Random Topps Card of the Day: 2004 Topps Traded & Rookies #T38 Hee Seop Choi

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, July 17, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2004 Topps Traded & Rookies #T38.
• Player Name, position, team: Hee Seop Choi, first baseman, Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Major League Debut: September 3, 2002.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2003 stats (Cubs): 80 G, 202 AB, 31 R, 44 H, 17 2B, 0 3B, 8 HR, 28 RBI, 1 SB, 37 BB, 71 SO, .421 SLG, .771 OPS, .218 AVG.
• Any special information about players: Signed with the Cubs as a Free Agent 03/04/1999. Drafted by the Orioles #3rd, June 1975. Traded by the Marlins to the Dodgers 07/30/2004. Bats: left, Throws: left.
• Any special information about this specific card: Choi's fifth regular Topps (total includes regular and traded cards only). We already talked about the great design aspects of the 2004 Topps set earlier this week, so we'll talk about the player here. Hee Seop Choi is the first Korean-born position player in the major leagues. He was to be the future first baseman for the Cubs. However, thanks to a collision with Kerry Wood during a game with the Yankees (one that saw him taken off by an ambulance during the game), he was never the same. He was traded to the Marlins after the 2003 season for the man who would become the Cubs first baseman, one who would be the face of the franchise during the second half of the 2000's, Derrek Lee. Traded during the 2004 season (so there are no Topps cards of Choi as a Marlin) to the Dodgers, his new team staged "a special welcome for him in the teeming Koreatown section of Los Angeles." The team was on the road at the time, so this became his "homecoming" or sorts. He participated in the 2005 Home Run Derby, representing Korea (as the competition was by country). He was last seen in the minor league system of the Red Sox (2006), and has returned to Korea to play for the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization. After a long slump, he finally rebounded with career highs in every major offensive category.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 10 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: 1975 Topps #627. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama