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1980 Topps Expos Future Stars (#680) - Card of the Day
One thing you could say about the Expos “Future Stars” heading into 1980, at least as designated by Topps, was that they were a seasoned bunch.
Leading off the card was Tony Bernazard, the youngster of the group at 23 as the new season dawned. Even so, the future Indians mainstay had already been in the Montreal farm system for six summers.
John Tamargo, meanwhile, was 28 years old and had already appeared in parts of four major league seasons before he landed on this rookie card.
And then there was Randy Miller, who was the Orioles’ fifth-round pick in 1974 and scratched his way to a single appearance for Baltimore in 1977. That two-thirds-of-an-inning relief appearance yielded a 40.50 ERA and an offseason trade to the Expos.
That one was a doozy, with Miller, Rudy May, and Bryn Smith heading to Montreal in exchange for Joe Kerrigan, Gary Roenicke, and Don Stanhouse.
After 50 appearances for the Triple-A Denver Bears in 1978, Miller got a shot with the big league Expos that September. His first three relief outings went well, with the right-hander holding the competition scoreless in 3 2/3 innings.
The next two outings? Well, let’s just say Miller ended his MLB season with a 10.29 ERA. As it turned out, that stint also ended Miller’s MLB career, leaving his record at 0-1 with a 12.91 ERA.
No one knew that was the end at the time, though, and Miller spent both 1979 and 1980 at Triple-A for Bears. In between, Topps apparently thought his age-27 season would be the one.
It wasn’t. But it was the season for his rookie card. And today, we can use that card to celebrate Miller’s 71st birthday.
Old Man Winter Cometh and Goeth
Guess who else has a baseball birthday today? Well, there are a lot of guys, actually.
But the one above, Matt Winters, is kinda fun to talk about because…
He’s another player with a short and obscure major league career.
His name is “Winters” and was born in the winter (yeah, spring doesn’t start until tomorrow).
He belongs to an exclusive MLB fraternity.
Take your pick, or take all three. I wrote about all that and more in a Matt Winters-focused piece a while back. You can read that one right here.
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That does it for another Monday here in the dustbin — good news if you’ve read enough already.
The even better news is that this is the last full day of winter. Still not quite sure who invented this monstrosity of a season in the first place, but I guess the contrast makes us appreciate baseball and its green fields all the more.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam