67 - Dave Burba

67 - Dave Burba

Front photo: Pitching.

Back photo: Pitching.

Better photo?: Hard to go against any appearance of the Wrigley ivy. I didn't even need to change the sentence from my previous post. Back to back ivy appearances.

Parallel: Silver Signature

Ties to my personal collections: None.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 10

Wiki-facts: "He is currently the pitching coach for the Hartford Yard Goats."

Google it: More minor league stuff, this time as an Ohio State article that focuses on his coaching time with the Tri-City Dust Devils.

How was his stike shortened 1994? Went 3-6 with a 4.38 ERA over 57 games and 74 innings.

Birthday boy: July 7, 1966. Jeff Shaw, who would be a teammate with Burba for 1996 and 1997 with the Reds was also born that date. Jack Capuano, who played 1, 3 and 2 games for the Leafs, Canucks and Bruins respectively was born that date as well. In the NBA, Tom Garrick, who spent most of his time with the Clippers during the late 80s/early 90s is a perfect match. For the NFL, you have one game QB Jeff Francis (Cleveland). First time in a bit (if ever) I've gotten perfect matches across the board on *-reference. Outside the sporting world, you have comedian Jim Gaffigan.

Edit: He is the first one to get a match across all four of the sites.

Up Next: Jeromy Burnitz

66 - Steve Buechele

66 - Steve Buechele

Front photo: Throwing the ball.

Back photo: A chat along the wire fence

Better photo?: Hard to go against any appearance of the Wrigley ivy.

Ties to my personal collections: None.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 7

Wiki-facts: "At Stanford, his roommate was Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway."

Google it: 5 of the 10 results on the first page have to do with his son playing QB for the Texas Longhorns. Shane was the first freshman to start at QB for Texas since 1944.

How was his stike shortened 1994? Went .242 with 14 HR and 52 RBI.

Birthday boy: September 26, 1961. No MLB alum were born that date. Ditto for the NBA and the NHL. The NFL does offer a pair of players, "wild" Wes Hopkins, who spent 11 years with the Eagles, and Mark Behning, who spent a season in Pittsburgh. Cindy Herron, of the singing group "En Vogue" was also born that day.

Up Next: Dave Burba

65 - George Brett

65- George Brett

Front photo: Standard batting photo, but a nice view of a 25th anniversary patch.

Back photo: N/A. Full stats!

Better photo?: N/A.

Parallel: Silver Signature

Ties to my personal collections: George owns the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League. I have several hits of one of their alumni, Jared Cowan, in my Senators collection.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 35.

Wiki-facts: "George Brett is credited with making the term The Mendoza Line popular."

Google it: I was expecting references to the Lorde song, but those don't show up until the second page. There are several references to the pine tar game on page 1.

How was his stike shortened 1994? N/A. He retired in 1993. This was his farewell card. While this is nice, it isn't quite as nice as his 1994 Topps farewell card.

Birthday boy: May 15, 1953. No baseball birthdays, but the next May 15th birthday boy would join George in the Hall of Fame (1967, John Smoltz). NHLer Pat Hickey was born that date, and outside the sporting world, musician Mike Oldfield was also born 5/15/53.

Up Next: Steve Buechele