nerdbaseball.com » 1981

Bill Bonham / Shirtless Man

I Love Nerd York City — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:23:59 +0000

I am posting this card not as evidence of the nerd-era in MLB, but as evidence of the “we don’t give a crap” attitude of the Fleer company in the early 1980′s.

Not only is Mr. Bonham featured in a profile view, with his face obscured by shadow, but he is forced to share his card with an anonymous shirtless fan, who is given an equal amount of baseball card real estate. Only the early ’80s Fleer company…

Gary Weiss

I Love Nerd York City — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:06:25 +0000

Click the stars to vote: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Mr. Weiss played only 22 games in his MLB career, all with the Dodgers.

Bill Buckner’s Hair

I Love Nerd York City — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:39:19 +0000

While not a nerd per se, I had to post this card in order to share what is possibly the strangest facial hair/body hair in baseball card history:

Can there be an explanation for the disparity between left-side-mustache and right-side-mustache? And I don’t know how to properly address the pattern of neck hair. We’ve all seen pictures of Mr. Buckner before, and he has always looked like a normal guy…so what happened here?

Danny Goodwin

I Love Nerd York City — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:21:53 +0000

Click the stars to vote: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

For my money, this is easily the best facial hair I’ve seen on a baseball card. Mr. Goodwin holds the distinction of being the only player to be selected first overall in MLB’s draft twice. He was selected first overall out of high school, opted for college, and four years later, was drafted first overall again.

I must note that this is not a poor scan on my part, and that the blurriness is a poor printing job by Donruss (surprise!!!).

Steve Trout

I Love Nerd York City — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:34:45 +0000

Click the stars to vote: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

To avoid any confusion, Mr. Trout is not actually a giant white paper fish.

Mike Cubbage

I Love Nerd York City — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:18:31 +0000

Click the stars to vote: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Mr. Cubbage hit for the cycle on June 27, 1978. Mets fans may remember him as their interim manager for seven games in 1991, and Red Sox fans may remember him as their interim manager after Joe Kerrigan was fired in spring training of 2002.

Congrats to the 2009 Nerd-All-Stars, and starting with Mr. Cubbage, new nerds will be eligible for the 2010 Nerd-All-Star-Team.

Rafael Landestoy

I Love Nerd York City — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:30:56 +0000

Donruss Employee A: I think we need to use a different picture. His face is covered in shadow, and the picture is way blurry. Oh yeah, and the grass kind of looks orange.
Donruss Employee B: Fuck it.

Click the stars to vote: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Major League Baseball player, or a young Babu Bhatt from Seinfeld?

Lenn Sakata

I Love Nerd York City — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:52:29 +0000

Some interesting things to note about Mr. Sakata:

1) He was the 2nd ever Asian American to play Major League Baseball.

2) He was part of one of the coolest sounding games ever — On August 24, 1983 the Orioles rallied to tie their game against the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth inning. While doing so, they were forced to replace their starting catcher, AND his backup, so Mr. Sakata was put behind the plate to start the 10th inning. Three consecutive Blue Jays reached first base in the top of the tenth, and each of them (thinking it would be easy to steal second with Sakata catching) were picked off by O’s pitcher Tippy Martinez. Sakata then hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the tenth.

3) While mostly a utility player, Mr. Sakata followed the nerd M.O. of playing professional baseball without being able to hit. Over the course of his ten year career, he was employed by the Brewers, Orioles, and Yankees. He appeared in over 550 games, with a career OPS+ of 71, and a career OBP of .286. His 1984 season ranks as a particularly low-point for nerds, where he played in 108 games with 168 plate appearances and an OPS+ of 33!!! On the bright side, you’ve got to love the hair.

Click the stars to vote: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.