Random Topps Card of the Day: 1988 Topps #465 Paul Molitor

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, April 10, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1988 Topps #465.
• Player Name, position, team: Paul Molitor, designated hitter/third baseman, Milwaukee Brewers.
• Major League Debut: April 7, 1978.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1987 stats (Brewers): 118 G, 465 AB, 114 R, 164 H, 41 2B, 5 3B, 16 HR, 75 RBI, 45 SB, .566 SLG, 69 BB, 67 SO, .353 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Brewers #1st, June 1977. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Molitor's eleventh regular Topps card (total does not include any All-star or team leader cards). The 1988 Topps design brings back a lot of childhood memories for me as this was one of the first sets that I remember collecting when I first started oh so many years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday...okay, a bunch of yesterdays. Some neighborhood kids were sorting out baseball cards, I was curious, and they gave me a stack of cards from this particular set. No strings attached. Don't you wish we went back to those days??? Okay, I digress. It looks like Molitor here is getting ready in the dugout for a chance to get in the game. I'm not sure that this would have been his first pick for the picture on his card, but hey, he didn't make the decisions here. It's a really clear shot. And what's even cooler is that on almost every card, the player, blocks some part of the letters above the team name. And how cool is the idea of putting the team name IN THE PICTURE instead of outside of it (ala 1977 Topps, 2004 Topps, 2008 Topps), actually incorporating it in the picture. It's a nice touch. And for those who actually had the folders (you know the folders you'd use for school) that had the images of 1988 Topps cards? It really makes an impact. The back of the card reads that Paul went "79 for 228 for a .346 batting average and was named Midwest League MVP in 1977. As he was drafted in June of that year and only got to play in 68 games, the fact that he was named the League MVP is very impressive indeed.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 56 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: 1960 Topps #310. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama