1999 Topps Cecil Fielder

Cecil Fielder was one of my favorite players growing up. My first love is the Detroit Tigers since I was born in Michigan and lived in Lakeland, Florida as a teenager, which is their Spring Training home. I've seen Cecil play in person many times, and always wanted to get his autograph.

He got a card in the 1998 Topps set, but was left off of the 1999 set, so he never recieved a sunset card. This one was pretty simple to make, and it finally gives him his final Topps card.

I finally got my Cecil autograph in 2005 I believe when he signed a few cards for me through the mail when he was a coach. In 2010, I got to meet Cecil at a free agent showcase that was organized by former MLB player Rob Ducey. Cecil was there as a coach. I found a website for the showcase and wanted to contact Ducey and see if I could attend and try to get autographs. There was an e-mail address for Ducey, so I sent him a short e-mail asking if I could come. Maybe an hour after I e-mailed him, he replied and said it was ok. I was impressed at how fast he responded. I came to the showcase and got some autographs of some cool players. I got one of Pete LaForest, who I saw hit a game-winning RBI Double in the bottom of the 12th Inning in 2002 when he was in Orlando in the Minors. I got one of Sheldon Fulse, who I went to grade school with from 1991-1995. Midway through the day, I met Ducey and thanked him for letting me come. He signed some cards for me, and later in teh day at lunch, he asked me if I was hungry and let me go through the food line and get some of the bbq that they had got for the players attending. Ducey is a truly nice guy. At the end of the day, I finally was able to get close to Cecil and try to get him to sign some cards. He was talking with someone, so I waited for him to finish. He saw me, and motioned for me to come over. He signed my cards and I got to shake his hand. It was a totally amazing day, and the only thing that could've made it better is if I would've thought to take some selfies. Or maybe if I would've had this card printed.

There is a blog that highlights some of Cecil's cards. Every now and then, they highlight some of his cards, and there are some hard to find cards on it. If you are a fan of Cecil, check it out.

This is actually the 2nd card of Fielder that I made on this blog. The first is a '91 Topps card of Big Daddy highlighting his 50th Home Run. I'm hoping to get a ton of cards on this blog and have multiple cards of many players, so it's nice to see it when it happens. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy