Tuesday, January 13, 2015

#368 - Dave Bergman


What a card: Dave Bergman was coming off his first season with the Tigers when this card arrived in packs. He appeared in what was then a career-high 120 games for Detroit. He would spend the next nine years with the Tigers, finishing out his career with them.

My observation on the front: A batting cage AND old Tiger Stadium? That's almost too much of a good thing.

More opinion from me: I'm sure I'm exaggerating a little but Alan Trammell had to be the only player on the 1984 World Series champion Tigers without a mustache.

Something you might know: A player who embraced his role as a utility man, Bergman was one of the more renowned platoon players of the mid-1980s.

Something you might not know: When the Yankees acquired Cliff Johnson from the Astros in a trade in June 1977, one of the players sent to Houston was Bergman. But the Yankees thought Johnson was damaged goods and tried to get the trade nullified. Bergman  was in limbo and it had to be determined if he played the rest of '77 in the minors in Charleston, W.Va. for Houston or in Syracuse, N.Y., for New York. Bergman ended up finishing the season in Syracuse. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn in the offseason denied the Yankees' contention, approved the trade, and Bergman was an Astro for 1978 as the player to be named later.


My observation on the back: Bergman was the second Illinois State Redbird to make the major leagues. The first was Braves pitcher Buzz Capra.

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

No comments: