Alex Sanchez
Nick Esasky
Stan Belinda
Jim Presley
BEST PHOTO
Hey, look! This foursome features not one but two guy who went to the Braves and were totally washed up! (In Esasky's defense, a medical condition ruined his career.)
For a guy who appeared in just a few major league games, we've seen enough of Alex Sanchez already. His 1989 Topps ML Debut card is on this blog, and his 88 Topps O-Pee-Chee card is back on the 88 Topps Cards blog.
Esasky is rocking the porn 'stache and looks like a total doofus. Somebody needed to tell Nick that it wasn't 1982 when they took that photo.
Sanchez and Belinda are both shown with ball in mid-flight on the backs of their cards, although the Sanchez photo is a horizontal cheat from the photo on the front of his card.
On the back of Presley's card--holy crap--ANOTHER duffel bag! And a guy who looks like he's wondering what happened to 1985.
BEST STAT
From 1983 to 1988, Nick Esasky was the only player in MLB to have double-digit homers every year without ever appearing in more than 125 games in any season.
BEST IN 1990
Given that Presley was washed up, Esasky was unable to play, and Sanchez didn't appear in the majors after 1989, Belinda was the best by default, having a pretty decent season. Read more about him here.
BEST ANAGRAMS
Nick Esasky = Icky snakes! = Kinky cases
Jim Presley = Simply jeer = Limp jersey
BEST CAREER
This is also a tough call. I think it's clear that Esasky was the best player, but he played only one full season in the majors (1989 with Boston, where his 30 HR and 108 RBI earned him a big free-agent contract with the Braves that led to absolutely nothing due to vertigo.) Presley put up some big HR numbers but was generally not a very productive player. Belinda had by far the longest career and also a little post-season success. Belinda was also good enough to be traded for 3 pretty good players: Jon Lieber, Dan Miceli, and Dante Bichette (traded with Jeffrey Hammonds.)
So, I guess I'm going with Belinda.
Love Sanchez' back card photo where his foot could easily be mistaken for a baseball. I will now call this the Alex Sanchez football card!
ReplyDeleteGuess it's all perspective: I saw Belinda & Esasky and thought: two guys who played for the Red Sox and then developed terrible diseases.
ReplyDeleteI forgot that Belinda has MS. That's such an awful condition--much worse than vertigo.
ReplyDeleteI just meant Sox vs. Braves, not that you're an insensitive clod. Though you very well may be.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of Esasky's facial hair, when he was with the Reds in the 1980s, they still had the "no facial hair" rule. So he never had the opportunity to let his upper lip grow wild.
ReplyDeleteThat rule also kept the Reds from getting Rollie Fingers at one point (near the end of his career) because he refused to lose the handlebar.
Oh I am, Tom. I am.
ReplyDelete