Random Topps Card of the Day: 1980 Topps #519 Steve Nicosia

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, August 3, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1980 Topps #519.
• Player Name, position, team: Steve Nicosia, catcher, Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Major League Debut: July 8, 1978.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1979 stats (Pirates): 70 G, 191 AB, 22 R, 55 H, 16 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 13 RBI, .288 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Pirates #1st, June 1973. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Nicosia's first Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only). The 1980 set, already discussed before, makes good use of ribbons, for both the team name, and the player's position. The card above is Nicosia's rookie card, and shows not only his stops on his way to the bigs (Charleston, Sherbrooke, Salem, Shreveport, Charleston - different city and state, and Columbus), but also mentions that he "was the International League's 2nd leading hitter during the 1978 season (.322 batting average). It goes on to say that he was 7-19 for .368 average as a DH in the IL that year. The cartoon on the back shows a catcher with a big star on his chestplate, with the words "Steve was named to the Texas League All-Star Team at Shreveport, in 1975, and played host to the Texas League's stars. He would continue his career in the majors until 1985, playing for the Giants, Expos and Blue Jays.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.08-$0.25.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 7 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1989 Topps Traded #14T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1992 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama