The holiday season always seems to be the time for some baseball players to catch up with their fan mail. (As someone who was still sending out Christmas cards this week, that never fails to amaze me.)
On Tuesday, I received this card from Mets reliever Sean Gilmartin. I wrote to him back in February at the Mets’ spring training camp in Port St. Lucie (hence the Gwinnett Braves minor league card – if I get some copies of his 2015 Topps traded card, I’ll have to try again next February.)
Gilmartin was a solid contributor in the Mets’ bullpen when Terry Collins used him as a long reliever or spot starter… less so when Collins tried to make him into a lefty specialist. (Despite being a left-handed pitcher, Gilmartin does better against right-handed batters.)
Yesterday, I got back this card from Chicago White Sox pitcher Tommy Kahnle. I remember Kahnle as a Yankees’ farmhand pitching for the Trenton Thunder in 2012 and 2013 before getting selected in the Rule 5 draft prior to the 2014 season.
In two years with the Rockies, Kahnle, 26, put together some solid if unspectacular numbers out of the bullpen. Last month, Colorado traded him to the White Sox for a minor league pitcher.
I think it’s quite likely that these will be the final autographs I add to my collection in 2015. If I remember, I’ll share my final autographs by mail sucess rate info sometime next week.
PaulHadsall.com 