Tuesday, December 4, 2012

#120 - Steve Kemp


What a card: Steve Kemp was a Pirate by the time this card appeared in packs. He was dealt to Pittsburgh with Tim Foli for Dale Berra, Jay Buhner and Alfonso Pulido in December of 1984.

My observation on the front: Kemp was at the end of his two-year disaster with the Yankees at this point, and this photo seems to sum it up well. Kemp looks pretty disgusted.

More opinion from me: I think Joe Piscopo could pull off the part of Kemp in a made-for-TV movie.

Something you might know: Kemp was part of the Tigers' rebirth in the late 1970s, which included LeFlore, Fidrych, Whitaker, Trammell, Morris, Parrish, Rozema, etc. Kemp was considered one of the best prospects in the game. But the pursuit of big contracts and a freak accident when Kemp was hit in the face by a line drive off the bat of Omar Moreno in batting practice in 1983 led to an abbreviated pro career.

Something you might not know: The name "Steve Kemp" is used as a character in the Stephen King horror novel, "Cujo." The character Kemp is alleged to have had an affair with Donna, the female lead in the movie. The name could merely be coincidence. But consider that King is a big Red Sox fan and that the Kemp character's cat in the movie is named "Bernie Carbo," and I think King used the real Steve Kemp as inspiration.


My observation on the back: The total of players with 4 home runs in a game is now up to 16. The year after this trivia question appeared, Bob Horner hit four home runs in a game for the Braves.

The blog wants to speak now: A quick update to the News category.

2 comments:

Andy said...

That first sentence is confusing me. Buhner went from the Pirates to the Yankees in that trade.

night owl said...

Misread the transaction. It's fixed.