Random Topps Card of the Day: 1988 Topps #145 Bill Madlock

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, November 20, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1988 Topps #145.
• Player Name, position, team: Bill Madlock, designated hitter/third baseman, Detroit Tigers.
• Major League Debut: September 7, 1973.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1987 stats (Tigers): 87 G, 326 AB, 56 R, 91 H, 17 2B, 0 3B, 14 HR, 50 RBI, 4 SB, .460 SLG, 28 BB, 45 SO, .279 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Senators #5th, January 1970 (Special). Signed with the Tigers as a Free Agent 06/04/1987. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 16. This is his sixteenth and final Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: n/a.
• Commentary: Yes, I really have to go through the Randomizer to see what cards it has chosen so that this doesn't happen again. This is probably the first time ever that cards selected by the Randomizer on consecutive days have already been featured on this humble little blog (it was February 09, 2013 when this card was first picked). Which now makes me wonder how really random is the Randomizer??! The kids are back in school now, so I guess this saves me just a bit of time and agony having from having to come up with something. Anyway, here is what I wrote for Bill Madlock's final Topps card. Nothing more needs to be said about my love for the 1988 Topps set. It was the set that really got me into collecting, and I loved the way the team name hovered above the player's picture. And the 1988 Topps set was the home of the final card of Bill Madlock. What a career this man had. He was member of the Topps All-Star Rookie Team (with the rookie cup proudly displayed on his 1975 Topps card), led the National League in batting average four times, he was a three-time All-Star (even shared MVP honors in the 1975 ASG), and World Series Champion (with the 1979 Pirates, Madlock hit .375 with three runs driven in against the Orioles). As 1987 was his final season in the majors, the totals line at the bottom of the statistics are complete. He finished with a .305 batting average, hit 163 home runs, drove in 860 rbi's, and had OBP/SLG/OPS percentages of .365/.442/.807. He spent the 1988 season in Japan with the Lotte Orions and retired as a player after the season ended. He has taken positions as a coach with the Detroit Tigers and managed the independent Newark Bears for a couple of years in the mid 2000's.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 33.

Tomorrow's card will be 2001 Topps #588. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama