Erik Averill on baseball cards

Erik Averill pitched in the Tigers and Mariners organizations from 2005 to 2008. His best season was 2006, when he went 9-8 with a 3.73 ERA for West Michigan. Now a wealth manager for the AWM Group, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"My first baseball card of myself was as a freshman at Arizona State in 2003. So naturally this card has a lot of meaning to me.

As a child growing up my favorite player was Ken Griffey Jr. His 1989 Upper Deck Rookie card is still my favorite today.

Collecting baseball cards has been a tradition in my family since my Grandfather. Growing up there was not a trip to the store without a few packs being purchased and if we could convince either mom or dad maybe even a box. We use to spend our weekends organizing our cards and checking their prices in the most recent Beckett.

Today, I unfortunately do not collect cards the way I used to. Every once in a while I will buy a pack and I enjoy getting cards of former teammates."

Thanks! I couldn't find a picture of his Arizona State card, but here is one from 2007 Bowman Chrome.