Cardboard Flashback: Tommy Hinzo

In 1987, the Indians needed to make move toward youth. Manager Pat Corrales had been fired in favor of Doc Edwards, so the house cleaning had begun. The Tribe decided to trade Topps All-Star Tony Bernazard to the Oakland Athletics for pitcher Darrel Akerfelds and catcher Brian Dorsett, two guys who were pretty terrible. Dorsett played in 5 games as an Indian, while Akerfelds posted a 6.75 ERA in 16 appearances. This trade paved the way for a young hot second base switch hitting prospect named Tommy Hinzo.

This University of Arizona product may have been rushed to the majors a bit too prematurely (drafted in the 7th round a year earlier). Teflon Tommy hit a respectable .265 the rest of the year in 257 at bats, but didn't have a lot of power (3 HR, 21 RBI). Also going against Hinzo was he rarely ever walked (10 Bases on Balls) and was a bit of a butcher out in the field, booting the ball 9 times. The team ended the season 61-101, while Hinzo's career in Cleveland subsequently ended as well. Apparently the ability not to get on base much and have an iron glove were not what Cleveland was looking for in their two-bagger, as the Indians decided to move the ageless Julio Franco over to second instead of letting Tiny Tommy man the diamond.

Hinzo did make his valiant return to the Wigwam in 1989, amassing 17 more Major League at bats. He unfortunately went hitless. That put a stamp on the career of the San Diego native. Maybe Cleveland was too cold? The great thing about this 1988 Topps gem of a card was that old Municipal Stadium looked pretty full in the good seats for a game that definitely meant nothing. I will always remember Tommy Hinzo for the mere fact that I had like 8 of these cards and nobody would trade me for one. Now I remember why.

Cardboard Flashback Pat Corrales

Nothing was worse opening up a pack of cards when you are younger and getting a Manager card, except when it was Cleveland Indians legend Pat Corrales. His well kept feathered mane had the look of a hair club for men client. This salt and pepper-follicled skipper compiled a 280-355 record over 4 season in a Tribe uniform. The team peeked under his tutelage in 1986 with a fifth place showing.

Senor Patrico did have a successful career as a bench manager for Bobby Cox for 9 years and now is right hand man of the Washington Nationals. When I get ticked off at Eric Wedge for keeping relievers in his bullpen that haven't pitched in two weeks or being frustrated that he often plays a chubby, golden-mulleted crappy 4th outfielder, I remember that we had this guy as our manager and feel a little bit better about management.

Cardboard Fuzzy Memories

special to the TTO

When I was a little kid, you always knew that spring was around the corner when the local Convenient Food Mart put out the first box of Topps baseball cards.

There was usually still snow on the ground when we'd stop at the store on our way to church so my dad could grab a cup of coffee and pick the three of us up a package of those little chocolate doughnuts that John Belushi famously kept on his training table to fight over while we made our way to our Lakewood parish.

The day he'd come out with a pack for each of us--warning us not to even think about putting the gum in our mouths until after mass--was a big treat. Usually, I'd find a way to cheat or steal the best cards of my brothers' packs to get a leg up on my collection.

I collected for 7 or 8 year stretch, covering what I consider to be the Golden Age of card collecting (1987-1990), until I found more important things to do with my time and money.

Back in the day, you had three choices: Topps, Donruss, and Fleer. We collected only Topps; even after the glut of sports cards hit the market in the late 1980s, we were strictly a Topps household.

During that stretch, my dad, brothers and I embarked on an ambitious plan to put together a complete Topps set for every year that my brothers and I had been alive (1979 and later). We were pretty much successful, missing only a few cards that were out of our price range from some of the early sets.

Now, with Baby-Neg due to make his Major League Debut this summer, I decided that I'd get a leg up on the collecting and start putting away a complete set for every year of his lifetime. Later, when he's older, we can collect them together and when he decides he's too cool for me, he can do it on his own.

I started off at Target. I grabbed two packages of plastic pages and took in the chaos on the baseball card racket--I was shocked.

First of all, there are only two brands of baseball cards left--Upper Deck and Topps. It figures that once the market hit rock bottom in the mid to late 90s that only a few companies would be left, and Topps and UD were always among the best. But, each brand had several different varieties of cards.

From what I saw on the shelf, Topps has at least 5 varieties cards on the shelf this spring: Topps Series 1, Topps Series 2 (due May 2008), Topps 2007 Updated and Highlights, Topps 2008 Opening Day, Topps Bowman Heritage, etc. It's ridiculous.

With a little help from the Internet, I figured that I'd stick with the Topps Series 1 and, later, the Series 2. They seem to be the most "basic" of the card sets--the closest thing to the ol' 792 card sets of our youth.

However, the Series 1 cards come in two separate types of packs: hobby packs and flow packs. Hobby packs are the easiest to find. Each pack (10 cards) comes in at a whopping $3--a lot different from the $0.40 per pack that 1987 Topps went for. Not to mention that there are about 104 different subsets and special cards that you can find in the Hobby packs. I think that you can even pull a card with a piece of A-Rod's jock strap built into it.

The flow packs are the way to go. The packs come in at 7 cards and a piece of gum for about $1-$1.25. Better, though, is that they only come with the basic cards--you cannot pull any of the special subset cards from the flow packs. Sure, I might miss out on a one-in-a-million gold leaf Daisuke Matsuzaka "Elite" card, but really, with all of the special cards out there, haven't these lost all meaning?

The worst part about the flow packs is finding them. You can buy them by the box online, but the shipping charges make them even more expensive than the Hobby packs. The only local store where I've found them so far is Dick's Sporting Goods, and they only had a few packs on the shelf. According to the guys and gals on the Topps Message Boards, though, that the packs "repeat" themselves, leaving you with tons of doubles and lots of holes in your collection.

So, I've bought a few packs and I'm off to a pretty good start. I'm short on Indians players (I've got Wedge, Barfield, Byrd, and a Sizemore ALDS card), but I've got some other big names. I think that I should be able to put together a complete set of the 330 Series 1 cards by June without dropping a ton of cash. I suppose I could have waited until August and bought a complete set for a fraction of what I am paying for trying to collect the set, but what's the fun in that?

by J-Neg

Cardboard Flashback: Ramon Romero

special to the TTO

Since the days of the Babe and Sweet Lou, baseball players have been at the forefront of fashion. Like the guy who I stole this picture from said, “Oh man, look at those jive ass shoes!”

From Barry’s pimpstache to CC’s crooked bill, ballplayers love to try to be at the center of the fashion universe. Hell, weren’t A-Rod and Derek Jeter once named some of People’s “Sexiest Men Alive?” And I swear Thome’s high socks set off a fashion craze and inspired this pop sensation of the 1990s—not that I’m complaining.

However, one ballplayer who dared to blaze his own trail never quite gained the fame he deserved. I’m talking about a man who laughed in the face of tradition, a man who dared to go left when everyone else went right.

I’m talking about Ramon Romero and his blue glove.

Back in the Tribe’s “Mistake on the Lake” heyday of the mid 1980s, the Sons of Geronimo went through mediocre pitching like Barry Bonds went through hat sizes. We’re talking the crème de la crème of some of the worst pitchers ever to put on stirrups and a cup. And Ramon Romero stands alone atop this mountain of suckitude.

A string bean of a player, standing 6’ 4” tall and 170 lbs soaking wet, this crappy…er, crafty southpaw intimidated no one, especially while wearing that ridiculous glove. In 11 career appearances, all for the Tribe in 1984 and 1985, Ramon el Azul went 2-3 with a remarkable-for-the-era 6.28 ERA.

The Tribe must have had high hopes, at least at some point, for Romero. In his lone appearance in 1984, he showed a glimmer of promise, giving up no runs over 3 innings, striking out 3 and hitting a batter. Needless to say Gabe Paul and the Indians penciled him in for a shot at the team after the season.

However, 1985 turned out to be a disaster for Big Blue. He somehow found a way to scrounge up 2 wins despite giving up 69 hits and 48 runs, 47 earned, in just 64.1 innings pitched. Counting his 38 walks and 5, count ‘em, 5 hit batsmen, that’s an average of almost 2 baserunners per inning.

Seriously, why did they keep throwing this jobber out there? Couldn’t Tom Waddell or Vern Ruhle chew up a few extra innings to keep this guy in AAA? Christ, I’m pretty sure that Jose Canseco had a better WHIP in his pitching career than Romero.

Romero does have his own place in Indians history for being part of the trade that brought the legendary Ken Schrom and former first round pick Bryan Oelkers, the first player to be born in Spain to make it to the Majors, to the Tribe.

He would have been allowed to return to the Dominican Republic lick his wounds and fade into baseball obscurity if he wouldn’t have stood in that ridiculous beer league softball pose with that goddamn blue glove for the Topps photographer sometime in 1985. But, despite Romero’s piss poor stats, at least we remember him for something. Only one question remains—what kind of jive-ass shoes do you wear to match a blue glove?

by: J-Neg

Cardboard Flashback: Eric Wedge

In honor of Opening Day, this week's fantastic cardboard subject is none other than Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge. He was chosen in the 1993 expansion draft by the Colorado Rockies with the 48th pick, playing in 9 games that year. Wedgie played parts of four years in the majors, belting 5 home runs for the Red Sox in 1992. Eric seemed to juggle life behind the dish and manicuring his mustache and possible mullet quite well. His face displayed the hope and promise of greatness. That success would come 14 years later not between the lines, but from the top step of the dugout. 2007's AL Manager of the Year used to call pitches for hurling legends such as Armando Reynoso and Willie Blair. Now he is the skipper of one of the elite teams in baseball. Catchers always seem to have it easy.

Cardboard Flashback: Andy Allanson

We welcome you to our first installment of Cardboard Flashback. What says Topps All-Star rookie more than a .225 batting average, stealing a whopping 10 bases, while knocking out 1 homerun and knocking in 29 rbi's? Andy Allanson, that's who! Double A had a magical season in 1986, battling Chris Bando for the everyday dish duty and leading the Sons of Geronimo to a 84-78 record.

Allanson only hit 12 homeruns as an Indian, never fully realizing the potential Topps had envisioned. But for one unforgettable season, he was forever immortalized as an all-star, with a small picture of a gold cup imprinted on his trading card. Greatness personified.