Random Topps Card of the Day: 2007 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH97 Shawn Hill

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, March 9, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2007 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH97.
• Player Name, position, team: Shawn Hill, pitcher, Washington Nationals.
• Major League Debut: June 29, 2004.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2006 stats (Nationals): 6 G, 36.2 IP, 1-3, 20 R, 19 ER, 16 SO, 12 BB, 6 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 1.50 WHIP, 4.66 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Expos #6th, June 2000. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 3. This is his second Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Shawn, who had 2004 elbow surgery, was Washington's best pitcher in '07 until the pain returned. The most ERs he allowed in his first eight starts was three."
• Commentary: Is that facsimile signature at the bottom of Shawn Hill's card really how he signed his first contract with the Topps Company??? I can make the "S" and maybe the "h" in Shawn, but that's about it. Hey, it's a "Last of the Expos" sighting. Shawn Hill was among the players who were on the squad when the franchise was relocated from Montréal to our Nation's Capital for the 2005 campaign. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to play in that inaugural campaign due to an injury that knocked him out for the entire year. He did return to the team in 2006, after an 11 game rehab stint in the Nat's minor league system. Unfortunately, injuries again cut his season short. In 2007, he was tabbed as the team's number 2 starter. However, as the blurb dictates, he wound up pitching like the staff ace. In those first eight starts, Hill went 3-3, allowing 15 earned runs (for an ERA of 2.70) in 50 innings of work. He struck out 33 batters and had limited batters to a .204 average. However, in his last start, he took himself out of the game due to elbow soreness, and that landed him on the DL until mid-August. Upon his return, he returned to the staff, and kept the team in the games. He finished the year with a 4-5 record, a 3.42 ERA, 65 k's, and a 1.140 WHIP. After another trying year in 2008 that kept Shawn off the field for periods of time due to injury, the Nationals released him. He signed a minor league contract with the Padres in 2009, but in June had his second Tommy John surgery, and was released at the end of the season. In 2010, Hill signed another minor league contract with the Blue Jays, and pitched very well as he made his comeback. He was called up in September and went 1-2 in his decisions with a 2.62 ERA and 14 strikeouts. However, the Blue Jays released him at the end of the season. It was on to Florida for another minor league contract in 2011, but he sat the year out once the Marlins decided not to use him. In June of 2012, he returned to the Blue Jays and earned the victory in his lone appearance with the Jays. Heading into the 2013 campaign, Shawn Hill is now in the camp of the Detroit Tigers, hoping that his injury struggles are past him and hopes to make it onto Detroit's pitching staff at the end of spring training.
• Beckett value: $0.12-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 6 cards.

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: 1975 Topps #583. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama