#258 - Mike Brown

What a card: This is Mike Brown's final card with the Angels (he had just two). He was dealt to the Pirates in August of 1985.

My observation on the front: Oh, this card annoyed me almost as much as my off-center Roger Clemens card from the set. Brown was pulled out of the box of a purchased complete set vastly off-center from top to bottom. You can barely see a bottom edge to the card.

More opinion from me: I had never heard of Mike Brown at the time, but I found him irksome for having such a miscut card. On the good side, it helped me distinguish him from another Mike Brown in the majors at the time, a pitcher for the Red Sox and Mariners.

Something you might know: Brown was acquired by the Pirates with some other Angels prospects in a trade dump of veterans George Hendrick, John Candelaria and Al Holland. The three were perceived as troublemakers by Pittsburgh, which was reeling from the drug trials at the time, and they wanted to clean house. Brown did quite well to start, hitting .332 in 205 at-bats for the Pirates. But with the arrival of Barry Bonds and Andy VanSlyke, his days were numbered.

Something you might not know: Brown said part of the reason that his playing time fell off with Pittsburgh was because he didn't get along with the new management, which was manager Jim Leyland and GM Syd Thrift.

My observation on the back: Check out Brown's 1983 season for Edmonton.

The blog wants to speak now: The Pop Culture tab is updated again.