2009 UD Signature Stars Pedro Martinez

Pedro Matrinez finished his Hall of Fame career with a dozen starts for the Philadelphia Phillies. Dueu to his notoriety in the game he likely has as more Phillies Cards than games pitched with the club.

2009 Signature Series #SSD-8 Pedro Martinez

Above we present one of those cards - 09 UD Sign Sealed Delivered uses a newspaper layout format to create the atmosphere of a signing announcement on this card. The signing date of July 14th differs from the Baseball-Ref transaction by a day for some reason,

Flip

2009 Signature Series #SSD-8 Pedro Martinez (b-side)

UD did get the date of Pedro's first game as a Phillie correct, August 12th - He got the W in a 12-5 Phillies victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field

Sources and Links
Pedro Martinez HoF Index
Baseball-ref

2015 Hall of Fame Candidate Scott Eyre 2009 Upper Deck #811

Scott Eyre made a nice career out of being a Left Handed relief pitcher. He spent 13 years in the majors, the last two with the Phillies. He was a member of 3 different Pennant Winners including the Phillies 2008 World Championship team as well as the 2009 Phils squad – his final major league action was in Game 6 versus the Yankees. His 24 postseasom appearances is pretty impressive and includes Games 3 and 4 of the 2008 Series, both of which were won by the Phillies. 

2009 Upper Deck #811 Scott Eyre 

Eyre was never a closer (only 4 career saves) but his career took off once he became a reliever full time at age 31. Prior to 2002 His Career ERA was 5.25 (ERA+ 88), from 2003 forward he had a 3.34 ERA (132 ERA+). His career WAR was 7.3, he only exceeded a 2.0 WAR once – 2.3 in 2005, which is also the only year he received an MVP vote, a single 10^th place vote.

2002 Giants

Since we are In the middle of a World Series involving the San Francisco Giants, we must note Eyre’s tenure with the Giants which ran from 2002-2005. That 3 year window was the pivot point for his career. He went from being a mediocre swing man to a lefty specialist.

As a member of the 2002 World Series Team and did pitch to a single batter in the 7^th inning of the Series’ fateful game 6. The Giants had a 5 run lead with 9 outs to go to Win that series, but It wasn’t going to happen. The Giants gave up 3 runs in the 6^th and 3 more in the 7^th and lost the game 6-5. Eyre pitched in the 7^th and while his batter didn’t plate a run or score himself by failing to retire Adam Kennedy, Eyre may have thrown the bullpen off center for the balance of the game.  

2009 Upper Deck
Like this card because it shows Eyre wearing a 2008 World Series Cap. Eyre is wearing a home jersey, therefore the photo was taken during either game 3 or game 4 of the 08 Series. Which means it was taken 6 years ago on this Upcoming Sunday(25th) or Monday (26th).    

One minor note on 2009 UD, I am not sure why but nobody ever complains about Upper Decks use of foil. Perhaps it is executed better, but I am not sure that is true. The above photo is actually more readable than the scan.  

Phungo HoF Verdict

YES – Member of the 2008 Phillies World Champions, It’s My Vote so I will vote for whomever I want.

Sources and Links 
2015 Hall of Fame Canididates 
2014 Playoff Teams

Baseball-ref