TTM Stats
- Sent: 5/21/2021 | Received: 6/28/2021 | 37 Days
- ’01 Upper Deck MVP, ’02 Topps Heritage, ’03 Upper Deck 40 Man, ’06 Topps
- Address: Kansas City Royals Team Address (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Mike Matheny is a former catcher and manager in the major leagues. He played from 1994 to 2006 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants. He managed the St. Louis Cardinals from 2012 to 2018 and more recently the Kansas City Royals from 2020 to 2022.
Matheny is a native of Columbus, Ohio. He played both baseball and football growing up and while Ohio State didn’t show him much love, Michigan did. He would go on to co-captain the Wolverines. But before he did the Toronto Blue Jays drafted him in the 31st round of the 1988 MLB Draft. He chose not to sign and was later drafted by the Brewers in the eighth round of the 1991 MLB Draft. He would make his major league debut with them on April 7, 1994.
It was two years before Matheny got most of the playing time in the majors. He was always a better defensive option at catcher and less of an offensive weapon. That was clear in those early years. After a few years in Milwaukee he went tot he Blue Jays as a free agent for one year before being release. Then in 1999 he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals which is where he spent the bulk of his career and probably his best years.
Matheny would win the first of four Gold Glove awards in 2000, his first year with the Cardinals. He had maybe his best year at the plate as well with a career high .261 average, six home runs, 47 RBI and 22 doubles. He would be there for the Cardinals run to the 2004 World Series that they eventually lost to the Boston Red Sox as well as playoff runs in the three years before that.
Before ending his playing career he moved on to the Giants for a couple seasons. Then he moved on to coaching later. He managed the Cardinals to first place finishes in the NL Central from 2013 to 2015 with the last being his first and only 100-win season. He would also lead them to another World Series in 2013, but lost to the Red Sox again. He was fired midway through the 2018 season and then later managed the Royals for three seasons before they let him leave this year.
The Score on Mike Matheny – 5.5
This is what I think is a great example of getting a player where he played the best. These are some great Cardinals cards from Mike. But I’m also glad to get him as a Giant where he had some good seasons too. Mike does a great job of putting a bunch of ink on your cards. I think that Topps Heritage is my favorite of the bunch.
Thanks Mr. Matheny! I’m giving this return a 5.5 overall.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.