Random Topps Card of the Day: 2000 Topps #377 Travis Lee

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, May 24, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2000 Topps #377.
• Player Name, position, team: Travis Lee, first baseman, Arizona Diamondbacks.
• Major League Debut: March 31, 1998.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1999 stats (Diamondbacks): 120 G, 375 AB, 57 R, 89 H, 16 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 50 RBI, 17 SB, .363 SLG, 58 BB, 50 SO, .237 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Twins #1st, June 1996. Signed with the Diamondbacks as a Free Agent 10/15/1996. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 9. This is his second Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "A slow start and a disabling injury last season left Travis shy of the high standard he set as a 1998 rookie, but he is still considered one of the most promising young stars in the game. Not long after erasing his .233 start with a 24-game stretch of batting .341, he severely sprained his left ankle and endured a difficult second half. Two of Lee's nine home runs, however, were the first grand slams of his career."
• Commentary: The 2000 set featured the first vertically-oriented reverse for its regular cards since 1993. The only drawback for utilizing the portrait backs is that the statistics become hard to read, even with the alternating white and gray stripes. Even with the injuries he sustained in 1999, many in the Diamondbacks organization believed that Travis Lee could regain the form that made him the talk of Phoenix in 1998. Two years removed from winning the Golden Spikes Award, he was named the D-backs first ever Opening Day starter at first base. He finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting thanks to a 22 home run, 72 rbi campaign. In 2000, however, after hitting a low .232 with 8 homers and 40 rbi's in 72 games, he was traded along with pitchers Omar Daal, Nelson Figeroua, and Vicente Padilla to the Phillies for a pitcher who would become one of the key components to Arizona's first World Series winning team, Curt Schilling. Lee appeared in 56 games with the Phils, hitting .239 along with a homer and 14 rbi's. Lee would go on to be the Phillies' regular first baseman for the next two seasons, hitting for a cumulative .261 with a combined 33 home runs and 160 rbi's along with a stellar glove (combined 12 errors in 2756 total chances for a .995 fielding percentage). He signed with the Devil Rays after the 2002 season, and had a productive first season for them (.275, 19 HR, 70 rbi, career high .807 OPS). He signed a one year deal with the Yankees, with the hopes of taking over first for Jason Giambi. But Lee injured himself early in the season and appeared in only seven games. He returned to the Devil Rays in 2005, but seeing his averages decline, Lee was released before the end of the 2006 season. He signed with the Nationals to compete for the first base job, but after losing the starting nod to Dmitri Young, he requested an unconditional release from the team, citing that he "no longer had the passion to play the game."
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 16.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1978 Topps #63. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama