#536 Johnny Guzman
Just like the last card I posted, this one was also given to me by Rod, from Pardographs, when we met up at a Hillsboro Hops game in 2015.
While I was familiar with this card, since it was in my collection, I was not familiar with Johnny Guzman as a player. Like most of the players in the Line Drive sets, I just assumed that he never played in the Major Leagues. Turns out I was wrong. Johnny logged 8 innings in the Majors with the A's in 1991 and '92. While he did earn one win, it was a rocky 8 innings. He ended up striking out 3 and only walking 2. But, he gave up 9 runs on 19 hits to the tune of a 10.13 ERA. In Johnny's defense, he did not allow a home run and he was 21 or younger in each of his appearances.
In his one win, Johnny entered a tie game with two outs in the eighth with two runners on. After going to a full count, he got the Tigers Lou Whitaker to ground out to the second baseman to end the inning. The A's came up in the bottom half of the inning and put up a six spot to secure the victory. Some guy named Dennis Eckersly came out for the A's and pitched the ninth inning.
Johnny would go on to pitch only one more season before calling it quits at the age of 22. Though coming out of the Dominican Republic back then, it is hard to say if that was his actual age or not. But, that is pure speculation on my part.
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