Former NL MVP Kevin Mitchell Talks Emotional Reaction to Seeing Cards, Admiring Lawrence Taylor, Jersey Collection
Kevin Mitchell was born in San Diego, California where he was raised by his grandmother from a young age. He preferred football and boxing, but grandma knew best and directed him to the diamond, even taking him to many of his Little League games.
After attending Clairemont High School, a friend took him to a New York Mets sponsored tryout in San Diego where he excelled, teeing off on Major League caliber pitching.
The Mets signed him to a minor league free agent deal where he rapidly ascended through the organization and made this debut for the team in 1986. He was a valuable piece of the Mets World Series championship team that season, contributing throughout the playoffs and coming up clutch in Game 6 of the Fall Classic.
His career year came in 1989 when he won National League MVP honors by leading the league in home runs with 47 and driving in 125. He sparked the Giants playoff run and eventual World Series berth.
Mitchell played 13 big league seasons. After battling through various injuries that robbed him of much his prime, he retired after the 1998 season. He racked up 1,000 hits, nearly 250 homers and over 700 RBI over the course of his career.
In this exclusive interview with the former NL MVP, we talk about Kevin seeing himself on a baseball card for the first time, admiring the New York Giants iconic linebacker Lawrence Taylor and the We Are Family Pittsburgh Pirates, and all of the jerseys in his collection.
Tony Reid-You have nearly 1,000 trading cards in the database. Your first cards were produced in 1982 when you played for the Lynchburg Mets. Do you remember the first time you saw your own baseball card?
Kevin Mitchell- I saw the Tidewater cards with my Tides uniform on. I never saw the Lynchburg cards. It was a joy for me to see something like that. It made me feel good. I told my friends and family I am on a card. I felt good about that!
TR-Many of the athletes I talk to tell me that seeing themselves on a card for the first time is one of those “pinch me” or “I made it” moments. Did you feel the same way?
KM-I had to slap myself. Is this real? Is this live or is this Memorex? I was really thankful. I was teary eyed when I saw it.
TR-Your official rookie cards hit the market in 1986 update sets and in the 1987 sets. Do you remember seeing your official rookie card for the first time?
KM-I didn’t realize I had that many cards. That is a joy, man. That is a surprise to me. After all of these years that I haven’t been playing the game, that is a real big surprise. When I saw my big league card, that rookie card, I was a young Thunder Cat. It’s always a joy to look at the backs of the cards and see your stats and quotes and all that information as a rookie.
TR-When was the first time a fan approached you for an autograph?
KM- That’s scary, man. You have people coming up asking for autographs. As a little kid, I was never an autograph guy. It was a big surprise to me. Even to this day, you don’t want it to run out. You are thankful that people are still asking for your autograph. I am at the Indian Motorcycle shop in El Cajon in San Diego. I got people coming up to me and asking for an autograph. Well, I have pictures in the car with me. I always bring pictures with me. I am sitting here talking to the guys now. He called his wife asking if she knew a Kevin Mitchell who played baseball. She said ‘Yeah. Get his autograph!’ You don’t have to do that on a piece of paper. I have pictures in the car.
TR-Do you get fan mail sent to you?
KM-I get stuff sent to my house. I don’t know how they find my address. I send it back to them. I don’t like stuff coming to my house. Once you start accepting that it will keep coming. There are ways to get my autograph. I don’t have a problem signing an autograph for anybody. As a baseball player, I have sat out in front of the stadium at Candlestick and sign autographs until it is over with.
TR-Growing up in Southern California, what players inspired you most
KM-I loved football. I loved Lawrence Taylor. I finally got to meet him a couple of years ago. It was a blessing. I loved Bill Matlock and the “We are Family Pittsburgh Pirates”. I liked Willie Stargell and that whole team. Watching that team as a kid was amazing. I love me some Pittsburgh Pirates because of that era. I loved The Cobra, Dave Parker. I heard he is going through an illness now. My prayers are with him. Hopefully he is doing well. I tried to reach out him on Facebook. Hopefully he accepts me. As a fan, which I am a fan, to anybody that is playing this game of baseball. The game is hard enough as it is. I still l don’t have any enemies in the game. I still love the players that are participating between the white lines.
TR-The card companies would send players boxes of their own cards each year. Did you manage to hang on to any of those boxes over the years?
KM-I have cards. I have plenty of cards. I give them out to the kids. I still work with a bunch of kids and I reward them for the things they do with cards and autographs.
TR-You are a NL MVP, a two time NL All Star and a World Series champion. Do you have memorabilia stored or displayed at your house?
KM- I do. As a matter of fact, I just got a Barry Sanders jersey. I do a lot of promotional stuff for golf tournaments, so I get a lot of memorabilia from friends of mine and from players. I had a big golf tournament last Monday in Temecula. It was called Project Touch. We raise money for the homeless. You can go online and look for Project Touch
TR-The jersey swap is a relatively new sports tradition. If you could go back to your great career who would you want to swap jerseys with?
KM-I would say big Mo Vaughn. I enjoyed playing with him. I have pretty much everything else wrapped up. I got Gary Sheffield. I got Will Clark’s jersey. I have Matt Williams. I am a diehard Giant.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms