1992 carl willis

carl willis appeared in 4 games in the 1991 world series, but topps didn't see fit to include him in their 1992 set. o-pee-chee gave him a spot on their checklist, creating a checklist variation.  here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

now the o-pee-chee back:

here's the topps card willis replaced - craig biggio's all star card:

and the topps back:

willis bounced around a bit in the 80's before settling in with the twins in december of 1990. he won 8 games for the twins in 1991 and followed that up with 7 wins in 1992. he also saved a handful of games for the twinkies. his final appearances came in 1995 when he blew up and allowed 7 runs in two-thirds of an inning over 3 games. the twins released him in may, and he was picked up by the angels a month later, but never appeared in a game for them. in fact, it was the third time the angels had acquired willis in his career, yet they never used him in a major league game.

in 1984, willis was a member of the (eventual world champion) detroit tigers until that september when he was traded to the reds. he didn't miss out on a world championship in 1991, however. as i mentioned at the top of the post, he appeared in 4 of the games in the world series against the braves, including two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief (he did allow an inherited runner to score) in the 'kirby game' (game 6).

voici à vous, 1992 carl willis!