Jamie Athas on baseball cards

Shortstop Jamie Athas played six seasons of professional baseball, mostly in the Giants organization. In 588 games he hit .256 with 18 HR and 182 RBI. Now a Health & PE Teacher and Head Baseball Coach at Cedar Ridge High School in North Carolina, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"I used to collect cards as a kid.  It was something my dad, brother and I would always do each week.  We collected cards of our favorite players but mostly of our Yankees favorite players.  We would always put them in binders and look over to see who we each collected.  My favorite player was Don Mattingly so I would say his rookie card is tops on my list.  When I look back at it, it was definitely a bonding experience we all shared.  I still have the cards we collected as kids in my own home.

My favorite card of myself was the TOPPS First Year Card as we mostly collected TOPPS cards as kids.  When I first saw my picture on it, I immediately thought "Wow, I used to collect these same cards as a kid".  I also like the Bowman cards with all the designs on them.

Now that I look back on my cards, I do notice (along with all my coworkers) that I am bunting in a lot of them.  I always get made fun of because they think I couldn't hit!"

Thanks!