Monday, June 8, 2009

1989 Topps Major League Debut #124: Doug Strange



Doug Strange

PHOTO: Here's a rare case of a player's own name serving as a suitable adjective for his photo, as the expression on Strange's face is nothing if not strange.

I'm very curious about the Tiger in the background. At first glimpse, it looks like Cecil Fielder, but Big Daddy was playing in Japan in 1989 and wasn't with Detroit until 1990 (after this card image was taken, surely.)

STAT: Strange had 1 career inside-the-park home run, coming in this game against the Mets, one of Corey Lidle's first major-league games.

ANAGRAM: Lots of good ones for Doug Strange, such as "tugs, groaned", "gets aground", "drags tongue", "gangster duo", "dung storage"....seriously there are probably 50 more good ones.

CAREER: 3/10

Strange was absolutely a no-hit kind of guy, finishing with an OBP under .300 (terrible) and a career OPS+ of 69 (horrible.) However he was versatile, playing lots of games at 2B and 3B, as well as a bunch in the OF, SS, and 1B. Of course, he wasn't a very good fielder either, posting for example a .927 fielding percentage at 3B compared to a league average of .950.

4 comments:

  1. The guy in the background looks like he's wearing glasses and has a moustache. My guess, based on that and his skin tone, would be Willie Hernandez.

    I don't know what a pitcher would be doing so close to the batting cage, but you never know. Maybe he was trying to relive his days with the Cubs and take some BP.

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  2. Vada Pinson was a coach in 1990...could be him.

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  3. Doesn't look like Willie Hernandez or Vada Pinson to me, although a coach would make more sense being around the batting cage.

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