Rodrigo Lopez Auto From Max

My good friend Max sent me yet another care package recently, this time with a bunch of base cards to take with me to The National, for the VIP signers.  I'm going to try to get a few things signed for him, but it is going to be tough, since the handlers pretty much don't let you get more than one item signed at a time.  I intend to use some of my Wild Cards to help Max's collection out.

Max did include some cards for my collection in his package, as well.  He sent me a Mychal Givens auto that he pulled out of 2016 Topps and the above IP auto he got from former Oriole, Rodrigo Lopez.

Lopez (b. 1975) played in the majors from 2000, 2002 to 2007 and 2009 to 2012 for the Padres, Orioles, Rockies, Phillies, Diamondbacks and Cubs.  He had a career record of 81-89 with a 4.82 ERA and 865 strike outs.  He was signed by the Orioles as a free agent out of the Mexican League in November 2001.  He would finish second on the 2002 AL Rookie of the Year voting to Eric Hinske after he went 15-9 with a 3.57 ERA that year.  In his five seasons with the Orioles, he was 60-58 with a 4.72 ERA.  He won 14 or more games for the O's three of those five seasons.  His 2006 season when he went 9-18 with a 5.90 ERA really skews his stats; he was a decent pitcher for a terrible O's team during those seasons.  One must wonder how Lopez would have fared had he had a better team behind him, such as the current Orioles.

I always liked Lopez when he was with the O's.  I was sad to see him get traded to the Rockies for Jason Burch and Jim Miller in January 2007, but his time had pretty much come.  I love that Max thought of me to get this card signed.  Thanks a lot, buddy!