A peek inside Cooper Hummel's elite autograph collection

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Like many kids, Cooper Hummel collected baseball cards while growing up in Oregon. There are few better rushes for a boy than opening a pack of mint-condition cards and seeing if your favorite players are in there.

Hummel, who grew up a Mariners fan, wound up taking some of his baseball cards to games in Seattle to get autographs. A fire was lit, and a passion took hold.

¡°I thought, ¡®Oh, this is pretty cool!¡¯¡± Hummel said. ¡°I went to some Oregon State baseball games growing up and guys were signing them there, and I decided when I went to Mariners games to get some nice balls and have some guys sign them. It¡¯s kind of how it started.¡±

Hummel, an infielder-outfielder for the Astros who spent most of last year in Triple-A Sugar Land, has an autograph collection of more than 100 former players, ranging from Hall of Famers to players he grew up cheering for and some of his teammates. Most of the autographs are on baseballs, but he has signed jerseys and bats and plans to get more.

¡°Some are old teammates, some are guys I got when I was 10, 12, 14 years old, going to Mariners games,¡± he said.

The first autograph Hummel got was of Rich Aurilia at what was then called Safeco Field in Seattle.

¡°I was yelling at him over the visitor¡¯s dugout, and he was super attentive and came over and signed it right away,¡± Hummel said. ¡°I got Chone Figgins a couple of times. Those were the first couple and it just kind of went from there. I started taking four or five baseballs to games. I took a bat a few times, got Russell Branyan to sign one.¡±

Among the names Hummel has on baseballs are Hall of Famers Yogi Berra, Jim Thome, Edgar Martinez, Joe Morgan, Willie Mays, Alan Trammell, Johnny Bench, Ichiro Suzuki and Joe Torre. He¡¯s hoping to get Astros Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, both of whom are in camp. He also has Bryce Harper, Albert Pujols and Buster Posey, among others.

¡°I grew up watching Biggio and Bagwell,¡± he said. ¡°Having guys like that would be really cool. Meeting Reggie Jackson last year, that was the first thing I said: ¡®I¡¯ve got to have him sign a baseball for me.¡¯ I got a list. If I see someone, I tend to try to do it.¡±

Hummel¡¯s dad won the Berra ball at an auction, and a friend of his father-in-law gave him the Mays ball, which has somewhat yellowed.

¡°I¡¯ve bought a few at auction, a couple were gifts from friends,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve never sent anything to anyone, but during games, talking to Yadier Molina, I got him to sign some stuff.¡±

During Hummel¡¯s rookie season with the D-backs in 2022, in a game against the Cardinals, he strolled to home plate and struck up a conversation with Molina. Hummel has 18 career appearances at catcher in his career and admired the St. Louis backstop.

¡°I really wanted to get his autograph,¡± he said. ¡°I texted my friend Mario [Feliciano, a former player and friend of Molina] and he was like, ¡®Yeah, just ask him and he¡¯ll sign. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡¯ I come up my first at-bat and I kind of schmooze Yadi, ¡®Hey, congrats on a great career. I know you¡¯re retiring after this year. You¡¯re one of my favorite catchers growing up.¡¯ We didn¡¯t have the 15-second rule back then.¡±

Hummel kept the banter going with Molina for a couple of at-bats and eventually got a personalized bat and jersey, which are on display at his house.

These days, Hummel tries to sign autographs for fans as much as he can, whether it¡¯s through the mail or stopping on the back fields at Spring Training.

¡°You never know who you¡¯re going to impact,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re going to have a 10-year-old that if you go over and sign for, they¡¯re either going to fall in love with the game or want to start collecting, or different things like that. I know the impact of guys that signed for me or didn¡¯t sign for me. I very vividly remember Hideki Matsui not signing for me. Things like that stick out to you when you¡¯re younger and it can make you love the game or hate the game or love players or hate players. It¡¯s really important to me to make sure I sign for guys, especially kids that want an autograph.¡±