1992 john dopson

john dopson wasn't included in the 1992 topps set, but he did get a card in the 1992 o-pee-chee set:

here's the o-pee-chee back:

dopson had missed most of the 1990 and 1991 seasons due to injury, so it's understandable that topps would overlook him, even though they had produced cards for steve busby in 1978 (he missed the entire 1977 season) and tommy john in 1976 (out all of 1975 for his eponymous surgery) among others, but they had shown more success prior to injury than did dopson.  i believe the stats are incorrect, as baseball reference shows dopson appeared in just 4 games in 1990 which makes sense as dopson was a starter.

anyway, dopson was back in 1992 and he posted identical 7-11 records for the bosox that season and the next.  in 1994, he signed a free agent deal with the angels and went 1-4 for the halos.  he pitched in the minors for a bit after that, but injuries won out and dopson was forced to retire.

here's the card dopson bumped from the set, the 1992 topps cal ripken jr all-star card:

and its back:

in 1992, dopson faced ripken 9 times.  in those confrontations, ripken got two hits including a double (which is appropriate given the back of the topps card), but also struck out once.

voici à vous, 1992 john dopson!

1989 john dopson

john dopson was traded in december of 1988 from the expos to the red sox.  here's his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

dopson somehow managed to lose 11 games for the expos in 1988 despite a 3.04 era.  in boston, his era went up a bit 1989 - to 3.99 - but he earned 12 wins against just 8 losses.  he threw two complete games, both losses, in 28 starts.  in a june 13, 1989 start against the detroit tigers, dopson committed a major league record 4 balks in his 3.2 innings of work. 

voici à vous, 1989 john dopson!