Rick Luecken
PHOTO: It seems to me that the Royals make the best cards. They always have had great uniforms that were all blue with a little white, black, or gray mixed in. Topps could always use blue as the team color (as with the two banners on this card) and get fantastic color unity. Even with the crazy red-gray border used for this set, the colors work.
STAT: Luecken did not have a notable major-league playing career, but I noticed on this list that he faced both Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr (as I'm sure many pitchers in 1989-1990 did.)
ANAGRAM: This guy started the fire. Rick Luecken = Nuke clicker. Also Uncle kicker.
CAREER: 2/10
The only thing earning Luecken a 2 instead of a 1 is that he was involved in two notable trades:
December 10, 1986: Traded by the Seattle Mariners with Danny Tartabull to the Kansas City Royals for Scott Bankhead, Mike Kingery and Steve Shields.
December 15, 1989: Traded by the Kansas City Royals with Charlie Leibrandt to the Atlanta Braves for Jim Lemasters (minors) and Gerald Perry.
Both trades had a significant impact on the franchises involved and so Luecken must have carried some perceived value even though he was the throw-in each time.
he has a look slightly panicked look on his face, rare for a baseball card. bemusement, confusion, happiness, gruffness - all normal baseball card faces. panic is not in the usual pile.
ReplyDeleteand 'uncle kicker' sounds like the name of a second album by an 80's hair metal band.
That look reminds me of the look Pat Swayze had on his face when the cops found out about his child porn ring in "Donnie Darko."
ReplyDeleteHot damn, Donny Darko was such a great movie. The DVD commentary by the writer/director and Jake Gyllenhaal is great too.
ReplyDeletegood call on the look on the face DK.
ReplyDelete