Random Topps Card of the Day: 1976 Topps #146 George Medich

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, March 30, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1976 Topps #146.
• Player Name, position, team: George Medich, pitcher, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: September 5, 1972.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1975 stats (Yankees): 35 G, 272 IP, 16-16, 115 R, 106 ER, 132 SO, 72 BB, 3.50 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Yankees #29th, June 1970. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 11. This is his fourth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: n/a.
• Commentary: If there was ever a really appropriate nickname bestowed upon a player, it was given to George Francis Medich. Living up to his last name, he really was a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh, so upon making it to professional baseball, there was only one nicknamte to give him, "Doc." And the good doctor delivered for four years as a New York Yankee, going a combined49-40 in 111 games (108 starts) with a cumulative 3.40 ERA, 431 strikeouts, and 1.276 WHIP. On December 11, 1975, Doc was traded to the Pirates for three players: Willie Randolph, Ken Brett, and Dock Ellis (Doc for a Dock). With the Bucs in 1976, when he wasn't continuing his studies at his alma mater, Ellis went 8-11 in 29 games (26 starts), with an ERA of 3.52 and 86 k's. He even saved the life of a 73-year old who was having a heart attack in the stands, providing CPRHis stay in the Steel City was brief as he was traded in 1977 to the Athletics in a nine-player deal. After 25 starts in which Doc went 10-6, Medich had an interesting couple of weeks in September. First, his contract was purchased by the Mariners on September 13. He started three games for the M's, won both decisions for Seattle. Only thirteen days later, he was placed on waivers, and the New York Mets picked him up. He signed on with the Rangers, spending four plus seasons in Texas before his contract was purchased by the Brewers in 1982. He retired as a player after the season soon afterwards. So back to his 1976 campaign. Because he was traded off before Topps could get to airbrush a Pirates cap on his picture, he was included in Topps' second "Traded" product. The back of his regular card features a cartoon sketch depicting one of baseball's famous plays: "On September 23, 1908, Fred Merkle's failure to touch 2nd base cost the NY Giants the National League Pennant."
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.15-$0.40.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 9.

Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1956 Topps #41. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama