Orioles Card "O" the Day

An intersection of two of my passions: baseball cards and the Baltimore Orioles. Updated daily?

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Rodrigo Lopez, 2003 Upper Deck SPX #15

A few thoughts on this Rodrigo Lopez card:

-Rodrigo is a ubiquitous presence in my early 2000s team collection, because he was that rarest of commodities: a competent pre-Showalter Orioles pitcher. At least, he was in 2002 and 2004. Because I see him so often while thumbing through my cards, I assumed that I had posted a glut of those cards on this blog. For a while, that was the case: in the first four years I was doing this, Lopez appeared ten times. But in those years, he was still clinging to his major league career. I haven't visited with Rodrigo on my blog for two and a half years now. Out of sight, out of mind maybe? He made four rough relief appearances with the Cubs in 2012, allowing six runs (four earned) in six and a third innings, and that was the last of his MLB experience. The Phillies signed him the following winter, but released him before spring training was through in 2013. He pitched in Mexico last season, but his ERA was 5.49. So Lopez's pitching career may be finished.

-Occasionally my scanner will play tricks with light. In this case, the bright bluish-green accents on this card are actually plain ol' silver foil. But I like the scanner's more colorful version better.

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