Want to See a Topps Player's Contract?

[TDiddy532]

So some of you on here know I was a very bad minor league catcher in the Mets system once upon a time. Among the highlights of my career (their were a few) was getting to sign my first ever contract with The Topps Company, Inc. Having collected cards since I was a kid with my father, you can imagine how big a deal this was for me and I immediately called my dad when it happened.

Well I keep the check ($5.00 - never cashed it) and contract framed on my wall and I'm moving to a bigger office this week so I took a second to scan it and show it to you guys before I put it back in the frame and hang it in the new office. I've never sat down and read it before, all I know is Topps secured the rights of every draftee and free agent signee on my team (Nobody was high profile enough to get an exclusive deal) for $5.00 and it didn't pay off until you actually got your first official issue card or if you signed autograph stickers. Back in 2006/2007, you got a $500 bonus check for your first official rookie card, and for prospects good enough to sign autograph stickers, they were paying $3/piece. I'm not saying that was the going rate for all players, but the 2 players I spoke to who did got that much. Every subsequent card carried an add'l bonus, but I had only heard about the first ones since I was in the low-level minors at the time.

Well, check it out and let me know if you see anything interesting in the contract :)!

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/TDiddy532/SKMBT_C35201042217320-1.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/TDiddy532/SKMBT_C35201042217330-1-1-1.jpg

[Prospect_Man]

thats awesome!!!! id be super proud of that!!!

[iluvfish2]

One step closer to all of our dreams...the card :) Still a really neat peice of family history

[mnava18]

haha this is very cool , thanks for sharing. deff a cool thing to hang on to

[armyatc22]

By any chance did you know Tobi Stoner? He is currently still in the minors but has been called up a few times already. I grew up with him in school and is a great family friend

[TDiddy532]

By any chance did you know Tobi Stoner? He is currently still in the minors but has been called up a few times already. I grew up with him in school and is a great family friend

Yup, my first professional game was catching Tobi Stoner's first professional start @ Aberdeen back in June 2006. Tobi is the man.

Cool story - he lead the Brooklyn Cyclones in strikeouts that summer and won a shopping spree at a local mall that was one of our team sponsors. He used part of his prize money to buy all his catchers (3 of us) nice polo shirts. I thought that was a class move. He'll be back up with the big squad next year

[TDiddy532]

thats awesome!!!! id be super proud of that!!!

One step closer to all of our dreams...the card :) Still a really neat peice of family history

haha this is very cool , thanks for sharing. deff a cool thing to hang on to

Thanks fellas :)!

Many of you who have traded with me have been lucky recipients of what I consider the greatest baseball card of all time as an added bonus:

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/TDiddy532/My%20Baseball%20Career/SKMBT_C35210071411530-1.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac156/TDiddy532/My%20Baseball%20Career/SKMBT_C35210071411531-1.jpg

[TDiddy532]

Army - you can actually see Tobi hanging on the rail in the background of that card haha

[dd316]

That is AWESOME! :)!

Somewhere I have a copy of my first Topps paycheck for doing sketch card work (it was more than $5, so I cashed it :D).

[Laxbam619]

TDiddy- wow that is truely awsome....I was not aware of the fact that you played in the minors and had a card made

[Coug46n2]

Great post Teddy, thanks for sharing! I happen to be the proud owner of one of those Minor League cards, signed no less!

[alsjunk2002]

That is a great post, thanks for sharing it

[Cactuspies]

Thanks for sharing. That is pretty cool. I wonder if you knew my brother, he went to babson also, he graduated in 2004 if memory serves me right. The only card I had of myself was from little league back in the mid/late 80's and I found one a few years back to get a good laugh.

[TDiddy532]

Great post Teddy, thanks for sharing! I happen to be the proud owner of one of thos Minor League cards, signed no less!

Cherish it haha. Maybe I'll send one into BGS in our next group submission just to see how they catalog it :D

[TDiddy532]

Thanks for sharing. That is pretty cool. I wonder if you knew my brother, he went to babson also, he graduated in 2004 if memory serves me right. The only card I had of myself was from little league back in the mid/late 80's and I found one a few years back to get a good laugh.

Babson is the size of a high school so chances are I know him. What's his name?

[TDiddy532]

That is AWESOME! :)!

Somewhere I have a copy of my first Topps paycheck for doing sketch card work (it was more than $5, so I cashed it :D).

TDiddy- wow that is truely awsome....I was not aware of the fact that you played in the minors and had a card made

Great post Teddy, thanks for sharing! I happen to be the proud owner of one of thos Minor League cards, signed no less!

That is a great post, thanks for sharing it

Thanks guys :)!

[nephinfan]

That is truly a unique and very cool story. Thanks for sharing it with us. You can definitely be proud of your accomplishments.

[armyatc22]

Army - you can actually see Tobi hanging on the rail in the background of that card haha

hahaha thats sick you can!!!

Yeah i have a ton of his autos and the best one he has outside of his superfractor from Bowman that hasnt surfaced yet

From Finest His one and Only Booklet!!!

http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s344/armyatc22/Tobi%20Stoner%20PC/tobi1.jpg

He was telling me about getting around $2-$3 per auto and how his arm started cramping after signing so much stuff

[TDiddy532]

hahaha thats sick you can!!!

Yeah i have a ton of his autos and the best one he has outside of his superfractor from Bowman that hasnt surfaced yet

From Finest His one and Only Booklet!!!

http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s344/armyatc22/Tobi%20Stoner%20PC/tobi1.jpg

He was telling me about getting around $2-$3 per auto and how his arm started cramping after signing so much stuff


That booklet is NASTY! Awesome card. The only Tobi auto I have is one the signed team ball I keep on my desk at work. He throws 5 pitches for strikes, he'll keep a job in the bigs I think.

[SpastikMooss]

Cool! That is an awesome piece to hang on to forever. Nice card too!

[frozenntimesports]

Man, they gave you five bucks, we got screwed. It was, "hey stupid, let this guy take your picture" at the Junior's tournament. Then I had to wait because Scott Barney and Dylan Cyori had to get their hair just perfect.

Still real cool card. Wish they had made that 1995-96 Upper Deck Series 2 set 600 cards, then maybe I would have gotten a card LOL.

[JDK16]

so you still in baseball coach? anything.. i never played past high school but love coaching and watching youth baseball... my son is 11 and its a great age for competitive baseball.. we play travel ball in GA and the competition is pretty amazing for 11 yr old athletes

[TDiddy532]

so you still in baseball coach? anything.. i never played past high school but love coaching and watching youth baseball... my son is 11 and its a great age for competitive baseball.. we play travel ball in GA and the competition is pretty amazing for 11 yr old athletes

I still play amateur ball in wood bat leagues around Boston and I'm proud to say we've won back to back Yawkey Baseball League titles since I joined the squad last year. I just don't have the time to accept any coaching commitments that have come my way. I'll get into coaching down the road when I have my kids, but for now I am just concentrating on my new career in finance and I use the summer ball to scratch my baseball itch :)!

[xbignick]

Is this you?
Teddy Dziuba Minor League Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=dziuba001ted)

[Lbsbigbro22]

Very cool man congrats that is very sick!

[TDiddy532]

Is this you?
Teddy Dziuba Minor League Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=dziuba001ted)

Unfortunately yes haha. I swear I was much better in college and in the Cape League. Just never got much of a chance to play in the pro's

[Tyler]

Unfortunately yes haha. I swear I was much better in college and in the Cape League. Just never got much of a chance to play in the pro's

Nothing to be ashamed of bud. That's better than 99.999% of us on the forum could do anyway. :)!

Thanks for sharing your contract! It's a cool piece of memorabilia.

[WilsonValdez]

Hey, you got an AB at AA...that's pretty freakin sweet.

[mikecancelliere]

Wow that's awesome! At the show this weekend some guys were selling some Topps contracts of players. Very interwsting

[frozenntimesports]

Unfortunately yes haha. I swear I was much better in college and in the Cape League. Just never got much of a chance to play in the pro's

Dude, I would have loved to have gotten to that level. Nothing to be ashamed of at all.

[TDiddy532]

Nothing to be ashamed of bud. That's better than 99.999% of us on the forum could do anyway. :)!

Thanks for sharing your contract! It's a cool piece of memorabilia.

Hey, you got an AB at AA...that's pretty freakin sweet.

Wow that's awesome! At the show this weekend some guys were selling some Topps contracts of players. Very interwsting

Dude, I would have loved to have gotten to that level. Nothing to be ashamed of at all.

Thanks guys...I'm so used to talking to people who have no clue about professional baseball that I guess I feel obligated to explain my .140 average. I forgot you guys actually know what you're talking about :)!

It was a very fun time in my life and I got to play alongside some amazing ballplayers. Thanks for taking the time to listen

--Teddy