TTM Stats
- Sent: 2/22/2020 | Received: 3/6/2020 | 14 Days
- ’81 Topps, ’83 Topps, ’84 Topps
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Alan Knicely is a former catcher, a backup catcher, in the major leagues. He played from 1979 through 1986 with the Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and St. Louis Cardinals.
Knicely was born and raised in Virginia. The Astros drafted him out of high school and chose him in the third round of the 1974 MLB Draft. After five years he made his major league debut on August 12, 1979. But he wasn’t drafted as a catcher. He started his career in the minors as a pitcher and after a bad year in Double-A, he moved on to shortstop and catcher. A great season in the minors encouraged the Astros to bring him up in 1979.
He played with Alan Ashby and Luis Pujols during his time in Houston but was not as good a defensive catcher as they were. The Astros traded him to Cincinnati in the spring of 1983 in a deal also involving Bill Dawley. In Cincinnati Johnny Bench’s career was winding down and he wasn’t playing as much catcher and Knicely was one of three guys who spent time behind the plate.
He was back to the minors in 1984, but then had a pretty good season in 1985. The Reds traded him tot he Phillies before the 1985 season was out and he went back to the minors. Before closing out his career he went to Spring Training the Cardinals and then the Rangers, but only in the minors with them before retiring at 32.
The Score on Alan Knicely – 6.0
Alan has a pretty scratchy signature. Sometimes I think the nature of a signature is partly to do with the letters in someone’s name. For instance, “K” seems like it would lend itself to feeling “scratchy.” At the same time, a cursive capital “A” like this wouldn’t, but it somehow does for him.
Thanks Mr. Knicely! I’m giving this return a 6.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.