By the 2000s, Tom Glavine lost his hit numbers he had in the early 90s not to mention his “Gretzky” nickname (bestowed because he was pretty good at hockey… good enough to be picked in the fourth round in the NHL draft). But he did picked up a couple of other goodies, though. As of late, he’s one of few pitchers who has 2 31s on his card making him a decent hit and run threat.
More importantly, in the last few years, he has managed to garner more than the one requisite 14 given to most pitchers. In this 2006 card he got four.
On a personal note, I love Tom Glavine. I managed to acquire Glavine in the Illowa APBA League back from Teddy Ballgame in 1991 and he’s been declared untouchable since. Glavine, who was D then was a throw-in in a deal which had me giving up Kirk Gibson (at the end of his career) and Pete Smith (who never really had a career). I probably got another player back in the deal (I’m thinking it was Melido Perez) but looking back, it was Glavine who was the key player in the deal.
Glavine who was 25 at the time, went on to have an awesome career both in the majors and for my Twin City Thunderchickens. He might have been ungraded once in all those years. Gibson and Smith both retired soon after.
And I never let Teddy forget it.
