Random Topps Card of the Day: 1954 Topps #47 Ellis Kinder

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, September 12, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1954 Topps #47.
• Player Name, position, team: Ellis Kinder, pitcher, Boston Red Sox.
• Major League Debut: April 30, 1946.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1953 stats (Red Sox): 69 G, 107 Innings, 10-6, .625 PCT, 84 Hits, 30 Runs, 22 E.R., 39 S.O., 38 Walks, 2.64 E.R.A. (yes, that's how the stat headers read).
• Any special information about player: Contract purchased by the Browns before the 1944 season. Traded by the Browns to the Red Sox 11/18/1947. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Kinder's third regular Topps card (total includes regular cards only). The 1954 Topps set saw the use of two different pictures on the same card for the very first time. If you also notice, the white border goes along three sides of the card, leaving the top border open (and also meaning that cards were printed upside down on the original sheet). The bio on the back mentions that Ellis was the top AL relief pitchers in 1953. The cartoon below the stats are fully detailed drawings that really express the drama that Kinder was going through before the card was produced. It seems that a back injury caused him to have a subpar 1952 season, and he actually thought that he should retire because of it. He decided to give it another chance though, and had one of his best years statistically in 1953.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $7.50-$15.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 0 cards.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card. And although the Baseball Card Cyber Museum has the reprint card from the 1954 Topps Archives set, I wanted to use a picture of the original card. However, thanks to Topps' Million Card Giveaway, and after figuring out how to find a card by it's numeric ID, I was able to snag the image you see above. For the record, the card in Topps' baseball card library is #926.

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 2000 Topps #391. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama