Names: Scot Shields and Try Percival
Position: P – Setup / Closer
Team: Anaheim Angels
Age: 32 and 39 years old
Best Season: For Shields it’s 2005 when he went a crazy 10-11/7 saves/2.75/1.12 in 78 appearances. For Percival it’s 2002 when he went 4-1/ 40 saves/1.92/1.12 and was 15th in MVP voting.
Set it’s from: 2005 Donruss signature Series
How obtained: eBay auction
Why this Card?: I really only wanted the Percival signature, but getting the Shields signature is all good as well. I went to one Angel game in my life and it was right after a buddy of mine got married, so a bunch of the boys from the wedding party went to the game, we all got there early and I even got a batting practice ball, I caught from Erstad. While the players were warming up, I got Shields to sign the ball for me. He was real nice about it. Percival never really got the credit he deserves as a closer. He was one of the best while at his peak, he is still very good. The problem was he was being measured against maybe the best reliever of all time in Mariano Rivera. He sits 8th all time in saves, and maybe has 2 more years left in him. I think this is a quality card and the price I got it for was a steal.
But What About the Set?: 2005 Donruss Signature Series is a high quality but very expensive set. The boxes on eBay will run you about $250 – $275. Each box will yield 7 autographed cards and 1 relic cards. Most of the eBay auctions I found were for cases or multi box lots, but single hobby boxes are out there. The signature list on the set is impressive, but no way do you get back the $250 you are going to drop on the box.
Beckett’s Value: $15.00
eBay Value: I got it for $0.75
Woo hoo – A Rays autograph (Percival)!
I have also noticed that his auto’s are relatively cheap on eBay, but a lot of them are dual auto’s with Scot Shields and other Angels players that I don’t care about…
I’d love a quad auto of Percival, Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell, and Grant Balfour – the foundation of the best bullpen in the A.L. this year