Monday, March 24, 2008

Alex Fernandez 1991 TM40 Card

Back of the card say's
The route Alex Fernandez took to the majors is a unusual one. The son of Cuban immigrants, he grew up in Miami,starred at Pace High and was a member of the 1987 USA junior national team that finished second to Cuba at the World Junior Tournament. In 88 he was a first- round draft pick of the Brewers but opted to attend the University of Miami, where he had a tremendous 89 season - 15 W, 2 L, 2.01 ERA- and was named Baseball America's freshmen of the Year.Alex then transferred to a junior college, Miami-Dade Communtity College South, so he could be eligible for the 1990 draft.(ML rules don'tallow college players to be drafted until after their junior year.) After a super 12-2, 1.19juco season, he was the #1 pick of the White Sox. He had a brief stint in the minors, made his ML debut August 2 and went 5-5 3.80 in the heat of Chicago's pennant race. The first-year pro ended 1990 on an ironic note as the winner of the Gold Spikes Award ,given to the nation's top amateur player.

3 comments:

Uglee Card said...

I thought he was going to be great. Not so.

Steve Gierman said...

I still have that card. I bought Topps Magazine just for the cards. Unfortunately, Alex wasn't as good as his first few years. He had a lot of potential.

Bart McClaughry said...

Alex is now doing radio and becoming active in politics, specially within his hometown of Miami Beach where he campaigned and helped elect its mayor.