What a card: Al Oliver arrived with the Dodgers after a trade with the Phillies on Feb. 9, 1985 in which L.A. sent reliever Pat Zachry to Philadelphia.
How'd that go: Oliver, in the final season of his 18-year major league career, played in just 32 games for the Dodgers in 1985 before he was traded to the Blue Jays in July. That allowed him to get into his first postseason series in 10 years in which he hit .375 in five games of the ALCS.
Backatya: I've already written about the cologne reference so let's mention that I enjoy that Topps abbreviated Ohio as "O." so we may continue the theme started on the front as Oliver's uniform number is "0".
Back-to-back: Good timing with this card as reliever Adam Ottavino made news yesterday by becoming the first Yankee player to wear the number 0 on his uniform. Oliver is believed to be the first major leaguer to wear the number 0, which he started while a member of the Texas Rangers in the late 1970s.
The flagship card is No. 130 and was originally blogged on Jan. 3, 2013.
The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.
1978 was the first year, according to BBREF.
ReplyDeleteThe 85 Jays had a 0 (Oliver) and a 00 (Cliff Johnson)
by a strange coincidence, both players contributed 0 defensively
ReplyDelete