#109 Len Matuszek

Card thoughts: This picture looks like it was taken at Candlestick Park, although I swear I saw this guy eating a huge plate of pierogis at the old Orbit Restaurant on Milwaukee (sans bat of course, with a tankard of Okocim).

The player: Matuszek didn't get much playing time in the majors, despite showing a lot of power in his limited at bats. In the first three years of his career, he never made it into more than 30 games. That changed in 1984 when the Phillies traded Pete Rose to the Reds. They made Matuszek their starting first baseman, and he responded with 17 doubles, 12 home runs and 46 RBIs, despite only having 65 hits. He had good range at first, too. The Phillies were not impressed with his .248 average, however, and the Blue Jays acquired him to be their left-handed designated hitter in exchange for three minor leaguers. The Blue Jays soured on him as well by midseason and he was traded to the Dodgers (who needed some pop on their bench), for veteran Al Oliver. He played one more full season with the Dodgers, hitting .261 in 91 games and then retired after 16 games in 1987.

Rear guard: "The Penguin" was a favorite player of my friend Korry when he was growing up. The Dodgers had just a killer offense in the 70s, especially considering the division they played in. Cey had two two-run homers that day and the Dodgers scored 15 total runs. The primary victims were starter Dave Freiselben (5 runs given up) and reliever Vincente Romo (who gave up 6 runs in one inning).

#108 Ted Power

Card thoughts: I guess some Reds also got the grayish dusk treatment that the Red Sox got on their cards. The wrinkles under his eyes suggests to me that Power may also wear glasses. A great name for a pitcher, by the way, although he's not Max Power's brother.

The player: A minor league phenom in the Dodgers system (he won 18 games for their AAA club in 1981), Power was an effective short reliever early in his career, which was spent mostly with the Reds. He led the league in appearances in 1984, pitching in 78 games and 108 2/3 innings. Power was used less the next year, the one represented by this card, although it was his best year as a reliever. He saved 27 games and the best ERA in his career at that point with a 2.70 mark. Ted was converted into a starter the next season, and he was much less effective in that role. Although he won 10 games in both 1986 and 1987, his ERAs were much higher, and he was never much better than a break even proposition when he started.

He was traded away after the 1987 season and became a well traveled pitcher for the next 6 seasons, never playing more than two seasons for any team. He pitched for the Royals, Tigers, Cardinals, Pirates, Reds (again), Indians, and Mariners during those years. Eventually, he was converted back to a reliever by the Pirates in 1990, and he was once again effective, even having a career low 2.54 ERA for the Indians in 1992. Oddly enough, his only start after being reconverted came in the 1990 NLCS against his former team, the Reds. Jim Leyland started Power to screw up the Reds platoon system, and he gave way to Zane Smith in the 3rd inning. For his final year, he once again topped 10 saves, saving 13 for the Mariners while sharing the closer role with Norm Charlton.

Power is currently the pitching coach for the Reds top minor league team, the Louisville Bats.

Rear guard: Power won his first game, relieving Burt Hooten in the third inning. But the Padres starter, #52 Chris Welch was also knocked out of the game early in what eventually became a 10-4 Dodger victory. Power pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up only a double to Terry Kennedy.

Stealing bases was much more common in the early part of the century than now (stealing home is almost unheard of now that pitchers use the slide step). Lobert stole 20 bases in 1908 as a utility player; he would steal 316 over a 14 year career.

#107 Rafael Ramirez

Card thoughts: In our ballplayers that look like animals series, we have Ramirez, the ferret. This also one of those card where the proper amount of laminate wasn't applied.

The player: I was always under the impression that Ramirez was a stellar fielder with a mediocre bat, like an 80s version of Neifi Perez. But he actually was a poor fielder with a decent bat, albeit he was a deceptively productive player. Ramirez came up in 1980 and showed some decent pop in his bat for a shortstop. He had some speed too, stealing over 10 bases five times in his career. But he was an awful base stealer, getting caught almost as much as he succeeded. Despite having good range that allowed him to get to balls many shortstops couldn't, he exercised poor judgment when he got to those balls, leading the league in errors from 1981 to 1985 and again in 1989. Like fellow teammate #78 Bruce Benedict, Ramirez had his best years from 1982 to 1984 when the Braves were perennial contenders. He slugged 10 home runs and drove in 52 in 1982 when the Braves won the division; the next year he hit a career high .297; and the year after that he made his only all-star appearance. In the rest of his career as a regular shortstop, he could be counted on to play a lot of games at shortstop, while hitting around .250 and driving in about 50 runs. He spent the last four years with the Astros, retiring in 1992.

Rear guard: Phil Neikro is in the Hall of  Fame and is one of the greatest knuckleballers of all time. His brother Joe, who won over 200 games in his career, was a reacquainted with the knuckleball when he joined his brother with the Braves, which led to much of his late career success and longevity in the game. The Neikro brothers will show up on the same team in this card set as well.