1985 dale berra

dale berra was acquired by the yankees in a december 1984 trade that also saw jay buhner head to the bronx in exchange for tim foli and steve kemp.  here's berra's 1985 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the timing of the trade meant that dale would play for his father, yogi, who was the yankees manager at the time.  he played well, too, hitting .343 as the yankees' starting shortstop until yogi was fired 16 games into the season.  with billy martin taking over, berra was benched in favor of bobby meachem, and his play suffered.  it is interesting to note that, according to baseball reference, berra wore his dad's (and bill dickey's) retired #8 at some point during his yankee tenure.  he also wore #2, which i'm sure will be retired sometime in the next decade.

voici à vous, 1985 dale berra!