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03/02/2010 1:33 PM ET
Gimenez put his cards on bedroom walls
Indians catcher used push-pins to display collection
By George Castle / Special to MLBPLAYERS.com
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The 27-year-old Chris Gimenez is hoping to get his first big league card soon. (AP)
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Many Major Leaguers collected baseball cards growing up. But Indians catcher-infielder Chris Gimenez did them one better -- he wanted to look at them while he went to bed and when he woke up, so he festooned his bedroom walls in Gilroy, Calif., with part of his collection.
MLBPLAYERS.com: Did you collect individual players or sets?
Gimenez: I actually went after whole sets. I was a big Oakland A's fan. You'd get 12 in a sleeve. I wanted to cover the entire walls of my room with baseball cards. I didn't get that many. My room, when I was a kid, was about 12 by 14 feet, and I had half the sides covered.
I attached them with push-pins, still in the sleeves. I know I had a bunch of [Mark] McGwire, [Jose] Canseco, Walt Weiss, Dave Stewart, Carney Lansford, Terry Steinbach -- a lot of guys like that.
MLBPLAYERS.com: Do you still have your cards today?
Gimenez: They're still in sleeves. My mom [Pam Gimenez] took all that stuff down, but I told her she couldn't get rid of it. They're in my closet in my apartment.
MLBPLAYERS.com: How did your mom like your decorating technique?
Gimenez: I bet you there were 500-600 cards up on the wall. My mom wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but once she realized how cool I thought it was, she was OK with it. Plus, the bedroom was in the back.
MLBPLAYERS.com: Do you have any interesting tales about any of the cards you collected?
Gimenez: I've got probably got 10-15 cards of Frank LaCorte. He's actually a very good family friend, also from Gilroy. I have every single one of his cards ever made. He's helped me out a lot in my career. Every single one of those cards are signed. I also had some Robby Thompson cards, and he helped us out.
MLBPLAYERS.com: As an old A's fan, what do you think of Mark Teahen of the White Sox collecting 200 Mark McGwire cards?
Gimenez: That's impressive, because McGwire's my all-time favorite player. I had a poster of the "Bash Brothers."
MLBPLAYERS.com: Did you try to trade cards?
Gimenez: I never did, but everybody tried to trade with me when I was in grade school. I figured that those were mine. I had bought them with my money, and I was proud of them. So, unless a sweet deal came along, I wasn't going to jump on it. I was a conservative trader.
MLBPLAYERS.com: When did you first appear on a card?
Gimenez: It was with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in Ohio, my Rookie League team in 2004. I had a bunch of hair then. Now it's a necessity I shave my head.
My favorite card was a pretty sweet one of me hitting the ball with the Lake County (Ohio) Captains. I'm waiting for my first big league card.
-- Red Line Editorial
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