Random Topps Card of the Day: 1995 Topps #176 Phil Plantier

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, August 7, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1995 Topps #176.
• Player Name, position, team: Phil Plantier, outfielder, San Diego Padres.
• Major League Debut: August 21, 1990.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1994 stats (Padres): 96 G, 341 AB, 44 R, 75 H, 21 2B, 0 3B, 18 HR, 41 RBI, 3 SB, .440 SLG, 36 BB, 91 SO, .220 AVG.
• Any special information about players: Drafted by the Red Sox #11th June, 1987. Traded by the Red Sox to the Padres 12/10/1992. Bats: left, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Plantier's sixth regular Topps (total includes regular and traded cards only, not including his 1991 MLB '90 Debut card). If there was one company that benefited from free advertising within the 1995 Topps cards, only because it's name showed up on almost every player's card, was Mitsubushi Electric Corporation. Thanks to Topps' use of their "Diamond Vision" (an attempt to make the color picture on the back of the card appear as if it was on a scoreboard), the diamond logo was seen on the back of Topps cards, along with the usual MLB Players and MLB Properties logos. Plantier was to be the future of the Red Sox. So much so, that Topps Magazine did an article on him and included him as a subject for their insert cards within the magazine. And after successful stints with the BoSox in both 1990 and 1991, he was given the opportunity to stick with the big club in the 1992 season. However, injuries and a lack of production doomed him that year, and Plantier was traded to the Padres before the end of the year. With the Padres, he became the 21st player in MLB history to hit 100 rbi's while playing for a team that lost 100 games. He hit 34 home runs that year, and with a slugging percentage of .509, he was the Padres' primary slugger. But injuries curtailed his season the following year, and at the end of the 1994 season, Plantier wound up part of an twelve-man trade, that saw him and five other Padres (including earlier card of the week subject Derek Bell) to the Astros for six players (an even exchange, even if a quarter of your roster has now changed). Something must have happened with Plantier as an Astro because he was sent BACK to the Padres during the 1995 season. He would see limited action with the Athletics, the Padres (for his third go around with the team), and the Cardinals before ending his big league career with the Blue Jays organization. He was named the hitting coach, and then manager of the AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.05-$0.15.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 9 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: 1971 Topps #30. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama