Monday, March 2, 2015

#385 - Jose DeLeon


What a card: Jose DeLeon had finished his sophomore season with the Pirates in 1984. He was entering a season in which he would lose 19 games for the first -- but not the last -- time in his career. He went 2-19 for the Pirates in 1985.

My observation on the front: Another miscut card. It's detracting from the glorious mid-'80s Pirates uniform, including the yellow stirrups.

More opinion from me: Kind of an odd choice for a player with a card number ending in "5". The previous entry on this blog -- Jody Davis -- would have been more appropriate.

Something you might know: DeLeon possessed blazing speed and eventually put it together in the late '80s for the Cardinals, winning the NL strikeout crown in 1989 with 201.

Something you might not know: DeLeon was traded for some notable players. He was dealt straight up from the Pirates to the White Sox for Bobby Bonilla. Then he helped the White Sox land Lance Johnson in a deal with the Cardinals. In 1993, the Phillies traded him back to the White Sox for Bobby Thigpen. And then in 1995, the Expos traded future closer Jeff Shaw for DeLeon.


My observation on the back: The Cardinals now have the most NLCS wins with 35. The Reds have also been surpassed by the Braves (27), Giants (24), Dodgers (23), Phillies (21) and Mets (19). The Reds now have 18.

The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.

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