Mr. Sanguillen had the awesome nickname “Sangy,” and his .296 career batting average is the 4th highest by a catcher since WWII.  He is a three-time All-Star, and a two-time World Series champion.  He rarely walked, and had a six year stretch of at least 475 plate appearances with 22 or fewer walks.

When I make it out to visit the Pittsburgh ballpark, I will make sure to get this card autographed.  From Wikipedia:

Sanguillen currently operates “Manny’s BBQ”, a barbecue-style concession stand at the Pirates’ current home, PNC Park. He sits in a chair greeting fans in line to buy food, signing autographs and posing for photos.

While looking for a card to post today, I found this Dale Berra card, and was struck by two things: 1) why is the photographer insisting on a Little League pose, and 2) is Mr. Berra wearing pins on his hat?

Mr. Berra is the son of Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra, and played in more games than any other son of a Hall-of-Fame player.  He was a member of the 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

Unfortunately, Mr. Berra struggled with cocaine-related-issues.  From Wikipedia:

On September 9, 1985,Berra testified during the cocaine distribution trial of Curtis Strong that he shared cocaine with Lee Lacy, John Milner, Dave Parker, Lee Mazzilli and Rod Scurry while all were members of the Pirates, and that his own drug use peaked while he was injured during the 1984 season^.

On February 28, 1986 Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth handed down suspensions to eleven players, seven of whom received a full season suspension, including Berra. All avoided the suspensions by agreeing to donate a small percentage of their 1986 salaries to a drug program and do community service work. The players who received the full year suspensions were allowed to play under the condition that they donated ten percent of their base salaries to drug-related community service, submitted to random drug testing, and contributed 100 hours of drug-related community service.

In April 1989, Berra was indicted in a drug raid on an operation that allegedly distributed $15,000 to $20,000 worth of cocaine each week in Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Union and his hometown, Essex County, New Jersey.

Apparently this is Bob Griese, a pro-football Hall-of-Famer, and two time Super Bowl winning quarterback.

Kent Tekulve baseball cards are truly the gifts that keeps giving.  No one can touch him in the “lifetime achievement” category.

Question: Is this style pirates cap the tallest in baseball history?  More evidence.

Full disclosure: While this card resides in the nerd archives, this is not an original scan, as once again, the scanner here at Nerd Central is on the fritz.  I had to use google images to find a digital copy of the card, which is why the image quality is not up to usual NerdBaseball resolution standards.  Thank you to this website for the image.

New posts resume next week.

Mr. Pena made five All-Star teams, and won four Gold Glove awards.  He managed the Royals from 2002 – 2005, and is currently a bench coach for the Yankees.

Bonus points for the turtleneck and huge jersey.

In 1976 Mr. Collins became the first batter in Seattle Mariners history.  He scored the first run in Mariners history, also.

One of my favorite names in nerd-card history, Mr. Johnson shares his name with a Pro Football Hall-of-Famer.  I also love the old-school-Trix-looking font used on these Rangers jerseys.

Mr. Johnson played eight seasons in the major leagues, with his best work coming after his primary role changed from starter to relief pitcher.  He had five straight seasons with an ERA+ over 118, with strike out rates between 8-10 batters per 9 innings, despite not pitching at all in the 1982 and 1985 seasons.

This card also leaves the viewer pondering the question: perm or afro?

Sadly, Mr. Porter was one of the first professional baseball players to publicly admit having substance abuse problems. From Wikipedia:

During spring training in 1980, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe paid a visit to the Kansas City clubhouse. He asked the players 10 questions, the point of which being if a player answered three or more of the questions with an affirmation, the player might have a problem with drugs or alcohol. Porter affirmed all 10 questions and checked himself into a rehabilitation center, admitting he had abused alcohol, cocaine, Quaaludes, and marijuana.

He died in August of 2002 of “toxic effects of cocaine.”

I choose to remember Mr. Porter as “one of the few major league catchers of his time to wear eyeglasses behind the plate” and being “the only batter ever to bat with one hand on the bat.”