Blog Bat Around - Last Card

There is an interesting new blog bat around about posting the last card from a major issue for your favorite player.  Since I have two favorite players, I thought I would show them both.

It is an odd card, isn't it?  Paul Blair spent most of his career with the Baltimore Orioles, then several years with the Bronx Zoo Yankees. So, to see him in a Cincinnato uniform is a bit disorienting.  However, he didn't end his career in Ohio.  After appearing in 5 games for the Yankees at the start of the 1979 season, he was released and, around month later signed with the Reds.  He finished out the season with Cincinnati batting at anemic .150 in 155 plate appearances over the course of the 1979 season.  A free agent after the 1979 season ended, he didn't catch on with another team until late May of 1980 when he signed with the Yankees again. After 12 games as a late game pinch runner/defensive replacement, he was granted a release on July 1 and brought his playing career to a close.

I really did a lousy job of scanning straight didn't I?  I could have fixed the alignment in Photoshop, but I have a busy day ahead of me.  We are leaving for a 12 day vacation in a week and a half and I have much to do around the farm before then.  So, my apologies for phoning this one in.

Johnny Antonelli's career also ended on a less than deserved note.  Antonelli had invested wisely during his career and owned Firestone tire stores in his (and my) hometown of Rochester, NY. He preferred playing close to home as to attend to his business interests.  The Giants move to San Francisco obviously put a crimp in that and, not surprisingly, he wasn't particularly happy in the Bay Area.  After two successful and one middling season in San Francisco he was traded to Cleveland after the 1960 season.  After 11 wholly ineffective appearances, he was purchased by the Milwaukee Braves, where he turned in 9 more mediocre relief appearances before the season ended. In the time between the 1961 and 1962 seasons, he was selected by the expansion NY Mets, but chose to retire instead.

What I am listening to: Crazy by Gnarls Barkley