47 - Bret Barberie

47 - Bret Barberie

Front photo: A nice view of the plate. With all the close crops nowadays with cards, we get a rare appearance of the catcher. And it is PC guy Mike Piazza there.

Back photo: A close up, but one with a really nice view of the Marlins first season patch.

Better photo?: Really close, but I vote for the patch photo on the back.

Ties to my personal collections: Former Montreal Expo.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 7.

Wiki-facts:  Bret is the former husband of Jillian Barberie (now known as Jillian Reynolds). Jillian has 9 more paragraphs in her wiki article.

Google it: First video is not of him playing baseball, but from some sort of incident involving a fantasy draft.

How was his strike-shortened 1994? Batted .301 with 5 HR and 31 RBI.

Birthday boy: August 16, 1967. Former football defenders Stacey Hairston and Matt Vanderbeek were born that date. Outside the *-reference world, British TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson was also born on that date.

Up Next: #48 - Kim Batiste

46 - Willie Banks

46 - Willie Banks

Front photo: Pitching photo.

Back photo: Pitching photo.

Better photo?: The partially open jersey makes me think that maybe he is endorsing a fresco company on it. But, it proably just says "Minnesota Twins".

Ties to my personal collections: Shares an "Idols" card from 1992 Pinnacle with Dwight Gooden.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 3

Wiki-facts: Nothing of note beyond baseball information.

Google it: 3 Willie Banks are on the first page. He's third behind a track and field athlete and a gospel musician.

How was his strike-shortened 1994? He went 8-12 with a 5.40 ERA with the Chicago Cubs.

Birthday boy: February 27, 1969. Nobody at any of the *-reference has that birthdate. The only people listed at wikipedia's Feb 27 page are author Stuart MacBride and Welsh rugby player Gareth Llewellyn.

Up Next: #47 - Bret Barberie

45 - Bob Ayrault

#45 - Bob Ayrault

Front photo: A pitching photo.

Back photo: The same, although more grimace-y.

Better photo?: The front has a better view of the sleeve patch, so that's enough to break a bland tie.

Ties to my personal collections: None.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 2

Wiki-facts: He is an alumni of UNLV.

Google it: The first link is his baseball-reference page, and it uses a cropped image of the front of this card on the page.

How was his strike-shortened 1994? Spent it in the minors with the Marlins' AAA affiliate. He never played another major league game, and this 1994 issue was his last MLB card from his career.

Birthday boy: April 27, 1966: The only other person at *-reference born that date was former NFLer Mark Stock. He spent 3 seasons in the NFL, interestingly enough, not consecutive ones. He saw action in 1989, 1993 and 1996. He also saw action with the San Antonio Texans during the CFL US expansion. Outside the sports world, director (and frequent JJ Abrams co-worker) Matt Reeves was also born that date.

Up Next: #46 - Willie Banks.