Is this the end for Jordan Zimmermann?

You may have missed that in the middle of July, Tigers pitcher Jordan Zimmermann was placed on the 45-day disabled list with an arm strain. With the short season in 2020, Zimmermann is done for the year and following a 2019 season that saw him post a 1-13 record, this might be the end of Zimmermann's career, at least with the Tigers. His five-year, $110 million contract resulted in 25 wins for the Tigers and that could scare away future clubs from taking a chance on him. 

But, all that hasn't slowed my Zimmermann collecting. Jordan is from Auburndale, Wisc.,  a couple of counties over from my hometown of Eau Claire. He also pitched for the Eau Claire Express summer league team before joining the Nationals and is a legend around the team. I've picked up a few graded Bowman prospect cards recently, one PSA: 



...and one SGC. It must have been disappointing to get to the majors and your first major trading card spells your name incorrectly. You might not notice it at first but Zimmermann has two "N"s in it and his first Bowman card is missing that. 



I also recently picked up a pre-rookie card triple autograph with Jake Smolinski and Josh Smoker. Smolinski played for five seasons in the majors, most recently with the A's in 2018. Josh Smoker pitched for three seasons in the majors as a relief pitcher and was Zimmermann's teammate on the Tigers in 2018. Tri-Star got Zimmermann's name spelled correctly, by the way. 


The heaviest card I own is a solid "gold" Hank Aaron card produced by a fringe card maker in 1996 that could legitimately be used for a paper weight. These "No-Hitter" pin cards are also among the heaviest I've run into among the manufactured relic sets. Zimmermann threw a no-hitter on the last day of the 2014 season to give the Nationals their first no-no in franchise history since moving to Washington. 



Comments

Brett Alan said…
Funny you mention Zimmermann having his name misspelled on the oldest card you have of him. As a Mets fan, I also have a player I collect fairly heavily who is probably done with the team--Yoenis Céspedes, who recently opted out of the season, and is also on the last year of his deal. The oldest card I have of him is a Bowman relic from when he played on the Cuban national team in the WBC. It spells his first name "Yoennis".