Random Topps Card of the Day: 1991 Topps #712 Ricky Jordan

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, June 4, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1991 Topps #712.
• Player Name, position, team: Ricky Jordan, first baseman, Philadelphia Phillies.
• Major League Debut: July 17, 1988.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1990 stats (Scranton Wilkes-Barnes-AAA): 27 G, 104 AB, 8 R, 29 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 0 SB, .346 SLG, 5 BB, 18 SO, .279 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Phillies #1st, June 1983. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Jordan's third regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only). In 1991, Topps celebrated it's 40th anniversary in the baseball card business. And to that end, the 1991 Topps design prominently features the "40 Years in Baseball" logo on the top left corner of every card in the base and traded set (why they didn't carry this over into the MLB debut set is beyond me...but that's not at issue here. It also saw the return of any semblance of an official team logo (although in name form only) as part of the design for the first time since 1987. Here is Ricky Jordan, 1b for the Phils, and his minor league stats happened to be the last line of stats on the back of his card. Because he doesn't have four lines of MLB stats yet (which is either four years with one team, or a combination of three years, one with two teams, or any combination of things that would lead to four separate lines of MLB statistics), his minor league stats show up. As the regular first baseman the year before, he hit a robust .285 with 12 home runs and 75 rbi's. The following year saw his production take a bit of a dive, which would explain his demotion to the Red Barons in 1990. The blurb on the back reads that Ricky "was signed as a 1st Round Draft selection of the Phillies, June 28, 1983 by Scout Eddie Bockman." Jordan continued his career with the Phils until 1994 before signing on with first the Angels for a year, then the Seattle Mariners the following season before calling it quits for good in 1997 after a year with the AA-Carolina Mudcats.
• Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 10 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1980 Topps #160. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama