Things I Read on the Back of Cards – 1992 Donruss Triple Play – Ben McDonald

1992 Triple Play – Ben McDonald (Front)

1992 Triple Play – Ben McDonald (Back)

“Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer won the Cy Young Award three times.  Did you know that he never gave up a grand slam home run in his career?”

That certainly is impressive, especially since Palmer pitched over 300 innings in a season several times – so there must have been some bases loaded opportunities in there somewhere.  He also routinely gave up over 20 home runs a season.  Maybe he was super intense with the bases loaded.  Or maybe he was just lucky.  Of course, all of this would have been during the times when Palmer wasn’t busy modeling underwear.  Seriously, look it up.  The photos now look like someone who’s trying to make fun of a 1970’s underwear model.

However, there is another perfectly good fact to learn here, but on the front of the card – Donruss has no idea how to fit an entire baseball player on a baseball card.  Sure, Ben McDonald is 6’7”, but really, that photo is kind of terrible.  It makes him look like a flamingo with bad stirrups.

I hope you’ve learned as much today as I have.

Things I Read on the Back of Cards – 1992 Donruss Triple Play – Doug Drabek

1992 Triple Play - Doug Drabek

1992 Triple Play - Doug Drabek (back)

“Pirate pitcher Harvey Haddix pitched a perfect game (no hits, walks or errors) for 12 innings in 1959 but lost the game in the 13^th.”

Wow, that is impressive.  That’s a long way to go to be perfect and lose.  That would not feel good… I’ll bet it would feel kind of like being 9 games up in the AL Wild Card race on September 2, but then putting up a 7-20 record the rest of the way to miss the playoffs on the last day of the season by losing to Baltimore.  Baltimore!  Nope, actually, that would be way worse.  Imagine being a fan of a team like that!  But wait… could that possibly happen?  Seems impossible…

Yes, I have taken this almost completely unrelated moment to shamelessly rip on the Red Sox.  I have enjoyed this.  Thank you and good night.