San Diego Padres pitcher Matt Strahm attended West Fargo High School in West Fargo, North Dakota but didn’t even consider himself the best pitcher on his high school staff.
He enrolled at Neosho County Community College and in 2012 he compiled a 9-3 record with the miniscule 1.48 ERA helping the Panthers reach the 2012 National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.
After two standout seasons with Neosho, he transferred to the University of Nebraska but there were much bigger opportunities in his near future. The Kansas City Royals selected the 6’2″ lefty in the 21st round of the 2012 MLB Draft.
Strahm signed with the Royals and spent 2012 in the lower levels of Kansas City’s minor league system. After missing most of the 2013 and 2014 seasons due to an arm injury and subsequent Tommy John surgery, Strahm excelled at Class A Ball and the Royals added him to their 40-man roster after the 2015 season to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
He began the 2016 season in Double A, putting up gaudy strikeout numbers through the end of July. When Royals closer Wade Davis went down, KC promoted Strahm to the major league roster.
After filling a major hole in the Royals bullpen in 2016, the team indicated that he would compete for a starting job in 2017. That never materialized and strong stayed in the bullpen for the duration of the 2017 season. Near the trade deadline, the Royals traded him to the Padres in a six player deal.
In 2018 Strahm posted a sparkling 2.05 era in 41 games and again had more strikeouts than innings pitched. He began the 2019 season as a starter before eventually being moved back to the bullpen. In the abbreviated season of 2020, he pitched mainly out of the bullpen and after post-season knee surgery, has now returned to pitch for the Padres.
Self admittedly having a slight obsession with sports cards, Strahm has a popular YouTube channel called Strahm’s Stadium Pulls where he showcases ballparks around the league while breaking boxes and opening packs along the way.
He also hosts The Card Life, a broadcast television show which runs on Sinclair regional Sports Networks mostly (Bally Sports networks) around the country. The show follows Strahm as he travels to various card shops, getting to know the owners, products and passions of those he meets.
I recently chatted with him about the origins of his love of the hobby, collecting his own cards, baseball fans, autograph seekers and much more.
Tony Reid– What is the most memorable fan interaction during your career to this point?
Matt Strahm– I have memorable, I have fun, I have negative, I have it all. Some of my better encounters have been with one of the season ticket holders down at the bullpen here in San Diego. Matthew is his name. He is so genuine. He never really asks for anything. I remember in 2018 we had the retro brown and yellow uniforms before we actually went brown and yellow. I gave him a pair of my brown and yellow signed cleats. Ever since then, he makes it a point to say ‘Hi’ every day now. That is definitely one of the better ones.
One of the worst ones was in San Diego as well but I was with the Royals. In 2017, Chris Young was nice enough to throw us a team gathering at the La Hoya Beach Club. We loaded up the bus at the Omni. We were driving out to the club. You get really familiar with who the autograph hounds are outside of the hotel. My golden rule is that I will never sign at the hotel. That is our place away from the field. It’s not something players want to see collectors doing, standing outside of our hotel and waiting for us to make a wrong move and be between them or something. It doesn’t feel right and it’s not a very fun fan interaction outside the hotel.
We are driving to this club and we get there. We get in the place. This is a private beach club. Up the beach comes one of these autograph hounds that has been all over us all week. He walks right up to Salvi (Salvador Perez) right in the middle of it and asked for his autograph. Salvi said ‘Are you kidding me? I am with my friends and family at a team event. This isn’t the time or place. ’ That was one of the worst ones. It felt like we were getting stalked for a few autographs. I would say that my fan interactions are at a 90/10 clip. Everything is usually good.
TR– For the kid on the other end of your signature that truly appreciates it, it has to be a special moment even for you as the professional athlete, right?
MS– No doubt. Being a kid who wanted autographs, it has come full circle. It’s really cool to see how excited kids get when you sign a ball. Realistically, half of the kids don’t know who this middle reliever is. It’s the fact that I am wearing a Padres jersey and I signed a ball for them. It’s cool to see the reaction and interact with the kids. Without the fans we don’t have baseball. We have to take the time for them.
TR-You were recently hunting your 2017 Topps Chrome rookie card. Being a collector yourself and growing up in the community, what was it like to see yourself on a card for the first time?
MS-That was definitely surreal. I remember my first card deal with Panini. I just got the cards and it was like ‘Wow!’ I used to go through boxes looking for other player’s cards and now I have one. Topps Chrome has always been my favorite product ever since it came out. It was unreal to be on there. Unfortunately, I can’t find my Superfractor or my of 5.
TR– Do you actively try to hold on to as many of your own cards as you can? What does the personal PC look like?
MS-I actually don’t just collect every card of mine. I just collect what I enjoy. I have my Bowman Chrome RCs. I have the Topps Chrome and really any Topps Series 1 or 2 that I am in. I’ll always snag a few of those. I also love the Topps Chrome Sapphire. I have two of my Rookie Sapphire numbered to five. Those are cool. I have a decent amount of my cards.
I got out of the hobby from 2006 to 2008. My brother got me back into it. Every time I would buy a Matt Strahm card he would be like ‘Dude, why are you wasting your money?’ (I’d say) What do you mean? This is my card! I don’t know what you mean by that. This is something I want!
He is a big entrepreneur and he looks at his cards like stocks. To each his own. I look at them as stories and/or art. He likes what I do because I open up the cards and set aside the little pile I want and then I give him the guts of the box and tell him to do whatever he wants with them.
TR–What cards sits atop the want list right now?
MS– A well centered 1961 Topps Roger Maris card. I really wouldn’t care about the grade. I just want it to look somewhat centered. We all know how that goes with the vintage cards.
TR- Printing can be an issue for card companies in their production process even now.
MS– Exactly. You talk about production, even in the newer products, I believe it was Bowman Draft this year, every colored parallel was off centered. It’s 2021. We have an electronic strike zone on every game on TV but we can’t figure out how to center a piece of paper in a machine to print it.
TR-You are a teammate of Fernando Tatis, Jr. one of the hottest players in all of baseball and a generational talent. Can you open the clubhouse door and let us know what he is like on a personal level?
MS– “Tati” is unbelievable. He is a great teammate and a great kid. Everything you see is genuine. He loves the game. It’s like watching a 12-year-old play baseball. He just happens to be 21 and freakishly talented.
I had them sign all of those (Topps Now) Slam Diego cards. I tracked down the of 10 parallel. I have the of 5, of 10, of 25 and of 49. I went up to have them all sign it again.
I had some of his rookie cards from blasters I opened. I asked him if he minds signing them again. I told him, just so he knows, they were mine. He said he didn’t care, he would sign them. I hate asking but at the same time I want to build my collection. I wanted everyone to know these are for me! I don’t sell them (laughs) Tati is like ‘I don’t care, Strahm. It’s fine. Do what you want.’ I’m like ‘Dude, I just need you to know this is it.’
He is an unbelievable human. He works hard at his craft. He shows up every day with a smile on his face. He is the life of the clubhouse. I am very fortunate to call him a teammate and get to witness what I’ve witnessed so far.
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