1987 Fleer, Joel Skinner

115 Joel Skinner

Here is the second of three Joel Skinner cards that I got the day of Astros Fanfest. This card came from the incomplete set of '87 Fleer that was left at my house (if you missed that one, you can read about it here).

One of the things that I noticed when I was looking over Joel's stats is his batting average. He was only a .228 lifetime hitter which isn't horrible for a backup catcher from the '80s. But, if you look at his 1987 stats, his average really stands out. He hit .137 that year. He was 19-139 that year with four doubles and three homers. He even had his lone major league grand slam that year and had almost as many RBI (14) as hits.

I don't know what the lowest average is for a non-pitcher with over 100 at-bats in a season is, but this has got to be somewhere close to the record.

Notice the umpire in the background? If this card was made today, it would look like Joel had a hat and forehead growing out of his glove.