Random Topps Card of the Day: 1999 Topps #206 Quinton McCracken

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, December 10, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1999 Topps #206.
• Player Name, position, team: Quinton McCracken, outfielder, Colorado Rockies.
• Major League Debut: September 17, 1995.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1998 stats (Rockies): 147 G, 325 AB, 69 R, 95 H, 11 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 36 RBI, 28 SB, .360 SLG, 42 BB, 62 SO, .292 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Rockies #25th, June 1992. Bats: both. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 8. This is his third Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Projected as a utility outfielder/pinch runner when the 1997 season opened, Qiunton wound up playing about four of every five games in center field for the Rockies. Speed, intelligence, and a professional approach define the game of the former four-year starting cornerback for the Duke University football team."
• Commentary: One look at the picture, and you wonder if he made a spectacular catch or if the cameraman caught a valiant effort on the part of today's subject. This is not Quinton Antoine McCracken's only base card in the 2008 Topps set. One of the original draft picks of the Colorado Rockies (in 1992, before the team made its debut), McCracken was selected by the expansion Devil Rays as the fourth pick overall in the 1997 Expansion Draft. With the fledgling D-Rays, Quinton was the team's primary centerfielder and leadoff hitter (the first hitter in Tampa Bay history), appearing in 155 games in their inaugural season. He would go on to hit for a good .292 with what would be eventual career highs in home runs (7) and rbi's (59) while stealing 19 bases. A torn ACL towards the end of May the next year ended McCracken's season and by 2000, he was in the minors trying to recover. He would be released by the Rays, invited to Spring Training with the Cardinals, before signing a minor league deal with the Twins. He would then join the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2002, hitting a career high .309 for the NL West champions. He would be traded to the Mariners, only to be released and re-signed by the D-Backs in 2004. He appeared in 134 games for Arizona in 2005, but for some reason, Topps didn't include him in their 660-card set. He would last appear in the majors in 2006 with the Reds, and after spending the second half of the season with the Twins' AAA team in Rochester, was released. After one year in the independent leagues, McCracken retired from baseball. At the end of the 2012 season, after working for two years as an Assistant Director of Player Development with the Diamondbacks, McCracken was hired by the Astros to become their Director of Player Development.
• Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 8 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2001 Topps #164. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1991 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama