Why this card is awesome: There are a lot of reasons why this card is awesome. For one, Hershiser looks so innocent, not knowing at the time that he was about to have a season for the ages, setting an awesome record, winning the Cy Young award, and carrying his team to a World Series victory. What I like most about this card is that you can see his unusual uniform number-55. It reminds me of the 58-inning scoreless streak he broke with his own 59-inning job. (Why does it remind me, given that 55 does not equal 58 or 59? Not sure, but it does.)
Cool stat: Shutouts, shutouts, shutouts. If I asked you to name the pitcher who most recently had 8 or more shutouts in a season, could you name him? If you said Hershiser, well....you're wrong. He did it in 1988, but Tim Belcher did it in 1989.
Orel was on top of the world in 1988. His 1985 Topps RC was THE CARD to have for a while.
ReplyDeleteOh, and 657 cards until Steve Lombardozzi.
one of my favorite pitchers ever!!
ReplyDeleteOrel had a great year in 85, with a 2.03 era, but doc gooden had a year, definitely a great year for a pitcher
doc gooden had a great year...i mean
ReplyDeleteWhen baseball players wore stirrups.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the fact on the back. It looks like Orel was a minor league closer. Probably a good thing for him, because Albuquerque was a launching pad that made guys like Greg Brock, Mike Marshall and Jeff Hamilton look like Hall of Famers.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed that, but you're right that Hershiser was a closer in his minor-league days. Check out his stats from the minors here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/H/orel-hershiser.shtml
From 1981 to 1983, 82 games finished in the minors, and just 21 game starts.