Tonight... in honor of Daniel Cormier who successfully defended his title against Anthony Johnson... I present to you a few athletes who spent some time in San Jose.
#1: Dave Stieb
I remember one of my Little League coaches talking about playing baseball with Stieb. Later on, I'd discover that he graduated from the high school I would eventually attend. By that time, Stieb was becoming a perennial all-star who would eventually have the 2nd most wins among starting pitchers during the 80's.
I'd love to start collecting his cards, but honestly he doesn't have a lot of stuff out there. I'll keep searching though.
#2: Mark Grieb
There are only a handful of guys I attended high school with who eventually went on to become professional athletes. Grieb was by far the most successful. He led the San Jose SaberCats to three ArenaBowl titles and is one of the most successful quarterbacks in AFL history.
#3: Ken Caminiti and Mark Langston
I'm proud that I graduated with my bachelor's degree and teaching credential from San Jose State University. But as a sports memorabilia collector, they just aren't known for their sports programs outside of maybe judo and golf.
Caminiti and Langston are the two biggest names in SJSU baseball history. I guess I should be happy that I had the opportunity to watch both of them play.
#4: Jeff Garcia and James Jones
Here are two more SJSU alumni. Garcia had a fairly successful career with one of my least favorite teams in the NFL (the San Francisco 49ers), while Jones had a fairly successful career with one of my favorite teams in the NFL (the Green Bay Packers).
#5: Andre Carter
Rounding out the list is the another guy who attended the same high school as me... albeit he was there a few years after I graduated.
Carter was a beast. My friends and I went back and watched him play a few times and everyone knew he was going to end up being something special.
Although he won't be getting enshrined in Canton, he did finish his career with 80.5 sacks. That's gotta count for something.
???: Joey Chessnut and Matt Stonie
Do you consider professional eating a sport? If so, the top 2 professional eaters are from San Jose. I felt they deserved at least some recognition.
I'll wrap up this post with the man of the evening...
Daniel Cormier isn't from San Jose, but he currently trains out of here. In fact, he trains right down the street from my place. Tonight he submitted Anthony Johnson for the second time in two years to retain the Light Heavyweight Championship.
Overall... it was a pretty solid evening of sports for me.
The Oakland A's beat the Texas Rangers. The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants. The San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames.
And Chris Wondolowski scored in the 90th minute as the San Jose Earthquakes tied the Seattle Sounders.
Before I forget... I want to give a shout out to Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown. He inspired me to write this post after he wrote about the same topic earlier in the week. Thanks defgav!
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
Stieb's got 348 cards, plenty of autographed cards in that mix, too. Seems like a cool guy, and he was a lot of fun to watch. I encourage this collection!
ReplyDeleteThat's a solid amount. Maybe I'll dive in and go for it. I was originally gonna attempt to chase his autographs, but they don't seem to pop up very often and I refuse to pay $20+ for his signature.
DeleteThanks for the shoutout! Solid bunch of guys to collect. Love Caminiti thanks to his monster years in San Diego.
ReplyDeleteI collect Stieb as well, if only because the majority of his career has been with the Jays.
ReplyDeleteI silently collect "Local Players" too, there are a few NFLers, some Golf, Bowlers, and not a MLber yet.. By local I mean in the area, and of course my Gators. Several known names there.
ReplyDeleteA couple of Spartans you left out had great NFL careers. Louie Wright and Gerald Whillhite.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a mini collection. Steib and Grieb? What are the odds?
ReplyDeleteDave Stieb and Mark Langston have always been favorites of mine though I don't have any good reason why. Great seeing some autograph cards for them as they are few and far between it seems. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Langston and Came went to SJSU. Go Spartans!
ReplyDelete"Only a handful of guys... who became professional athletes".
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, nobody I went to high school or college with did anything more than top out in A-ball... Just to put things into perspective.