Saturday, February 9, 2008

1982 Fleer - Al Oliver

Today's card of the day is #326 in the 1982 Fleer set, Al Oliver. This is one of Al's last Ranger cards as he played the 1982 season with Montreal. During his four seasons with Texas the lowest average Oliver had was .309 and had 117 RBI in 1980. 1980 was one of only two times he broke 100 RBI in a season during his 18 year career. Overall it appears that Oliver gave the Rangers some of the best years of his career. An interesting side note is that the same trade that brought Al to Texas also brought Jon Matlack from the Mets. It was a weird four team trade that is still a bit confusing to look at.

Fleer's second year offering wasn't much to look at as far as design. The front is pretty plain. The back of the card helpfully gives all of Oliver's stats to date. That is something I miss on modern cards. Most cards anymore only give the last two or three years of a player's stats. The one thing that sticks out to me about this card is Oliver's cap. I had one like that in the mid-80s. Who would have ever figured that a big bat like Al would wear an adjustable net back cap? You would think that by the time this picture was taken he would have had enough contractual clout to get a fitted cap.

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