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.”

Apparently, my love for Mr. Atherton’s cards is never-ending.  I have to admit, the eye-black is a nice touch.

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?

If you’re new to the site, click here to see our previous post about Mr. Hume.

Mr. Hume had 4-5 great seasons as a relief pitcher for the Reds and Phillies.  Along with Rollie Fingers, he was the 1980 co-winner of the Sporting News “Fireman of the Year” award.

We are looking to get back to a more regular posting schedule, but for now, enjoy this Tom Henke card from Vorpy McNerd.  He doesn’t know what set it’s from, but it looks like 1988 or 1989 Topps to me, and it looks like he cropped Mr. Henke’s name off for some reason.

Anyway, baseball is back.  Life is good.

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Mr. Brown seems to be in competition with Scott Garrelts and Tom Hume for the title of “largest glasses in baseball history.”

Mr. Brown appears to have played part time for 5 seasons (never more than 358 AB’s in a season).  Considering he put up average to above-average OPS+ numbers in part time work, I don’t know why he didn’t have a longer career as a 4th outfielder.

From the back of card: “Daryl is a fan of popular music. He owns an excellent impersonation of singer Stevie Wonder.”

How about that Sox uni? Yikes.

A rare find: a pre-1974 nerd card. Also, it looks like Mr. Grba is missing a vowel in his last name.

Apparently, Mr. Harris was a switch-pitcher! From Baseball Library:

Harris’ unusual ability to pitch with both hands led to some tension between him and the Red Sox, who forbade the ambidextrous hurler from throwing lefty. GM Lou Gorman insisted it would “make a mockery” of the game, leading Harris to grumble, “Boston is so conservative. People are afraid to try anything.” In a muted show of defiance, Harris usually chose to wear an ambidextrous glove on the mound.

But just before his retirement, while pitching for the Expos in 1995, the veteran hurler finally became the only twentieth-century pitcher to throw from both sides of the mound. After Harris (pitching righty) retired Reggie Sanders to start off the ninth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds on September 28, 1995, he turned around to face the left-handed Hal Morris.

Harris issued a free pass, thus becoming the first ambidextrous major-league pitcher since Elton “Ice Box” Chamberlain of the American Association in 1888. Nerve-wracked, he stayed a southpaw and induced a ground-out from Eddie Taubensee, closing out the inning by retiring Bret Boone as a righty. The last pitcher to use both hands in a pro game had been Bert Campaneris, who did so in 1962 while playing for Daytona Beach in the Florida State League.

Pretty awesome stuff. Hopefully we’ll see something similar from Yankees farmhand Pat Venditte in the not-too-distant future.