Orioles Card "O" the Day

An intersection of two of my passions: baseball cards and the Baltimore Orioles. Updated daily?
Showing posts with label mystery man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery man. Show all posts

Monday, January 4, 2016

???, 1989 Star Hagerstown Suns #NNO

This is by far the strangest card that I received in last month's care package from Max. As you can see, I determined that it is a 1989 Star brand card featuring a player for the Hagerstown Suns, the Orioles' AA affiliate at the time. But that's the extent of my knowledge. There is no name, no position, and no stats on the back. See for yourself:

Thanks to the Trading Card Database, I was able to find scans of the entire 1989 Star team set for the Suns, but none of the cards pictured match the blank one that I possess. Nobody in that 22-card set even bears much of a resemblance to this skinny, mustached right-handed mystery man. So what gives? Was he originally supposed to be in the set, but got cut out midway through the printing process? Was it a prototype? A half-finished custom card by a collector with an odd sense of humor? Any information you can provide is appreciated, dear reader. Failing that, I'll accept conspiracy theories and cheap jokes.

Monday, July 14, 2008

???, 1992 Confex Baseball Enquirer #42

I post this card tonight as an appeal for help. This is one of three "Baseball Enquirer" cards that I received from David at Indians Cards. Always. I know who the other two are supposed to be (Jim Palmer and Billy Ripken - I'll have to show you that one later), but this fella has me 100% stumped. The interview on the back is no help at all; it mentions the mystery man being a submarine pitcher and an Australian native. It then conflates these two facts into a lame joke about "Down Under", hyuk hyuk. The only submariner I remember pre-Chad Bradford was Todd Frohwirth, but the last time I checked Milwaukee wasn't the Outback. According to Baseball Reference, there weren't any Aussie pitchers in major league history prior to 1993 (former Yankee scum Graeme Lloyd was the first). I only found one checklist for this set online, and it doesn't identify the subject of card #42. So what gives? Is this actually supposed to be Frohwirth, and they just made up the Australian stuff out of whole cloth for the sake of a terrible pun? Or am I just having a mental block? The truth is out there. I hope.