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.

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.”

This card may force us here at NerdBaseball to reconsider Chris Sabo’s place in nerd baseball history.  While Mr. Sabo is considered by most to be the pioneer of Rec-Specs in MLB, this card seems to suggest otherwise.  While Sabo first appeared for the Reds in 1988, we see Mr. Porter here sporting what appear to be Rec-Specs in 1984, almost a half-decade before Mr. Sabo’s rookie season.

But are these really Rec-Specs, or simply weird oversized glasses?  The front view certainly suggests Rec-Specs, but the side view above gives me pause.

Either way, this is not the last that we will see of Mr. Porter, and his eyewear selection.

What does everyone think?

Another strange card from our friend Paul’s collection.  Paul explains:

“Steve Lake lists hobbies and interests as “Raising birds including Ruffles, pictured on the front of this card…restoring cars…likes to watch ESPN…49ers fan.”   Ruffles is actually printed in boldface on the card.

Nerdicus Finch, with a last name that is also a noun, do I smell the opportunity for a Steve Lake funny card?

According to Wikipedia, Mr. Quirk held the career home run record (43) for players whose last names started with “Q” until Mark Quinn passed him in 2002. Carlos Quentin passed that mark in 2008, and is the current record holder.

What is happening in this photo? It looks like Nolan is trying to navigate some sort of catwalk.

In addition to being an Albert Brooks look-a-like, Nolan was also a pretty decent part-time catcher. In 11 seasons, he never had more than 264 at-bats and posted a 95 OPS+, which is actually not bad for a part-time catcher. Even though this is a 1986 card, Nolan did not play in 1986 at all. In fact, his final game in the majors was June 25, 1985.

Love this card…but come back on Thursday to witness Mr. Downing achieve the first successful nerd-to-non-nerd conversion.

This is Mr. Knicely’s 1986 Topps card. Anyone want to guess which television drama about cops in South Beach was a top-ten-hit that year?

Mr. Pena was a four time Gold Glove winner, and a five time All-Star. He managed the Kansas City Royals from 2002-2006, and has been a base/bench coach for the New York Yankees since then.