Random Topps Card of the Day: 1998 Topps #32 John Jaha

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, December 31, 2012:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1998 Topps #32.
• Player Name, position, team: John Jaha, first baseman, Milwaukee Brewers.
• Major League Debut: July 09, 1992.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1997 stats (Brewers):  46 G, 162 AB, 25 R, 40 H, 7 2B, 0 3B, 11 HR, 26 BB, 1 SB, .494 SLG, 25 BB, 40 SO, .247 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Brewers, #14th, June 1984. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his seventh Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "One can only speculate how much John's full-season presence might have meant to the Brewers valiant run at a wild card berth in 1997.  On pace to hit close to 40 home runs after two months, the burly first baseman was felled by a shoulder injury and never returned to action.  He was named Milwaukee's Most Valuable Player a year earlier when he led the club in homers, total bases, RBI, runs and walks."
• Commentary: The final Random Topps Card of the Day in 2012 features one of the Brewers better players before they switched over to the National League.  Although John Jaha was never an All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers (he did become one as an Athletic in 1999), when healthy, he was an offensive threat.  As the blurb stated, he was on pace for 40 home runs in 1997 before he was injured and out for the year.  In 1998, he missed significant time (end of April, all of May, and the second half of September) due to injury.  When he was on the field, it showed that he was still recovering from the shoulder injury the year before. He hit a paltry .208 in 73 games, with 7 home runs, and 38 rbi's in his only year as a National Leaguer.  After the 1998 season, he signed on with the Athletics. With Oakland, the slugger hit 35 home runs, drove home 111 rbi's, and hit .276 with OBP/SLG/OPS percentages of .414/.556/.970.  He was not only an All-Star, and an MVP candidate, but he was named the 1999 AL Comeback Player of the Year.  The fun didn't last though as for he was out for significant time the following two seasons due to injuries.  He retired from baseball on June 30, 2001.  
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 12 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1984 Topps #637. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama