Random Topps Card of the Day: 1987 Topps #432 Jim Slaton

We reset the Topps Card Randomizer to come up with seven new cards to present for this week. Introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, July 26, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1987 Topps #432.
• Player Name, position, team: Jim Slaton, pitcher, Detroit Tigers.
• Major League Debut: April 14, 1971.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1986 stats (Tigers): 22 G, 40 IP, 0-0, 18 R, 18 ER, 12 SO, 11 BB, 0 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 2 SV, 4.05 ERA.
• Any special information about players: Drafted by the Pilots #15th, June 1969. Signed with the Tigers as a Free Agent 07/14/1986. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Slaton's seventeenth regular (and final) total includes regular and traded cards only). What else can be said about the 1987 Topps set that has not already been said? It was the first Topps product I was introduced to, and it seems to have been the starting point for many collectors. Sadly, Topps made so much of it, that it can be said that you can actually build a house using the cards, and not because of the wood-grained design. There was just too much of it. Topps even sold them as complete sets in uncut sheets. But still, you wouldn't see use of the team logo incorporated into the design on a Topps card (not counting team-trademarked lettering) until 1996. Slaton holds a unique distinction as a player drafted by the Seattle Pilots in 1969. In fact, of the 47 men who can claim to have been selected by the Pilots (not the Brewers), only nine men made it to the majors (key names include Gorman Thomas, Duane Kuiper, and Rick Auerbach, who was drafted as a pitcher before converting to an infielder). Now, the baseball card says that he was selected in the 17th round of the 1969 draft, but according to baseball-reference, he was selected in the 15th round (the 17th round pick was outfielder Bob Coluccio), making this card an ERROR CARD!!! As 1986 was the final year of Slaton's long career, the final career stats on the back are complete. He was a pitching coach to a number of minor league teams, and even coached in the majors with the Mariners and the Dodgers.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 13 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2007 Topps #263. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. See you then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama