Random Topps Card of the Day: 1988 Topps #247 Thad Bosley

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, March 18, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1988 Topps #247.
• Player Name, position, team: Thad Bosley, designated hitter-outfielder, Kansas City Royals.
• Major League Debut: June 29, 1977.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1987 stats (Royals): 80 G, 140 AB, 13 R, 39 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 16 RBI, 0 SB, .357 SLG, 9 BB, 26 SO, .279 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Angels #4th, June 1974. Traded by the Cubs to the Royals 03/30/1987. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his tenth and final Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Thad led California League with .324 Average and led league's outfielders with .977 Percentage in 1976."
• Commentary: For a few years, Topps also kept track of a statistic called GW-RBI (Game Winning Run Batted In). Basically, you take a game, and whoever drove in the run that would eventually be the one that would count as the game winning run would be credited with this statistic. However, a game winning rbi could occur in the late innings of a game, or in the first inning of a 12-0 shutout. So while it is no longer a closely tabulated statistic (although there are people within baseball who do), teams do keep track of players who provided the winning hit. In Thaddis Bosley's case, he had three of them in 1987, and 13 during his career. Bosley was widely considered one of the best pinch-hitters of his era. For a majority of his career, he was travelling back and forth with the major league team and the minor league affiliate because he needed to get some playing time. His stays in the minors would be brief, mostly because he would tear the cover off the ball against AAA pitching (.303 with 24 home runs, 188 rbi's, and a .792 OPS in 405 games with AAA teams). When he was up in the majors, he would be primarily used off the bench as the first pinch hitter. That's not to say that he didn't get any playing time on the field, he most certainly did, especially in 1985 as he broke the 100 game appearances mark for the first and only time in his 14-year big league career. After stints with the Angels, White Sox, Brewers, and Mariners, Thad Bosley's contract was purchased by the Cubs from the Athletics, a team that Bosley had signed with as a free agent just the month prior. In his four years with the Cubs, Bosley appeared in 293 games, had 536 plate appearances, hit for a nice .302 clip with 12 home runs, 62 rbi's, and a nice OPS of .822. Even though he appeared in 55 games for the 1984 team, as part of that division winning team, his name and time spent with the Cubs is remembered fondly in the Windy City. But by 1987, the Cubs, looking to both retool and somehow compete (isn't that almost always the case), traded him off to Kansas City in exchange for veteran catcher Jim Sundberg. In 1987, Bosley appeared in 80 games for the Royals primarily as a pinch hitter or defensive right fielder (he did start 24 games that year, mostly as the DH). In 49 games off the bench as a pinch hitter, he went 12-44 (.273 average) with 5 walks, 3 rbi's, and an OPS of .649. Overall, he hit .279 with 1 home run and 16 rbi's. Even though the above card is his final Topps card, Bosley's career continued for another three years. He was released by the Royals towards the end of May after 15 games, and signed on with Angels. After an 18-game warm up in Edmonton (because nothing says "warmup" like Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), he joined the Angels after the All-Star Break and spent time as the Halos' regular left fielder. He finished his career with a two-season run with the Rangers, ending his career with Texas after the 1990 season. He has since served as a coach for both the Athletics, and recently with the Rangers. He also was part of a funk group called "Ballplayers" which featured another baseball lifer, Lenny Randle.
• Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 10 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2009 Topps #339. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama