Scott Ruskin
Glenn Braggs
Kevin Bearse
Jose Nunez
BEST PHOTO
Wow can you imagine the excitement in the Bearse household? He finally gets to the big leagues and has his first-ever major league baseball card, and when they gaze upon it, they see little Kevin damn near sucking his thumb in the photo. AWESOME!
With the exception of the Nunez card, all the rest show players in both home and road jerseys between their two photos, which is exceptionally cool. The photo on the back of Braggs' card seems to be airbrushed to blur out the guy standing right behind him.
BEST STAT
Of Braggs' 70 career homers, only 23 (33%) were tying or go-ahead, a below-average fraction.
BEST IN 1990
Another tough decision. Bearse barely pitched in the majors at all in 1990, his only year in the big leagues. Nunez was no good in 1990. Glenn Braggs was decent enough in 1990, and actually pretty darn good after his trade to the Reds mid-season. But in this group of guys, it was ScottRuskin who was best, splitting time between the Pirates and Expos after moving as part of this significant trade:
August 8, 1990: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with a player to be named later and Willie Greene to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later and Zane Smith. The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Moises Alou (August 16, 1990) to the Montreal Expos to complete the trade.
Lots of talent moving in the trade as all 4 guys had some good big-league years.
Anyway, in 1990 Ruskin pitched a total of 75.1 innings, compiling a very good 132 ERA+ while getting into 67 games.
BEST ANAGRAM
Scott Ruskin = Rustic knots (or uncorks tits, if you prefer)
Kevin Bearse = Is breakeven, or bereaves kin
Jose Nunez = Nouns, jeez!
BEST CAREER
This is a bit of a sorry lot to choose from, and Glenn Braggs wins by default. All 4 guys had short careers, with Braggs' 7-season odyssey being the longest. He still finished a bit below league-average OPS-wise, but at least he was part of a World Series champ, even if he did manage just 1 hit (but 2 RBI) in the 1990 post-season with the Reds.
Glenn Braggs - the dude was STRONG! Once broke a bat when he stopped a check swing, bat never touched the ball.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll vote for Ruskin.
ReplyDeleteMy vote easily goes for Jose - I am sucker for pitchers-in-mid-windup cards - gotta love the action!
ReplyDeleteI went with the Jose Nunez card as well. You can see all the details of the windup, including the grip on the ball. Looks like a 4-seam fastball
ReplyDeleteYeah after I posted this, I thought again about the Nunez card and noticed the merits you all mentioned. I did, however, vote for Ruskin before that.
ReplyDeleteWent with Ruskin just on the anagram... nothing impressive about any of their careers
ReplyDelete