1979 alan ashby

alan ashby began his 11-year run with the houston astros in november of 1978 when he was traded by the toronto blue jays. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

ashby would have his best seasons in houston where he was a mainstay behind the plate until his final season in 1989 when craig biggio took over at catcher. in the 1986 nlcs against the mets, ashby caught all 12 innings of game 5 (scoring the astros' lone run) and all 18 innings of game 6 the next day. he also had the honor of catching three no-hitters (ken forsch, nolan ryan, and mike scott) which tied a national league record, according to wikipedia, although they don't mention who the other catcher to do that is (jeff torborg caught sandy koufax's perfect game and bill singer's no-no, as well as nolan ryan's first - but that was in the american league).

voici à vous, 1979 alan ashby!