Mile High News and the Card of the Day, Late Edition...

So I wanted to do an evening edition of the Card of the Day, but didn’t want to write a long post because I am supposed to be studying for my final exam in Mass Communication tomorrow morning. After the final I will be going to the Post Office (which should be an absolute nightmare) and getting packages out for Captain Canuck (1976 Topps), Cards on Cards (2007 Heritage), Wicked Ortega (contest winnings, plus a little bonus), Democratic Roadkill (1983 Topps), dayf (1974 Topps) and… Well, I don’t know who else, wait… I DO know who else! I have a package of Colorado Rockies cards to ship off to Troy in Palmerton, Pennsylvania!!! Troy is (coincidentally) a fan of Troy Tulowitzki and the Colorado Rockies as well. He is also a Cardinals fan, but he is willing to become the Rockies collector that the Blog-O-Sphere has been hunting for! I won’t post his email address (or mailing address here) but I assure you all that he does in fact exist and is poised and ready to start trading! If you are ready for a Rockies trade (preferably with some TT cards) then email me and I will forward the email to Troy, or maybe share his address with you. We don’t want to overwhelm him (scare him off) to quickly, so lets hit him up slowly… Adam from Thoughts and Sox and Night Owl have first dibs so if you two write to me I will get the ball Rockie’N Rollin! Okay, back to the evening edition of card of the day. Like I said I didn’t want to pick something from the awesome pile, so I closed my eyes and grabbed from a random stack of cards from the seventies and ended up with a 1974 Topps, card #274 of New York Yankees relief pitcher Freddy Beene. Mr. Beene has one of those unfortunate pitchers names like Bob Walk or Grant Balfour and he did have a few “beene balls” over his career. He hit 7 batters over his 7 year career. Another thing that stands out about Freddy Beene to me is his height. Typically relievers are big and intimidating, but Beene stood 5’9” and weighed 160 pounds. Now, this card is from 1974 and appears to not only be an “awesome night card”, and “awesome mullet card” and a great action card as well. He was coming off one of the finest seasons of his career. He finished the ’73 season a perfect 6-0 with a low, low 1.68 ERA in 19 games, including 4 starts. He finished 11 games that year, had a save and logged career highs with 91 innings pitched and 49 Ks. He was one of the set-up guys that season for Lindy McDaniel and Sparky Lyle. Lyle logged 27 saves in 51 games that year and the Yankees finished 80-82, 4th in the American League. Prior to playing for the Yankees from ’72-’74 Beene started his career with the Baltimore Orioles and finished it with the Cleveland Indians, playing his last year and a half there. Over his career on the mound he was 12-7 with a 3.62 ERA and 8 saves in 112 games. As a relief pitcher he didn’t hit often and when he did he had zero success. He went to the plate 39 times and never saw first base, striking out 17 times for a career .000 batting average. He was however nearly as perfect a fielder as he was futile as a hitter… He did not make an error until 1972 and he never made one again. He finished his career with a .987 fielding percentage, with 47 assists and 3 double plays. He was a much more successful hitter in the minors where he spent 12 seasons. Over that time he had 29 at bats and posted a .210 batting average with 2 homers and 23 RBI. On the mound he posted a very impressive 114-78 career minor league pitching record. In 1969, prior to his call-up to the Orioles he was among the league leaders in every category while pitching for the Rochester Red Wings. He posted a 15-7 record with 132 Ks and 13 complete games. After his last big league season with the Indians in 1975 he would pitch for 4 more years in AAA. He retired after spending the 1979 season with Oklahoma City where he was 10-5. He worked for a scout for the Brewers for twenty years after his playing days ended. Some of his best seasons came with Rochester in the minors and he spent a total of 6 years with them and had a 46-20 career mark for them. In 1991 he was inducted into the Red Wings Hall of Fame. Well, hope this wasn’t too bad… Never know what will happen when you close your eyes and pick. I love this hobby! Troll out.