TTM Stats
- Sent: 10/12/2019 | Received: 10/26/2019 | 14 Days
- ’89 Fleer, ’89 Score, ’90 Fleer (kept two other cards)
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Tim Birtsas is a former left-handed pitcher in the major leagues. He played from 1985 through 1990 for the Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds.
Birtsas was born and raised in Michigan. He played baseball and basketball growing up but it was baseball that earned him a scholarship to Michigan State. The New York Yankees drafted him in the second round of the 1982 MLB Draft with the 36th overall pick. But Birtsas would never make it to New York. After the the 1984 season he was traded with Jay Howell, Stan Javier, Jose Rijo and Eric Plunk for Rickey Henderson in a trade with the Oakland A’s.
He made his major league debut early the next season on May 3, 1985. He ended up going 10-6 in 29 games and 25 starts that year with a 4.01 ERA. Then after being tagged as a bullpen arm for the ’86 season, Birtsas was tagged in his first couple appearances. He only pitched 2 innings in 1986 and left the majors with a 22.50 ERA. He spent the rest of the season in the minors as well as the 1987 season. After the season he was traded with Jose Rijo to the Reds for Dave Parker.
He spent the next three seasons with the Reds as one of the “Nasty Boys.” He survived the end of Pete Rose’s tenure as the Reds manager and was with them for their successful run to a World Series Championship in 1990 under Lou Piniella. But the Reds would release him after that season to make room for Bill Doran and Birtsas went on to play for the Yakult Swallows in Japan. He later played in Italy as well.
The Score on Tim Birtsas – 8.0
Tim really does a great job filling up these cards. There was something really familiar about Tim’s signature that I couldn’t put my finger on. Then it struck me, does his signature look a lot like the Tim Horton’s logo? I think it does.
Thanks Mr. Birtsas! I’m giving this one an 8.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.