1981 rick miller

rick miller returned to boston after a three year exile in anaheim in december of 1980.  here's his 1981 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

miller, who had signed with the angels as a free agent after the 1977 seasons, was traded as part of the rick burleson/carney lansford deal.  back in boston, miller took over in center for fred lynn (who was also traded by the red sox to the angels, although that deal took place about a month after the deal that brought miller back to beantown) and hit .291 in 1981.  after another stint in 1982 as the red sox' primary center fielder, miller gave way to tony armas and became a bench player for his final three big league seasons.

voici à vous, 1981 rick miller!

1980 freddie patek

freddie patek signed a free agent deal with the angels after the 1979 season.  here is his 1980 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i suppose i should refer to patek as 'diminutive' or 'scrappy'.  he was listed as 5'4" and 140 pounds, yet led the american league in triples in 1971 and steals in 1977.  supplanted by ul washington and his toothpick, patek joined the angels and split time at short with bert campaneris.  he managed to hit 3 home runs in one game against the red sox in 1980, two against dick drago and one off of jack billingham on june 20th at fenway.  the following year, the angels brought in rick burleson, and patek became a utility guy although he appeared in only 27 games.

voici à vous, 1980 freddie patek!

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!

1977 bucky dent

the white sox traded shortstop bucky dent to the yankees at the start of the 1977 season.  here's his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

in a deal the red sox would learn to loathe, dent was acquired for oscar gamble and lamarr hoyt.  he hit only .239 in his tenure in new york which spanned 5 and a half seasons, but came up big in that one game playoff against the bosox.  i, however, choose to despise him for his 7 rbi performance in the 1978 world series.  bucky freakin' dent, indeed.

voici à vous, 1977 bucky dent!

1992 gregg jefferies

the mets got tired of waiting for their 1988 topps gregg jefferies future star cards to appreciate in value and traded jefferies to the royals in december of 1991. here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

jefferies spent just one season in kansas city, hitting .285 and setting then career highs in hits and rbi. he would eclipse both of those highs the following year in saint louis where he put up a .342 average en route to the first of two all star campaigns.

voici à vous, 1992 gregg jefferies!

1991 jeff m robinson

even though topps didn't distinguish the two jeff robinsons from each other, i will do so to avoid any confusion.  yesterday's post was regarding jeff d robinson, and today's post will feature a different mediocre pitcher.

jeff m robinson was traded from the tigers to the orioles for mickey tettleton (straight up) in january of 1991. here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

robinson spent just one year with the orioles, going 4-9 in 21 appearances. in his career, he faced mickey tettleton 9 times and struck him out 3 of those times.  in all, tettleton was 1 for 7 against robinson.  1992 was robinson's final year in the majors (the same for the other jeff robinson), and he split the season between texas and pittsburgh.

side note time - tomorrow is jeff's birthday (happy 49th).  yesterday was the other jeff's birthday. very strange.

voici à vous, 1991 jeff m robinson!

1990 jeff d robinson

jeff d robinson was traded in december of 1989 from the pirates to the yankees. here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

back then, that was not a good deal for the player. the pirates were a better team and making annual postseason runs thanks to barry bonds and company. robinson appeared in 54 games for the yankees. he made 4 starts and had a complete game, although it was of the 8-inning variety. on the season, robinson was 3-6 with a 3.45 era in 88.2 innings.

on a side note, tomorrow is jeff's birthday (happy 50th), and i will feature a jeff robinson card, but it's of the other jeff robinson.
 
voici à vous, jeff d robinson!