Random Topps Card of the Day: 2004 Topps Traded and Rookies #T65 Miguel Batista

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, March 31, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2004 Topps Traded and Rookies #T65.
• Player Name, position, team: Miguel Batista, pitcher, Toronto Blue Jays.
• Major League Debut: April 11, 1992.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2003 stats (Diamondbacks): 36 G, 193.1 IP, 10-9, 85 R, 76 ER, 142 SO, 60 BB, 29 GS, 2 CG, 1 SHO, 0 SV, 1.33 WHIP, 3.54 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Expos as Free Agent 02/29/1988. Signed with the Blue Jays as a Free Agent 12/12/2003. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Batista's sixth regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only). Okay, it's rant time again. He pitched 56 games for the Expos in 1998, and Topps didn't even include the guy in the 1999 set??! Was it because he was a swingman (starter/reliever) for the Expos??! Is that why??! The man deserved a card. I'm surprised that they didn't make a card for him when he played for the Cubs the year before. Okay, rant over. After three productive years with the Diamondbacks (including a World Series ring in 2001), Batista signed on with the Blue Jays to get more work in as a starter. The blurb on the back below the stats reads in verbatim, "Hard-luck Miguel was winless in his first seven Blue Jays starts but, on June 9, he blanked the Dodgers, 4-0, on four hits." The sentence is very misleading. Why? Because it would appear that the man's eighth start was that 4-0 shutout in June. That's how I read it before I actually looked it up. He truly did not win his first seven starts, but he didn't wind up 0-7 (as I was initially led to believe). He was 0-3 when he beat the White Sox in May for his first win. After the game against the Dodgers, he was 4-4. Anyway, if I haven't said before, let me say it now that I absolutely love the 2004 Topps design. I don't know how they were able to pull of the silhouette on the bottom left of all the player cards to match the large picture. It's genius. Even down to the wrinkles on his uniform...that's fantastic. The team name in big bold silver letters makes for easy sorting. While the picture isn't as large as other designs in the decade, the silhouette below makes up for it.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 13 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2002 Topps Traded and Rookies #220. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama