
Looking at Ruben here you can see hints of his trademark bad attitude. When he came up in 1986 he was a force to be reckoned with on the field. Hitting home runs from both sides of the plate at a pretty young age Sierra was the wave of the future. He had an attitude problem though. Surly with fans and not speaking English to reporters he quickly built a bad reputation.
Early in 1987 Ruben's star was still rising. I was a rabid Rangers fan and he was the hottest thing since sliced bread. I was as wild about Sierra as a lot of my friends were about Bo Jackson. Bo was local and Sierra was not so I had a never-ending outlet for any Jackson cards and an endless abundance of Sierra cardboard to pick up. Money was the problem. I worked and worked to put together a decent gathering of Sierra. Then I saw the Beckett article about sending cards off to be autographed. I sent a few and got them back. Wow! So close to the game! I worked up my nerve and finally sent off my prized 1987 Topps Ruben Sierra rookie card. The card was booking for around $6-$8 so I only had one. I waited for weeks as hope slowly dimmed. Months passed and I gave up the card for lost and set about trying to replace it. It took some time and a lot in trade but I finally landed one. A couple of years later I saw an article where Ruben talked about just throwing away the cards sent to him for autographs. I figure that is where the jewel of my collection ended up. I never saw it again and I never forgave Ruben Sierra. When he went to Oakland I was more upset that Texas got Canseco than that they got rid of Sierra.
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