1992 Leaf, Mo Vaughn

#103 Mo Vaughn

As you might have guessed, I got this card signed through the mail in the early '90s. There is something weird about this signature. You can't tell on the scan, but this signature has depth. You can kind of feel the signature if you rub your finger over it. It's like it was signed with a paint marker or something.

Mo Vaughn could mash. He had some great numbers until he started getting hurt. He had six seasons with over 30 homers and six with over 100 RBI. His career highs were 44 home runs and 144 RBI, both put up in 1996, the year after he won the American League MVP.

I have two memorable memories (if that makes sense) of seeing Mo Vaughn play in person. The first one was a game in Kansas City in 2000 while Mo was with the Angels. The game was tied with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Carlos Beltran was on third and Joe Randa was up for the Royals. Randa hit a pop-up into foul territory on the first base side that drifted back towards the tarp. Mo went after it and made a really nice catch bouncing off of the tarp. Beltran tagged up beat the throw to the plate. It's the only time that I have seen a walk-off sacrifice fly to the first baseman.

The second memory was at a Mets-Yankees game at Shea in 2002. David Wells was pitching a great of a game for the Yanks until Mo came up in the eighth. Roberto Alomar was on third and Piazza was on first with no outs, Yankees up 2-0. Mo hit an 0-1 pitch for a three-run home run. Wells walked the next batter and was out of the game. Armando Benitez closed the game in the ninth for a Mets 3-2 victory. That was one of the most fun games that I have ever been to.