Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1996 Topps #71 Felipe Lira

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, April 21, 2010:



  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1996 Topps #71.
  • Player Name, position, team: Felipe Lira, pitcher, Detroit Tigers.
  • Major League Debut: April 27, 1995.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1995 stats (Tigers): 37 G, 146.1 IP, 9-13, 74 R, 70 ER, 89 SO, 56 BB, 22 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 1 SV, 4.31 ERA.
  • Any special information about player: Signed with the Tigers as a Free Agent 02/20/1990. Bats: right, Throws: right.
  • Any special information about this specific card: Lira's second regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only). If nothing else, I love designs that utilize a really large picture, and 1996 certainly counts as one of my favorites. The only hint of design other than the team logo somewhere on the card is the blue tinted name plate that runs below the picture (with the distorted headshot of the player from the same picture. Notice that with AL players, the border around the blue colored name plate is red, while the NL players have theirs in green. Notice that in the following year's design that the use of these two colors would be more prevalent. What does it say about your team when the pitcher who leads in wins and innings pitched had a record of 9-13??? The 90's and early 2000's was a dark time in Detroit Tigers history. Losing seasons, sometimes in the 100's, abounded then. Lira made the best of it though. The blurb on the back talks of Lira's 8.2 inning effort against the Texas Rangers, a 1-0 shutout (why they didn't let him finish the game is beyond me...) Even "Big Daddy" Cecil Fielder, in talking about Lira, "This kid is afraid of nothing and no one." Ringing endorsement from a man who's definitely been around the game for a while.
  • Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 3 cards.
Tomorrow's card will be: 1998 Topps #185. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama
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JayBee Anama