Baseball card stories from Reed Secrist

Reed Secrist played twelve years of professional baseball, hitting over 100 home runs for teams in the Pirates, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Rangers, Reds and Indians organizations, as well as Hanshin in Japan, between 1992 and 2003. He is currently a PE/health teacher and head baseball coach at Snow Canyon High School in Utah and runs MVP Showcases, which spotlights Utah high school baseball stars. He kindly responded to my request about his baseball card stories. "I remember in 1995 being told I was going to be in the 1996 Fleer Excel series I was excited because I really hadn't had a decent card yet and it was my first big step into a card that you could actually purchase at a store. I remember waiting to see it, I received a phone call from a friend in Virginia that had seen it and he said I don't think that is you, he was right! On the front of the card was Rob Leary it makes me laugh now but I was mad back then so that basically sums up my career the rest of the way!

My favorite card of myself is the 1997 Japanese card, the only thing is I can't read the back.

My favorite card of someone else is George Brett's rookie card. I've been a collector since I was young. I remember getting .25 cents and running to the local drug store to get a pack. As I got older I got away from it for awhile and then decided to start collecting certain players which I ended up just collecting George Brett cards. I remember going to the park as a player and fans knew I collected George Brett and they would bring me cards of him all the time so my collection of him grew." Thanks, Reed!

Shane Rawley on baseball cards

Shane Rawley won 111 big league games over 12 seasons for the Mariners, Yankees, Phillies and Twins. He now runs Shaner's Restaurant, a pizzeria in Sarasota, FL. He kindly answered my inquiry about his thoughts on baseball cards.

" I don't collect cards or have a favorite one. The only thing of any consequence is a mistake card of me. The picture is of Jimmy Anderson, but my name and stats are on the card."

Thanks! Here's the correct version, with the left-handed Rawley.

And here's the error, with the right-handed Anderson.

For good measure, here's Rawley in his Yankee days, preparing to do battle against the dreaded Angels.

Allan Anderson on baseball cards

Allan Anderson pitched for the Minnesota Twins from 1986 to 1991. He was the American League ERA champ in 1988, with a 2.45 ERA to go with his 16-9 record. The next year he led the team in wins, going 17-10. He now runs AA Sports, an indoor sports facility and baseball/softball clinic in Ohio. He kindly took the time to reply to my request for his thoughts about baseball cards.

"I didn't collect cards when I was a kid, I used them in my bike spokes. I like my rookie card the best, Topps. I have some cards during the time that I played."


Thanks!

Yankee fans remember that after his Twins career, he attempted a comeback with the Yankees that was ended by injury before he could pitch for the Bombers. Here is the only card of him in a Yankee uniform, from 1992 Stadium Club.

Interview with Andre Robertson

Andre Robertson, known as a defensive wizard and great all-around shortstop, played five years for the New York Yankees (1981-1985). He is now a shift supervisor at DuPont's Sabine River Works, and kindly took the time to answer my questions about baseball cards.

- Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players?
New workmates liked to say check out the famous "One-Legged" player Andre Robertson rounding the base paths on the 84 Topps card.


-Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player?
Favorite cards are the 84 Donruss and 86 Topps.

-Do you collect baseball cards?
Don't collect cards.

Thanks!

Sweep!

What a great pitching performance by Andy Pettitte, outdueling Carl Pavano (!) in a tight game to win his record-tying 15th postseason game, as the Yanks won their first playoff series in five years. I thought he was washed up last year; I'm glad to be proven wrong.

Here's Pettitte in 1995 Stadium Club. I wouldn't say he's old, but he pitched in the same starting rotation as Melido Perez!

The Twinkies proved to be cream puffs, but the Angels are probably the team the Yankees match up worst against. They're going to need everything to go right to win this one.

Baseball card story from Bob Scanlan

Bob Scanlan pitched nine years in the major leagues. His best season was 1992, when he saved 14 games with a 2.89 ERA for the Cubs. He now hosts the pre-game and post-game shows for the Padres. He kindly replied to my request for stories about baseball cards.

"The only one I can think of off the top of my head is that when I was with the Phillies I used to get requests every day to sign Von Hayes' card. Also had a request to sign Paul Assenmacher's card once - I never wore a beard!

I haven't been a collector since my mom sold my good size collection at a garage sale when I was a kid...geez!"

Thanks, Scan! I can see the resemblance between him and Hayes:

Assenmacher is a tougher one to figure out. Maybe the fan thought he had shaved his beard?

Two out of three ain't bad, but it's not enough

What a great game last night. The two big guys really came through. The Yankees better not get cocky against Pavano tomorrow.

A-Rod with the game-tying single in the sixth and a big game tying homer in the ninth. He's clutch against the Twins at least.

Teixiera with the rally-starting single in the ninth and the game-winning walk-off home run in the eleventh!

Interview with Dick Perez

Dick Perez is undoubtedly the most well-known baseball card artist in the industry. He painted the famous Donruss Diamond King cards and does the Topps Allen & Ginter and Turkey Red as well. He kindly took the time to answer my questions about his baseball card experiences.

1) Do you have any behind-the-scenes stories about cards you created (or cards of yourself)?
Most of stories about cards I created have to do with the Perez-Steele Hall of Fame Art Post Cards. Here is just one of them. There were a few Hall of Famers who refused to autograph these cards because they thought we were ripping them off, Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio among them, even though they knew that we were in partnership with the Hall of Fame and they had signed waivers before they were produced. In fact, Joe DiMaggio had seen one of his HOF cards in a Cooperstown store window that was autographed by him and was selling for $350.00. He thought we were getting that money and called my partner Frank Steele to complain and to tell him that he was not going to sign anymore of those cards. Frank told him that all we got was .50 cents for the sale of his card, just like any other member of the Hall, which outraged him even more to find out that his card was selling for the same money that lesser than him Hall of Famers like Burleigh Grimes, Charlie Gehringer, Billy Herman, etc., were selling for. I read in the Richard Ben Cramer biography of DiMaggio that at hobby shows he would put up a list of things he would not sign, such as gloves, caps, jerseys and a bunch of other stuff, near the top of the list were Perez-Steele Cards. Eventually, players began to sign the cards when they found out that they could get more for an autograph on a Perez-Steele card due to their rarity. I don't know if Joe D ever did, though.
2) Do you have favorite card?
If you mean cards that I have created, my favorite year for Diamond Kings was the 1995 collection, so my favorite card from that entire body of work is the '95 Chili Davis DK.

By then Donruss let me do anything I wanted to do. I was tired of painting realistic watercolors year after year so in '94 and '95 I decided to get more stylistic and experimental. At the time I got no feedback from collectors about the new style, it is only in later years that I have received numerous comments and emails from grown up kids from those years telling me how much they appreciated the style.

3) Do you collect baseball cards?
Not anymore. I collected when I was a kid in the '50s. My favorite set was the 1952 Bowmans and 1953 Topps. These were art cards, so to speak, and it was what inspired me to seek a way to bring art back to baseball cards. My favorite cards of all time, though I wasn't around to collect them, were the popular T-3s, better known as Turkey Reds produced in 1911. If you visit my web site and click on Topps and then Turkey Red Statement you will know why.
Thanks! Everybody seems to like Diamond King cards with the Angels - Luis Polonia's favorite was also a Diamond King in a Halo uniform.

One and hopefully not done

Well, at least the Yankees won't get swept out of the playoffs this year. Now let's see if they can avoid losing their fourth straight four-game ALDS.

Nick Swisher had the biggest hit of the night, giving the Yankees the lead for good.

Derek Jeter's two run homer tied it up after CC struggled a bit.

After that CC settled down and had his best playoff game ever.

With two RBI-singles hopefully A-Rod is over his playoff jitters as well.

My new least favorite team

I guess all the small-minded baseball fans everywhere will be rooting for this "underdog" because their jealous that the Yankees care more about winning than their team does.

Interesting (if irrelevant) fact: the Twins are the only MLB team whose location was picked because their owner was racist:
"I'll tell you why we came to Minnesota. It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don't go to ballgames, but they'll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it'll scare you to death. We came here because you've got good, hardworking white people here."

Let's hope the Yankees have a "Good Ol' Time" in Minnesota like they did in '03 and '04.