Random Topps Card of the Day: 1991 Topps #317 Mike Fitzgerald

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, June 29, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1991 Topps #317.
• Player Name, position, team: Mike Fitzgerald, catcher, Montréal Expos.
• Major League Debut: September 13, 1983.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1990 stats (Expos): 111 G, 313 AB, 36 R, 76 H, 18 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 41 RBI, 8 SB, .393 SLG, 60 BB, 60 SO, .243 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Mets #6th, June 1978. Traded by the Mets to the Expos 12/10/1984. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Fitzgerald's ninth Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only). The 1991 Topps set saw the return of the horizontally oriented player cards since 1974. Yes, the sets between '74 and '91 had horizontal cards, but those were normally reserved for league leader cards, or MVP cards (see 1975 Topps), or Father & Son cards, or whatever else Topps would think of. But horizontal player cards? Not when I first started collecting. Horizontally oriented player cards work when the picture used is an action shot (see 1991 Topps Carlton Fisk for example). Headshots...not so much. Fitzgerald, who was part of the trade that sent HOF Gary Carter to the Mets, became lés Expos' primary catcher. And while he certainly didn't make Expos fans forget Carter completely, he was a good defensive backstop and could certainly handle a pitching staff with the best of them. Look how big the glove is that he's using.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 12 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1993 Topps #213. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1993 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama