Card of the day today is number 196 in the 1985 Topps set. This card is not very impressive looking but I enjoy it for a couple of reasons.First, I liked Pete. Not sure why but I did. Probably because he was playing first for the Rangers when I first started following the team. That and he always signed promptly when I sent him cards through the mail and asked for his autograph.
Second reason I like this card, the autograph. It is not a thing of beauty but it once was. I got O'Brien to sign this card for me at a game in Arlington. It must have been either the 1987 or 1988 season (I would have been 10 or 11). I had taken cards of several players to the game and went down by the dugout during batting practice. O'Brien was signing and gladly jotted his name on my card. I was in seventh heaven. As I turned away though I brushed the surface of the card in my excitement. The ink hadn't dried yet and smudged. It didn't matter to me then and doesn't really now. I never intended to trade the card. I got the autograph because Pete was playing for my favorite team in the Major Leagues. A big league player had taken time to sign my card! He was bigger than life and took time to sign for a kid. I couldn't have been happier had I gotten handed a million dollars.
2 comments:
That's awesome. O'Brien was a decent player, but I don't remember ever sending him anything to sign. My focus was more on Cubs and Reds, and a few other players that I KNEW sent cards back. I hated losing cards, even if they were only worth five cents.
Same here. I hated losing cards as well. I always just figured that a Rangers autograph was worth the risk of sending not knowing if the card would come back.
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