Thursday, June 4, 2009

1989 Topps Major League Debut #119: Paul Sorrento



Paul Sorrento

PHOTO: This is a depressing photo for two reasons: 1) Sorrento's face is half-obscured and half in a funny position, making the photo worthless and 2) The Twin in the background between Sorrento's legs is touching himself in a rude manner.

STAT: Sorrento was one of 4 guys to have at least 10 homers but fewer than 100 RBI every year from 1992 to 1999. If you can name the other 3, you are a baseball trivia god.

ANAGRAM: There are a million good anagrams for Paul Sorrento. Here are a few:

Poorer sultan
Surer platoon
Personal tour
Porous rental
Opulent roars

CAREER: 4/10

Gotta love that Sorrento was once in a trade for Bert Blyleven.

Paul was a a good hitter, although not good enough to have a long career as a 1B or DH. He averaged 25 HR and 84 RBI per 162 games played, which would be great numbers for some outfielders or infielders, but probably below average for a 1B or DH. When his OPS fell below league average in 2 years with Tampa Bay, his career in the big leagues was over.

5 comments:

  1. Trivia time!

    Paul Sorrento hit the first home run in Oriole Park at Camden Yards history in the second game played there (April 8, 1992). It was a first-inning shot off of Bob Milacki. Rick Sutcliffe shut out the Tribe on Opening Day - as the "veteran" and big offseason free agent, he got the first start. But why the hell Johnny Oates went with Milacki instead of Mike Mussina in game two, I'll never know.

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  2. Hard to imagine a ballpark opening these days without a homer being hit in the first game...or 3 homers, like at New Yankee Stadium this year (see here.)

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  3. What about Larry Walker?

    Robbie Alomar? Marquis Grissom? Ryan Klesko?

    Porbably 0 for 4, but those four guys seemed like good choices. Well, Klesko was just because I needed a fourth guy, but Grissom and Alomar batted near the top of the order and had some pop, but never had a chance to drive in a lot of runs. Walker never seemed to be driving in a lot of runs either, but hit a lot of home runs in Colorado.

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  4. Grissom is one. (You can click on the link for the list.)

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  5. I didn't want to cheat. But now I'm going to have to look. Hmmmm... maybe after a few weeks I would have come up with Glenallen Hill, but I never would have gotten Reggie Sanders.

    Hey at least all my choices are on the list.

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