1992 al leiter

al leiter was left out of the 1992 topps set, having pitched in just 3 games in 1991 and amassing a 27.00 era in 1.2 innings.  o-pee-chee chose to include the blue jays lefty in their set, creating this checklist variation

here's the o-pee-chee back:

it's hard to believe that leiter appeared in just 30 games in his first 6 seasons, winning only 7, and that he would appear in just 1 game in 1992.  over the next 12 seasons, though, he would appear in 388 games, and wind up with 162 career wins.

while there is no topps equivalent, the al leiter card did displace a card from the topps set - the denny martinez all star card.  here's the topps front:

and the topps back:

so, a blue jay replaces an expo in the o-pee-chee set.  on a completely different note, i think i would have written the text on the back of martinez's card a bit differently.  how about 'denny retired all 27 los angeles dodgers...'.  consecutive doesn't guarantee perfection.

voici à vous, 1992 al leiter!