Anthony Ranaudo on baseball cards

Anthony Ranaudo pitched for the Red Sox, Rangers and White Sox from 2014 to 2016. In 20 games he went 5-5 with a 7.01 ERA. Now the owner of Ranaudo Baseball in Baton Rouge, LA, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

Do you have any stories about cards or yourself or of other players?

-- I do not have any good stories unfortunately, but will say that I played at Pawtucket for a few years as one of my main stops, and that was a really cool, unique experience. If you have not been there before, Pawtucket's field is relatively old, but with rich history. The stands and seats sit extremely high above the playing surface, and there are limited spots to be field level with the players. You have to pay a premium to sit in the box seats at field level, so this leaves most fans hanging out above the dugouts. In order to get their items signed they would almost go "fishing" and drop lines down with balls, memorabilia, and cards attached to a string. Or they would cut open milk containers and toss their items in that to get signed by the players.

Favorite card of myself or another player?

-- Growing up, my favorite card was a Derek Jeter rookie card that I sent in the mail to have him return signed. Unfortunately it took two years, but Mr. Jeter sent it back eventually, and it was my prized possession for years. When I was playing I had an autograph signing with Panini, and was signing cards that had a piece of my uniform in it. I thought that was probably my favorite card of myself I have seen.

Do you collect cards?

-- I do not presently collect cards, but from about 1996-2005 I collected cards with my dad and uncle. It was a normal Saturday routine to go to a card shop and window shop at all the error cards and signed memorabilia. We would get the Beckett books and check the value of certain cards and compare them with ones we had previously got and what each other had collected. I think my dad still has about 10,000 cards left in his collection from those days. Probably worth some money now a days haha.

Thanks! Here is a card of him from my collection.