#127 - Mark Gubicza

What a card: This is Topps' first base card of Mark Gubicza. His first card appearances are in the 1984 Topps Traded and Fleer Update sets.

My observation on the front: That's a lot of blue in that picture.

More opinion from me: I believe Topps intended to give K.C. the "royal blue" tribute with its colors in the 1985 set, but it just looks purple to me. Then again, purple in the color of royalty, so maybe they knew what they were doing.

Something you might know: Gubicza was a highly touted, often-injured pitcher who nonetheless managed to play 14 seasons for a single team and enjoyed one truly standout year in 1988 when he went 20-8 and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting.

Something you might not know: Gubicza, as of 2009, ranked 13th among players with most games pitched without a single plate appearance. I would assume he's still in the top 20.

My observation on the back: I know you'd like a baseball fact, but all I can see is sentence structure. Topps used the more formal "Mark was graduated from" in the write-up, rather than the more frequently used "Mark graduated from." I know certain editors who would be quite pleased with Topps for this.

The blog wants to speak now: Just a quick update to the News tab.