1979 joe coleman

joe coleman signed a free agent deal with the giants prior to the 1979 season.  here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

coleman is the son of joe coleman, a pitcher with the philadelphia a's of the 1940's and 1950's.  he is also the father of current cubs pitcher, casey coleman, who made his major league debut in august of 2010.  it's too soon to know whether casey will also pitch for the a's organization like dad and grandpa.

back to our o-pee-chee variant, joe coleman had split his 1978 season between the a's and blue jays, winning all 5 of his decisions.  with the giants in 1979, coleman appeared in a scant 5 games, pitched just 3.2 innings and gave up 2 runs - both unearned.  this resulted in his release at the end of april, but he was quickly signed by the pirates.  in pittsburgh, coleman appeared in 10 games with no decisions.  he retired at the end of the season.

voici à vous, 1979 joe coleman!