Random Topps Card of the Day: 1992 Topps #13 Mike Scioscia

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, February 12, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1992 Topps #13.
• Player Name, position, team: Mike Scioscia, catcher, Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Major League Debut: April 20, 1980.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1991 stats (Dodgers): 119 G, 345 AB, 39 R, 91 H, 16 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 40 RBI, 4 SB, .391 SLG, 47 BB, 32 SO, .264 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Dodgers #1st, June 1976. Bats: left. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 22 (13 as a player, 9 as a manager). This is his twelfth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Mike once saw service as the Dodgers' Press Box Coach."
• Commentary: The large pictures. The borders actually going into the picture instead of on the edges. The fact that the borders are color coordinated with the team's actual colors. Is there nothing more to love about the 1992 Topps design??? I have absolutely no idea what a Press Box Coach is...let me look it up. Other than an example of a coach actually "coaching" from the press box, I'm not sure if that's how Scioscia got the gig. All I know is this. He was a great catcher for one Los Angeles team, and he is a great manager for the other one. By the time this card had come out, he was a two-time All-Star, a two-time World Series Champion. In 1992, what would be his final season with the Dodgers and as a player for that matter, he showed that he could still play well even though the Dodgers finished in the basement of the NL West. In 117 games, Scioscia hit for a .221 average with 3 home runs and 24 rbi's. He committed 9 errors in 724 chances for a .988 fielding average. There was a changing of the guard in the catchers ranks as Mike Piazza had made his MLB debut that year, and the Dodgers' brass pegged him to be the catcher of the future of the organization. Seeing this to be the case, Scioscia signed on with the San Diego Padres. However, due to injury, he never played for the team. As his playing career came to an end, he took the opportunity to continue being involved in the game by becoming a minor league coach for the Dodgers' organization. He rose up the ranks, eventually joining the major league team as a coach. He was hired by the Anaheim Angels to become their manager for the 2000 season, and under his leadership, the Angels won the 2002 World Series. He is presently the franchise's all-time managerial leader in wins, and the longest-tenured skipper in Major League Baseball (the dean of managers).
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 32.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2000 Topps #295. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 2000 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama