Saturday, February 27, 2010

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1985 Topps #30 Cal Ripken

We're giving the Topps Card Randomizer the week off so we can highlight seven cards redeemed from Topps' Million Card Giveaway. Introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, February 27, 2010:


  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1985 Topps #30.
  • Player Name, position, team: Cal Ripken, shortstop, Baltimore Orioles.
  • Major League Debut: August 10, 1981.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1984 stats (Orioles): 162 G, 641 AB, 103 R, 195 H, 37 2B, 7 3B, 27 HR, 86 RBI, 2 SB, .510 SLG, 71 BB, 88 SO, .304 AVG.
  • Any special information about player: Drafted by Orioles #2nd, June 1978. Bats: right, Throws: right.
  • Any special information about this specific card: Ripken's fifth Topps card (this total includes his shared rookie card in the 1982 Topps set, not including his All-Star, team leader cards). The card looks great, with a young Ripken swinging for the fences, plus the appropriate black, orange, and white banner and name plate. The Orioles logo on the right of the team name. It's one of the few times that the design works well with the picture on the card. As this is Ripken's fourth year in the majors, there no longer are minor league stats on the back. A blurb below the stats talks about how Cal played Little League, Babe Ruth, and Mickey Mantle League Baseball. He also played soccer. Not on the blurb was that Cal also plays basketball. There is a baseball trivia quiz question on the back, as with many of the other 1985 player's cards. The question? "The only relief pitcher to win both Cy Young and MVP in one year? Answer: The answer. What's funny is that this card came out the year AFTER this player became the second relief pitcher to win both Cy Young and MVP in one year (POSSIBLE UNCORRECTED ERROR CARD???) And this pitcher can claim to be the third to do so (although he won it about eight years later...thanks for the correction sg488).
  • Lo-Hi Beckett value: $1.00-$2.50.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 113 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: 1967 Topps #340. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

1 comment:

sg488 said...

Hmmmmmmmmm..........relief pitcher to win Cy Young/MVP in the same season? What about 1984 Detroit Tigers Willie Hernandez?