Random Topps Card of the Day: 1997 Topps #60 Andy Pettitte

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, January 6, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1997 Topps #60.
• Player Name, position, team: Andy Pettitte, pitcher, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: April 29, 1995.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1996 stats (Yankees): 35 G, 221 IP, 21-8, 105 R, 95 ER, 162 SO, 72 BB, 34 GS, 2 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 3.87 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Yankees #22nd, June 1990. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 19. This is his third Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Andy, the youngest pitcher to start on Opening Day for the franchise since before it was renamed the Yankees, won his 1996 debut - and many more. Eventually, he became the first Yankee 20-game winner since fellow left-handed Louisianan Ron Guidry did it in 1985."
• Commentary: Well the kids' vacation got a bit extended thanks to the polar vortex, or whatever they're calling it, that has placed an icy grip in our area. It's so cold, not even raising the heat in the house is going to matter much. If you don't have to go out today, stay home. When this card came out, Andrew Eugene Pettitte was just coming off the year of a lifetime. Opening Day starter a year ago, 21-game winner, World Series Champion. The Yankees had finally returned to the promised land, and not even they knew how great they were going to become. And Pettitte, along with other young players that the Yankees had stockpiled, were finally going to show the world what they could do. For his part, Pettitte's 1997 numbers were just as good, if not better, than the year prior. He did go 18-7, but also had a 2.88 ERA, struck out 166 of the 986 batters he faced, a 1.240 WHIP, and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting. However, Pettitte could not convert his regular season success into postseason victories that year, going 0-2 in his two starts against the Indians (the Indians would eventually win the American League Pennant). But as we all would know, this would not be the last we'd hear from the Yankees.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.10-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 63 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1996 Topps #325. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama