There is a handful of 2009 O-Pee-Chee cards with photos that can be dated.
Let's start with an easy one, this Adrian Beltre card.
On the scoreboard in the background, we can see that the Angels were playing at the Tigers that day. Checking out the Angels' 2008 schedule, we see they played two series at Detroit. One was over April 25 to April 27 and the other was Sept 2 to Sept 4. We can also see in the photo background that the Yankees were visiting the Rays on this day. Over the April dates, though, the Yankees were at the Indians. However, the Rays did host the Yankees Sept 2, 3, and 4.
In the photo, the pitcher for the Angels was #20, which was Jon Garland. He pitched for the Angels on September 3rd. Zach Miner was the Tigers' starter in that game and he wore #31, jiving with what we see in the photo above. Lastly, the Rays' starter that day was Edwin Jackson, and he wore #36, also matching up with what we see in the photo.
So, clearly, this photo is from September 3rd, 2008.
On that day, the Mariners were visiting the Rangers and they lost 1-0. Beltre did manage 2 hits, though.
ANAGRAMS
Adrian Beltre =
Radiant rebel
Ran liberated
Alert brained
STAT
I just wrote recently about Adrian Beltre over at the Baseball-Reference.com Blog where I pointed out how overrated he is and how bad his 2009 has been.
