What a card: Pat Sheridan was among the American League's top hitters early in the 1984 season before falling off to finish with a .283 average in his sophomore year.
My observation on the front: I can't tell if Sheridan is wearing a mustache or not. His wispy 'stache appeared and disappeared throughout his career.
More opinion from me: I don't have to tell you that Sheridan was one of the nerdiest looking ballplayers of the 1980s. When he ditched those oversized glasses and the mustache, he looked like a completely different dude. But his 1984 Topps card is Revenge Of The Nerds territory.
Something you might know: Sheridan was a key cog in the Royals' ALCS victory over the Blue Jays in 1985. He hit two home runs in that series.
Something you might not know: Sheridan was the answer to a trivia question during this past World Series. He is the only player to compete in the World Series for both 2014 Fall Classic teams. He played for K.C. in the 1985 Series and San Francisco in the 1989 Series.
My observation on the back: Johnny Ray was one of five National Leaguers to play in 162 games in 1982. The others were Steve Garvey (of course), Pete Rose, Gary Matthews and Dale Murphy.
The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.
Sheridan was a cult-favorite ball player of my brother, dad and I growing up. I don't really know why, just a random player we latched onto. When we'd go to games as kids my dad would bring his camera, which was a pretty nice camera, and take pictures of the guys during warm ups, batting practice, etc. He got a nice shot of Sheridan when he was on the Tigers in the late 80's, at old Arlington Field in Texas.
ReplyDeleteFast forward to the early 90's, we'd moved to a small town in SE Michigan, and I learned Sheridan was signing autographs at our mall one afternoon. I brought the picture for him to sign as a birthday gift for my dad. His wife or girlfriend was sitting at the table with him helping with the line, and he would barely look up, but her eyes got big when she noticed it wasn't a familiar looking baseball card. He was less impressed, but did manage to write "Happy Birthday Bob" before signing his name. That framed photograph still sits in my dad's office to this day.
Seeing him at the table he looked impossibly skinny for a major leaguer. I'm stunned he's 6'3 because he appeared shorter (though he was sitting down). He was rocking his 1985 World Series ring at the signing, and the ring looked bigger than his hand...