Random Topps Card of the Day: 1976 Topps #35 Ed Figueroa

It's a brand new month, and we've reset the Topps Card Randomizer to come up with seven new cards to present for this week. Introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, February 01, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1979 Topps #35.
• Player Name, position, team: Ed Figueroa, pitcher, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: April 9, 1974.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1978 stats (Yankees): 35 G, 253 IP, 20-9, 96 R, 84 ER, 91 SO, 77 BB, 2.99 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Signed by Mets as a Free Agent 06/12/1966. Traded by the Angels to the Yankees 12/11/1975. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Figuroa's sixth regular Topps card (total includes both Topps and Topps Traded cards). His best year statistically, his 20-9 record was one of the unheralded reasons the New York Yankees punched their ticket to the World Series in 1978. The card design is "boring" to put it mildly. This is the only time we get to see the old Topps logo (the one where the curve of the "t" stretches all the way to the "s") on a regular Topps card. You'd think for a guy who won 20 games (or at least was on his way to winning 20 in 1978 when this snapshot was taken), he'd be smiling for this picture. Perhaps they gave him a preview of how boring the design was for the following year's cards and thought "why bother smiling?" On the back of the card, there is a history of all deals involving Ed Figueroa. Signed by the Mets, he was released by the team on 06/30/1968. He was signed by the Angels 02/21/1970. Traded to the Angels for pitcher Don Rose and infielder Bruce Christensen 07/06/1973. Traded to the Yankees with outfielder Mickey Rivers for outfielder Bobby Bonds 12/11/1975. Many of the players' cards also had a little section called "Baseball Dates" where the question of "What Happened" on a certain date in baseball history. In Figueroa's case, the date is 08/01/1903 (Eight Giants batters were Hit by Pitches in a doubleheader).
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.10-$0.25.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 8 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1976 Topps #492. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. See you then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama