#316) HERM WINNINGHAM

Herm Winningham was selected by the New York Mets in the first round (ninth overall pick) of the free agent draft on January 13, 1981. He made his major league debut as a Met on September 1, 1984. Herm had been added as a roster expansion and entered the game at Shea Stadium replacing starting centerfielder, Mookie Wilson. He would appear in a total of 14 games to close the season. On December 10, 1984, Winningham was traded along with Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, and Floyd Youmans to the Montreal Expos in exchange for future Hall of Famer, Gary Carter.

Baseball was in the middle of a work stoppage during the spring of 1995. While the major leaguers were still on strike various players were signed to "replacement player" contracts. Those players for the New York Mets were, Jeff Edwards, Doug Sisk and Herm Winningham. None of these men were on the roster when the strike was eventually resolved and the major league players returned to start the season. So Herm did not see the three men on April 29, 1995 (each wearing t-shirts with "Greed" written on them) leap from the stands and toss more than $150 of $1 bills at the players in Shea Stadium that day.

Herm Winningham signed his card in the set for my friend, Bart during RedFest in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 5, 2009.