Favorite Player Collection Part 5: 1994 Topps Terry Leach

I figure hardly anyone except for maybe Mets, Royals, Twins, and maybe White Sox fans know who Terry Leach is. I started really following baseball during Terry's last year, so I really didn't know much about him until years later, even though I owned maybe 10 of his cards. I had been a big Florida State fan when it came to college football growing up. I hated the Florida Gators and really didn't pay attention to any other teams or rivalries. That changed in 2006. I moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and within a month or two, I had to decide which team to pull for, the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Auburb Tigers. That's the way it is in Alabama. You have to choose a side or they think you are crazy and it's like life or death with them. So I took a few weeks and kind of saw what each team had to offer. Auburn got screwed out of playing for the national championship just 2 seasons before, even though they were 14-0. They had a pretty good team and their fans for the most part seemed genuine and nice. Alabama fans just talked about past championships and how they won 20 titles and how great Bear Bryant was and how much lower class Auburn was. There were some nice fans in the bunch, but all I ever heard from 65+ percent of them was "Bear Bryant is God and Auburn sucks and we really did win 25 national championships, the NCAA doesn't know what they are talking about when they say it is only 9!"  So I decided to root for Auburn.
I collected ttm autographs back then and noticed that Leach was a good signer, so I got a few of his cards prepared to send him. I noticed on the back of one that he went to Auburn. I wrote him a request and put "War Eagle!" (Auburn's rally cry) at the end and sent it off. A few weeks later Terry sent the cards back signed with an index card inscribed "War Eagle!" on it. From then on, I collected Terry's cards.
Topps gave Terry his last card in the '93 set, even though he played his final season that year. He was left off of the '94 set and missed out on a sunset card. I made him this one, and I think it looks like it would fit right into the '94 set.
Terry recently wrote a book about life as a journeyman reliever, and tells some stories about his Auburn days in the book. I'm hoping to pick it up soon and check it out. He's usually good about answering his fan mail, so if you are into that, I'd send him a request.
I'm hoping Michigan State can beat the Tide so I don't have to hear about another Bama championship, but everyone knows that Bama pays the NCAA so they will probably have #26 in a few weeks.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of nice Bama fans, but the constant, never ending, 24-7 houndstooth wearing loudmouths who won't shut up about all their titles just get to me. It's kind of why I really don't care for FSU at all anymore. Their fans just won't shut up and never give anyone a break. I guess I should just be happy that college football doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of thigs.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and had a great Christmas and have a happy new year.
War Eagle!
-Jeremy