originally a 20th round pick of the Texas Rangers and toiled around in the New York Mets' system for a few summers before signing with the Montréal Expos as a minor-league free agent.

He played in Montréal for three of his four years in the MLB, from 2001 until 2003, appearing in 62, 67 and 51 games as a reliever, with a 10-4 record and 20 saves, 17 of them in 2002 as the Expos' closer, although eight pitchers combined for a total of 39 that year.

His 2004 wasn't up to par, though, splitting his time between the Cleveland Indians (0-2 record, 7.24 ERA in 23 games) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1-0, 5.84 ERA in 11 games). He fell off the grid after being let go by the San Diego Padres in 2005.

Terry Labonte Skidmarks Card

Summer is nearly upon us and, with it, sports I care less about, such as baseball, track and field, and auto racing.

Which brings me to this kind of great card I got in a multi-sport repack a few years ago, #SK 1/9 of Press Pass' 2002 Eclipse set (and Skidmarks sub-set) of Terry Labonte:

Here's the twist: everything that's black on this card is... "authentic race-used tire material to artistically accent the design". How cool is that? You can really feel the rubber, too.

As for Labonte, the 2016 NASCAR Hall Of Fame inductee is a two-time NASCAR champion (what is now known as the Sprint series was called the Winston Cup when he won it in 1984 and 1996). The twelve years between championships is a NASCAR record for longest time between championships, though he did win the 1989 and 1993 International Race of Champions titles - basically the All-Star Game or Champions League of oval racing.

He raced for Hendrick Motorsports - the Kellogg brand was their main sponsor, which is why Tony The Tiger's face can be seen on the hood of his car; here's a clearer image:

Hendrick Motorsports is owned by Rick Hendrick, who co-owns a Chevrolet dealership in North Carolina with Labonte.

Labonte's first and last wins came on the same track: the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, a.k.a. The Lady In Black and The Track Too Tough To Tame; his final race was at Talladega.

Vinny Testaverde Jersey Card

Vinny Testaverde is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. He currently stands 7th on the all-time passing yards list with 46,223, and 8th with 275 passing touchdowns. Additionally, he holds 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers records, 4 Baltimore Ravens records, and 3 New York Jets records, as well as two NFL records: oldest player to win a game (age 44 - take that Brett Favre!) and most consecutive seasons with a touchdown pass (with 21).

All told, he's played for 8 teams, usually as the go-to guy from the start or the replacement free agent when the starting QB got injured. He played at least 13 games in 13 of his first 14 seasons, a testament to his tenacity and longevity. He played in the Pro Bowl twice, and was an All-Pro in 1998.

He's a shoe-in to make it to the Hall Of Fame someday.

So when I found this card in a grab-bag of mixed sports cards, I was very happy. It's card #POG-56 from Playoff's 2002 Piece Of The Game, a white swatch of the 1st Down variety, numbered 226/250. More importantly, Playoff doesn't mess around, and as you can see, the back of the card not only shows you the actual jersey the piece was cut from, but the specific date and game during which it was worn.

That's some serious stuff!