Why this card is awesome: Because, hey look, it's another Cincinnati Reds logo front and center where it doesn't belong! If I recall, Veterans Stadium had really large instances of other teams' logos, so that may have made it really tough to avoid getting them in the shot.
Cool stat: From 1988 to 1992, Ritchie is one of 36 pitchers to have at least 4 seasons with 26 IP and an ERA+ of 113 or better. And he did that despite pitching only 4 of those seasons. He wasn't in the majors in 1989 and 1990. And he met those criteria every single year of his career!
7 comments:
You think teams would be all over a big, skinny lefty reliever these days?
That kind of looks like a Reds logo, but couldn't it also be a sign for one of the Phillies' pennants or World Series championships? IIRC those were on the wall behind the fence at the Vet and were similarly colored.
Also, the logo displays (or pennants in Shea Stadium's case) on the walls always struck me as kind of ridiculous. If they're arranged in standings order it makes sense, but the placement seems pretty random.
I'm pretty sure it's a pennant sign or a retired number. The fence behind Ritchie isn't solid and is probably the left field bullpen area, using this photo as a guide (http://tinyurl.com/5sjzpl). This photo (http://tinyurl.com/5l2z9t) confirms that the historical signs were above the bullpens and presumably the NL logos were in left-center and right-center.
Sorry if my looking into it seems obsessive, but your mention of a part of that distinctly '80s ballpark look that's now gone the way of the bullpen cart sparked my interest for some reason.
OMG, that second photo is awesome.
And, hey, don't worry about being obsessive. You're already reading a blog about a nearly-irrelevant set of worthless baseball cards from 20 years ago. We're all being a bit obsessive, I'd say.
we LOVE obsessive, in fact as soon as saw Wally Ritchie I instantly thought of him giving a walk off home run to Will Clark in the middle of the 1987 pennant race! NOW THAT IS OBSESSIVE!
His 1987 Topps Traded card is the same photo: http://www.baseballcardproject.com/showCard.asp?Card=Topps~Traded~1987~103
I think they did the same thing with Lance Parrish.
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