Random Topps Card of the Day: 1998 Topps #18 Mike Bordick

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, August 24, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1993 Topps #695.
• Player Name, position, team: Mike Bordick, shortstop, Baltimore Orioles.
• Major League Debut: April 11, 1990.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1997 stats (Orioles): 153 G, 509 AB, 55 R, 120 H, 19 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR, 46 RBI, 0 SB, .318 SLG, 33 BB, 66 SO, .236 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Athletics as a Free Agent 07/10/1986. Signed with the Orioles as a Free Agent 12/12/1996. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Bordick's sixth regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only, not including his 1991 Topps '90 MLB Debut card). Did you happen to notice that the team logo of the players can be found in the box where their name and team affiliation? It's a nice change, considering that the last two years (and almost every year afterwards) the team logo is placed prominently somewhere on the card, incorporated onto the design. After patrolling the left side of the infield for the Oakland Athletics, Mike Bordick signed on with the Orioles, paving the way for future HOF Cal Ripken to move to the hot corner at Camden Yards. The O's in 1997 had seven players who hit 15 or more homers. Bordick, however, wasn't one of them. So why did Topps even mention this on the bio on the back??? He was a very reliable defensive player, and for the fifth straight year was among the AL's top shortstops in fielding percentage. Which if you think about is an incredible feat, considering the number of ground balls a shortstop has to field. How good was he defensively? He broke the record for consecutive errorless games for a shortstop (110) and chances (543). Bordick stayed with the Orioles until 2000 (his first year as an All-Star), before continuing his journey with the Mets, a return to the O's, and finally with the Blue Jays in before calling it a career. He spent the past few years as one of the Blue Jays roving minor league instructors, and in 2010, took the assignment of minor league offensive coordinator with the Orioles.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 14 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1997 Topps #191. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1997 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama