Happy 53rd birthday, Tino Martinez

Today, my favorite baseball player of all time turns 53. I definitely feel old myself the older he gets. He's in legit "Old Timers Day Age." 

What's cool about Tino's birthday is that it's also the day he was traded from Seattle to NY. Dec, 1995. That happened on his 28th birthday. Almost half of his lifetime ago!

Tino went on to have a rough start in Pinstripes. He admitted to pressing and doing too much to try and replace Don Mattingly and win over the fans. Things started to turn around in late April, with a 15th-inning grand slam versus Baltimore. He ended the season batting .292 with 25 homers and 117 RBIs. Not bad numbers at all, but almost pedestrian in the mid '90s era with all the juice heads hitting 50 homers and driving in 150. 

I admired the way he played, even when slumping, and became an instant fan. I found a few of his Mariners cards already in my collection, and probably would have gotten a few Yankees cards later that year. I have a very nice 69 cards of him from 1996, although I'd say maybe half of him are actually as a Yankee.

This is my favorite 1996 card of his. It's a die cut, oversized issue from Upper Deck Authenticated celebrating the 1996 World Series Champion Yankees. I'm surprised he was the subject of the card, as opposed to Jeter or Bernie or O'Neill or Pettitte. 

Tino keeps getting older. So do I. But collecting his cards helps keep me connected to my childhood memories of him.