Wednesday, October 8, 2014

#337 - Billy Sample


What a card: This is Billy Sample's final card as a Texas Ranger. He was dealt to the Yankees in February of 1985, probably before many collectors pulled this card out of packs.

My observation on the front: Batting cage nirvana!

More opinion from me: This was right about the time that the Rangers wore those red jerseys with the white Rangers' script. I loved those things. I know it led to the '90s red Rangers uniforms and helmets, which eventually bored me. But for a time in the '80s, it was "RED! Wow!"

Something you might know: Sample made the Topps All-Rookie team in 1979, but didn't really become a full-fledged starter until the 1983 season. A downturn in 1984 led to his trade to New York and he was out of baseball after the 1986 season.

Something you might not know: Sample wrote, produced and starred in the movie "Reunion 108", a raunchy, gritty baseball comedy released in 2013.


My observation on the back: Since this trivia question was written, 10 more perfect games have been thrown.

The blog wants to speak now: The Pop Culture category is updated.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just went and watched the "trailer" for Reunion 108. Not much film footage, just Billy talking about the movie. But from the few clips shown, it was obviously not a high-budget project.

Spiff said...

No red Rangers uniforms! The Senators wore red...

Brian said...

12 perfect games have been thrown since this question was written, and 23 in total. In 1991 the Statistical Accuracy Committee removed two perfect games from the books (Ernie Shore and Harvey Haddix), reducing the total to 11 through 1984.