Thursday, December 12, 2013

#242 - Greg Harris


What a card: Greg Harris finished out the 1984 season with the Padres after being traded by the Expos on July 20, 1984. He appeared in 18 games for San Diego.

My observation on the front: I'm struggling to determine whether Harris is airbrushed into a Padres uniform and cap. The Cap looks fairly good, although a little off. The uniform doesn't look right especially since it seems like Harris has a hanger in his back. But I'm not positive about the whole thing.

More opinion from me: It does appear that Topps definitely airbrushed the Marlboro sign behind Harris. You can practically see the white-out streaked through the billboard.

Something you might know: Harris was one of two pitchers named Greg Harris who played during the 1980s and until the mid-1990s (each of them finished his career in 1995). It was particularly confusing because both also played for the Padres, although the elder Harris -- this one -- played for San Diego only one year. Also, this Harris -- known as Greg A. Harris (the other was Greg W. Harris) -- was ambidextrous and eventually did pitch in a game left-handed at the end of his career.

Something you might not know: Harris' son, Greg Jr., was drafted in the 17th round of last June's amateur draft by the Dodgers and signed by L.A., who convinced him to turn down the University of Oregon and sign out of high school.


My observation on the back: Since Willie Wilson batted 705 times in a season, two other players have surpassed 700 at-bats in a year. They are Ichiro Suzuki (704 in 2004) and all-time at-bat leader Jimmy Rollins (716 in 2007).

Also the trivia question isn't quite right. Juan Samuel batted 701 times for the Phillies in 1984. Perhaps the trivia question was printed in advance and they couldn't get it changed in time.

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3 comments:

Swing And A Pop-up said...

Count me as one of the fans who wanted to see him pitch with his left hand while with the Red Sox.

Jets Break Jaws said...

There were also two different Dave Roberts who plated successively for the Padres.

steelehere said...

and two different guys named Tony Gwynn played for them as well :)