What a card: Greg Minton had just completed a five-year span in 1984 that would be the most successful of his 15-year career. Beginning in 1985, his performance tailed off and he wouldn't return to the level he enjoyed between 1980-84.
My observation on the front: A pretty good action shot. Minton has some very nerdy looking cards ('78 Topps, '79 Topps, '82 Fleer, '82 Donruss, I could go on). He looks like a ballplayer here.
More opinion from me: The outfield fence in Candlestick Park may be the most tell-tale sign of which ballpark is pictured on a card more than any ballpark element, outside of the frieze at Yankee Stadium, the Green Monster at Fenway and the ivy at Wrigley.
Something you might know: Minton holds the record for the most innings pitched without allowing a home run, going 270-plus innings between 1978 and 1982.
Something you might not know: Minton's flaky reputation was enhanced by stories of him flooding the team ballpark on the final day of the season so the team could start the offseason one day early. But the story of him "stealing" the team bus isn't exactly true. Minton got on the bus very early and convinced the bus driver that he was the team secretary and wanted to go to the ballpark. The bus left behind all of his teammates, who had to find taxis to the ballpark.
My observation on the back: Minton mostly played shortstop in school, even early in his professional career. But I suppose he could've squeezed a perfect game in there somewhere.
The blog wants to speak now: The Other Cards tab has been updated. The News, Ballgames and TV categories were updated, too.
1 comment:
Childhood flashback after seeing this card and reading your write up -
Early 80s, the Moon Man was one of my favorite players. A friend and I went to a night game at the Stick with our families and there might have been 6000 people there. We went down to the bullpen area, it was in foul territory along the baseline and were talking to Vida Blue and Greg Minton. Vida was talking back a little but Minton ignored us for the most part. A foul ball was rolling slowly down the line and I was reaching over the fence near the ground and right before I could pick it up Minton grabbed it with his glove. I begged him to toss me the ball and he ignored me. I lost my first chance for a foul ball.
I have hated the man ever since.
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