122 - Tony Gwynn

 

122 - Tony Gwynn

Front: Signing an autograph.

Back: Circling the basepaths.

Better side: Kinda surprised that none of the feature him at the plate. I love autograph photos, but the casual way he's just going around the bases gives a slight nod to the reverse.

Ties to my personal collections: None. But he did pick up his 3000th hit in Montreal.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 71

Wiki-facts: Lots of interesting choices, but I'll pick - "On May 9, 2017, a memorial statue in his honor was unveiled at Lake Poway"

Google it: Related searches: "Gwynn played both baseball and basketball at San Diego State, and he still owns several records in basketball for the Aztecs"  

How was his strike-shortened 1994? An All-Star. A Silver Slugger. Lead the NL with 165 hits, while batting .394 with 12 HR and 64 RBI.

Birthday boy: I don't do this for players who have passed away.

Next up: Jeffrey Hammonds (The first Oriole)

119 - Ricky Gutierrez

Front: A crouching photo that nicely goes with the horizontal design as he appears to be trying to stop an advancing runner.

Back: Throwing the ball across the infield.

Better Side: The front photo is more unique.

Ties to my personal collections: Spent time with the Mets in 2004, but was released in May of that year. He'd finish the season in Boston, and pick up some jewelry in the process.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 9

Wiki-facts: He was also the only Houston Astros player to get a base hit in Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game.

Google it: Looks like there's some crypto/youtuber with the same name.

How was his strike-shortened 1994? Batted .240 with 1 HR and 28 RBI. He'd be dealt to the Astros as part of the Ken Caminiti deal in December.

Birthday boy:  May 23, 1970. He looks to be the only person in the *-reference land with that birthdate. Wiki does list Bryan Herta, a race car driver, as that date.

Next up: Juan Guzman

106 - Jeff Gardner

Front photo: Flipping the ball to Fred McGriff.

Back photo: He's wearing sunglasses.

Better photo?: I'm always a fan of a well-framed photograph. Getting the ball as well as the first baseman in the photo is really nice. Easily the front.

Ties to my personal collections: Started with the Mets, and spent 1994 with the Expos. One of his first MLB cards, 1992 Fleer, is an error where he's listed as a pitcher.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 2

Wiki-facts: "In 2014, he was listed as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks' professional scouting staff"

Google it: Seems to think I want this autocompleted with 'Storage Wars'. There's a scrap metal artist in Oshawa, Ontario, who made several appearances on the Canadian version of the show.

How was his strike shortened 1994? He moved to the Expos, and spent his last year in MLB hitting .219 with 1 RBI over 32 AB.

Birthday boy: February 4, 1964. Nobody besides Jeff at any of the *-reference sites was born that date. Wikipedia doesn't seem to think anything else interesting happened that date either.

Up Next: #107 - Brent Gates

77 - Archi Cianfrocco

Front photo: Taking the ball at a base.

Back photo: Laughing.

Better photo?: The front photo is pretty generic, until you look behind him. There's an Astros jersey. And that player looks to have a fielding glove as well. What oddball situation was this from? I don't know, but that's enough to give this to the front image.

Ties to my personal collections: Was a former Montreal Expo.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 5

Wiki-facts: While playing for the Padres, he had multiple fan clubs, including "Archi's Army" and the "CianfrocCrew"

Google it: First video is described as this "Archi Cianfrocco Spits Inside & Outside Batting Helmet! "San Diego Padres"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF2pE-yX_vk

How was his stike shortened 1994? 59 games played, with a .219 BA and 4 HR and 13 RBI.

Birthday boy: October 6, 1966. Only football reference has people that share that birthdate. Those are Walter Wilson, Ken Wilson and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson is neither the more famous coach or auto racer, but he did carve out a 10 year career in the NFL. Wikipedia lists actress Jacqueline Obradors (NYPD Blue) and musician Tommy Stinson as others born that day.

Up Next: 78 - Dave Clark

43 - Brad Ausmus

#43 - Brad Ausmus

Front photo: Starting down the first base line.

Back photo: Celebrating something.

Better photo?: I always pick the more Collector's Choice-y photo of the two. With that as the decider, this one is an easy win for the back photo.

Ties to my personal collections: Never managed to play for either the Mets or Jays, but was part of trades that included future Mets and Blue Jays with Roger Cedeno, Trever Miller and Jose Lima.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 58 (give or take one or two missed or double counted as I scrolled)

Wiki-facts: His father is a retired professor of European history at Southern Connecticut State University, and the author of A Schopenhauerian Critique of Nietzsche's Thought, which Ausmus calls his "favorite book."

Google it: Another PC tie, since one of the auto-completes is "brad ausmus daniel norris".

How was his strike-shortened 1994? Batted .251 (7/24) over 101 games,

Birthday boy: April 14, 1969. Brad Pennington, who appears in this set as Card #227 was born that same date. I should get to posting his card sometime in 2019 at this rate. Former NBAer Mark Macon and former NFLer Tim Roberts were also born on 4-14-69. Also born that date was Martyn LeNoble of  Porno for Pyros.

Up Next: #44 - Steve Avery. Interestingly, he was born exactly one year later than Brad.