1996 Best, Mendy Lopez

#40 Mendy Lopez

Here is a card that I picked up from Checkoutmycards for sixty cents.

Mendy's Major League career spanned parts of seven seasons with the Royals, Marlins, Astros, and Pirates. He was a utility infielder that played all four spots and a bit of outfield. He saw the most significant playing time as a rookie for the Royals in 1998. That season, he got into 74 games and had 206 at-bats. That was the only season that he ever had more than 100 at-bats. He hit .243 that year with 10 doubles and 15 RBI.

Mendy would play in just 117 games over the next six seasons. The only time he got decent playing time was when he came back to the Royals in 2003. That year, he got into 52 games and had 94 at-bats. He had career highs in home runs (3) and average (.277) that season.

While Mendy was never a star player, or even a regular, he is held high in Royals lore. On Opening Day in 2004, Mendy hit a three-run pinch hit home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the ballgame. The Royals went on to win the game. It was supposed to be the home run that was going to jump start the team's season, as they were picked as the favorites by most people. But, the team never got it going and Mendy was sold to the Korean League after playing in just 18 games.

Even though Mendy hasn't played in the Majors since '04, he kept on playing in Mexico through last season.