Random Card of the Day

"...my interpretation of this is that Spanish-speaking countries essentially call an outfielder a "gardener."

You're right!  And it could define a touted prospect like McCarty ... or nearly any tee ball kid!

Translations: jardinero:  noun

1.  one who gardens
2.  a player that plays in the outfield

Truly was fascinated by these cards and built the set!  Grew up in a bilingual & bicultural Home in South Florida, so these cards represented well.  Then when Pacific (as well as Fleer), sent me a goodly amount of cards & packs, while stationed in the Middle East, I was all the more grateful!!  These will ALWAYS be treasured and appreciated by me . . .

Yours in The Hobby - Felix 

The back of this is more interesting than the front.

I once sat next to McCarty's grandma on a plane (this was about the time of this card - coming up as a highly-rated rookie and all that).

I don't remember why she brought it up - knowing me, I was probably looking at cards.

One of those rare players that throws lefty but bats righty. I think Ricky Henderson did too. You can find all kinds of examples of the opposite though.

On the outfield/garden topic, in 19th century baseball, the two terms were synonymous. Sometimes, papers would reference a player playing the "left garden", for example. 

It struck me as indicative of the amount of actual fielding or abilities with a glove that outfielders are thought to have, and they expected the player would mainly tend to the grass out there. I remember sitting in the bleachers at the Oakland Coliseum (when it was actually a decent stadium) and I thought they were the best seats in the house because Jose Canseco was right there and I could be in the vicinity of a home run. Thinking back there was a lot of standing around.

This now made me think of how I was a part of and witnessed the beginning of an actual wave that went around the entire stadium when it was at capacity. It really was one of the coolest things I've ever seen and I wish waves still happened. It was so cool watching the guy actually start the wave, it would go one section over, then die down, start again and go another section or two before dying down again, repeat a couple more times and the entire stadium knew it was coming and it went around. I wanted so bad to one day be the guy who started a wave like that, and makes me a little sad I have yet to fulfill that dream and its been impossible to do at the Coliseum since Mt. Davis was built. Within the last two years, I read an article in the SF Chronicle about how the wave was actually invented at the Oakland Coliseum in the early 80s, and I think they guy I saw start it was the guy who originally invented it.