Why this card is awesome: Because I can't look at this card without thinking of Jimy Williams' card. Clearly they must have been sitting near each other at about the same time. Imagine it like this:
See? Isn't that a nice slice of life?
Plus, if this is how it actually was, I think they were holding hands. Awww.
Cool stat: So Jimmy Key finished second in the AL Cy Young voting in 1987, yet still doesn't get a card ending in a 5 or 0? That's the story of his career, I guess. Few people seem to think much of him, yet he finished with a .614 W-L% and two World Series rings. Among lefties with at least 150 wins, Key was in the top 10 for W-L%.
3 comments:
Key was one of my favorite players, pretty much for the reason that you noted. Despite the fact that he didn't overwhelm (like fellow lefties Glavine, Moyer, et al), he was extremely effective. Sure, pitching for good teams in Baltimore, NY, and Toronto helped his W-L, but peripherals show that he'd have been good on any team. It's funny, as a Mets fan, I started liking the Yanks as well in 1993 after they acquired 3 of my favorite non-NY players in the same offseason (Key, Jim Abbott, and Paul O'Neill). Now, not so much.
As you pointed out, Key was the AL's 2nd-best pitcher behind Clemens and had an All-Star card, yet he got card #682 - what gives?!
I believe Jeff Musselman, card 229, may have been sitting in the vicinity as well.
Yeah, and Ernie Whitt too...I'm getting some more Photoshop ideas...
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