Today, let’s continue to look at the 2009 New York Mets (and let me show off another new autograph acquisition.)
Gary Sheffield‘s signing right before Opening Day seemed to take everyone by surprise. Sure, for years I thought it would be nice to see Sheffield play on the same team that made his uncle famous. But with Sheffield at the end of his career, the move didn’t make a lot of sense — the last time he played at least 20 games in the field in a season was 2006.
To the surprise of everyone, Sheffield dedicated himself to becoming a competent Major League outfielder again. Sure, he wasn’t a gold glove candidate. But he wasn’t Daniel Murphy, either.
The highlight of CitiField’s inaugural season turned out to be Sheffield’s 500th home run. (At least unless you’re a big Paul McCartney fan.) It even turned out to be a game winner.
As the season went on, Sheffield showed signs of wearing down. But he tried his best to stay in the Mets’ increasingly depleted lineup. When we got to the end of August, it was clear to everyone that the Mets season was over. But for reasons known only to ownership, the Mets turned down a chance to trade Sheffield to a contender. Sheffield was understandably disappointed, and he was virtually absent from games for the rest of the season.
Sheffield still hopes to play long enough to reach another milestone — 3000 hits — but I think he’ll have to reach that goal in another team’s uniform. Still, he was fun to watch this year. I’m glad he was a Met.
This card comes from the 2005 Topps Finest set and pictures Sheffield as a New York Yankee. Not my first choice, but I couldn’t argue the price — $7 shipped for a certified autograph of a 500-home run club member is a pretty good deal. Sheffield does have a few 2009 cards that show him as a Met, but I don’t know that I’ll ever have a chance to get one of those signed without spending a small fortune.
PaulHadsall.com 
Awesome awesome autograph. Like I mentioned before, me and my firends LOVE sheffield. And I have been bidding on his mets cards, I was outbid on the Allen and ginter printing plate by 10 cents, and the goodwin champion printing plate by a dollar. eBay can be so cruel! But still, nice autograph!
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I’m happy with my Sheffield autograph. He added some respectability to the team when he was playing this year, and I’m grateful for that.
Of course, as soon as I posted it, I found out that Topps has a certified autograph of him as a Met in this year’s updates & highlights set. 🙂
Sorry to hear about your printing plate losses. I’m currently hoping to grab a printing plate of a different player to start a new collection… hope that works out well.
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oh! nice, ill definitly look into the autographed mets cards! and he certainly did bring some respectability to the mets. good luck on your printing plates!
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Thanks, but I didn’t win the one that ended tonight. I wasn’t willing to go above $15 and someone else was. Two more of my player’s 1/1 cards will be sold this week, so maybe I’ll still be able to get my new collection started.
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