TTM Stats
- Sent: 1/16/2021 | Received: 3/31/2021 | 75 Days
- ’83 Topps, ’90 Upper Deck (plus fee, returned two cards unsigned)
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Guillermo “Willie” Hernandez is a former left-handed relief pitcher and closer in the major leagues. His career spanned thirteen seasons from 1977 to 1989. During that time he played for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers.
Hernandez is a native of Puerto Rico. The Phillies signed him as an amateur free agent in September of 1973, but he wouldn’t debut for them. Before he could he was chosen by the Cubs in the 1976 rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut for them in the next season on April 9, 1977. He played in seven seasons in Chicago including them dabbling with him as a starter for seven games in 1980. The Cubs would trade him to the Phillies during the 1983 season for Bill Johnson and Dick Ruthven. They made the World Series but lost to the Baltimore Orioles.
Before the 1984 season he was then moved to Detroit with Dave Bergman for Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss. This would be a pretty fortuitive move. The Tigers had a great team and Hernandez became the closer. He went 9-3 with a 1.92 ERA with 32 saves and pitched in 80 games (almost half of them). He would earn the first of three straight All-Star appearances and become the first to with the Cy Young and MVP award since Denny McLain in 1968 (with the other person who did it being Sandy Koufax in 1963). The Tigers would go on to with the World Series against the San Diego Padres.
He continued to be solid but never got to those numbers again and was eventually released by Detroit, playing his final major league game on August 18, 1989. He tried to come back in the minors in 1991 and 1995 but never made it back.
The Score on Willie Hernandez – 6.5
Willie seems to have a bit of a shaky signature. He does a little circle with the end of his “W” to add a bit of style to his signature, but overall its kind of neat and tidy. I sent four cards and he only signed to so I guess is fee is double what I sent to him. I’ll have to remember that if I send to him again. I’d like to get him to sign cards that are closer to if not within his best years in Detroit but I’m glad I have him represented on both teams he played for.
Thanks Mr. Hernandez! I’m giving this return a 6.5.
>>> READ MORE ABOUT MY AUTOGRAPH SCORING SYSTEM <<<
Thanks for visiting BravestarrCards.com: Card Collecting and TTM Autographs.
Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.