Monday, February 23, 2009

Bobby Bonilla, 1996 Topps #329

Eventually I'll stop piggybacking off of Brian at 30-Year-Old Cardboard, but his birthday posts are excellent reminders and inspiration on slow days. Much as my offhand reference to Mike Cuellar's age (71) made reader Bob feel a bit old last week, it startled me to learn that Bobby Bo was turning 46 today. I remember Bonilla as the ultimate midseason pickup, a guy whose excellent half-season in Baltimore in 1995 (.333, 10 HR, 46 RBI) seemed to go to waste on Phil Regan's muddled sub-.500 team. Given a full season to bat in the midst of Rafael Palmeiro and Cal Ripken in 1996, the slugger turned in a .287-28-116 stat line for a team that finished three wins short of the World Series. From what I've heard, he was a good teammate as an Oriole, and I remember him and Palmeiro calling a team meeting after Tony LaRussa and the A's got a little too comfortable throwing chin music at the Birds.Link
Happy Birthday, Bobby. You were one heck of a hitter...but not much of a pitcher!

4 comments:

  1. he was traded for '5 tool stud' alex ochoa. this trade turned out so well for both the mets and orioles. *sigh*

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  2. Well Max, I would still say it worked out okay for the O's. Bonilla at least helped us to the Wild Card before he jumped to the Marlins and won the World Series...

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  3. ahhhh 1996. what a great year that was. ;)

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  4. goyanks - I'm going to let that slide for now...

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