Saturday, January 5, 2013

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1977 Topps #86 Pat Zachry

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, January 05, 2012:


  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1977 Topps #86.
  • Player Name, position, team: Pat Zachry, pitcher, Cincinnati Reds.
  • Major League Debut: April 11, 1976.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1976 stats (Reds): 38 G, 204 IP, 14-7, 70 R, 62 ER, 143 SO, 83 BB, 2.74 ERA.
  • Any special information about player: Drafted by the Reds, #19th, June 1970.  Bats: right. Throws: right.
  • Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 11. This is his second Topps card.
  • Blurb on the back: "One of two rookies to earn spot in Reds' starting rotation in 1976, Pat was Earned Run Average champion of American Association, 1975."
  • Commentary: Look into the eyes of Pat Zachry on this card and you will see the glare that intimidated opposing batters in 1976. Yes, he was a rookie, but when you don't know what your facing, you only get nervous at the plate.  On the strength of the statistics above, Pat Zachry was voted the National League Rookie of the Year in 1976.  In the postseason, he won both Game 2 of the NLCS vs. the Phillies AND Game 3 of the World Series by the identical scores of 6-2.  So what does he do for an encore?  Unfortnately, the sophomore slump hit him hard, and after going 3-7 with a 5.04 ERA, the Reds traded him off to the New York Mets with three other players.  The man the Reds got in return?  Just some guy named Tom Seaver.  With the Mets, Zachry did much better, thanks to a 7-6 record and a 3.76 ERA, to go with 63 K's.  The following year, he made the NL All-Star Team. After a 6 season stay with the Mets, he was traded to the Dodgers for Jorge Orta.  Two seasons later, it was off to Philadelphia, where he traded for Al Oliver.  But after 10 games, Zachry was released, and his MLB career was over.  
  • Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.12-$0.30.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 11.
Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1963 Topps #216. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

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