Random Topps Card of the Day: 2004 Topps #54 Shane Halter

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, December 3, 2012:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2004 Topps #54.
• Player Name, position, team: Shane Halter, shortstop, Detroit Tigers.
• Major League Debut: April 6, 1997.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2003 stats (Tigers): 114 G, 360 AB, 33 R, 78 H, 5 2B, 2 3B, 12 HR, 30 RBI, 2 SB, 27 BB, 77 SO, .342 SLG, .611 OPS, .217 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Royals, #5th, June 1991. Claimed off waivers by the Tigers 03/13/2000. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 4. This is his fourth and final Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "In 2002, Shane asked to be traded, but he was so impressed with new manager Alan Trammell last season, that he made it a point to say how happy he was in Detroit. Though he would prefer a job that was his alone, he played as a 'third starter' in the middle infield, seeing regular action at second base and shortstop."
• Commentary: I have waxed poetic many times over about how much I love the 2004 Topps set.  From the easy-to-sort by team name header, to the fact that Topps returned to white borders for the first time since 1997, it's hard NOT to fall in love with this set (and the subsequent 2005 set...but that's for another RotC segment).  Did I mention that I also loved how Topps was able to incorporate a silhouette of the player's SAME POSE on the bottom left corner of every card??!  And then to include the player's uniform number?  How could you go wrong??!  Could you blame the guy for wanting to be traded out of Detroit?  The team went 43-119 that year, one of the worst seasons ever by a major league franchise.  But when your team decides to experiment with youth (Carlos Peña, Warren Morris, Ramon Santiago, and Eric Munson, the team's infielders from first to third, were 25, 29, 23, and 25 in age respectively), and you're 33, it's hard NOT to want to say "I want out."  But Trammell put him in action often enough all over the infield to play over 100 games for the fourth time in his career.  Not bad for a guy who's claim to fame was playing all nine positions in a major league ballgame (done on October 1, 2000).  Ironically, Halter did leave Detroit, albeit as a Free Agent.  He signed with the Anaheim Angels for the 2004 campaign, where he filled in at third for an injured Troy Glaus.  Halter himself saw limited duty for the Halos due to injuries and not-so-good offensive numbers in 2004, which wound up being his final major league season. After one year with the Cubs' minor league team in Iowa, he called it a career.  
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 4 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1995 Topps Traded and Rookies #50T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama