TTM Stats
- Sent: 7/25/2020 | Received: 8/3/2020 | 8 Days
- ’78 Topps, ’79 Topps, 84 Fleer, ’86 Topps
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Dave Rozema is a former pitcher in the major leagues. He played from 1977 to 1986 with the majority of that time being spent with the Detroit Tigers and finishing his last two season in Texas with the Rangers.
Rozema was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was first drafted out of high school by the San Francisco Giants in the 22nd round of the 1974 MLB Draft. He chose not to sign and instead attended Grand Rapids Community College. In 1975 the Tigers then drafted him in the fourth round of the draft and he signed. After some time in the minor leagues he made his major league debut on April 11, 1977.
He was an outstanding prospect for the Tigers. He went to Spring Training in that 1977 season as a nonroster invite but impressed the staff and made the team. He had an amazing rookie campaign going 15-7 with a 3.09 ERA in 28 starts and 218.1 innings. That was even with missing the last three weeks of the season with a shoulder injury. He was the AL Rookie Pitcher of the Year and finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting and eighth in Cy Young voting. Rozema was part of a great crop of young Tiger players all over the diamond.
But unfortunately he couldn’t put up those same numbers again. He never won more than nine games in a season and started to work more as a reliever in the coming years. He did stick with the Tigers through the 1984 season as was part of their World Series winning team during that season. He was also quite the character. In 1982 he participated in a bench clearing brawl by trying to karate kick John Castino and missed. He ended up tearing ligaments in his knee.
He spent his final two years in the majors with Texas after signing there as a free agent after the 1984 season. He was released in the middle of the 1986 season and tried to make it with the White Sox but couldn’t get back to the majors. After the majors he played in the Senior Professional Baseball League and with a team in Ontario, Canada.
The Score on Dave Rozema – 6.5
I really like Dave’s signature, especially that “z”. I think it came out best on the 1979 Topps card because you can see it well. I think a little bit of a thicker marker would have helped show it off, but his autograph is pretty detailed so maybe that could take away from it too. I also like that he put the WS inscription on a card.
Thanks Mr. Rozema! I’m giving this return a 6.5.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.