I remember exactly when I became a Mark Prior fan. During my first batch of through the mail requests, I sent one out to Mark when he was playing for West Tennessee in double A. I remembered that the Yankees had selected him in the first round of the 1998 draft and followed his career when he didn’t sign. Although I was never a Cubs fan, I was a Mark Prior fan. When I got his autograph back, my first one ever, I was thrilled. I vowed to follow his career from start until finish.
Well finish was almost 2006, however since then Prior has made comebacks, a lot of comebacks. His latest was with the Texas Rangers and even pitched an inning for Oklahoma City last year. As a free agent this off season he signed a one year incentive laden contracts with the team that originally drafted him. For the Yankees, this was a no brainer. With the losing out of Cliff Lee, the Yanks needed to add some pitching depth.
As it stands right now they have Sabathia, maybe Pettitte, Hughes, Nova and Burnette. They are going to need help. Even if Prior is a bust, at what they signed him for who cares? Sure he will never be shooting 97 mph bee bees during games, but he can still throw in the 90s and he always had decent control. I have my fingers crossed for him to make this Yankees squad, but I am also a realist. I know it would be a long shot for him to make the team, but I for one am very excited over the possibility that he might become a Yankee.
As for his cards, they are dollar foder, even if they never get to be worth more, Iwill always collect his cards as he will always be known to me as my first TTM success. I wish him the best of luck this spring as I continue to seek out some of his better cards like the one seen below:
