Thursday, August 18, 2016

#566 - Ed Vande Berg


What a card: Ed Vande Berg was coming off the only major league season in which he worked as a starting pitcher. Granted, 33 of his appearances in 1984 were in relief, but the 17 starts he made were the only ones of his seven-year career.

My observation on the front: Have you ever wondered how things would be different if more modern players followed Rollie Fingers' lead and wore a handlebar mustache? I never did until viewing this card just now.

More opinion from me: The weird placement of the position abbreviation in this set looks even more glaring here with the space in Vande Berg's last name. I just want to throw that P in there and make him "Vandepberg".

Something you might know: Vande Berg was a situational left-handed reliever who appeared in 78 games his rookie year in 1982 and finished fourth in the ROY voting.

Something you might not know: Vande Berg gave up the last hit of Reggie Jackson's career. It came on the final day of the 1987 season. Jackson, pinch-hitting for the A's against Vande Berg's Indians, singled up the middle in the eighth inning and was then removed for a pinch-runner.


My observation on the back: Vande Berg was on the 1978 World Cup roster for the United States. His teammates included Terry Francona, Atlee Hammaker, Tim Leary, Mark Thurmond and Tim Wallach.

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

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