TTM Stats
- Sent: 12/7/2020 | Received: 11/6/2021 | 329 Days
- ’87 Topps, ’88 Score, ’91 Topps Stadium Club, ’92 Ultra, ’93 Upper Deck
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Kelly Gruber is a former third baseman in the major leagues. The All-Star, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger winner spent ten years in the league with the Toronto Blue Jays and California Angels from 1984 to 1993.
Gruber is a native of Texas having been born in Houston and growing up in Austin. He was drafted out of high school by the Cleveland Indians with the tenth pick in the first round of the 1980 MLB Draft. The Blue Jays picked him up in the 1983 Rule 5 Draft and he made his debut for them on April 20, 1984. He didn’t play much in his first two seasons and then had about a half season of game in the 1986 season.
In 1987 he was the starter at third base. By 1989 he had made his first All-Star team and repeated that in 1990, this time adding a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award tot the mix. 1990 might have been his best statistical season with 31 homers, 118 RBI (both career highs) and a .374 batting average. He was also be part of the Blue Jays World Series winning team after the 1992 season.
He was traded to the Angels for Luis Sojo in December 1992, but injuries would really start effecting him. He had surgery to repair his rotator cuff and also had bulging discs in his neck. He played his first game with the Angels in June but only got into 18 games and was back in on the injured list. He attempted a comeback in 1997 with Baltimore but ended up retiring due to health concerns.
The Score on Kelly Gruber – 7.5
Kelly has a really great signature. I think what really makes it perfect though is that it’s such a great blue marker to see with those Blue Jays uniforms. Sure it gets a bit buried on some of them, but that 1987 Topps card is a great example of it working really, really well.
Thanks Mr. Gruber! I’m giving this return a 7.5 overall.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.