TTM Stats
- Sent: 3/29/2021 | Received: 12/28/2021 | 269 Days
- ’11 Topps, ’11 Topps Heritage
- Address: Oakland Athletics Team Address
- Sent: 7/12/2021 | Received: 12/28/2021 | 166 Days
- ’19 Topps, ’11 Topps
- Address: Oakland Athletics Team Address
The Story of the Autograph
Dallas Braden is a former left-handed starting pitcher in the majors leagues. He played his entire career with the Oakland A’s from 2007 to 2011.
Braden was born in Arizona and grew up in California. He played baseball and ran cross country in high school. He was drafted twice before signing with a team. He was first drafted out of high school in the 46th round of the 2001 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves. He then went on to Fresno City Collegen and Texas Tech University where he played one season before being drafted by the Athletics in the 24th round of the 2004 MLB Draft.
After a few seasons in the minors he made his major league debut on April, 24, 2007. He went 1-8 in his first season while working both as a starter and reliever. He started 14 of the 20 games he played in and had a 6.72 ERA. While he would improve throught the rest of his career ERA-wise, he only had a winning record in his second season, going 5-4 in 19 games with 10 starts.
2010 would be one of his better seasons. That year he went 11-14 with a 3.50 ERA and started 30 games. His best start though would be on May 9, 2010. Pitching against the Tampa Bay Rays in Oakland, Braden would throw 109 pitches in the 19th perfect game in major league history. Making it even sweeter, it was Mother’s Day and he had lost his mother to cancer 10 years prior.
In 2011 he had left shoulder issues and needed surgery. He would miss the rest of the season after just three starts. He needed another surgery going into the next season and missed a second consecutive season. He became a free agent and decided to retire at the beginning of 2014.
He immediately went into broadcasting, joining the Baseball Tonight crew as an analyst. The next season he was working games as a color man. He moved on to the A’s broadcast as a field-level reporter in 2017 and then replaced Ray Fosse in the booth. He’s also done podcasts and SiriusXM radio shows in more recent years.
The Score on Dallas Braden – 7.5
I actually got back two returns from Dallas at the same time. The first was an attempt from March of 2021 and the second was from July 2021. I think that tells you that I don’t always do a very good job of checking if I’ve sent something prior, or more specificaly recently. Anyway, these came back great from Dallas. He put his number on one return and not the other. I think my favorite of these is the Heritage card because that specific year I always find great signed.
Thanks Mr. Braden! I’m giving this return a 7.5.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.