Tuesday, September 3, 2013

1981 Donruss, Jim Palmer


#473 Jim Palmer

Here is a card that I got signed at the College World Series in 2012. The CWS usually starts on a Saturday, but in 2012 it started on a Friday. That was the day my dad and I headed up there and we were graced by Jim Palmer's presence at the AT&T tent at Fanfest. Since it was a Friday, there was less people there than there usually is for the first day of the Series. Because of that, I was able to go through the line about five times and I got my two cards signed as well as three 8x10s. Jim was one of the few guys that have signed at that tent that signed something besides the provided 8x10s.

Some of the superstars in the '81 Donruss set were lucky enough to get two cards in the set. They had the standard card with the previous seasons stats on the back and some bullet-style career highlights. Then they had their career highlight card that had a paragraph style write-up on the back and some interesting stats. This card happens to be the career highlight card and the back focuses on the Palmer-Hunter-Seaver decade. It lists wins-losses, ERA, and Cy Young Awards for each pitcher for each season in the '70s. Palmer had the most wins, Cy Youngs, and best ERA, by the way.

Unfortunately, I did not have the other Palmer card from this set. Yet another reason why I really need to complete this set.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 151/100