#22 - Duane Kuiper

What a card: This is the final card issued of Duane Kuiper during his career. The Giants released Kuiper on June 28, 1985. Kuiper spent a little over three years with San Francisco, backing up Joe Morgan and then Manny Trillo at second base.

My observation on the front: Not a photo you see every day. Cradling a helmet with one arm while putting on his batting gloves. Looks like he's getting ready to pinch-hit. Nice.

More opinion from me: I don't have pleasant things to say about Kuiper. He's well-noted as a San Francisco Giants broadcaster, saying nice stuff about the Giants, acting like they're an actual team with actual fans that people actually care about. We all know that's not true. He's a low-voiced propagandist.

Something you might know: Kuiper holds the record for the most career at-bats with only one home run. He finished his career with 3,379 at-bats and a single home run with the Cleveland Indians in 1977.

Something you might not know: A few cards ago, I mentioned that Chet Lemon held the third worst stolen base percentage for players with at least 100 attempts at 41.8 percent. Well, Kuiper is right down there with Lemon at 42.2 (52-for-123).

My observation on the back: Where do they get the "greatest baseball thrill" tidbits? Are the players actually asked or does a Topps writer just look at the player's bio and say, "well THAT had to be a thrill"? (The no-hitters were pitched by Dennis Eckersley and Len Barker).

The blog wants to speak now: Just about every tab, except "Music," "TV" and "Other Cards," has been updated. I need to get some scanning done to add some pretty pictures to some of the timelines.