Bad Wax

Name: Matt Williams

Position: 3B

Team: Arizona Diamondbacks

Age: Currently he is 43. In 2003 he was 37.

Best Season: 1994 – Rough year for baseball, with the strike and everything, but even worse for Williams who was on pace to break the Marris record of 61 home runs. Through 112 games he was hitting 0.267/43/96, which would be his greatest season (even when compared to full seasons).

Set it’s from: 2003 Donruss Signature Series.

How obtained: eBay auction

Why this Card?: The year was 1989 and I was getting ready for college, I went for campus tours of Arizona State University and the University of Arizona (U of A is where I finally went). While up in Tempe, we went to a Phoenix Firebirds game. Actually that was my first minor league experience. The star of the team at the time was Matt Williams (although he was bound to be called up any day). I watched him hit a homer and a double that day and from that day on I followed his career. I never had an autograph of him, then I saw the card on eBay and had to have it. Matt had a very productive career hitting a career 0.268/338/1218. Not Hall of Fame worthy but definitely Hall of Very Good worthy.

But What About the Set?: This is one of those high dollar sets. Each “box” or tin is actually a pack of 4 cards. You get one autograph and 3 base cards. The set is 100 base cards and 50 short printed rookie cards. The set has some nice rookie cards in there such as Bonderman, Webb and Wang. There are 229 signed cards in the set, ranging in book value from $10 – $120. I would never ever waste my money on a pack but I have several of the autographed cards (none of which I paid more than $3 for). The tin sells on eBay for around $40 a box.

Beckett’s Value: $25.00

eBay Value: I got it for $2.25.

Will it ever be worth more?: No and it’s not even worth the $25 the book has it listed for. But for one guy, whose first minor league experience was watching him hit a homer, it’s worth a lot.