Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Random Listia autos - Part 2

Last week, I mentioned that a Listia seller added about 100 random autographed cards to a pair of recent cards I won on the site. Here are six more cards, and as you can see, there is quite an assortment and a little bit of everything.
 
Vlad! Definitely one of the biggest stars of the lot, Vladimir Guerrero is a future Hall of Famer. His career spanned 16 years from 1996-2011, mostly with Montreal and Anaheim. He was a 9-time All-Star, and won the 2004 AL MVP in his first season in the American League. With a .318 career average, over 2500 hits and 449 HRs, Vlad should definitely be Cooperstown-bound sooner than later.
Thank you for being my friend! Bob Friend, that is, on a '53 Bowman reprint. In 16 season, 14 with the Pirates, Friend won 197 games...which is a lot. He also lost 230...which is a lot. He was a three-time All-Star, and also lead the NL in innings in both 1956 and '57, throwing a total of 591.1 innings over that two year span. Follow that up with another 274 innings in 1958, and that's a ton of mileage! They don't make pitchers like that any more. Friend also won a ring in 1960 (grrr against the Yanks), but he didn't pitch well in the World Series, posting a 13.50 ERA in six innings. So, there's that, I suppose.
Jay (or J.W.) Porter spent six seasons in the Majors, three with Detroit. His 1953 and 1954 seasons were put on hold due to military service. Porter actually was signed at the same time as Frank Robinson, and received a bigger bonus. He was once part of the trade that brought famed TTMer and all-around-good-guy Virgil Trucks to the Tigers.
Oh, Dallas! Actually, that's Odalis. Perez always felt like a journeyman to me, but he played for 10 seasons with just four teams. I thought he bounced around more than that. I remember that in the late '90s card sets, Perez was a pretty big Braves prospect. His first career win was actually in the post-season in 1998, before he won a regular season game! He was part of the deal with the Dodgers that brought Gary Sheffield to Atlanta. He responded by winning 15 games in his first year in LA and earning an All-Star nod. His career was downhill from there. In all, he won 73 games and retired with a 4.46 ERA. Serviceable career. His signature rivals Don Baylor's in ugliness.
Hey, a current player! Actually, I had to look up if DeJesus was a current player. He is. He's with Tampa Bay still. For years, the Yankees were always interested in acquiring him, which means they still will at some point when he's out of gas and has been DFA'd. I love these Cracker Jack cards, and would not be upset if Topps replaced one of their current sets with these again. Anyways, DeJesus has had a nice career as a starting/fouth outfielder, although he's been bouncing around a bit as of late. The long-time Royal is a career .278 hitter and has hit over .300 a handful of times. He's also made over $32million in his career, and is married to her:
Hey, another current player! I remember picking up Clint Barmes in my fantasy league when he was a rookie, and he did quite well. Somehow, he's now a 12-year vet currently with the Pirates. He hit 23 HRs in 2009, although his power has now evaporated and hasn't hit one this season. Still, he's appeared in 43 games for the Pirates as a backup infielder. Guys like him, while not the sexiest of names, are important to any ballclub.

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