Random Topps Card of the Day: 2003 Topps Traded and Rookies #T13 Ray King

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, January 20, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2003 Topps Traded and Rookies #T13.
• Player Name, position, team: Ray King, pitcher, Atlanta Braves.
• Major League Debut: May 21, 1999.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2002 stats (Braves): 76 G, 65 IP, 3-2, 24 R, 22 ER, 50 SO, 24 BB, 0 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 3.05 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Reds #5th, June 1995. Traded by the Brewers to the Braves 12/16/2002. Bats: left, Throws: left.
• Any special information about this specific card: King's first regular Topps card. You'd think that after pitching in 82 ball games in 2001 and 76 the following year that this man would have been on a Topps card sooner. I guess when you're a middle reliever for the Milwaukee Brewers, you're not high on Topps' radar. This is why I wish Topps brought back the 792 card set, or why not make two series of 440 cards (that's 880 cards for the main set, enough for all 30 teams to have a full roster included, along with highlights, managers, key rookies, whatever, even the All-Star subsets). But no. We're stuck with 660-card sets for a long time to come, with no hope in sight. I guess if he played for the Yankees, he'd have gotten a card sooner. (Rant over). Anyway, 2003. The blue-bordered set. With borders just as easy to chip as the 2007 black beauties, the set design is reminiscent of the one seen 20 years prior in 1983 (and 40 years prior 1963), featuring a main picture (for the action shot), and a posed, "head shot" in a smaller, baseball field-shaped frame. Yes, I know that Topps used the same "2 pictures" concept in 1984 (and in a way, also in 1996), but that throws off the 20 year cycle I'm working with here. This means, if Topps is still in the business, that we won't see another set that looks similar to this until 2023!!! The blurb below the stats talks about how King thrived his first few months at "pitcher-friendly Turner Field," posting a 2.35 ERA over he first couple months in 2003. The final sentence reads, "Ray's out pitch is a sweeping slider, which lefty hitters either wave at or beat into the ground." That must be some pitch.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 4 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1987 Topps #165. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama