1982 jorge orta

in december of 1981, the dodgers sent a disgruntled rick sutcliffe (along with jack perconte - the 'other guy' on fernando and mike scioscia's 1981 rookie card) to the indians in exchange for three players, including jorge orta. here is orta's 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the dodgers wound up flipping orta to the mets a year later for pat zachry, but first, he spent the 1982 season in la as a left handed bat off the bench. as a pinch hitter, orta was 9 for 60 (.150) with a home run and 5 rbi. that pinch hit home run turned out to be a game winner, as the dodgers beat the expos 2-1. orta, however, is best known for a different pinch hitting appearance, one that came in game 6 of the 1985 world series. pinch hitting for royals' darryl motley, orta led off the ninth inning with a grounder to jack clark and, according to umpire don denkinger, beat the throw to todd worrell covering first. orta was eventually forced out at third in the inning, but the royals scored two runs to force a seventh game.

voici à vous, 1982 jorge orta!

1984 jorge orta

jorge orta was traded from the blue jays to the royals in december of 1983.  here is his 1984 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

a native of mazatlan mexico (happy cinco de mayo, by the way), orta hit .298 with 120 hits for the al west champions in 1984.  unfortunately, he managed just one hit, an rbi triple, in 10 at bats during the 1984 alcs against the eventual world champion detroit tigers.  orta and the royals made it back to the postseason in 1985, and while he was hitless in 5 at bats in the alcs, the royals made it to the world series.  orta's lone fall classic hit (he had just 3 at bats) came in game 6 when he was ruled to have beaten todd worrell to the bag on a ball hit to jack clark, the cardinals' first baseman leading off the 9th inning.  although orta was eventually forced out at third, the royals won the game and then the series the following day.

voici à vous, 1984 jorge orta!