2009 Salem Red Sox Bryan Price

Who is this? Akron Aeros pitcher Bryan Price
What is this? An autographed card from the 2009 Salem Red Sox team set
Where'd I get it? My friend Bart is a diehard Red Sox fan. He wrote to Price to see if he could get this card signed last year, but he hadn't gotten it back by spring training. He bought another copy of the set and tried again. Late in the summer, he got both envelopes back, so he gave me the duplicate card.

Why is this so special? Price was selected by the Red Sox with the 45th overall pick in the 2008 draft. He was one of three players sent to Cleveland last year in the Victor Martinez trade.

The Indians converted Price into a reliever and assigned him to AA Akron this year, where he averaged a strikeout per inning.

Price's autograph is basically his initials and a few extra squiggles.

2008 TriStar Prospects Plus Bryan Price

Who is this? Akron Aeros pitcher Bryan Price
 
What is this? An autographed Farm Hands insert card from the 2008 TriStar Prospects Plus set  

Where'd I get it? This was my guaranteed autograph in a clearance blaster box
 
How much did it cost? Two TriStar blasters, shrink-wrapped together, sold for $10.
 
Why is this so special? Bryan Price was a first round selection of the Boston Red Sox in the 2008 draft (45th overall). He struggled in Boston's farm system, and somehow moved over to the Cleveland Indians organization.

This year, he's pitching out of the bullpen for the Akron Aeros in the AA Eastern League. He's 1-2 with a 4.76 ERA in 17 games, and it looks like a longshot for Price to ever reach the major leagues.

Still, stranger things have happened. Even if he never moves past AA, Price has been more successful than most people who have set foot on a pitcher's mound.

If anybody reading this is a teacher or has school-age children, I'd love to know how much time they spend on penmanship now. It didn't seem especially important when I was in school, and that was before computers became so dominant.

Of course, it's also likely that Price's signature looks like that because he knew he was going to have to sign hundreds of stickers for TriStar, and mine could have come from near the end of the batch. You never know.