Random Topps Card of the Day: 1986 Topps #642 Ray Searage

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, October 12, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1986 Topps #642.
• Player Name, position, team: Ray Searage, pitcher, Milwaukee Brewers.
• Major League Debut: June 11, 1981.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1985 stats (Vancouver, AAA-Pacific Coast): 23 G, 26 IP, 2-0, 10 R, 7 ER, 31 SO, 12 BB, 0 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 7 SV, 2.42 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Cardinals #22nd, June 1976. Signed with the Brewers as a Free Agent 11/04/1983. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 5. This is his second Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: n/a.
• Commentary: Raymond Mark Searage has nine total Topps cards during his playing career. Five of them base, four of them Tiffany. Some players get five cards in a single year's set. He would be forever remembered as the only player in New York Mets history to have a 1.000 batting average and 1.000 winning percentage (on August 11, 1981, against the Chicago Cubs, not only did he earn the winning decision, but he also got a hit in his only at bat against Dick Tidrow in the top of the eighth inning). Now I don't get why Topps put his minor league numbers in 1985 on the bottom of the statistics box. He was only in the minors for a two month stretch (between June 12 and August 17). He appeared in 33 games with the Brewers, going 1-4 with a 5.92 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 38 innings of work. In 1986, Searage appeared in 17 games for the Brew Crew before being traded to the southside of Chicago in exchange for Al Jones and minor leaguer Tom Hartley. Something must have happened to Ray when he joined the Sox because he became a lights-out middle reliever for the Pale Hose. In 29 games, he was 1-0 with an ERA of 0.62. That's right. Zero-point-sixty-two. He struck out 26 batters in 29 innings pitched and achieved a WHIP of 1.172. He stayed with the White Sox for another season before being released and signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he finished his career in 1990. He found work as a minor league pitching coach in the Pirates organization, and then in 2009 was promoted to the majors as a coach on an interim basis. When Clint Hurdle was named manager, Searage became the team's full-time hitting coach. 
• Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 5 cards.

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: 1962 Topps #577. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama