What a card: This is the final card made of Rufino Linares during his career. He had been released by the Braves by the time the set was issued. He signed with the Angels in May of 1985 and played 18 games. He returned to the minors and didn't play in the majors again.
My observation on the front: Lineras is eager to get out of that box.
More opinion from me: Players like Rufino Linares give me warm fuzzies for the days when the Braves weren't all that good. Although they did finish second in the league in 1984 at 80-82.
Something you might know: Linares was a member of the 1981 Topps All-Star Rookie Team, sharing the outfield with Tim Raines and Mooke Wilson. Others on that team were Cal Ripken Jr. and Fernando Valenzuela.
Something you might not know: When Linares died in an auto accident in 1998 at age 47, he was the third former major leaguer to die in an auto accident in the Dominican Republic in a three-year period. William Suero (Brewers) died in 1995 and Jose Oliva (Braves, Cardinals) died in 1997.
My observation on the back: Look at those minor league stats. Four trips to Savannah, five trips to Richmond.
The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames and News categories are updated.
Rufino's 1982 Fleer card is in the same "Flipping the Bird" club with Billy Martin's 1972 Topps card.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/88/88-439Fr.jpg
There are three Aurelio's who played major league baseball, and they all died in car crashes. (Lopez, Monteagudo, Rodriguez).
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite baseball player names.
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