What a card: This is Rod Scurry's final card with the Pirates. He was purchased by the Yankees in September 1985.
My observation on the front: Given Scurry's harrowing, drug-filled 1984 season, I can't imagine what's going through his head here.
More opinion from me: Scurry's 1984 season included the following: drug use, a substance abuse rehab stint, public admission of taking cocaine, visits from the FBI, revealing to the authorities a network of dealers peddling drugs to National League players, and finally falling off the wagon and asking for a high-ball of cocaine from his hospital room while recovering from knee surgery that fall. I read about the Pittsburgh drug trial in the newspaper in 1985, but I was never really aware of how crazy it all was.
Something you might know: Scurry broke out big in 1982 by appearing in 76 games for the Pirates and posting a 1.74 ERA. But drug use killed his career and he died from a cocaine-induced heart attack at age 36 in 1992.
Something you might not know: Scurry's public admission of using cocaine in May 1984 came about after a drug-fueled disaster while the Pirates were in L.A. for a road series. Scurry had cocaine smuggled into a newly delivered baseball glove, went out partying while his teammates slept, and started hallucinating when he returned, tearing his room and TV apart in a rage because he thought cameras were planted in it.
My observation on the back: The Rangers led the league in saves in 2016 with 56. It doesn't mean much. The Cubs were 22nd and the Indians 24th in that category in 2016 and they played each other in the World Series.
The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames category is updated.
had a devastating curveball, but even more devastating demons.
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