#208 Ramon Romero

Card thoughts: Due to the lighting, I believe this picture was taken around the same time as the #172 Jerry Reed picture. Besides that, this is very weird angle for a picture. Romero is just looming there, with a goofy grin and a big blue (!) glove. This is both Romero’s rookie card and only Topps card.

The player: Romero took six years to get to the majors, and then retired only one year after reaching his goal. Looking at Romero’s minor league statistics, it’s hard to have any explanation other than sheer desperation by the Indians that he ever got to the majors. Although he was lefthander, he was extremely thin at 6’4” and 170 lbs.

Used mostly as a swing man in the minors, he played for 13 different minor league teams before his one game trial with the Indians in 1984. Romero split his time relieving and starting during the season shown on this card, and was ineffective at both, sporting a 2 and 3 record with a stratospheric 6.58 ERA. He walked as many (38) as he struck out.

The Indians, disgusted with his performance, actually found a sucker (I mean a taker) for his services. He was traded along with fellow disappointing starter #9 Roy Smith to the Twins for reliever Brian Oelkers. Romero, no doubt missing the Indians organization with which he had spent his entire career, pitched only one more professional season in the minors before retiring.

Rear guard: Very rare to see the small font for a player who barely played in the majors. Romero's first win was in the second game of a doubleheader against the Yankees. He pitched 7 2/3 innings, and, besides giving up 2 solo home runs, pitched just good enough to get the win, striking out 3, walking 1, and giving up 4 hits.

This date in baseball history: 2 no-hitters and 1 perfect game were hurled on this date. Cy Young pitched the perfect game (the first in American League history) in 1904; Ernie Koob (1917) and Bo Belinsky (a rookie) (1962) were the pitchers who pitched no-hitters.

#207 Record Breaker: Fernando Valenzuela

Card thoughts: They really should have shown Fernando in his famous "eyes in the sky" portion of his delivery.

The record:  The record lasted until Valenzuela's fifth start. He actually gave up 4 unearned runs in that span, which led to losses on second day of the season to the Astros and on April 23rd to the Giants.

Rear guard: You would think after over 70 years, another pitcher would have broken this record. George Wiltsie, better known as "Hooks" only pitched 134 innings that year, and his ERA was a fairly high for the time at 3.14. This record is so obscure, I can't find out if it has been broken or not.

This date in baseball history: A new balk rule instituted in 1950 plays havoc with Yankees starter Vic Raschi. Unable to come to the required full stop, he balks four times in a game. Despite that, he gets the win.

#206 Record Breaker: Pete Rose

Card thoughts: Two aging Reds in a row. This picture was likely sourced from a news organization which managed to get Rose right when he got his tie-breaking hit. I say this because a Topps night action picture is rare. I think they used to issue them in the 70s when they had those World Series cards.

The record: . . . should have made Rose a shoo-in for the hall of fame. But he gambled it away. If Ichiro had been playing here since he was a teenager, perhaps he would have had a shot at the record. I'd say this record is not insurmountable: most hitting records aren't these days.

Rear guard: Some say that Eric Show never got over the fact that he gave up the record-breaking hit, and it ultimately led to his premature death after years of drug abuse.

This date in baseball history: Roscoe Barnes, shortstop for the Chicago White Stockings, hits the first home run in National League history in 1876. Barnes also grew up in my hometown, and played on the local team when it was in the National Association.