Random Topps Card of the Day: 1980 Topps #48 Rick Miller

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, January 11, 2012: 

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1980 Topps #48.
• Player Name, position, team: Rick Miller, outfielder, California Angels.
• Major League Debut: September 4, 1971.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1979 stats (Angels): 120 G, 427 AB, 60 R, 125 H, 15 2B, 5 3B, 2 HR, 28 RBI, .293 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Red Sox, #2nd, June 1969. Signed with the Angels as a Free Agent 12/21/1977. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 15. This is his eighth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Hit Grand-Slammer to propel the Angels to win vs. Twins, 04/12/1978. Earned Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence during 1978 season."
• Commentary: The 1980 Topps set is the last set Topps produced before Donruss and Fleer joined the fray and began the modern card era. Topps cards from 1980 shared similar design elements from its effort from 1974, including the rounded oval picture frame, banners indicating team name and position, and the player's name outside of the border. Rick Miller played for the Angels for three seasons (1978-1980), hitting a decent .276 with five home runs and 103 rbi's. Although decent with the bat, he was very good defensively, winning a Gold Glove in 1978. He was traded back to the Red Sox after the 1980 season and finished his career after the 1986 season with them. One quick note: the back of his 1980 card includes a cartoon mentioning that "Rick married the sister of Red Sox' catcher Carlton Fisk."
• Beckett value: $0.10-$0.25.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 12 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1999 Topps Traded and Rookies #T118. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama