B. J. Surhoff, 1997 Upper Deck #304

For their 1997 base set, Upper Deck took some of the guesswork out of puzzling out when the pictures on the cards had been taken. It was a neat idea that was gone completely by 1999. Their reporting checks out here; on April 29, 1996, the Orioles did indeed host the Rangers, and B. J. Surhoff "went yard", lining a ball over the right field fence off of Rick Helling in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was a game-winning shot, as it broke a 7-7 tie and neither team scored for the rest of the contest. This game was as wild as the score suggests, with the Rangers jumping out to a 5-0 lead by the third inning, sending O's starter Kent Mercker to an early shower. Baltimore charged back with a three-spot in the third, but reliever Jimmy Haynes gave a pair of runs back in the fifth to make it 7-3. A Mike Devereaux solo homer and a Surhoff two-run double narrowed the deficit to one in the home half of the fifth, and set the stage for the Orioles to rally for the decisive runs in the seventh. Roberto Alomar led off with a double, stole third base, and scored the tying run on a Rafael Palmeiro sacrifice fly. Then it was over to Surhoff for his big blast, and the Baltimore bullpen combo of Haynes, Jesse Orosco, and Randy Myers successfully walked a tightrope to get the last six outs. Texas stranded 13 men on base, including four in the last two innings. So I guess what I'm saying is that this was a good choice by the Upper Deck folks.