Random Topps Card of the Day: 1998 Topps #162 Mark Wohlers

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, January 15, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1998 Topps #162.
• Player Name, position, team: Mark Wohlers, pitcher, Atlanta Braves.
• Major League Debut: August 17, 1991.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1997 stats (Braves): 66 G, 49 AB, 6 R, 14 H, 2 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, .327 SLG, 2 BB, 9 SO, .286 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Brewers as a Free Agent 10/24/1970. Contract purchased by the Reds from the Cubs 07/04/1979. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 9. This is his seventh Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "It is said that behind every great starter is a great closer, so the heralded Atlanta rotation owes Mark a significant debt of gratitude for those gaudy won-loss records.  Wohlers, who throws as hard as any righthander in baseball, is the only Brave ever to record consecutive 30-save seasons.  His 1996 and '97 totals are the franchise's two highest ever."
• Commentary: I think that the player's name would have been a lot easier to read if it weren't for the colored background with the team logo behind it.  It makes the appearance way too busy and in many instances (for players on the Twins for example), it is hard to read the name of the player unless you're in a room with really good lighting.  Mark Wohlers was one of the best relievers in the National League in 1996 and 1997.  It certainly helped that his starting pitchers were among the best in the game, if not THE BEST (when you have guys like Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz, all in their prime, wins are the norm) ever.  He saved Game 6, which clinched the Braves' 1995 World Series Championship and was even an All-Star in 1996.  But pitching in 213 games the previous three seasons (plus 23 postseason games) took its toll on the Braves' closer, because he was shelved three times during the 1998 campaign due to wildness and ineffectiveness (some people believed that he had psychological issues that caused him to over-think the act of throwing the ball).  When on the field, he wasn't doing very well.  In 27 games, he went 0-1 with an ERA of 10.18, eight saves, and 22 strikeouts.  After two games with the Braves in 1999, he was traded to the Reds that year.  But while undergoing treatment for anxiety, he went in for Tommy John surgery, which ended his year.  He returned in 2000 to the Reds, setting up for closer Danny Graves.  He spent the next two seasons with Reds, Yankees and Indians, improving his walk ratio.  After having to endure operations to remove bone chips in his right elbow and a second Tommy John surgery, he chose not to return to baseball.   
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 12.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1988 Topps #275. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1988 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama