1977 rick rhoden

rick rhoden's facsimilie autograph took a trip on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

rhoden followed up his 12 win all-star season in 1976 with a 16 win campaign.  he pitched 4 complete games, including a shutout, and also hit 3 home runs along the way.  in the postseason, rhoden threw 4+ key scoreless innings against the phillies in game 3 of the nlcs - the 'black friday' game.  he also pitched well in relief during game 4 of the world series, although the results were not the same as the yankees won out.

voici à vous, 1977 rick rhoden!

1987 rick rhoden

rick rhoden was traded in november of 1986 from the pirates to the yankees in the deal that sent future cy young award winner doug drabek to pittsburgh.  here's his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i loved these kinds of deals in hindsight - mcgriff to the blue jays, buhner to the mariners, and drabek to the pirates - the yankees got the short end of the stick. that's not to say i thought rhoden was bad - he was a favorite dodger of mine and he won 16 games for the yankees in 1987 - but clearly the yankees probably would have fared better had they kept drabek in their system.

rhoden followed up his 16 win season with a 12-12 effort in 1988. his first start that year was a 3-hit shutout against the twins. after the season, he was traded back to the national league in a 3-for-1 deal with the astros.

voici à vous, 1987 rick rhoden!