Wednesday, August 22, 2018

2004 Studio, Jason Bartlett


#208 Jason Bartlett

Every once in a while, my dad will buy me some baseball cards. He's been doing it since the mid-80s and I do not see him stopping anytime soon. Even when I was in college and could care less about baseball cards, my dad would still buy me a pack or two every now and then. I think he is just curious of what they are looking like from year to year.

Anyways, a couple of years ago, my dad called me to tell me that he pulled an autograph out of a pack. I was expecting something cool out of a current pack of Allen & Ginter or even Topps Archives. Nope, this was the card he pulled. It turns out that he got bored by the card selection at Target, so he picked up a repack box with a few packs and a 100 loose cards. This was one of the loose cards.

Now, I don't mean to sound like I am ungrateful that my dad pulled this card. That is not the case as I love any and all autographs, especially guys that I never got in-person that had respectable careers, like Jason. I just wasn't expecting him to pull an auto that was a dozen years old.

Jason played in the Majors for ten seasons with the Twins, Rays, and Padres. Over that time, he hit .270 with 31 home runs and 286 RBI while playing in the postseason three times. He best season was with the Rays in 2009 when he had career-highs in nearly every offensive category including average (.320), runs (90), doubles (29), home runs (14), RBI (66), and stolen bases (30). He was rewarded that season with his only All Star team selection.

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