Thursday, February 7, 2008

#114 Jeff Russell



Why this card is awesome: Because of new beginnings. Russell joined the Rangers and put up a horrific statline in 1985 as a starter. The Rangers tried him in relief in 1986 and 1987 and he did pretty well. Then, after another experiment as a starter in 1988, he went on to have a very nice stretch as a closer from 1989 to 1993.

Cool stat: Mike Greenwell owned Russell, with 11 RBI in 13 AB, including a grand slam.

3 comments:

Mike S said...

Russell led the league in bizarre facial expressions made while delivering a pitch, as is evidenced on this card. Wouldn't have ordinarily cared about cards of a closer on Texas, but you could usually count on an amusing shot of Russell.

Luke said...

Texas wanted a star reliever from Oakland. They didn't get Eck, so the decided on Jose Canseco

Sheriff Tom said...

i too was like, 'whats up with the goofy grin' on him