Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 4

     *channels British accent*

    'Welcome back to the next installment of Rescued from THE BOX, where a half-insane card collector acts as though cardboard boxes and baseball cards are alive and sentient, and hallucinates action-packed battle scenes with said cardboard box.'

    

    Last time I saw THE BOX I freed Rafael Montalvo's 1991 Bowman card. The mission of freeing every card from a life of mediocrity is a slow one, but one worth undertaking.

    THE BOX contented itself with making a mess of the room I keep all my cards in. That definitely has nothing to do with me. In fact, when I walked into the room my eyes disintegrated and fell in two small powdered piles on the floor. THE BOX's first attack was successful.

    Thankfully, eyeballs grow back, and I was able to see THE BOX as it lunged at me. Since it has no means of propulsion, it was an awkward fall. 

    My laugh may have sounded too confident as I tried in vain to humiliate my foe. THE BOX has no emotions, as I found out. We rumbled the way comic book superheroes do with their arch-nemeses. Whenever a hit was landed giant words magically popped up, such as 'BANG!' and 'POW!'

    Eventually, human limbs triumphed over cardboard edges and I wrenched open THE BOX's black hole-like maw and pulled a card out before it clamped upon my arm. The paper cut was so deep I had to make a tourniquet with a shirt that was lying on the floor. Who knew cardboard could be so deadly?

    After I had taken care of my battle wounds, I saw the card that had been rescued.

    Another '91 Bowman card, this time of Floyd Bannister!

   The expression on Bannister's face as he delivers this pitch would intimidate any batter of the era. 

    

    Floyd Bannister played 15 seasons in the majors from 1977-1992 (he pitched in Japan in 1990). In 431 career games (363 starts), Bannister pitched to a 134-143 record and a 4.06 ERA in 2388 innings. He was an all-star with the Mariners in 1982 when he went 12-13 with a 3.43 ERA and led the league with 209 strikeouts.

    

    Bannister made one postseason appearance, with the White Sox in 1983. He threw six innings and allowed three runs as Chicago fell to the Orioles, 3-1.

    Floyd has three children, all of whom followed in their daddy's footsteps. His son Brian pitched for the Mets and Royals for five seasons, where in 117 games (114 starts), he went 37-50 with an ERA of 5.08. Floyd's other two sons, Brett and Cory, both pitched in college. Brett played one season in the minors in the Mariners organization.

    I'm glad to have freed Floyd Bannister's 1991 Bowman card from the clutches of THE BOX and to have learned a little bit more about him.  

    Thanks for checking out the blog today, have a wonderful rest of the week, and happy collecting!

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 3

    Usually when people speak of action, you think of buff criminals with giant biceps speeding up the sides of tall buildings in motorcycles with a katana in one hand and a coke in the other. 

    Not stealing baseball cards out of boxes. 

    Last time I had a run-in with THE BOX I was able to rescue Greg Olson's 1992 Fleer card. THE BOX hadn't shown his face around the house until this morning.

    It seemed to sense that I was approaching. And it was angry. It's difficult to describe what it's like to have an inanimate object angry at you, because it's not possible. 

    Clearly THE BOX wanted to have a rematch with me. The deal was simple; if I win, I get another card. If it wins, sorry Greg Olson. 

    Fortunately for me, humans have fancy things like arms and legs, and brains. Boxes are just awkwardly shaped rectangular prisms that imprison baseball cards. But hey, I won't turn THE BOX down, especially if it means saving another card from it's evil clutches.

    THE BOX lunged at me. Typical first move. I channeled my inner buff motorcycle guy and dodged it before pinning THE BOX against the wall. Then, prying it's mouth open I was able to save one card before it slammed shut on my hand.

    Getting bitten by a cardboard box is more painful than you'd think. Mostly emotional pain though, because you wonder how on earth an inanimate object without teeth can bite you.

    Anyway, after this ordeal THE BOX snuck back into the closet it came from to nurse its battle wounds and defeat me when we meet again. Pfft. Like that'll happen.

    I looked in my hand to see which of THE BOX'S captives I had saved from a life of mediocrity. And it was none other than....

    1991 Bowman Rafael Montalvo!

    The card has a simple picture framesque design. Nothing too spectacular. Montalvo has a great smile on his face as he poses for this picture. 

    Montalvo threw one career game in the majors, well before this card was made, in 1986. He threw one inning, giving up a hit and walking two while allowing one earned run, pitching the Houston Astros. He made two of the inning's outs on comebackers.

    After his extremely brief 1986 season, Rafael played in the minors through 1991 with the Angles, and then again in 1995, playing for the Dodgers organization. He is depicted on Baseball Reference with the Angels, though he never played in the major leagues with the club.

    In 537 minor league contests (12 seasons), Montalvo pitched to a 47-33 record in 537 recorded games. His ERA in the minors is not known. 

    In 2007 he was a pitching coach in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays system.

    I'm glad to have freed Rafael Montalvo's card from the imaginary hands of THE BOX. Freeing a card is always a good chance to learn both about the set it's from and the player on the card.

    Until next time, have a great week, thanks for reading, and happy collecting!