St. Louis Cardinals sign Pat Neshek to minor league deal

The St. Louis Cardinals have added relief pitcher Pat Neshek to their arsenal by signing him to a minor league deal. The deal calls for an invite to the major league camp starting next week.
Sep 24, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics reliever Pat Neshek (47) delivers a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. The Angels defeated the Athletics 3-0. Image Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Neshek, the best autograph signer of active players in baseball, will be competing with pitcher Jason Motte as far as signing all of their fan mail. Not only that but Neshek is an autograph collector in his own right, having recently completed a 1985 Topps set. Check out his website here.

Major league and minor league players a like could take a lesson out of the Neshek playbook. There’s not an autograph request that he doesn’t turn down.

Neshek was drafted out of Butler University by the Minnesota Twins in the sixth round of the 2002 draft. He would go on to make his major league debut in 2006. He was selected off waivers in 2011 by the San Diego Padres. In 2012, he played with the Baltimore Orioles before being purchased by the Oakland Athletics.

In 226 games pitched over the last seven seasons, Neshek owns a 3.07 ERA with a win-loss record of 16-9. He finished 64 games but has no saves to his record.

Keith Olbermann praised the signing and tweeted some other thoughts about Neshek: