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1981 Topps Win Remmerswaal (#38) - Card of the Day
Quick! Who was the first Dutch-born player to make it to the major leagues (post-1900 division).
A goodly number of baseball fans of a certain age know the answer is Bert Blyleven. Even more found out as BeHome was doing the Hall of Fame rounds in 2011.
Ah, but who was the next guy, the Netherlands-born player who followed Blyleven into the bigs?
Well, seeing as how there is a big red-bordered Win Remmerswaal baseball card up at the top of this post, you might have already guessed the answer.
Indeed, Wilhelmus Abraham Remmerswaal was born The Hague, Netherlands, on March 8, 1954. That would make today his 70th birthday had he not passed away in July of 2022 (also in The Hague).
In between endpoints at The Hague, of course, is where that 1981 Topps card up there comes in.
The Red Sox first signed Remmerswaal as a minor league free agent back in November of 1974. He then spent most of the next five summers as a swingman in the Boston farm system before crashing the Fenway party in August of 1979.
In eight relief appearances for the Sawx, Win posted an ugly 7.08 ERA. That bought him more time in the bushes, but he was back in the majors for several short stints in 1980, beginning in June.
By October, the 26-year-old was rocking an ERA in the mid-4s at both the Triple-A and major league level, and the road ahead seemed tough.
Topps must have thought there was still room for Beantown some Dutch influence, though, and they slotted Remmerswaal into their 1981 set.
Apparently Boston brass didn’t feel the same way, and the righty spent 1981 back at Pawtucket before heading off for a tour of European ball before hanging up his spikes.
Sadly, Remmerswaal spent the last 20+ years of his life in a nursing home — you can read more of his story at the SABR Bio Project.
For us here in the cardboard corner, it’s a Win just to have one more look at the baseball card that captured our imaginations so many years ago — whatta baseball name, huh?
1980 Burger King Fred Lynn (#18)
While Remmerswaal was trying to stick with Boston in 1980, superstar Fred Lynn was unwittingly taking his last licks as a member of the Red Sox.
The marriage that had yielded Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in 1975, six All-Star selections, four Gold Gloves, and a thrilling postseason run (also in 1975) was doomed to explode the following winter.
Same thing happened with Carlton Fisk, and both fissures could be laid at the feet of GM Haywood Sullivan.
Before that fall, though, Lynn appeared on a superb 1980 Topps baseball card and also on this superb 1980 Topps Burger King baseball card. Each card is made all the more spectacular thanks to the fact that they feature different images of the centerfielder.
That sort of thing was noteworthy and important back before Fleer, Donruss, and Broders.
I took on both of these cards in more detail right here if you just can’t get enough and want to have it your way.
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Now go grab yourself some burgers and get ready to Win the weekend.
You don’t even have to Be Home Blyleven — your baseball cards will be waiting for you whenever you decide to show up.
And you know Monday will be waiting. Always is.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam