Random Topps Card of the Day: 1981 Topps #16 Ron Davis

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, October 24, 2012:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1981 Topps #16.
• Player Name, position, team: Ron Davis, pitcher, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: July 29, 1978.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1980 stats (Yankees): 53 G, 131 IP, 9-3, 50 R, 43 ER, 65 SO, 32 BB, 0 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 7 SV, 2.95 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Cubs, #3rd, June 1976.  Traded by the Cubs to the Yankees 06/12/1978.  Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 9. This is his second Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Ron won 2 games vs. Red Sox in Yankees 4-game sweep of crucial series at Fenway Park, Sept., 1980."
• Commentary: The baseball cap set finally broke the string of actually boring designs from 1977 through 1980.  The wildly colored borders (that didn't really match the team colors...pink...really?)  Ron Davis had a wildly successful run out of the Yankees bullpen as the decades changed.  His 14-2, 2.86, 43-strikeout rookie season earned him a fourth place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.  He followed that up with a 9-3, 2.95, 65 K season to show he did not suffer the ills of a sophomore slump.  So how did he do in 1981?  He was named to the 1981 AL All-Star Team, finished with a 4-5 record (for an up to career record of 27-10 record), 2.71 ERA, 83 K's, and a WHIP of 0.986.  He was traded to the Twins as the 1982 season was going underway (the trade also included future Twins star Greg Gagne).  Not finding as much success with the Twins as he did in his time with the Yankees, he was traded to the Cubs during the 1986 season, and finished his career in the west coast with both the Dodgers and Giants.  Although out of baseball now (except for the camps he runs for youths in Arizona), he is living vicariously through the exploits of his son, first baseman Ike Davis of the New York Mets.
• Beckett value: $0.05-$0.15.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 10 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be 1993 Topps #424. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama