Thursday, January 23, 2014

#255 - Lonnie Smith


What a card: Lonnie Smith had already been traded to the Royals by the time some collectors pulled this card out of packs. He was dealt by the Cardinals in May of 1985 for outfielder John Morris.

My observation on the front: IS THAT A BAT FLIP????? IS IT??? WELL, IS IT??? I'M ABOUT TO OUTRAGE!!!!!!

More opinion from me: OK, I was being sarcastic. If it's a bat flip, it's a tiny one. Dig those baby blue road unis.

Something you might know: Smith was the first player to be traded to a team and then play against his former team in the World Series that same season. It happened, of course, in 1985.

Something you might not know: I don't know how this got past me, but a 2006 story in the Columbia, S.C., newspaper The State about Smith included his memory of planning to murder Royals general manager John Schuerholz during the 1980s. Smith felt that Schuerholz didn't believe that he had given up drugs and had prevented other teams from acquiring him. "If I couldn't get back to baseball, I was going to take him with me. I was going to fly out there, wait for him in the parking lot of the stadium and pop him."


My observation on the back: From what I can find, Babe Ruth is still the AL leader in career extra inning home runs. Willie Mays is the all-time leader with 22.

The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.