1993 SP, Chili Davis

#20 Chili Davis

Here is another card that I was able to get signed at Spring Training this year. Chili is the A's hitting coach and he was nice enough to sign this card for me before the visiting A's took on the White Sox. He just signed one of the three cards, but he definitely signed the best of the three.

Chili had a long Major League career. He broke into the league with the Giants in 1981 and played his final game in the World Series for the Yankees in 1999. Over the course of his career, he also saw time with the Twins, Angels, and Royals. During those eighteen seasons, Chile accumulated 350 home runs and 1,372 RBI to go along with his .274 batting average. He was a three time All Star that also won three World Series rings- two with the Yankees and one with the Twins.

Chili had just one 30 home run season, though he had 20 or more nine times. He also eclipsed the 100 RBI plateau just once while having 90-plus five times. While he started out his career as an outfielder in the National League, he spent the second half of his career almost exclusively as a designated hitter. He did quite well in that role and was the best DH in 1991 when he won the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award (now the Edgar Martinez Award).

Chili was such a good hitter that in his final season, at the age of thirty-nine, he hit .269 with 19 home runs and 78 RBI.

It is hard to make much out of Chili's signature. But, if you compare it to the one on his Baseball Almanac page that is linked above, you can make a little more sense of it.