Random Topps Card of the Day: 2004 Topps #66 Cliff Floyd

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, October 10, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2004 Topps #66.
• Player Name, position, team: Cliff Floyd, outfielder, New York Mets.
• Major League Debut: September 18, 1993.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2003 stats (Mets): 108 G, 365 AB, 57 R, 106 H, 25 2B, 2 3B, 18 HR, 68 RBI, 3 SB, 51 BB, 66 SO, .518 SLG, .894 OPS, .290 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Expos #1st, June 1991. Signed with the Mets as a Free Agent 12/23/2002. Bats: left. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 19. This is his thirteenth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Cliff played HS hoops with vs. several future NBA'ers"
• Commentary: I have waxed poetically enough on this humble, little blog that I really love the 2004 Topps set because of the silhouette that appears on the lower left corner of the card. How Topps was able to design that to be identical to the main picture is amazing. Quite frankly, one of the few players I can think about that Cliff could have played basketball against would be Farrugut Academy's own Kevin Garnett. I'm sure there are others as the Chicago area is a hotbed for HS basketball. I would have finished my freshman year of high school when Cornelius Clifford Floyd, Jr. graduated from Thornwood HS in South Holland, IL. So needless to say it was fun watching a "local" kid make it onto cardboard history. By the time he joined the NY Mets in 2003, he was an All-Star, a World Champion (with the Marlins in 1997), and the season before played for three teams (the Marlins, Expos, and Red Sox). So to be able to play a full year without having to move anywhere must have been a nice change of pace for Floyd. In 2004, the year this card came out, Floyd appeared in 113 games, hit for a .260 average, with 18 homers and 63 rbi's while patrolling left field at Shea. But 2005 would be a better year for him offensively and in terms of health as he hit 34 home runs, drove in 98 rbi's, hit for a .273 average, and had percentages of .358/.505/.863. The injury bug returned in 2006, limiting Floyd to under 100 games. The following year, he signed on with his hometown Cubs to be near his ailing father. Two more years in the bigs with the Rays (and another World Series appearance) and Padres and Floyd called it a career. He is now a broadcaster with both Fox Sports Florida, NBC SportsTalk, and the MLB Network.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 34.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1995 Topps #558. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorrow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama