Hey, Greg...You Ain't the Blosser Me!
A tale of misidentification and inadvertent East Coast Bias
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1990 Score Greg Blosser (#681) - Card of the Day
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see the name, “Greg Blosser”?
I ask because of this…
When I read that today was Blosser’s 53rd birthday, visions of the 1990 Braves danced through my head. They were sort of blurry visions, though, not focused on the superstar types — Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, David Justice, Javy Lopez, Fred McGriff.
No, these visions revolved more around the work-a-day pieces of the Atlanta core, with names like Sid Bream, Mark Lemke, and Jeff Blauser.
And that’s when it dawned on me that Jeff Blauser is not the same guy as Greg Blosser. Oops.
Still, the name was familiar, and if it wasn’t for his exploits on the diamond itself, that probably only meant one thing — I had likely “met” Blosser in the cardboard realm at some point or another during my collectordom.
A quick search across the interwebs and then through some dusty boxes resolved the situation in a flash.
Of course!
Greg Blosser was the Red Sox’ first-round draft pick in 1989, which landed him a card with the “1st Round Pick” logo in the 1990 Score set. You can see that card at the top of this post.
If you’re anything like me, though, you probably saw that card a couple hundred times in the early 1990s, both in person and in various hobby ads. Blosser was never the hottest prospect going, at least as far as I can remember, but he was a top Boston prospect.
That’s always been a solid combination when it comes to whipping up at least a bit of cardboard hype. Blosser wasn’t the only one whose Score Draft Pick card saw plenty of hobby light, though. Consider the checklist of that subset:
Paul Coleman
Scott Bryant
Earl Cunningham
Keith Kiki Jones
Jeff Jackson
Greg Blosser
That was tough company even back in 1990, before any of these guys turned into their own version of the next big things. It only got tougher in the next few years as Thomas, Vaughn, Knoblauch, and others really made their marks.
Unfortunately for Blosser and the BoSox, he never really did make his. He made it to Boston in September 1993 and appeared in 17 games. He was back for five more to start 1994 and then never appeared in the majors again. Overall, he hit 0.077 with three hits — including a double — in 39 at-bats. He also walked six times, struck out 11 times, and stole a base.
Even though Blosser never did make it back to The Show, he spent most of the rest of the decade, plus 2000, at Triple A for five different franchises. And, of course, old-school collectors will always remember him as a first-round pick.
You know, even if our memories need a birthday-induced kickstart from time to time.
Mo Than a Mouthful
The Sawx actually had two first-round picks in 1989 — three if you include the #29 supplemental pick, which they used on Kevin Morton. They sorta hit the jackpot with the second of those. Yeah, it was Vaughn.
Before Boston even called Vaughn’s name, though, he was plying his trade in the New England area AND picking up cardboard appearances. One of those counts among the longest official card name in the history of card names.
At least unofficially officially. Read all about that card right here.
—
I’ve once again spent too many words on the Red Sox. They don’t need my help in the publicity department, right?
So if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find a way to drum up attention for some old Reds cards.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
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