Wednesday, October 4, 2017

1988 Topps, Rick Rodriguez


#166 Rick Rodriguez

Here is a card that I got signed at an Omaha Storm Chasers game last season. The Nashville Sounds were in town and Rick is the teams pitching coach. He was nice enough to stop on his way out to the field and sign this one card for me.

Rick saw time in the Majors for parts of four seasons with the A's, Indians, and Giants and he had a rough go of it. He appeared in 31 games and logged 77 innings. He had a decent record at 3-4 for his career, but that might be the best part of his stat line. His career ERA is 5.73 and he gave up 97 hits, walked 41, and struck out only 22. That is good for a WHIP of 1.79.

At first glance, it looks like Rick had a decent '87 season and I am guessing that is why he got a card in this set. He was 1-0 with a 2.96 ERA in 15 relief outings. But, in 24.1 iinings pitched, he gave up 32 hits, walked 15, and struck out 9. While he only gave up one home run that season, I think it is safe to say that he got lucky and his ERA should have been higher. I guess that is why they started using advanced metrics because 1-0 with a 2.96 ERA looks really good. The rest of his numbers from that season do not.

Rick only had two main cards come out, this one and one in the '88 Fleer set. He had a few minor league cards, but this was the only card I had of him to get signed.

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