- Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1997 Topps #282.
- Player Name, position, team: Darryl Strawberry, outfielder, New York Yankees.
- Major League Debut: May 6, 1983.
- Last Line of Statistics: 1996 stats (Yankees): 63 G, 202 AB, 35 R, 53 H, 13 2B, 0 3B, 11 HR, 36 RBI, 6 SB, .490 SLG, 31 BB, 55 SO, .262 BA.
- Any special information about player: Drafted by the Mets #1st, June 1980. Signed with the Yankees as a Free Agent 07/07/1996. Bats: left, Throws: left.
- Any special information about this specific card: Strawberry's fifteenth regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only, not including all-star, combo, team leader, league leader, and draft pick cards). The 1997 Topps design was unique in the way they glossed the cards. Since 1994, Topps protected their cards with a little protective coating, akin to what was being used on their Stadium Club cards, to prevent fading, among other things. And while it makes the cards look all shiny, if cards are left alone for a very long time in stacks, or pressed together in boxes, they tend to stick. A LOT!!! In 1997, they found a way to alleviate the problem. They did use the "gloss" on the pictures, but the borders were left alone (in a matte-type finishing). You could literally feel the difference on the card. Too bad they couldn't replicate it whenever they did reprints utilizing this design. All NL players had the green framed-borders, the AL players shared the red ones (probably to match the annual green and red books that came out before each season). Darryl, at this point, was many years removed from his All-Star glory days with the Mets. Injuries and off the field problems limited him to no more than 50 games a season between 1991 & 1995. In fact, it looked like the Yankees gave up on him too. In 1996, he was playing for the Northern Leauge (Independent) St. Paul Saints before the Yankees re-signed him just in time for the playoff push, helping the Yankees get to, and win, the World Series. The back of the card indicates that he, as of the time of printing, and could possibly still be (can anybody double check), "the only man to play for the four original New York franchises (Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Yankees). I'm sure in this age of free agency, there may have been others who can make this claim in the last 13 years. Maybe, maybe not.
- Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
- How many cards of this player do I own?: 50 cards.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
There are three players: Darryl Strawberry, Ricky Ledee and Jose Vizcaino who have played for all four original New York teams (Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Yankees).
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