Baseball card stories from Shawn Tolleson

 Shawn Tolleson pitched for the Dodgers and Rangers from 2012 to 2016. His best season was 2015 when he went 6-4 with 35 saves and a 2.99 ERA for the Rangers. Now the owner of Tolleson Health Advisors, which provides a variety of health and wellness services, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards. 

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

At all of the autograph signings that I have been a part of, the most popular card of mine seems to be on where Rougned Odor is dumping a cooler of red Powerade on me.  You don't even see my face in the card!  My friends always give me a hard time that the most popular baseball card I have of myself is really a Rougned Odor card!

- Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player?

My favorite baseball card of all time is a Mark McGwire rookie card.  There used to be a baseball card shop in my hometown of Allen, Texas.  It was next door to Cici's Pizza, where we would eat often as a family or after baseball games.  Every time we went, I would finish my pizza and walk next door to browse the cards.  The Mark McGwire rookie card was in the glass case and I wanted it so bad.  It was $15.00.  I remember that vividly.  I can remember working to save up my money to buy it.  My dad was a veterinarian and he payed me $2.00/hour to clean the cages and kennels.  I worked 30 hours to save up the money!  My biggest regret was not having Mark McGwire sign it when I had the opportunity when we were both with the Dodgers, you can say that I was a little shy.  Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

- Do you collect baseball cards?

I don't collect them anymore, but I do have thousands of them.  I recently went and got them from my childhood home so that my two boys (5 and 3) can start the hobby.  I forgot how many Michael Jordan cards I had!  I also have 3 boxes of unopened Topps cards from 1988, 1990, and 1992.  That has been fun to go through, but the gum is not so good anymore! Haha.

Thanks!