Friday, March 5, 2010

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1984 Topps #620 Al Oliver

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, March 5, 2010:


  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1984 Topps #620.
  • Player Name, position, team: Al Oliver, first baseman, MontrĂ©al Expos.
  • Major League Debut: September 23, 1968.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1983 stats (Expos): 157 G, 644 AB, 70 R, 184 H, 38 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 84 RBI, 1 SB, .410 SLG, 44 BB, 44 SO, .300 AVG.
  • Any special information about player: Signed by the Pirates as a Free Agent 06/13/1964. Traded by the Rangers to the Expos 03/31/1982. Bats: left, Throws: left.
  • Any special information about this specific card: Oliver's sixteenth regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded Topps cards, not including league leaders, in action, or super veterans cards). The 1984 Topps set deviated from the norm by including both a regular action photo and a headshot in a smaller frame (akin to card designs from 1963, 1983, and again in 2003...see a pattern???) The design was also one of the few horrendously screwed up by Topps in it's 2006 Topps Walmart set (and of all the players used, they picked Ryno for the 1984 design). I digress. As Oliver was heading towards the end of his career, he still showed that he could still hit and can be a productive member of the team. As he played for many years, his stats on the back of the card are very hard to read (unless you have a magnifying glass). Doesn't help that the color of the text is as blue as the border on the back. There is room, somehow, for a couple of quick notes on Oliver's 1983 season. On Opening Day, 1983, he hit two home runs, which accounted for all the scoring needed to beat the Cubs 3-0. On June 5, he went 4-5 in a game against the Giants.
  • Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.08-$0.25.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 33 cards.
Tomorrow's card will be: 1988 Topps #119. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Join us then, won't you?

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

No comments: