SIGN HIM UP!
Astros rookie fireballer joins ranks of Biggio, Bagwell, Correa- but there’s a price
Sep 14, 2022, 10:53 am
Collectors are showing interest in Hunter Brown. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
Musical chairs: who's the odd man out?
What a difference a day makes – especially when that day was Sept. 5, 2022 and Astros pitcher Hunter Brown threw six innings of three-hit, shutout ball over six innings against the Texas Rangers.
Things happen fast. Only days later, Brown was sitting in his hotel room signing hundreds of baseballs, now on sale for $99 at tristarproductions.com.
I spoke with Bobby Mintz senior vice-president of sales and celebrity relations for TRISTAR Productions about striking hot while Brown was striking out Rangers batters.
SportsMap: TRISTAR is one of the biggest and most influential leaders in the sports collectibles industry. Did you sign Hunter Brown on the basis of that one spectacular game?
Mintz: No, we’ve had our eyes on Hunter all summer in Sugar Land. We’ve been tracking his potential, his 97-mph fastball, wipeout slider. He’s the No. 1 prospect in the Astros organization. We’ve had interest in signing him for some time. When Hunter got called up to the Astros, we talked with his agent about doing something. His agent said to let Hunter get through his start and then we’ll do it. We put the deal together in the days after his debut and he was signing baseballs the following Friday. We took the balls to our office to be authenticated as being the first lot of balls that he signed, that’s important to collectors. I won't give you details of our contract with Hunter, but we will be aligned with him for a considerable time moving forward.
SportsMap: Does a player’s personality play a role in whether you’re interested in signing him or her?
Mintz: Absolutely. We do shows around the country but we’re a Houston-based business. We have a big show each year in Houston. So being a Houston athlete has a big part in our decision. Hunter is very hard-working. He was a Division 2 pitcher with Wayne State University and a fifth-round draft pick. He increased his velocity and he’s worked and worked. He does have all the intangibles you look for, he’s nice and humble and very appreciative of what’s happening for him.
SportsMap: How important is it for you to sign players when they’re young, before they hit superstardom?
Mintz: It’s critically important. We scout players just like teams do, looking for their potential. Over the years, we’ve presented players at our shows who’ve gone on to become superstars, like Carlos Correa, George Springer, Ken Griffey Jr., Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Tom Brady and others. Sports collecting is much like the stock market, you hope to buy an autograph or memorabilia that will go up in value. Collectors are looking to buy an autograph of a young player for $39 now in hopes that it will be worth $139 the following year.
SportsMap: TRISTAR has been around a long time. When and where was your first show?
Mintz: It was in 1987 at a small hotel near Hobby Airport. Our headliner was Mark McGwire and people were lined around the block. Some camped out overnight to meet McGwire and get his autograph. We were on our way.
SportsMap: You’ve presented thousands of athletes at your shows. What’s in your personal collection of memorabilia?
Mintz: With me, it’s personal items and memories, not necessarily the most valuable in terms of money. I have a photo of Tom Brady and he signed it with “Thank you for your friendship.” I have a photo with Peyton Manning at the first show he did after being drafted. We’re both 25 pounds lighter in the photo. (Editor’s note: 25?)
SportsMap: When is your next show in Houston?
Mintz: We will present our 37th TRISTAR Collectors Show on Feb. 3-4-5 at NRG Arena.
SportsMap: Last one, do you ever talk with athletes about their penmanship? I have autographed baseballs in my sock drawer at home … I have no idea who signed them.
Mintz: Yes, we do have conversations about handwriting, all the time. Most athletes understand that fans need to read their autographs clearly. We find that younger players are less careful about their autographs. Sometimes older players will take them aside and tell them they need to do a better job with their signature. I won’t tell you his name, but we once had a major superstar sign at our show and his autograph was so bad, so completely unreadable that we never invited him back.
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Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.
Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.
Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.
“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.
First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”
Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.
Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.
However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.
“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”
Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.
He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.
He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.
Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.
While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.
To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.
Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.
“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”
Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.
Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.
“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.
The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.
“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”