What a card: Gary Roenicke was in the midst of a two-year slump, which would signal the eventual end of his time with the Orioles, when this card was issued. His 1984 season was noticeably lacking and 1985 would be even worse. He'd be traded to the Yankees at the end of 1985.
My observation on the front: Card is off-center two different ways.
More opinion from me: Roenicke was part of Earl Weaver's famed outfield platoon system that also included John Lowenstein. It worked famously well in 1979 as the Orioles went all the way to the World Series, but I remember getting extremely tired of TV announcers bringing it up all the time.
Something you might know: Roenicke spent much of the '79 season wearing a "half-facemask" attached to the left side of his helmet to protect his face after he was hit by a pitch from the White Sox's Lerrin LaGrow during the second game of the season. Roenicke even wore it for two additional seasons. The facemask is often cited along with similar guards worn by Ellis Valentine, Charlie Hayes and the dreaded Dave Parker goalie mask.
Something you might not know: The Orioles created the facemask by going into the then-Baltimore Colts' locker room, finding quarterback Bert Jones' helmet, unscrewing two of the bars, and screwing them into Roenicke's batting helmet.
My observation on the back: AL starting pitcher Lefty Gomez singled in Jimmy Dykes from second base for the first run of All-Star competition in the second inning of the 1933 game. Thank you baseball-reference.
The blog wants to speak now: The TV, Pop Culture and News categories have been updated. Not good times for "Night Court," Darryl Strawberry or the Go-Gos. And especially not good times for Philadelphia.
Gary Roenicke hit a grand slam against the Yankees on June 17, 1984 that won a Maryland woman $1 million in the Equitable Bank home run inning. That was one of my earliest baseball memories. I think they stopped that promo pretty soon after that.
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