Friday, January 6, 2012

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1983 Topps Traded #131T Pat Zachry

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, January 6, 2012:


  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1983 Topps Traded #131T.
  • Player Name, position, team: Pat Zachry, pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers.
  • Major League Debut: April 11, 1976.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1982 stats (Mets): 36 G, 137.2 IP, 6-9, 69 R, 62 ER, 69 SO, 57 BB, 1 GS, 2 CG, 0 SHO, 1 SV, 4.05 ERA
  • Any special information about player: Drafted by Reds #19th, June 1970. Traded by the Mets to the Dodgers 12/28/1982. Bats: right. Throws: right.
  • Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 11. This is his ninth Topps card.
  • Blurb on the back: "1982 Highlights: May 19: Pitched 4-2 Complete Game Victory Vs. Reds.  August 7:  Hurled Complete Game Win at Pittsburgh. August 15: Was Credited With 1st Big League Save."
  • Commentary: I miss the old days of Topps Traded card numbering.  You couldn't get a card number like #131T unless your last name began with a Z (or maybe the occasional Y or W...I don't think there's been a player with a last name that began with X...just confirmed...no player in MLB history whose last name started with X). Having card #131T also meant that this was the last player card before the checklist.  Now I know that the Randomizer is just warming up, so rejoice that it didn't pick a checklist today.  Pat Zachry is a name I really haven't heard of to be quite honest. His playing career ended in 1985, long before I took an interest in baseball card collecting.  But what a career.  Thanks  to a 14-7 record, 143 K's, and a dazzling 2.74 ERA, Zachry was named the NL Rookie of the Year in 1976 as a member of the Big Red Machine (helps that the Reds also made it to the World Series too). He was also an All-Star with the Mets in 1978.  But at the twilight of his career, he was traded to the Dodgers before the 1983 season.  As a member of the Dodgers' bullpen in 1983, Zachry went 6-1 with an ERA of 2.49, struck out 55 batters in 61.1 innings of work.
  • Beckett value: $0.08-$0.25.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 11 cards.
Tomorrow's card will be: 2004 Topps #484. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

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