1988 Donruss, Bobby Thigpen

#247 Bobby Thigpen

Here is the second and last card that I got Bobby Thigpen to sign for me at Spring Training last year. I usually take three cards for anyone I try to get autographs from, but with Bobby, I settled for two. I was a little overwhelmed prepping for Spring Training with all of the players, coaches, and invites for both the Major League clubs and their affiliates. So, I called it good on Bobby when I was able to find two cards of him. I was kind of lucky that I found this card, too, as it came from my kid's collection. He was fortunate to have two of them, so he hooked me up to save me the hassle.

Bobby's career spanned nine seasons with the White Sox, Phillies, and Mariners. He was a reliever that entire time and he racked up 201 saves for his career. He had four straight 30+ save seasons with the Sox, including his Major League record of 57 in 1990. He made his lone All Star team that season and retired the side in his inning of work.

He was traded to the Phillies during the 1993 season and pitched in two World Series games for them. He pitched 2.2 innings and gave up just a hit and a walk. He pitched just 7.2 innings with the Mariners in 1994 before being released. He then went to Japan and pitched there for two seasons where he saved 20 more games and posted a sub 2.00 ERA. He came back to the States in '96 and appeared in four games with the White Sox AAA team before calling it a career.