Random Topps Card of the Day: 2003 Topps #120 Bernie Williams

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, January 10, 2012:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2003 Topps #120.
• Player Name, position, team: Bernie Williams, outfielder, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: July 7, 1991.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2002 stats (Yankees): 154 G, 612 AB, 102 R, 204 H, 37 2B, 2 3B, 19 HR, 102RBI, 8 SB, .493 SLG, 83 BB, 97 SO, .333 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Yankees as a Free Agent 09/13/1985. Bats: both. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 16. This is his thirteenth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "On May 18, 2002, Bernie homered from both sides in the same game for the eighth time in his career - most among active Major Leaguers." A quick note.  While the blurb on the back says that the game was on May 18, Baseball Reference indicates that the game happened on May 17.  On May 18, Williams went 2-4 but singled both times.  The link will bring you to the correct game. 
• Commentary: Following a 20-year pattern (1963, 1983) of utilizing a design with a large picture and a smaller picture in a circle (or in this case, a baseball diamond), Topps pays tribute to its past. Makes me wonder why they didn't do the same thing with the wood bordered designs (1962, 1987, should have been 2012...especially since the wood works so well with that design). Anyway, what a coincidence. I used this card in my montage of the 27 players on the HOF ballot in 2012, and now it gets its own "Random" treatment. Bernabe Williams, not to be confused with Bernard Williams (he's a player from 1970 - 1974 and yes, he has his own Topps cards), was a lifetime Yankee who won four World Series titles, was a part of five All-Star Game rosters, a four-time Gold Glove winner (see the card...he patrolled CF as well as anybody in the game), a Silver Slugger Winner, an AL batting champion (.339 in 1998), and perennial MVP candidate. The achievements are there, and Williams is definitely a worthy HOF candidate. In fact, of the 13 newcomers in this year's ballot, he is the only one who exceeded the 5% threshold and will be on the 2013 ballot. He is a classically trained guitarist, who has been nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009.
• Beckett value: $0.10-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 51 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: Wednesday: 1980 Topps #48. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1980 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama