Random Topps Card of the Day: 2002 Topps Traded and Rookies #T47 Glendon Rusch

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, March 25, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2002 Topps Traded and Rookies #T47.
• Player Name, position, team: Glendon Rusch, pitcher, Milwaukee Brewers.
• Major League Debut: April 6, 1997.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2001 stats (Mets): 33 G, 179 IP, 8-12, 101 R, 92 ER, 156 SO, 43 BB, 33 GS, 1 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 4.63 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Royals #17th, June 1993. Traded by the Mets to the Brewers 01/21/2002. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 8. This is his fifth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "It's easy to see why the Brewers pursued Glendon. In 2000 and '01, he won 19 games for the Mets. Over those two seasons, Milwaukee was able to coax only nine wins from all their left-handed starters combined."
• Commentary: Here is another SP card found in the 2002 Topps Traded and Rookie set. Now I just received the actual sell sheets for this product. It is clear as day on the sheet what the original plans were. In the heading for base cards, here is what was described for prospects: "These 110 first-year big leaguers have never been seen on a Topps card. ONE IN EVERY PACK!" At 110 players, this meant that in every regular and jumbo pack of Topps, you'd only find ONE prospect card. Topps would have you buy at least three regular boxes of their product in the HOPES of getting all 110 cards without duplicates. Well, we all know what happened upon production and distribution, right? Because instead of the 110 prospects getting the "one-per-pack" treatment (which would also include the "35 prospects"...didn't all 145 players wind up with the word "Prospect" down the side of the card?"), the 105 veterans and 5 managers wound up being inserted "one-per-pack." I even bought a box of jumbos back in 2002 and got ten veteran cards and a ton of prospects and Who Would Have Thought cards (which in the sell sheet was supposed to be 20 cards wound up being 10). Okay, history lesson over, time for today's subject. Glendon James Rusch was a good pitcher, but played for some really bad Royals teams in the late 1990's. With a record of 12-25 and an ERA of 5.80, including a disastrous 6-15 campaign in 1998, it was no surprise that KC would jump at the chance to trade him out of town. And what better team to send him to than one in New York City. The Mets took a chance on the hard luck pitcher, and were immediately rewarded. In 2000, Rusch went 11-11 with a 4.01 ERA and struck out 157 batters. The Mets went on to win the NL Pennant that year, and in the playoffs, Glendon went a combined 1-0 with an ERA of 1.08 in six relief appearances. After a subpar 2001 campaign, Rusch was involved in a three-team, eleven-player trade that would send him to the Brewers. With Milwaukee in 2002, Rusch went 10-16 (leading the NL in losses), had an ERA of 4.70, 140 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.438 in 34 games, all starts. He wasn't much better the following year, as he only won 1 game against 12 losses in 32 games (19 starts). He signed with the Rangers as a free agent in the offseason, only to be released by the team before the end of spring training. The Cubs took a chance on signing him in the hopes of using him out of the bullpen four days later. He wound end up with a career low ERA of 3.57 for the Cubs that year, to go with his first real winning record (6-2) in a year that would see him join the starting rotation as injuries would take a toll on the team's two young starters. All was great for him until September, 2006, when he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung that was considered life threatening. He was released by the team with one year left in his contract and took 2007 off to recover. He mounted a comeback in 2008, first with the Padres, and then the Rockies. He retired from the game for good after the 2009 season.
• Beckett value: $0.75-$2.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 9 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1978 Topps #705. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama