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Yard sale pickup 10/8/08 -- Please tell me who signed this!
OffMetal
Posts: 1,684 ✭
I went on my regular yard sale route on Saturday and ran into this thing:
I paid $1.00 for this and figured that if it was junk, then oh well. When I went home to look more closely at the signature, I couldn't figure out the name of the person who signed it...
If someone would please kindly tell me who signed it and what it might be worth, I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks for helping a coin weenie
I paid $1.00 for this and figured that if it was junk, then oh well. When I went home to look more closely at the signature, I couldn't figure out the name of the person who signed it...
If someone would please kindly tell me who signed it and what it might be worth, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks for helping a coin weenie
-Ben T. * Collector of Errors! * Proud member of the CUFYNA
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Thanks everyone!!
-Ben
Early career
A left-handed pitcher, Dravecky represented the Padres at the All-Star game in 1983, his second season, in which he won 14 games. Equally proficient as a starter or coming out of the bullpen, Dravecky helped the Padres to their first pennant the following year.
In 1987, the Giants acquired Dravecky for their pennant drive. He went 7-5 during the stretch, and in the playoffs pitched a shutout in Game 2 against the St. Louis Cardinals and lost Game 6 by a score of 1-0. The Cards won in seven games.
Crisis and comeback
The following season, a cancerous desmoid tumor was found in Dravecky's pitching arm. He underwent surgery on October 7, 1988, removing half of the deltoid muscle in his pitching arm and freezing the humerus bone in an effort to eliminate all of the cancerous cells. By July 1989, he was pitching in the minors, and on August 10, he made a highly publicized return to the major leagues, pitching 8 innings and defeating Cincinnati 4-3. In his following start five days later against the Expos, Dravecky pitched three no-hit innings, but in the fifth inning, he felt a tingling sensation in his arm. In the sixth inning he started off shaky, allowing a home run to the lead off batter and then hitting the second batter. Then, on his first pitch to Tim Raines, his humerus bone snapped, ending his career.
To see a pitcher break his arm with a loud cracking sound while doing something as ordinary as throwing a pitch, then fall to the ground rolling in agonizing pain, was shocking, unusual, and upsetting, especially for those who had followed his touching story. The pitch was replayed on television repeatedly over the following days.
The Giants won the National League pennant in 1989 (defeating the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS in five games), and in the post-game celebration, Dravecky's arm was broken a second time by Kevin Mitchell and Kelly Downs. A doctor examining Dravecky's x-rays noticed a mass in his arm. Cancer had returned. Eighteen days later, Dravecky retired from baseball, leaving a 64-57 record with 558 strikeouts and a 3.13 ERA in 1,062.2 innings. He won the 1989 Willie Mac Award honoring his spirit and leadership.
Retirement and later career
After two more surgeries, his left arm continued to deteriorate, and on July 18, 1991, less than two years after his comeback with the Giants, Dravecky's left arm and shoulder were amputated. Then he went on as a motivational speaker.
Always looking for Chipper Jones cards.
Im a very focused collector of cards from 1909 - 2012...LOL