TTM Stats
- Sent: 1/22/2020 | Received: 2/7/2020 | 15 Days
- ’76 Topps, ’79 Topps, ’81 Fleer, ’83 Topps, ’84 Topps
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Richie Hebner is a former major league third baseman. He played for 18 seasons and spent time with the Pirates (twice), Phillies, Mets, Tigers, and Cubs.
Hebner was born and rasied in Massachusetts and was drafted out of high school by the Pirates with the 15th overall pick in the first round of the 1966 MLB Draft. He was drafted as a shortstop but was moved to third base during his time in the minors. He debuted for the big ball club a couple years later on September 23, 1968.
He started out his career pretty hot, flirting with a .400 average at one point and in his first full season he hit .301 with eight homers and 47 RBI. He increased his power numbers in the following season and played a big role in some really successful Pirates teams of the early to mid 70’s, including their champioship season of 1971.
Hebner was a free agent in 1976 and moved on to the Phillies. But it’s not like he’s going to replace Mike Schmidt in the Phillies infield. So the Phillies had him play first base for the time he was there. After two consecutive postseason losses to the Dodgers, the Phillies brought in Pete Rose and were going to have him play first base. Hebner didn’t like that too much and while the Phillies considered moving him to second, they ended up trading him to the Mets.
From there Hebner started moving around a bit as a free agent. He played in 104 games with the Tigers in 1980 but then never made it to the 100 game mark for the rest of his career. After baseball he went into coaching. He managed in the minors and was part of several different major league coaching rosters, mostly as a hitting coach.
The Score on Rich Hebner – 6.5
Richie is a guy who like to find the right spot to sign your card. I like the idea of that because how many times would some take a card like the ’77 Topps or ’79 Topps cards below and sign over the darkest part of the card. It can make for a signature at odd angles and in odd places, but it’s the thought that counts right?
Thanks Mr. Hebner! I’m giving this return a 6.5.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.